NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As Baby Boomers approach retirement age, one of the most important decisions they’ll make is when to begin taking Social Security benefits. According to the Social Security Administration, nearly 80 million Americans will become eligible for Social Security retirement benefits over the next two decades: more than 10,000 per day on average. To help consumers simplify the decision-making process and maximize their Social Security benefit and income in retirement, MetLife today announced the launch of the MetLife Social Security Decision Tool (http://www.metlife.com/SocialSecurity). This is the first comprehensive online tool to combine life expectancy tables with a Social Security benefits calculation in a simplified way.

“Social Security plays a critical role in helping consumers create a steady stream of retirement income. It is effectively the largest social insurance program, which relies on a principle known as pooling. It uses the power of large numbers of participants to ensure income for all,” said Joseph W. Jordan, senior vice president of Individual Business Marketing at MetLife. “Large insurance companies rely on the same principle to provide, as an example, guaranteed income through their annuity products.”

“For two-thirds of older Americans, Social Security represents 50 percent or more of their income, and often serves as the foundation of their overall retirement strategy,” said Beth Hirschhorn, MetLife’s senior vice president, Global Brand and Marketing Services. “Unfortunately, a significant percentage of Americans are not maximizing their lifetime income Social Security benefit or making the most of what they have for retirement – due, in part, to a lack of understanding about their average life expectancy.”

For Most, It Pays to Wait

While Social Security is only one part of an individual’s retirement income, understanding the lifetime value of benefits is a powerful tool to help clients build a retirement income strategy to meet their goals. Taking into account age, gender, years of employment, income and average life expectancy, the patent-pending MetLife Social Security Decision Tool calculates the financial impact of starting Social Security at different ages in just three simple steps.

“More than 70 percent of Americans apply for Social Security benefits as soon as they are eligible. Yet, individuals who take benefits before reaching their full retirement age run the risk of leaving money on the table, and, more importantly, potentially putting them at risk of outliving their assets. They are not only impacting their financial security, but the security of their spouse and their dependents,” added Jordan.

“What some consumers don’t realize is that, if they waited until age 67 or even age 70, they could potentially receive considerably higher payments. Often, it ‘pays to wait’ even if waiting means that they’ll need to bridge the income gap. Of course, some individuals may need – out of financial hardship – to take Social Security benefits early,” added Jordan. “That’s why it’s best to consult with a financial advisor before making any important retirement income decisions since it will greatly affect your ability to enjoy a comfortable and secure retirement.”

Since MetLife began piloting the new Social Security Decision Tool on its web site, more than 20,000 individuals have visited the tool’s web page. www.metlife.com

* One in every three UnitedHealthcare customers in the individual market is covered by an HSA plan

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) announced that enrollment in its consumer-driven health (CDH) plans has surpassed 2.7 million individuals at UnitedHealthcare and its affiliates (UnitedHealthcare), and for the first time more consumers are covered by a health plan connected to a health savings account (HSA) than a health reimbursement account (HRA). The numbers illustrate a continuing rise in the popularity of HSAs, which have been offered for just four years, compared to HRAs, which have been available since 2000.

As of March 31, 2008, UnitedHealthcare’s CDH plans included 1.38 million people covered by a health plan with an HSA, and 1.34 million people covered by a health plan with an HRA. This includes both CDH plans in the employer-sponsored market, as well as plans purchased by individuals and families.

“More employers and consumers are discovering that consumer-driven health plans, and health savings accounts in particular, are among the most effective ways to give people greater control over their health care spending and can help drive more affordable coverage,” said Meredith Baratz, vice president of Market Solutions for UnitedHealthcare’s Definity CDH portfolio. “Consumer-driven health plans, especially when coupled with robust health information and education programs, give people the tools they need to become more informed health care consumers. Our studies show that they get the preventive care they need to stay healthy and take a more active role in managing their health-related finances in these programs.”

More than 22,500 employers now offer a CDH plan through UnitedHealthcare. In fact, membership through large national companies offering a health plan connected to an HSA or HRA increased by more than 325,000 participants from December 2007 to March 2008, signaling the largest new year increase in CDH enrollment for large customers since the plans became available.

