The federal health reform laws limits on commissions have left insurance brokers scrambling to protect their incomes. Increasingly, more brokers are turning to software to safeguard revenue streams and generate new business.

Connecticut's state employee unions announced Thursday that rank-and-file members ratified a labor savings and concessions agreement, giving Gov. Dannel P. Malloy the go-ahead to rescind thousands of layoff notices and forgo additional state budget cuts.

According to a new survey by the National Business Group on Health, large U.S. employers are planning to shift higher health care costs to workers next year, thanks largely to cost increases that are more than twice the rate of inflation.

Sales of variable annuities jumped 16 percent in the second quarter, according to research organization LIMRA and its 2011 U.S. Individual Annuities Sales survey.