Markets

Psychological and social factors (e.g., mental illness, a history of being physically abused, eligibility for compensation, etc.) are extremely well-established as being predictive of the development of chronic pain.

Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty has ordered 16 workers' compensation insurance companies or groups to return a total of over $9.4 million in excessive profits to their policyholders.

Former Editor Thomas J. Slattery, who passed away last week, revolutionized the journalism practiced by National Underwriter, says current Editor Sam Friedman in his blog today at www.NUSamSoapBox.com.

A Chinese drywall maker announced that it settled a case brought against it by U.S. homebuilder, Beazer Homes, for an undisclosed dollar amount.

Reinsurers have not been especially disciplined, and they in fact prolonged a soft insurance market that should have ended a year ago, a leading reinsurance broker says.

U.S. commercial property and casualty insurance rates were down 4 percent on average last month.

Officials from the crop insurance industry are voicing opposition to a proposal by an Iowa State University professor that the current system be replaced with a direct subsidy program.

With all tourist attraction businesses suffering in this struggling economy, insurers writing bed and breakfast establishments are experiencing many of the same problems as those who handle larger, more standard hotel risks.