OAIN: Auto Insurance Rates for Some Personal Policies Rising in Illinois

Companies with lower annual premium totals report rate drops; Mercury has biggest overall hike.

2012-04-10

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, CA, April 10, 2012 (Press-News.org) Illinois drivers with personal auto coverage may have seen higher rates recently or will see them soon as regulators in the state released documents from March showing 23 companies with recent or upcoming premium changes, reports Online Auto Insurance News.

The impact shoppers will see when they compare auto insurance quotes will differ from customer to customer depending on factors like the time policyholders have been with an insurer, their driving records, applicable discounts and whether they hold both home and vehicle coverage with the same carrier.

The companies' filings were reported on average and categorized between vehicle policies covering third-party liability and first-party physical damages.

Companies writing relatively smaller volumes of total yearly premiums actually announced price drops for personal car insurance. Omni Indemnity, which reported a total of $3.5 million in annual premiums, will decrease its rates by 1.25 percent and 2.67 percent for liability and physical damage coverage, respectively. California Casualty General, which had a similarly sized premium volume, saw the biggest decrease out of the 23 insurers that filed with regulators, with a 3.8 percent drop in liability and 16.5 percent drop in property coverage.

Grange Indemnity reported one of the lowest volumes of annual premiums, writing $171,110 in personal liability and $60,284 in physical damage coverage; its premiums are lowering by an average of 5.7 percent.

West Bend Mutual reported writing personal policies to the tune of an annual $13.5 million and $9.3 million in liability and property coverage, respectively. The company was able to drop its liability policies by 2.3 percent and property policies by 1.8 percent.

For the most part, bigger insurance companies announced bigger increases. Mercury, with a total of $17.4 million in premiums, reported the steepest overall premium increase at 12.4 percent: 10 percent in liability and 16.8 percent in physical damage coverage. Travelers Home and Marine, which has the largest total annual volume of premiums at $97.4 million, will hike overall rates by 5.31 percent, one of the steeper hikes of the 23 carriers.

Higher rates for both new and renewing customers will become effective for some policyholders buying coverage from: Viking on April 16; General Casualty on May 6; Auto Club Inter Exchange on June 1; Auto Family on June 1; Mercury on June 3; American Family Home on June 8; and Nationwide on Sept. 30.

Companies that increased rates in March included West Bend, Travelers Commercial, Travelers Home and Marine and Omni Indemnity. Bristol West's hikes occurred in January while California Casualty's drop in prices happened in March.

Source: http://insurance.illinois.gov/RF3/2012/03/01privatepassengerauto.pdf

For information about the industry rates, head to http://www.onlineautoinsurance.com/compare/ for access to an easy-to-use quote-comparison generator and informative resource pages.

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Solartex Sun Gear Now Offers Natural, Chemical-Free Sunscreens to Compliment Their Wide Range of Rash Guards and Swim Shirts

2012-04-10

Just in time for spring, Solartex Sun Gear, Inc. is pleased to announce its new line of all-natural, chemical-free sunscreens. Co-founded by Lisa Dewey and Laurie Whitman, the Virginia-based Solartex has long set the industry standard for state-of-the-art protection from the sun. Today, Solartex is the premier source for SPF Clothing, providing rash guards and plus size swim shirts for men and women, along with kid's swim shirts and toddler rash guards. The clothing's 50+SPF sun protection is great for both children and adults, with sizes ranging from baby / infant to ...

International Electronic Patient Record Market Shows Promising Growth Opportunities

2012-04-10

Electronic patient record (EPR) buying and selling energy outside of Northern America is still developing for most countries, with a majority of activity in Asia, the Middle East, and the UK, according to KLAS report "International EPR Market 2012: Multinational Vendor Footprints." The research firm spoke to hundreds of international providers in their new report mapping EPR market share for multinational vendors. The study looked for vendors with an EPR solution live in more than two countries. Vendors included Agfa, Alert, Allscripts, Cambio, Cerner, CSC/iSOFT, ...

