The Fine Print – Presented by Insure.com

If you’ve ever had to wait years to get a court date, or sat on a hard bench in a drafty courthouse waiting for the judge to resolve some longstanding matter, here’s one reason: Maurice “Hank” Greenberg.

Greenberg, the former chairman and CEO of what once was the worlds’ largest insurer, American International Group (AIG), is arguably the most litigious person in America – maybe with the exception of a former convict who filed 2,600 lawsuits while behind bars.

Greenberg’s name pops up in the Lexis-Nexis database more times than you can count: Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) actions; securities suits by the New York attorney general; AIG shareholders’ suits against him; suits against AIG and him; suits by AIG against him after he left the insurer, and, finally, a federal lawsuit which refers to him as an “unindicted co-conspirator.” (continue reading…)

A house in Union Beach, N.J., after Sandy

Hurricane Sandy floored me. Its overpowering storm surge flooded my home on the Jersey shore. So I went to my local Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Disaster Recovery center looking for help.

First, a sweet, middle-aged woman gave me lots of information and pamphlets on “retrofitting” my waterlogged home. Then the FEMA lady dropped a bombshell. “We may tell you that you can no longer live in your home,” she said. “You should check with your local municipal building office.”

Trick or treat

On the eve of Mischief Night, Superstorm Sandy, the second most expensive storm in U.S. history, cut a huge swath through the New Jersey coastline, as well as flooding low lying areas of Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and Staten Island. It sent residents of the heavily populated East Coast begging for help from FEMA. (continue reading…)

 A friend recently came to a decision that fewer and fewer of us are able to make. At the age of 64 he bought long-term care insurance for himself and his wife.

Sales of long-term care insurance, which helps pay for home health care and stays in a nursing home, among other things, have declined in recent years, according to a study by Conning Research & Consulting. Only about 6 percent of all long-term care costs are now funded by insurance.

And this is happening even as the baby boom generation moves toward their ’80s, when many of them will need long-term care and may not be able to afford it. Nursing homes today cost an average of $81,000 a year, according to Genworth’s Cost of Care study — and that figure will only rise. (continue reading…)

“Love means never having to say you’re sorry” is an oft quoted line from the novel and movie Love Story. But backed by new state laws, modern medicine has given it new meaning. Doctors and hospitals are now being encouraged to say “we’re sorry” when they make a serious mistake and there’s the potential threat of a medical malpractice suit.

So don’t be surprised when something goes wrong in a doctor’s office, clinic or hospital and you get a registered letter of apology. It’s all part of a plan to avoid long-running feuds, which not only run up legal fees and costs to insurers, but also take up court time and ultimately add to everyone’s medical costs.

Medicine has come a long way since the 1993 movie Malice in which actor Alec Baldwin ranted that, as a famous surgeon, “I am God.” (continue reading…)

The recent mass killings by mentally unstable individuals with high-powered weapons have forced everyone, including the National Rifle Association (NRA), to open up a dialogue about how to put an end to it.

Some, such as NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre, propose that we have armed guards and teachers in every school. Not that long ago this would have been laughable. Now Utah is already training its teachers to arm themselves for self-defense.

Others advocate limiting semi-automatic weapons and large capacity magazines. Liberals favor this, but face staunch opposition from conservatives who believe that any ground given up moves them to the total gun ban approach found in Great Britain, which wouldn’t even let some of its own Olympic team practice. (continue reading…)