For coverage of Medicare benefits, people face a choice between traditional Medicare and private Medicare Advantage plans. While there are many distinguishing features between these coverage types, one key benefit of Medicare Advantage is an annual cap on out-of-pocket costs for medical benefits, which traditional Medicare does not include. In 2026, the out-of-pocket limit for Medicare Advantage plans may not exceed $9,250 for in-network services and $13,900 for a combination of in-network and out-of-network services, but plans can have lower out-of-pocket limits than the maximum. Policymakers have long considered whether to add a similar out-of-pocket cap in traditional Medicare. In…
Author: Awais
Luminor Risk, a managing general agent specializing in the U.S. excess and surplus property market, announced its official launch on May 28 with backing from investment and technology firm D.E. Shaw group. Luminor was co-founded by three underwriting leaders: Matt Booker will be Luminor’s chief executive officer. He most recently was executive vice president and underwriting manager for property and inland marine at Chubb’s Westchester. He has also worked at Chubb, Ace, XL, and Munich Re. Bradley Winfield is co-chief operating officer. He was head of U.S. property, marine, and programs at Canopius USA, where he launched and scaled the…
A U.S. appeals court on Thursday overturned a $59 million verdict that medical device maker Insulet won against Korean rival EOFlowfor allegedly stealing trade secrets related to its insulin-pump technology. The Washington-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed the verdict after finding that Insulet had waited too long to bring its lawsuit. A federal jury in Massachusetts had determined in 2024 that EOFlow owed $452 million in damages for misappropriating Insulet trade secrets to create a competitor to Insulet’s Omnipod, a wearable insulin pump for diabetes patients. A Massachusetts judge reduced the award to $59.4 million last…
Oak Global, the specialist Lloyd’s underwriting company, has successfully priced its debut catastrophe bond sponsorship, securing a 100% upsized $150 million of retrocessional protection from the capital markets from its Arthur Re Ltd. – Quercian Re 2026-1 cat bond issuance, while the notes priced below initial guidance, Artemis has learned.This now priced $150 million Quercian Re 2026-1 issuance will become the first catastrophe bond that will benefit Oak Reinsurance Syndicate 2843, a syndicate that’s focused on reinsurance opportunities that is operated by specialist underwriter in the Lloyd’s market Oak Global. Initially, Arthur Re Ltd., the Bermuda domiciled unrestricted special purpose insurer…
Cruise operator Carnival Corp said on May 27 it had detected a cybersecurity incident involving a compromised account of an employee in April, leading to the leak of certain personal information of individuals, including names, addresses and government-issued identification numbers. The company said it quickly blocked the unauthorized activity, which used social engineering to deceive an employee and gain access to the data. Carnival added it hired third-party security experts to conduct a thorough investigation. The company is notifying the affected individuals by email where possible and offering U.S. customers two years of free credit monitoring through TransUnion, with notifications…
James Mu had braced for the call that came in late January. A patient from his rural Northern California county had measles, a disease so rare there that many physicians have never treated a case. While California has some of the strictest vaccine laws in the country, conservative Shasta County’s approach during the covid pandemic stood in stark contrast with the state’s guidance. Its local leaders opposed masking and vaccine mandates, and they ousted the county public health officer, who had sought to enforce those state policies and other safety measures. A potential measles outbreak had “always been in my…
A Texas board has suspended the nursing license of Camp Mystic’s co-director in a scathing order that accused her of not helping children evacuate during last year’s catastrophic floods that killed 25 girls and two teenage counselors. It’s one of the state’s first actions against a member of the family that owns and operates the all-girls Christian camp since the July 4 flood. Last month, Camp Mystic canceled plans to reopenthis summer in the face of outrage from victims’ parents. Mary Liz Eastland, a registered nurse, served as the camp’s medical officer. She has previously acknowledged in court that she…
It’s the fourth federal court in six weeks to reject insurer attempts to relitigate No Surprises determinations, HaloMD said. The dismissals have thrown cold water on insurers’ efforts to contest what they say is rampant fraud under the law.
After bypassing the April 1 deadline and engaging in weeks of debate and compromise, New York lawmakers have agreed on a $268.5 billion budget that includes auto insurance reforms championed by Gov. Kathy Hochul that are intended to reduce auto insurance costs for drivers and businesses. The auto insurance reforms target fraud, “runaway” litigation, legal loopholes, non-economic damages and enforcement gaps in an effort to lower insurance costs. They are key parts of a $268.5 billion budget for the 2026-2027 fiscal year that seeks to tackle rising insurance, energy, housing, childcare, education and other everyday costs for New Yorkers. The…
Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz appeared all but deserted on Thursday as commercial operators remain wary of renewed military escalation.No commercial vessels were spotted transiting the waterway Thursday morning as tensions spiked following a second round of US strikes against Iranian military targets this week. The halt follows a sluggish Wednesday, which saw just six two-way crossings, including a Turkish Suezmax entering to load cargo in the Persian Gulf, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. Iran claimed that several ships attempted unauthorized entry into the Persian Gulf last night, some of which turned back, while two were stopped.…
CNN on Thursday filed a lawsuit against Perplexity in New York federal court, alleging the AI search engine provider is unlawfully distributing its copyrighted content, marking the latest legal tussle between the AI firm and a news publisher. The complaint said that Perplexity unlawfully copied thousands of CNN stories, videos and images to power its products and distributes “identical or substantially similar” competing content. “You can’t copyright facts,” Perplexity spokesperson Jesse Dwyer said in response to the lawsuit. CNN is asking for an unspecified amount of monetary damages and a court order blocking Perplexity from violating its intellectual property rights.…
Convex Group Ltd., the international specialty insurer and reinsurer, announced it has received in-principle approval to launch Lloyd’s Syndicate 1987, which is planned to commence underwriting on July 1, 2026, subject to appropriate regulatory approvals. With capacity to support the approved business plan provided by Convex, Syndicate 1987 will focus exclusively on long-tail specialty lines, deploying capacity across a targeted portfolio of casualty insurance and reinsurance, and political risk and trade credit. Asta will be the managing agent of the new syndicate and Allison Hollern, head of financial institutions at Convex, will become active underwriter, subject to regulatory approval. “The…
Panama’s National Assembly approved a law that requires multinational entities domiciled in the country to demonstrate real local operations or face a 15% tax on passive foreign income, the Ministry of Economy and Finance said on Wednesday. The law is intended to help satisfy European Union tax transparency requirements and support the country’s removal from EU monitoring lists. “At the fiscal level, it requires multinationals to demonstrate that they have physical operations and real activity in a country, beyond just seeking tax advantage,” the National Assembly said in a separate statement on Wednesday. Entities that fail to prove economic substance…
Plenum Investments, the specialist manager of catastrophe bond and other reinsurance-linked assets, has announced that its Plenum CAT Bond Dynamic Fund has crossed approximately USD 600 million in assets under management, which according to the firm underscores the success of the fund’s efficiency-oriented investment approach.We reported back in December 2025, that the Plenum CAT Bond Dynamic Fund had surpassed $500 million. The Plenum CAT Bond Dynamic Fund, launched in 2021 as a UCITS fund, invests exclusively in catastrophe bonds and money market instruments. Now five years in operation, the investment strategy aims to generate attractive excess returns while also maintaining…