As participation in HSA-based health plans has rapidly increased, so has the related health banking activity. UnitedHealth Group’s OptumHealth Bank (formerly Exante Bank) reported that, as of March 31, 2008, HSA deposits total $580 million. About $25 million of those deposits have been invested in a variety of mutual fund options offered by OptumHealth Bank, reinforcing the long-term tax-advantaged savings potential of HSAs.

The rise in popularity of HSAs extends beyond employers. In the individual market, UnitedHealthcare’s Golden Rule Insurance Company, which helped pioneer the HSA concept more than 15 years ago, says that 38 percent of its customers nationally are now covered by HSA plans. More importantly, 40 percent of customers purchasing individual HSA-qualified plans in 2007 indicated that they had no previous health insurance coverage.

“We believe the more consumers learn about health savings accounts and how they work, the more they will understand the affordability, tax savings and control over health care spending that HSA plans offer,” said Richard A. Collins, president of UnitedHealthcare’s individual business. www.unitedhealthcare.com

"Employers and individuals across the country and across the age spectrum are choosing HSA plans, which are now an important part of the portfolio of coverage options offered by health plans," said Karen Ignagni, President and CEO of AHIP.

Key findings from the census include:

--  There was an increase of approximately 1.6 million Americans enrolled in an HSA plan since January 2007.  Previous censuses found that 4.5 million were enrolled in January 2007, 3.2 million were enrolled in January 2006, and 1.0 million were enrolled in March 2005.

--  30 percent of individuals covered by an HSA plan were in the small-group market, 45 percent of individuals covered by an HSA plan were in the large-group market, and the remaining 25 percent were in the individual market.

--  HSA products accounted for 31 percent of new coverage issued in the small-group market. Individual market consumers selected HSA products for 27 percent of their new purchases of health insurance.

--  HSA plan enrollment as a percentage of individuals with private coverage is estimated to be the highest in Minnesota (9.2 percent), Louisiana (9.0 percent), Washington, D.C. (8.7 percent), Vermont (7.5 percent) and The full 2008 census can be viewed here: http://www.ahipresearch.org/pdfs/2008_HSA_Census.pdf.

Click here to view a PowerPoint on the HSA census: http://www.ahipresearch.org/pdfs/AHIP_HSA08_PPTslides.pdf.

America's Health Insurance Plans - Providing Health Benefits to More Than 200 Million Americans

LONDON, April 30 (Reuters) - Fitch Ratings unveiled a new methodology on Wednesday for rating corporate collateralised debt obligations, which it said would lead to affirmations of many ratings and downgrades of some others by several notches.

In early February, following criticism that debt ratings agencies played a role in creating the credit crisis, Fitch announced an initial proposal for an overhaul, which it said would lead to an average downgrade of five notches of the $75 billion worth of synthetic, investment-grade CDOs it rates.

Investors expressed fears that the severity of the initial overhaul could kick the credit derivatives market into another tailspin, and at end-March, the ratings agency extended its review and said its new plans would lead to less severe downgrades than initially expected.

In contrast with their comments in February, Fitch executives on Wednesday declined to give any figures on how many CDOs would be affected and to what degree by the final version.

"While Fitch expects many ratings to be affirmed, downgrades are also expected, in some cases by several rating notches," it said in a statement.

Its review will cover about 500 existing CDOs, including 400 synthetic CDOs and 100 cash CDOs for a total value of $110 billion to $120 billion, Fitch executives said.

"Our approach is intended to create more stable and predictive ratings, especially for the highest ratings categories, and our aim is to restore investor confidence in ratings as an accurate and relative measure of risk," Ken Gill, Fitch managing director for structured credit, told Reuters.

(Editing by Will Waterman)

© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved

ORANGE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Word & Brown Companies (www.wordandbrowncompanies.com)  announced today that it has acquired Quotit Corporation (http://www.quotit.com), the nation’s leading Internet application service provider for the health insurance and employee benefits industry. Quotit is the fourth and most recent company in The Word & Brown Companies’ portfolio, which includes multiple U.S.-based divisions centered in the health insurance services industry.

