TEXAS ADA SUIT SETTLED Humana Inc. and PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. have settled a lawsuit alleging that they violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. The settlement was reached late last month in U.S. District Court in San Antonio. The suit's nine plaintiffs charged that units of the two health care companies and Health Texas Medical Group, a San Antonio medical clinic, violated the ADA by making decisions that denied care to disabled patients. Health Texas also agreed to settlement terms, which are protected by a confidentiality agreement. A spokesman for Louisville, Ky.-based Humana said that company's "actions were appropriate in regards to the services we provided our members." The decision to settle, he said, was not an admission of liability but, rather, was based on "the inherent uncertainties, cost and inconvenience of protracted litigation."

WEB ALLIANCE A unit of Zurich U.S. has forged an alliance with a Web-based provider of business services to help companies gain access to commercial lines coverages and other financial services online. Financial Keyosk, a subsidiary of Schaumburg, Ill.-based Zurich Insurance Agency Inc., has teamed with Lisle, Ill.-based FiNetrics Inc. to offer corporate clients online access to quotes for various commercial insurance products, including property, workers compensation and general liability and employee benefits. Although the alliance plans to market its services to small and midsize businesses, the concept may be expanded within a year to help sophisticated insurance buyers obtain coverage for more-complex risks, a company spokesman said. Financial Keyosk currently can offer customers up to three quotes from participating insurers, including Zurich U.S., according to Keyosk Chief Executive Officer John Dawson. "Within the next year, I expect that these types of insurance services will be available to a sophisticated buyer, such as a risk manager, seeking quotes on complex insurance products for which he or she does not need advice," Mr. Dawson said.

NCQA CUSTOMIZING INFO Employers can now obtain customized versions of health care report cards prepared by the National Committee for Quality Assurance. An employer can, for a fee, post customized NCQA information about those health plans that the employer offers on its own Internet or intranet site. The cost for the service varies by the size of the organization, with the fee topping out at around $7,000 per year for firms with more than 10,000 employees, a NCQA spokesman said. At the most basic level of service, the NCQA will provide the same information that appears on its own Web site, but the information provided will be pruned down to include only those plans an employer uses. This information is sent by the NCQA to the employer, which can post the report card on its Internet or intranet site. The NCQA will update the information every month. At higher levels of service, an employer can provide the NCQA with additional information about each of its chosen plans, such as the name of the hospitals in a particular plan's network or the plan's policies and procedures. The NCQA will package this additional information with its report card and send it to the employer for posting. Employers interested in the service can contact the NCQA at 202-955-5697.

STRATEGY SURVEY Given the competitive pressures their companies face, a recent survey of insurance executives found most of them expecting to change their strategic course. Of the 175 industry executives surveyed by KPMG L.L.P. at the firm's 12th Annual Insurance Industry Conference last month, 30% saw their company in an acquisition mode, 28% said they anticipated pursuing a niche market or product focus, 17% expected to seek an alliance partner, and 15% expected their company to be acquired. Only 10% expected their company to stick to its present strategic course. Asked whom they see as their major competitor over the next three to five years, 53% cited international financial services companies, while 32% identified insurance companies as the expected competition. Asked about e-business, 40% of the insurance executives said their firm lacked a strategic vision, and 26% said their company lacked e-business skills. More than half, 53%, responded that they thought their company was even with its competitors on e-business progress, but 30% said they believed their company was lagging significantly behind its competition.

CHUBB APPOINTMENTS Chubb Financial Solutions Inc., a new risk financing subsidiary of The Chubb Corp., has added eight global risk finance experts, seven of whom come to Chubb from American International Group Inc. The eight new executives include Matthew Cooleen, executive vp and managing director of Chubb Financial Solutions financial products division, formerly president of AIG Structured Finance; Robert B. Gorham, senior vp and chief financial officer, formerly vp at AIG Global Investment Corp.; Cindy Harm, senior vp of the life solutions division, formerly vp at AIG Risk Finance Division; and Maurizia Reeser, senior vp of marketing and communications, formerly vp of marketing and training at AIG Risk Finance. Also, David Rockwell, senior vp and chief credit officer, formerly senior vp and head of credit at AIG Risk Finance; Anton Theunissen, senior vp and chief quantitative officer, formerly chief research officer at AIG Structured Finance; Richard Yonezuka-Brown, senior vp and chief claims officer who joins Chubb from AIG Technical Services; and Mark Leeds, senior vp and general counsel, who previously was a tax partner at Deloitte & Touche L.L.P. Tobey Russ, president and chief executive officer of New York-based Chubb Financial Solutions, came to Chubb in June from AIG, where he had been president of AIG Risk Finance.

BRIEFLY NOTED Houston-based HCC Insurance Holdings Inc. has named Michael R. Taillon as executive vp-underwriting at two HCC subsidiaries, Houston Casualty Co. and U.S. Specialty Insurance Co. Previously, Mr. Taillon was a vp for Kemper Insurance Cos. and for American International Group Inc....St. Paul Re, a unit of the St. Paul, Minn.-based St. Paul Cos. Inc., has named Peter J. Gakos as senior vp-corporate solutions. Mr. Gakos, previously director of financial solutions at Swiss Re New Markets in New York, will be responsible for assisting retail brokers and St. Paul units in developing alternative risk financing programs for St. Paul clients....Peter R. Ziesing has been named president and chief operating officer of Canterbury Financial Group Inc., the specialty program insurance unit of Trenwick Group Ltd. Mr. Ziesing was previously a senior vp at Trenwick America Reinsurance Corp....Diane Aigotti has been named treasurer of Aon Corp. Ms. Aigotti joined the brokerage earlier this year. Previously, she was vp of finance for the University of Chicago Hospitals & Health Systems....The National Conference of Insurance Legislators elected Illinois state Rep. Terry Parke as president during its recent annual meeting in New Orleans. Other officers elected were: New York state Sen. William J. Larkin Jr., president-elect; Missouri state Rep. Chris Liese, vp; Vermont state Rep. Kathleen Keenan, secretary; Florida state Sen. Steven Geller, treasurer; and Texas state Rep. Craig Eiland, chair of the executive committee.