Massachusetts Looks to Increase FAIR Plan Rates

Residents of Massachusetts who rely on FAIR Plans in order to have access to home insurance could see their premiums go up significantly in the near future. FAIR Plans are insurance plans for people living in high-risk areas or with high-risk problems who would otherwise be excluded from getting a cheap home owner insurance quote. These plans are underwritten by the insurance companies operating in each state.

The Massachusetts Property Insurance Underwriting Association (MPIUA) is asking the state for permission to raise its rates for people who get home owner insurance through the FAIR Plan. These increases would range from 1.9 percent for residents with Homeowners Multi-Peril Coverage to seven percent for people with Dwelling Fire and Extended Coverage. The change is needed, say administrators, to cover rising costs within the insurance industry.

The proposed rate increases would go into effect for people getting a home insurance quote through the FAIR Plan after December 31, 2009.

Indian Stock Exchange Members Reject Extended Trading Hours

Strong opposition from members forced India’s National Stock Exchange (NSE) to reconsider plans to increase trade timings. Last month, the Security and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) approved adding an additional two-and-a-half hours of trading time, making the NSE open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. However, members complained about the additional strain this would place on middle office work such as their cashier management system.

The new hours would have helped the NSE integrate with markets in Asia such as Singapore as well as European markets. But an official with the Association of National Stock Exchange Members of India (Anmi) said that domestic markets did not have the sophistication to extend their hours, citing the strain on clearing and settlement systems such as cost basis reporting.

Specifically, the Business Standard said that the extended hours would “put pressure on infrastructure of exchanges as well as market intermediaries and broking companies may have to incur additional costs” by forcing them to stay open later to handle items such as the collateral management system requirements of their clients.

Call Center Support for the Medical Professionals

There are many instances when a person needs to contact his or her doctor, family physician or other medical professional. But many doctors are very hard to reach due to the hectic nature of the medical industry. A professional call answering service provides doctors, dentists and other medical professionals with quality customer service and call routing services to let them better manage their incoming calls and spend more time with their patients.

A qualified call center agency can answer incoming calls and dispatch messages to any combination of devices or email addresses. Many call centers are trained to handle and track urgent calls and can provide customer support to both patients and medical groups. Most importantly, these customer support services will save doctors time and money by directing callers with non-urgent problems to leave a message or to call back during normal business hours.

Answering services are available for large and small practices, general practitioners, specialists, surgeons, home health care facilities and nursing agencies.