Travelers preferred provider status means that the members of the Michigan Association of Community Bankers and the Community Bankers Association of Ohio will be able to take advantage of the Travelers SelectOne® for community banks portfolio of products. www.travelers.com

The tornadoes downed trees and power lines and made travel dangerous. In hardest-hit Suffolk (population 82,000), local police have closed several roads and abandoned cars remain along highways. An estimated 150 homes in the Suffolk area sustained damaged. The Suffolk tornado was the third in the series of three, striking between 4:30 and 5:00 p.m. Described as "major" by a NWS meteorologist, it touched down multiple times, causing some of the most severe damage in the Driver and Obici neighborhoods. In Driver, eight buildings were damaged and three were flattened. In another neighborhood nearby, two houses were completely wiped from their foundations, leaving only concrete slabs, while homes on the opposite side of the street suffered only minor damage from flying debris. The Suffolk storm also damaged the Sentara Obici Hospital, though it remained open to treat the injured.

Dr. Doggett continued, “Meteorologists are still determining the intensity of the Suffolk tornado. Because the lifetime of a tornado is generally brief and because they typically occur out of the range of weather stations due to their relatively small size, measured wind speeds are rarely available. Therefore tornado intensity is estimated after the fact based on observed damage. If the Suffolk tornado is declared an EF3 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, as some meteorologists are suggesting, it will be the strongest tornado to hit Virginia in nearly 60 years.”

The first tornado to strike yesterday—declared an EF1 (86 mph to 110 mph) by the National Weather Service—touched down around 1 p.m. in Colonial Heights and cut a 300-yard path of destruction. Two homes were destroyed. Downed trees and power lines littered the area.

The second tornado struck Colonial Heights (south of Richmond) around 3:40 p.m. Eighteen people were injured. The storm also caused extensive damage to the Southpark mall. In the mall parking lot, cars were tossed about. Elsewhere in Colonial Heights, the storm blew the porch off a general store. Another store roof—tin—completely collapsed. Windows were blown out of homes, and an antique store lost its second floor. www.air-worldwide.com

The following are just a few of the features that are included in the Journey 2008 base system:

1.         All areas of screen hints have been updated

•           Tax brackets

•           Inflation rates

•           College costs

•           Medical Care costs for Long-term Care

2.         Updated Social Security figures for behind-the-scenes calculations

•           Retirement

•           Survivorship

3.         All Marketing information contains the latest information

•           Social Security

•           Household debt

•           History of inflation

Tapestry 2008 includes these updates and features:

1.         New modules added for

•           Private Financing: the use of the loan tax regime in the family split-dollar market

•           Private Split-Dollar vs. Private Financing: a quick comparison of the ‘cost’ of each

2.         New variable finance rate input was added for the Premium Financing modules and for the Employee-owned Split-Dollar module

3.         A new report for Discounted Dollars was added to the Policy Value Analysis module

4.         All new hints for 2008 Tax Brackets

Find out about other included features or take the latest versions for a test drive! Logon to www.coss.com  where you can download the demo version.

SAN DIEGO, CALIF., April 29, 2008—The Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) released its Risk Management Professional Growth Model today at RIMS 2008 Annual Conference & Exhibition in San Diego. RIMS Quality Advisory Council developed the model as a way to assess various risk manager experience levels and corresponding skill sets, and to be used as a guide in professional development. The career tool is being distributed to all RIMS members starting in May will be made available as a benefit to new members.

Access RIMS Risk Management Professional Growth Model at www.RIMS.org/Quality.

The report is titled "Record Share Buybacks for US P&C Insurers."

Under this arrangement, Aetna and ICS will offer plan and claim administration for self-insured voluntary disability plans, which includes paying claims for customers’ employees and managing short-term disability and paid family leaves. Aetna will provide all sales, sales support, implementation support, claims administration and customer reporting to VDI customers. www.innovativecaresystems.com  www.aetna.com