Reimbursements Are Top Concern of Providers in Breast Imaging

2012-04-10

In a new KLAS study, "Women's Imaging 2012: Tomosynthesis Makes a Splash," Hologic leads as the number one vendor in digital mammography. Combined with a strong digital mammography product and excellent service, tomosynthesis helps Hologic solidify their leadership position in the space. Tomosynthesis lives up to the hype, but KLAS found that there are still some issues to be ironed out with the newly approved technology. For those upgrading to tomosynthesis, the high cost is something to consider, especially because reimbursements continue to be cut for screening. ...

Reputation Changer: Travel Industry Faces Dire Need for Reputation Services

2012-04-10

For those who love to travel, the Internet is an increasingly prominent tool. Travelers use the Web, including social networks, to book their hotels and even to buy plane tickets. What is more, many travelers also use the Web to share their thoughts on different travel accommodations, whether they are offering an airline recommendation or a full review of a particular hotel. But as travelers have increasingly embraced the Web, the travel industry has found itself facing an urgent need for online reputation services. In fact, more and more hotels are seeking protection against ...

Detecting breast cancer's fingerprint in a droplet of blood

2012-04-10

One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer during her lifetime. The earlier cancer is detected, the better the chance of successful treatment and long-term survival. However, early cancer diagnosis is still challenging as testing by mammography remains cumbersome, costly, and in many cases, cancer can only be detected at an advanced stage. A team based in the Dept. of Biomedical Engineering at McGill University's Faculty of Medicine has developed a new microfluidics-based microarray that could one day radically change how and when cancer is diagnosed. Their ...

New index identifies periods when global stock markets might decline

2012-04-10

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Researchers have found a way to measure the likelihood of global stock market losses by identifying periods in which shocks may be more likely to spread across many national markets. This "fragility index" identifies periods in which international equity markets are more susceptible to widespread pull-backs by identifying common risk exposures. The index identifies when systemic risk exposure is high in markets across multiple countries, and shows an increasing probability of a global stock market draw-down. For example, the likelihood of a global ...

African Americans more likely to blog than whites and Latinos

2012-04-10

The blogging community is more racially diverse than one might think. Internet-connected African Americans are more likely to blog than their white and Hispanic counterparts, according to new research from the University of California, Berkeley. While African Americans as a whole are less likely to afford laptops and personal computers, Internet-savvy blacks, on average, blog one and a half times to nearly twice as much as whites, while Hispanics blog at the same rate as whites, according to a study published in the March online issue of the journal, Information, Communication ...

Clinical news alert from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons

2012-04-10

Airport security screening has increased substantially during the past decade, while joint replacement procedures also continue to rise. According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), in 2009, nearly 300,000 total hip replacements (THR) were performed in the United States. A new study, "Detection of Total Hip Prostheses at Airport Security Checkpoints: How Has Heightened Security Affected Patients," appearing in the April 4, 2012 issue of the JBJS, provides an analysis of current security measures on patients who have had a THR. A consecutive ...

Recovery from propofol anesthesia may be sped by use of common stimulant

2012-04-10

The ability of the commonly used stimulant methylphenidate (Ritalin) to speed recovery from general anesthesia appears to apply both to the inhaled gas isoflurane, as previously reported, and to the intravenous drug propofol. Members of the same Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) research team that reported the isoflurane study are publishing similar results for propofol in the May issue of Anesthesiology, and their paper has been issued online. "Propofol is the most widely used intravenous general anesthetic, and there is currently no way to reverse its effects," ...

Notre Dame researchers using novel method to combat malaria drug resistance

2012-04-10

Researchers from the University of Notre Dame's Eck Institute for Global Health developed a "gene chip" to contribute to the identification of malaria drug resistance, an effort that will allow for real-time response in modified treatment strategies for this devastating disease. The new discovery is described in a paper appearing in the latest early online edition of the journal Science. The team of researchers includes Notre Dame's Michael Ferdig, associate professor of biological sciences and doctoral student Becky Miller along with John Tan, managing director of the ...

Some coral "walk" towards blue or white light, using rolling, sliding or pulsing movements to migrate, per experiments with free-living mushroom coral Cycloseris cyclolites

OAIN: Auto Insurance Rates for Some Personal Policies Rising in Illinois

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: