The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the need for life insurance, and the easiest way for most people to get a policy is through their employer, writes Greg Poulakos of Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield. Employers should choose policy options that go beyond the minimum and educate their employees on the benefits, he writes.

Handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, drug prices and overturning the Affordable Care Act were key topics during the first presidential debate Tuesday night between President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden. Trump touted his handling of COVID-19 and efforts to reduce drug prices, and Biden said protections for people with preexisting conditions would end if the ACA is overturned by the US Supreme Court.

A New Jersey state court has allowed one coronavirus-related business interruption case to move forward, while a Kansas City, Mo., federal court has allowed three such cases. Meanwhile, federal courts in New York, Michigan, Washington, D.C., and Texas, and a Michigan state court, have rejected such cases, and one attorney believes the "courts are looking for some physical manifestation."

The Sackler family, owners of Purdue Pharma, could be the target of opioid victims, who are asking a judge to remove an order that shields the family. The company's Chapter 11 plan in the works would protect the family from lawsuits indefinitely, said a group of opioid victims.

Half of all the cars produced by 2024 will have some sort of autonomous capability, said an International Data Corporation report. Vehicles will Level 1 autonomy will grow at an annualized rate of 11.5% between 2019 and 2024, said the report.

Fitch Ratings says that directors and officers insurance claims will continue over the near-term, and payouts will continue for years. The D&O direct incurred loss ratio for the first-half of 2020 hit the highest mid-year levels in a decade -- coming in at 62%, said Fitch.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. experienced a ransomware attack over the weekend, which affected a "limited portion" of its internal systems, the company said. The company took down all of its systems at Gallagher Bassett Services Inc. and its website remained down as of yesterday, but the company does not expect it to have a material impact on the business.

Life insurance companies have less exposure to coronavirus-related death claims than initially thought, with Credit Suisse analyst Andrew Kligerman saying companies are lowering estimates by an average of 40% to 50%. This is due in large part to the fact that many coronavirus-related deaths are among the elderly and minorities, two groups that are more likely to have either small policies or no life insurance at all.

The Financial Regulatory Working Group, a coalition of 20 US and UK financial trade associations and industry bodies, has relaunched as the British American Finance Alliance. The group has released a scoping paper outlining a vision to foster cross-border regulatory dialogue and cooperation.

The Food and Drug Administration approved new opioid drugs from 1997 to 2018 using data from studies that only looked at the short-term effects and excluded negative data, a Johns Hopkins study found. Certain drug approvals did not include new trails, and instead looked at data from previously approved drugs for effectiveness, the study says.