Allstate Insurance anticipates that it will release the final tallies on October catastrophe losses when the damages from Hurricane Sandy can be estimated. Whatever the number is, the company expects final damages to exceed $150 million, according to a news release last week (Nov. 15).

Winter storm Athena does not appear to be showing any mercy on the Northeastern United States following the Hurricane Sandy catastrophe in late October. As part of the encroaching storm, Allstate is mobilizing with preparation tips for customers who are or will be affected by the landfall.

Allstate Insurance and Allstate New Jersey have decided not to apply tropical cyclone and hurricane deductibles for Hurricane Sandy victims along the Atlantic coastline.

The affected states that will avoid the deductible are Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Virginia.

Hurricane Sandy has battered the Atlantic coastline and even brought two polarized politicians together in New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and President Barack Obama, during a presidential election year no less. Extraordinary things happen when a disaster the caliber of Sandy strikes, and insurance companies are not immune from the ensuing chaos. This chaos creates an added burden on survivors, who must move forward with picking up the pieces after the disaster is finished. For these individuals, the hard part could just be beginning.

Hurricane Sandy has not finished battering the hundreds of miles of coastline along the Atlantic Ocean, and already there are conflicting reports about what may happen with homeowner insurance premiums. Following a 2011 in which the global damages due to natural disasters totaled somewhere north of $100 billion, Reuters reports, the insurance industry could reportedly withstand damage claims of $10 billion, more than the $1 billion in damages that some reports are speculating Sandy will produce.

How much do you make in a year? 

If you’re a New Yorker in need of health insurance, and the answer isn’t “A lot,” then you may find yourself going without, according to recent findings from a variety of self-insurance plans. 

The New York Daily News reported on Sunday (Aug. 26) that self-insurers are hit the hardest because of “many healthy New Yorkers” going without insurance for an indefinite period of time.

A teacher and a funeral parlor owner in New Zealand were busted for operating an insurance scam in which they stole people's identities, took out funeral policies in their names, and claimed the money from insurance companies. After running this scam for years, they were ultimately caught by a police officer whose identity they had stolen.

Death by auto-erotic electrocution is a pretty embarrassing way to kick the bucket, but it's even more embarrassing for the family members left behind to deal with insurance companies and media scrutiny. That's the case for Amanda Martin, a woman who was originally denied her late husband's accidental death benefits claim but later had the decision reversed by a court of appeals.