THE TIME EFFECTIVE WAY TO STAY AHEAD  

• Standard Life impresses
• S & P revise AEGON outlook to negative
• PartnerRe posts solid result but net income down
• Fitch warns on global reinsurers
• 2nd MENA CEO Insurance Summit
• BlueWave launches claims processing solution
• FSA publish interim report on Retail Distribution Review
• FBD rejects Eureko overtures
• Defacto comments on the future of the UK retail broker
• China Life shares dip after profit decline
• Max New York Life to receive capital boost
• Allianz down 66%
• Friends Provident new business up overall but down in UK
• Norwich Union brand to go
• AXIS Capital better
• Lincoln National down 27%
• Big dip at ACE
• Ping An net profit up
• Management buy out at A-Plan with Barclays backing
• Worst first quarter catastrophe losses in US for a decade
• Staff cuts planned at Guy Carpenter
• Broker Services and Remuneration Study launched at RIMS
• Cordys launches insurance operations platform
• IASB gets industry support for development of global insurance standard
• Cooper Gay to float
• EMB launches new version of pricing software
• Advent reports loss
• Net income down at CNA
• Isle of Man proposes incorporated cell companies
• IIB sees demise of small brokers if commission disclosure becomes mandatory
• Improvement at Humana
• The Hartford hit by capital losses
• Flagstone Re to buy stake in Alliance International Reinsurance

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc (C.N) said on Wednesday it has sold $4.5 billion of common stock, 50 percent more than originally expected, at a discount to raise capital, a sale that dilutes the holdings of existing shareholders.

The sale means the largest U.S. bank has raised more than $40 billion of capital since late last year. Citigroup has struggled with debt write-downs and credit losses, and posted net losses of close to $15 billion over the last two quarters.

(Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Dave Zimmerman)

© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved

BEVERLY HILLS, California (Reuters) - The U.S. economy may be in a funk, but that's nothing compared with the pall hanging over Wall Street.

Some of the biggest U.S. investors said on Tuesday they expected the nation's economy to get worse, but then work its way toward recovery later this year.

On Wall Street, however, the road back to health will take much longer.

"It is the Great Depression on Wall Street. It sure isn't on Main Street," Ken Griffin, chief executive of hedge fund Citadel Investment Group LLC, said during a panel at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California.

According to Griffin and other top U.S. investors at the conference, the credit and housing crises that led to hundreds of billions of dollars in losses for Wall Street firms will take those investment banks years to claw back from.

(Editing by Tomasz Janowski)

© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved

* New York Sen. Hillary Clinton's plan, estimated to cost about $110 billion per year, would require all Americans to get health insurance. Under a public-private partnership, they would keep existing coverage or choose from private insurance options that members of Congress receive. Individuals may also choose a public plan similar to Medicare. Plan creates new federal subsidies for those who can't afford coverage and imposes new mandates on large employers to provide health insurance or help pay for it. Small business will receive tax breaks to provide health coverage. Plan forces insurance companies to give coverage to everyone, ending discrimination based on pre-existing conditions. Drug companies would also be required to offer fair prices.

* Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's plan provides health coverage for almost all Americans. Creates national public insurance program to allow individuals and small businesses to buy affordable health care similar to that available to federal employees. No one will be turned way or charged more due to illness and everyone who needs it will receive a subsidy for their premiums. Requires all employers to contribute toward health coverage for their employees or toward the cost of the public plan. Creates a national health insurance exchange to reform the private insurance market. Mandates that all children have health care coverage.

* The plan by Arizona Sen. John McCain, the Republican candidate, emphasizes containing costs rather than covering the uninsured, proposing a tax credit of $2,500 to low-income individuals and $5,000 to low-income families who obtain their own insurance. He would not force anyone to leave an employer-based program and would seek solutions for those with pre-existing medical conditions, including creating gap coverage and working with states that create insurance pools for high-risk individuals.

(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The rally in U.S. hospital stocks, prompted by a major earnings beat by Universal Health Services (UHS.N), may be overdone as unpaid medical bills and slowing patient admissions dog the sector.

The waning economy is expected to weigh heavily on hospitals as more Americans lose their jobs and with that, health insurance.

Nonetheless, stocks of Universal and peers including Tenet Healthcare (THC.N), and Health Management Associates (HMA.N) were buoyed by Universal's first-quarter results, which beat Wall Street analysts' average forecast by 31 cents per share.

(Editing by Tim Dobbyn)

© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MetLife today announced that it has revamped its variable annuity product suite to include an optional Enhanced Death Benefit rider; upgrades to two of its living benefit riders, Guaranteed Minimum Income Benefit Plus (GMIB Plus/Predictor Plussm) and Lifetime Withdrawal Guaranteesm (LWG); investment flexibility for all three riders and three new asset allocation portfolios composed of American Funds Insurance Series® portfolios and the new Met/Franklin Templeton Founding Strategy Portfolio, all of which are managed by Met Investors Advisory, LLC.