Not A Sure Thing

S&Ls and banks aren't the only institutions in trouble. Failures in the insurance industry could boost the cost of policies for almost everyone.

Don't scream, but we may have yet another mess to worry about: an insurance crisis. And while there's no reason at this stage to think it will rival the savings and loan crisis, never underestimate the worldwide insurance industry. It's tightly interconnected, and nothing about it is small.

Lah-de-dah, you say. Almost every state has an insurance guaranty fund (though it's generally illegal to refer to it when selling insurance), so it's not my problem.

Oh, yeah?

Consider the case of Jeannette Shulda, rendered a quadriplegic in 1984. She was helping her long-haul trucker husband when a pallet fell on her,...

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