Listen to the article 6 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Puneet Maheshwari is the senior vice president and general manager for Optum Real at Optum. On any given weekday morning, care providers nationwide sit staring at computer screens, navigating and cross-checking patient approval and reimbursement forms. On average, the paperwork to schedule and process an MRI takes up to seven business days to complete. The scan itself takes only about 45 minutes. It’s an increasingly common scenario: Providers spend more time on administrative processes than on patient care. Artificial intelligence is being deployed across claims processing at…
Author: Awais
In order for the global insurance and reinsurance industry to meet the significant risk capital needs of the AI infrastructure and data centre build-out opportunity, securitization and third-party capital are going to be critical, Dean Klisura, CEO of Guy Carpenter said today.But, the size of the opportunity is seen as so large that investors are going to need to have deep pockets, the CEO explained during a Marsh earnings call today. Underwriting the data centre build-out, where technology giants, hyperscalers and artificial intelligence start-ups are deploying hundreds of billions of dollars to construct new capacity to power and serve their…
AM Best has revised the outlooks to positive from stable and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of B++ (Good) and a Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “bbb+” (Good) of Aventus Insurance Company based in Fort Worth, Texas. These Credit Ratings (ratings) reflect Aventus’ balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its adequate operating performance, limited business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management (ERM). The revision of the outlooks to positive from stable reflects consistent growth in capital, with increases regularly generated from profitable core operations. The expectation is for the company to continue to…
Editorial Note: This brief was updated on January 29, 2026, to include the latest KFF polling data. It was originally published on December 14, 2021. For many years, KFF polling has found that the high cost of health care is a burden on U.S. families, and that health care costs factor into decisions about insurance coverage and care seeking. These costs also rank as the top financial worry for adults and their families. This data note summarizes recent KFF polling on the public’s experiences with health care costs. Main takeaways include: Just under half of U.S. adults say it is…
U.S. auto safety regulators are investigating a Waymo autonomous vehicle that struck a child near a school in Santa Monica, California, the second recent probe to examine the behavior of the Alphabet Inc. unit’s robotaxis near children. The vehicle collided with the child who was running across a street from behind a double-parked SUV, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Thursday in a notice disclosing the probe. The Jan. 23 incident took place within two blocks of an elementary school during drop off hours, with children, a crossing guard and other double parked vehicles nearby, NHTSA said. Waymo, which…
The owner of the Massachusetts assisted living facility Gabriel House where 10 people were killed and 30 injured in a fire last July has been denied access to insurance proceeds he told a court are needed to repair the facility and pay employees and taxes. Judge Joseph Ditkoff of the Massachusetts Appeals Court rejected a bid by Dennis Etzkorn, a member of the real estate ownership trust and owner of the assisted living services firm Gabriel Care that operated the facility, to access the funds due under a $6 million property insurance policy issued by Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. The…
The Missouri Department of Commerce & Insurance (DCI) sent a bulletin to insurers this week requesting they provide current catastrophe/disaster coordination contact information. The bulletin, sent on Jan. 27, says that the contact should be available to communicate directly with the DCI Director and senior department leadership following a disaster within the state. This includes high-level communications about the department’s response efforts, the company’s response efforts, logistics issues, and other urgent or non-urgent regulatory matters. The contact should be able to discuss or make resources available to the department to discuss media-related inquiries, coordinate joint communication and consumer outreach efforts,…
Marsh reported fourth quarter revenue of $6.6 billion, an increase of 9% from $6.1 billion reported during the same period in 2024. Organic, or underlying growth, during Q4 was 4%, down from 7% in Q4 2024. Q4 2025 operating income rose 7% to $1.2 billion, while net income attributable to the company was $821 million, compared with $788 billion in Q4 2024. Q4 2025 earnings per share were $1.68. Revenue for full-year 2025 was $27.0 billion, an increase of 10% on a GAAP basis or 4% on an underlying/organic basis, compared with 2024. (Revenue for FY 2024 was $24.5 billion…
What brokers should know as boardroom risk comes into focus
Maia Rosenfeld JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — In 2019, after a routine vaccination, 11-year-old Keithron Thomas felt a sharp pain in his shoulder and down his arm. His mother, Melanie Bostic, thought it would go away after a few days. But days turned to weeks, then months, and years. Bostic learned of a federal program designed to help people who suffer rare vaccine reactions. The Vaccine Injury Compensation Program was created in 1986 after a flood of vaccine injury lawsuits drove drugmakers from the market. Congress aimed to offer a faster and more generous path to compensation for people injured by vaccines,…
An Alabama insurance agent running for governor is challenging U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s eligibility to seek the office, accusing the football coach-turned-politician of not meeting the legal requirement to have lived in the state for seven years. Ken McFeeters, who is running against Tuberville for the Republican nomination for governor, filed the challenge Tuesday with the Alabama Republican Party. McFeeters in a phone interview said he believes Tuberville lives in a multimillion-dollar beach home in Florida instead of a smaller home that he has listed as his residence in Auburn, Alabama. McFeeters Property tax records show the former Auburn University…
Losses tied to floods in Southeast Asia may grow as much as 10-fold in the coming years due to the rise of extreme weather events, according to Willis Towers Watson Plc. Early indications suggest that major regional flooding events have the potential to cause economic losses in excess of $10 billion, compared with the $1 to $2 billion range typical of the past decade, according to the Natural Catastrophe Review 2026 report published by the insurance broker. “Warmer oceans, shifting formation zones and greater track sensitivity mean that past patterns are becoming less reliable guides to future risk,” Srivatsan Vijayaraghavan,…
Listen to the article 6 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. 2026 is an “execution year” for Teladoc Health, CEO Chuck Divita told Healthcare Dive. The telehealth company has spent the past year focusing on a strategy shift, prioritizing international expansion, improving operating efficiency, better leveraging its mental health assets and enhancing its integrated care business. The goal is to deliver sustainable long-term growth at Teladoc, which has seen its stock price decline significantly from the heights reached during the COVID-19 pandemic. To that end, the virtual care giant completed multiple acquisitions last…
Europe’s food safety regulator will publish advice on what is an acceptable level of the toxin currently at the heart of one of the biggest infant formula recalls in history. The European Food Safety Authority will establish an “acute reference dose” for cereulide in infant formula, effectively setting a threshold level which if exceeded would trigger a recall, the group announced on Wednesday, confirming an earlier Bloomberg News report. It will also provide information on typical and higher-end consumption levels of infant formula. The move comes after the world’s largest infant formula producer, Nestlé SA recalled hundreds of products potentially…