Business Insurance Analyse

In what it says is an effort to help the communities it serves, CIGNA has introduced a new program where it will reward employees with eight hours of paid time off for a day of community service.

The Philadelphia-based health insurer said effective July 1, its 26,000 employees will be offered the incentive each year for volunteering with various nonprofit health and community service organizations “to make a collective difference” throughout the nation, according to a statement.

CIGNA estimates a potential of more than 200,000 of hours of community service in communities across the country at an estimated dollar value of donated time of $4 million (based on a charitable foundation’s estimate of $20.85 per hour for volunteer time).

“Every day, in communities across the country, on the job and on their own, the people of CIGNA are helping others to lead healthier, more productive and secure lives,” said David Cordani, president and chief executive of CIGNA, in a statement. “Through

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Like the majority of Republican governors across the nation, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has turned down a federal offer to aid in the creation of a high-risk pool program for the uninsured.

With all governors and state insurance commissioners facing an April 30 deadline to weigh in, McDonnell wrote a letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius rejecting the offer.

Last month, Sebelius asked officials in each state to tell her agency whether they would participate in a new pool or seek help with state-run programs from the $5 billion was allocated for assistance through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act recently signed into law.

In his letter, McDonnell said the state has estimated that its funding for the temporary pool, set up until health insurance exchanges are created in 2014, would be $113 million and would “not cover costs” of the program beyond 22 months. The governor added that this concern has been echoed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which said the $5 billion in funding would be exhausted by 2011 and 2012, “resulting in substantial premium increases to sustain the program.”

Therefore, McDonnell wrote, “The Commonwealth will rely on HHS to implement and operate the program.”

The funding issue has been cited by several governors in turning down the offer of federal aid, including leaders in Georgia, Minnesota and Nebraska.

Other governors, including California’s Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, said they would contract with HHS to aid its residents. In his letter

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Rebuffed by the Commonwealth Court, Pennsylvania insurance regulators will now ask a state superior court to rule whether Kingsway Financial violated state law through its disposition of a failing subsidiary.

Last month, the Commonwealth Court sided with Kingsway Financial, and its subsidiary Kingsway America, rejecting regulators’ claims that it improperly divested in Lincoln General Insurance Co. of York, Pa. With the commercial insurer for the trucking industry facing financial troubles, Toronto-based Kingsway and the Pennsylvania Insurance Department were negotiating ways to wind down the company.

Kingsway then donated 100% of the company’s stock to 20 different charitable organizations, along with a $20,000 check to each charity, in a move Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Joel Ario dubbed “sham transactions.” Ario subsequently accused the insurer of violating state insurance law.

With the Commonwealth Court absolving Kingsway of any wrongdoing, the PID has now appealed that ruling to The Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Kingsway, in a statement, announced the appeal, saying it would “oppose” the action by state regulators.

A request for comment by the PID on the appeal was not immediately returned to IFAwebnews.com.

With Lincoln General no longer a member of Kingsway Financial, A.M. Best said it will no longer recognize the insurer. It recently

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