By John Riley, February 27 2014 D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray (D) on Thursday announced in a press conference at the Wilson Building that the District of Columbia’s Department of Insurance, Securities, and Banking (DISB) will issue a bulletin to health insurance companies in the District about the application of nondiscrimination provisions, in particular recognizing ”gender dysphoria” as a medical condition. …

February 21, 2014, The Associated Press BATON ROUGE, La. — First-time claims for unemployment insurance in Louisiana for the week ending Feb. 15 decreased from the previous week’s total. The Louisiana Workforce Commission said Friday that initial claims fell to 1,993 from the previous week’s total of 2,392. There were 2,426 initial claims during the comparable week in 2013. The …

By Associated Press, February 19, 2014 MONTPELIER, Vt. —Vermont is hoping to replicate its success in promoting the captive insurance industry by inviting a new type of insurance company to locate and grow in the state. Gov. Peter Shumlin on Wednesday signed a bill called the Vermont Legacy Insurance Management Act. It allows specialized insurance companies to operate in the …

By Alexandria Baca, February 19, 2014 Allstate Corp. (ALL), the largest publicly traded U.S. home and auto insurer, increased its dividend 12 percent and authorized the company’s largest buyback since 2006. As much as $2.5 billion of stock can be repurchased in the next 18 months, and the quarterly dividend was lifted to 28 cents a share, Northbrook, Illinois-based Allstate …

By Tracy Seipel, February 19, 2014 With nearly six weeks to go before open enrollment ends under the new federal health care law, more than 1.7 million Californians have signed up for health coverage since Oct. 1, according to the state’s insurance exchange. Through Feb. 14, the number who bought a private insurance plan on the Covered California exchange shot …

News-Sentinel Staff Reports, February 20, 2014 Neighborhood Health Clinics will offer a free enrollment event for anyone who wants to apply for Marketplace insurance plans, Medicaid and HIP 3-8 p.m. Wednesday at 1717 S. Calhoun St. Registration ends at 7 p.m. Attendees need to bring a photo ID for household members, prior year’s tax return, household Society Security numbers, birth …

By Scott Burns, February 6, 2014 Please give us some information about Medicare Advantage plans. Our insurance company switched us to one last year, and we’re not sure that it is the best option for us. B.F. Medicare Advantage plans function as a substitute for Medigap insurance. Seniors have three fundamental choices when they turn 65. They must sign up …

By Dan Mangan, February 10, 2014 The federal government announced yet another delay in Obamacare’s rules for employers on Monday, and also weakened requirements for complying with the law. The government will now exempt companies employing between 50 and 100 full-time workers from complying with the mandate that they offer employees affordable health insurance by another year, until 2016. Companies …

By Kelly Kennedy, January 13, 2014 More than half of the almost 2.2 million people who bought health insurance on federal and state exchanges in the past three months are older than 45, records released Monday show. If that trend holds, it could skew the health insurance market as older policyholders that use more health care are not balanced by …