Insurer criteria proposed; Opening market on auto rates.
Byline: John J. Monahan BOSTON - State Insurance Commissioner Nonnie S. Burnes yesterday issued proposed controversial new regulations aimed at opening the state's auto insurance market to more competition. Critics fear the new regulations could allow greater use of high-risk pools and mean higher insurance rates for...

Danger seen in revamping car insurance; Many may face rate hikes.
Byline: John J. Monahan BOSTON - Legislators worried that the limited auto insurance deregulation plan being undertaken by the Patrick administration will raise rates for many drivers, raised serious concerns in a Senate committee session yesterday that increased competition could end up putting as many as 1...

Consumers, state will benefit from auto insurance reforms.
Byline: Frederick H. Eppinger COLUMN: As I see It Beginning in April of next year, Massachusetts drivers will be able to do what drivers in every other state have done for years - buy auto insurance from companies that are aggressively competing for their business...

Malpractice reform leads to signs of improvement in West Virginia.
The malpractice environment may be starting to improve for physicians in one state, 2 years after a comprehensive medical liability reform bill was enacted there. "It's probably too early to see a huge improvement," said Frederick C. Blum, M.D., president-elect of the American College of Emergency Physicians....

GSIS confident of its CTPL offering.
The Government Service Insurance System is relying solely on the merits of its proposal to provide compulsory third party liability (CTPL) insurance cover for all motor vehicles, according to GSIS President and General Manager Winston Garcia. Garcia described the state pension fund's CTPL proposal as very simple,...

A familiar field.
Byline: The Register-Guard Three of them were turned away. A fourth got a rough welcome. But that hasn't stopped some of the same folks who ran for governor in 2002 from running again in the upcoming Democratic and Republican primary elections. Gov. Ted...

People & politics.
New York Assembly Majority Leader Paul Tokasz will not seek re-election to a 10th term. The veteran lawmaker, first elected in 1988, was appointed majority leader by Speaker Sheldon Silver in 2001. He sponsored New York's "motor voter" constitutional amendment and was key in establishing an arts and cultural...

Insurance law may be barrier to alcohol screening, treatment.
Nearly 25% of trauma surgeons report that they have been denied payment by an insurer in the last 6 months because a patient was under the influence of alcohol or drugs when his or her traumatic injury occurred, according to Dr. Larry M. Gentilello of the University of Texas...

W.Va. sees good signs since liability reform.
The malpractice environment may be starting to improve for physicians in one state 2 years after a comprehensive medical liability reform bill was enacted there. "It's probably too early to see a huge improvement," said Frederick C. Blum, M.D., president-elect of the American College of Emergency Physicians....

Dealing with insurers, one by one.
We doctors have been complaining for years about the stress, frustration, and cost of all the lawsuits brought against us by patients. But here we are, bringing a class action lawsuit against the insurance companies ("Physicians Stand to Recoup Losses, Thanks to Class Action vs. Insurers," April...