Yesterday’s stunning upset win by Republican Scott Brown in Massachusetts’ special election to fill Ted Kennedy’s seat on the Senate sent shock waves through the nation.  Massachusetts usually a staunchly Democratic state elected Scott Brown, a state senator, despite a visit by President Obama on Sunday, campaigning for Democratic candidate Martha Coakly.

Brown has vowed to become the 41st vote need to uphold a Republican filibuster in the health care reform debate.  Unless the committee in charge of reconciling the House and Senate bills can come to an agreement before Brown can take his seat in the Senate, it will likely kill the current versions of health care reform.

Anger over the state of the economy and health care lead to high voter turnout in the special election despite inclement weather.  It also raises the specter of large losses by Democrats in the mid term elections this November.

Democratic leaders will have to seek Republican input and a bipartisan compromise if they still want to move forward the Obama administration’s goal of health care reform.  This will probably end any chance of a government run health option and any future bill will likely be much more scaled down from the two current versions.

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Churchill has recently launched a new pet insurance policy called Pet Emergency. It is an even cheaper cover which protects cats and dogs against the costs of unexpected accident and illnesses from only £3.99 per month and with a 10% online discount.

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InsuranceFraud.org has chronicled the growing practice by scam artists of using kids in fraud schemes, such as the woman from Virginia who staged car crashes with her three young ones in the back seat. The latest case to surface involves systematic corporate greed, using low-income families to rip off Medicaid.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced a $24 million settlement today with Forba Dental Management which operates Small Smiles clinics in 22 states. Forba is accused of pressuring its clinic managers to perform needless and mostly painful procedures on kids.

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Britain’s retired population is increasingly taking more holidays and going further afield, research from Age Concern has found, highlighting the need for over 50s travel insurance.  Age Concern has recorded an increase in sales of annual worldwide travel insurance among its mature customers, rising sharply by 41 per cent in 2009. This not only suggests that the over 50s are going on holiday more frequently then before, but that they are travelling to far-off destinations in record numbers. A select few are being even more adventurous, the figures suggest, with a 20 per cent rise in the number of over 50s looking for winter sports travel insurance.

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The upcoming special election to fill the late Ted Kennedy’s seat in the Senate has Democratic leaders scrambling to reconcile the health care reform bill.  While Democratic candidate Martha Coakly is ahead in the polls, the gap has shrunken in recent weeks and if Republican Scott Brown wins in next week’s election, Democrats would lose the 60th vote they need to bypass a filibuster.

Unless Democrats in the House and the Senate can come to an agreement soon, it may mean the end to the Obama administration’s goal of sweeping health care reform.  The race in Massachusetts in ironic in a sense that it is the only state in the nation currently mandating universal health care, as well as the fact the seat that is to be filled belonged to man who for decades has championed health care reform.

However, Democrats are worried over mounting public backlash over the economy as well as doubts surrounding health care reform in general.  While the universal health care in Massachusetts has decreased the number of uninsured people in the state, costs have been much higher than expected and the state has had to seek federal aid to cover it’s shortfall.

Even if the Republicans win next week and Democrats are unable to come to a compromise in time, it would only mean that they would have to come back to the table and seek a bipartisan compromise unlike what was recently passed in the House and Senate where one lone Republican congressman voted in favor of their respective bills.

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Sheila’s Wheels has broadened its product range to include travel insurance with the launch of a policy aimed at the ’savvy female holidaymaker’.

The new insurance package will have standard ‘handbag on holiday’ cover plus a ‘kids-go-free’ feature and these will be included on both single and two-parent family policies. It also offers access to a 24-hour helpline to provide support in emergency situations and a ‘travel-bag’ top up option, which gives extended-trip travellers, or people who like to pack more, the option of paying a higher baggage limit.

Jacky Brown, spokesperson for Sheilas Wheels, said: “Traditional travel insurance cover has, until now, remained unisex in its offerings but Sheila’s Wheels travel insurance looks to target the savvy, female holidaymaker. Read more…

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