The federal government pays large subsidies to farmers to cover their crop insurance. These subsidies run about $7.8 billion a year, but now an Environmental Working Group is proposing a 2012 farm bill that would reform the insurance program and potentially save taxpayers up to $18.5 billion over 10 years. 

Acording to OnlineAutoInsurance.com, hybrid and electric car owners oftentimes pay more for car insurance than gas-powered vehicle owners. Hybrid cars tend to be more expensive than non-hybrids, making them more expensive to insure. People who drive more also may lean towards purchasing a hybrid car to save on gas mileage, and those who spend more time on the road often run into higher premiums because they have a higher risk of getting into an accident.

Hartford Life Insurance failed to comply with New York law's requirement of a 60% medical loss ratio for their accidental death and dismemberment coverage. Because of this oversight, the company must issue credits adding up to $24 million to 30,000 of their customers. Currently insured customers will receive a 35% discount for 36 months.

Nationwide Insurance was honored with an industry excellence award for Project of the Year at the recent 2012 AOTMP conference in Orlando. The Columbus-based insurance provider earned the award for their Employee Owned Smartphone project, which allows Nationwide associates to share one mobile device for work and personal use.

Queen Mary, University of London psychiatrists conducted a study of driving habits via computer-based tests of 140 volunteers and made an interesting discovery. We've all heard time and time again that, as a whole, women are statistically proven to be worse drivers than men, but based on the research gay men are also found to be poorer drivers. Compared to heterosexual men, both women and gay men performed worse in spatial awareness tasks and navigation.

Executive Life Insurance of New York has been struggling for quite some time, and now a Nassau County judge has ruled the company insolvent and ordered a liquidation proceeding. Executive Life payees are none too happy with the judge's decision because some of them won't receive 100% of their annuity benefits.  

The Commonwealth Fund released a study on Thursday that found 26% of working-age Americans went without health insurance for a certain period in 2011. The lack of insurance was due to factors such as unemployment or job transitioning, and it affected an estimated 48 million Americans. 

In what was both the deadliest and costliest series of natural disasters in Alabama’s history, the tornadoes, hail and thunderstorms that tore through the state between April 22^nd and April 28^th accounted for almost $3 billion of the state’s $3.2 billion total insured losses for 2011.