NEW YORK—An American International Group Inc. unit is introducing a policy that covers companies’ liability if they are accused of negligently handling private or confidential data.

The Security & Privacy Insurance policy offers limits of up to $15 million, with a minimum retention of $25,000, said a spokesman for New York-based AIG. The policy is being offered by AIG unit National Union Fire Insurance Co. of Pittsburgh, Pa.

MENLO PARK - Employee healthcare expenses top the list of worries for financial executives today, a new survey shows. Nearly half (49 percent) of chief financial officers (CFOs) polled recently cited the rising cost of insurance and healthcare as one of their three most pressing concerns. When asked how they are addressing it, more than half (53 percent) of respondents said they are cutting spending in other areas of the company.

STAMFORD, Conn.—U.S. tort costs increased 5.9% to $260.1 billion in 2004 and are likely to grow a somewhat faster rate through 2007, according to a study released Monday by the Tillinghast unit of Towers Perrin.

The 2004 growth rate represented a slight increase over 2003’s 5.5% growth rate but remained below 2004’s economic growth rate of 6.6%, which was somewhat unusual, the report said. "Since 1950, tort cost growth has exceeded gross domestic product (GDP) growth by an average of two to three percentage points," Tillinghast noted in the study, "U.S. Tort Costs and Cross-Border Perspectives: 2005 Update."

WASHINGTON (Reuters)—President Bush's plan to cut $36 billion from Medicare ran into stiff opposition Wednesday from dozens of his fellow Republicans in the House.

The move creates doubts about getting Bush's 2007 budget through Congress—and is another sign of growing tensions between the president and his fellow Republicans in Congress.

WASHINGTON—The House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee on Wednesday failed to complete consideration of a bill that would create a national 12-year statute of repose for workplace goods.

The Workplace Goods Job Growth and Competitiveness Act—H.R. 3509—would pre-empt existing state laws that protect manufacturers from product liability after a product has been used for a specific amount of time by creating a uniform federal standard. It would apply only in situations where the injured party was eligible for workers compensation and where the injury did not involve a toxic substance such as asbestos.

A 65-year-old couple retiring this year without employer-provided retiree health insurance will need about $200,000 to pay for future medical care-related expenses, according to an analysis by Fidelity Investments.

That amount, up from $190,000 last year, includes such expenses as Medicare premiums and co-payments and deductibles and comes as employers, over the last decade, have folded health care plans that supplemented Medicare because of soaring costs, making future retirees directly responsible for paying all their health care costs.

FORT COLLINS, Colo.—The Atlantic and Gulf coasts could be in for another unusually active hurricane season this year, although not as bad as last year’s record season, according to a prediction released Tuesday by the Tropical Meteorology Project at Colorado State University.

The team predicts that 17 named tropical storms will form in the Atlantic basin during the 2006 hurricane season that begins on June 1, more than the 1950-2000 average of 9.6 but far below last year’s record 27.