|
I Am For Universal Health Care...Forms |
Finally, the health insurance industry has done something right for a change. The Bureau of Insurance, in conjunction with the carriers doing business in Virginia, has developed a universal employee application for small group health insurance. For those of you who have ever had to fill out multiple applications in order to get multiple competitive quotes to find out that you are not going to switch carriers, you understand what I am talking about.
Now employer groups in Virginia can get their employees to fill out one application and get underwritten rates from multiple carriers. If a group ends up wanting to move to a new carrier they have to then fill out that carrier's application, but that is much better than the old way.
Our only question is, what took so long?
|
We don't want to seem like we are beating a dead horse, but the COBRA subsidy legislation that gives Assisted Eligible Individuals (AEIs) a 65% subsidy on their COBRA premiums is a BIG DEAL. Even even if your company is not subject to COBRA, you have a responsibility to offer the subsidy.
That being said, the reason for this article is to inform you that there is an update to the Department of Labor website including an update of the FAQs for the site. Their FAQ sections are some of the best we have seen. You can get to that page by clicking here.
Remember, you can have access to industry leading COBRA compliance software - FOR FREE. Contact us for more details
|
|
Golden Years Of Retirement |
The median retirement age for men has fallen by more than 5 years in the last 55 years. Over that same time span, male life expectancy has had a significant increase of almost 10 years - from 65.47 years in 1950 to 75.2 years in 2005. As a result of those two trends, the average expected time in retirement for men has increased from 0 in 1950 to 13.5 years in 2005.
Naturally, this has put a strain on the Social Security system as we have documented before. So perhaps the failure of the system is not in the plan itself, but rather in the failure to change the plan as needed to compensate for these changes.
See the graph and related story here.
|
|
Two Different Philosophies |
 I was an economics major in college so I can draw supply and demand curves in a heartbeat (I even know what a Giffen good is).
I bring this up because we recently posted two articles that illustrate two very different philosophies:
1. Increase prices to make up for declining sales.
2. Cut prices to spur demand.
The first article is about the U. S. Postal Service recently increasing the cost of stamps in the face of declining volume ('sales'). It also compared the cost of stamps versus the cost of gasoline over the last 90 years (particularly interesting when you consider the flogging "Big Oil" took last summer).
The second article is about Arturo Moreno, the owner of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and how he has turned the team around, in part, by cutting prices.
"He has cut ticket and food prices at Angel Stadium and dropped the price of draft beer from $8.50 to $6.50. Most teams charge $20 or more for souvenir caps. The Angels charge $7."
While there are differences in the situations, I think it illustrates how radically different the government thinks versus private enterprise.
|
Speaking of baseball...
The three best visual illusions in the world were chosen at a gathering last weekend of neuroscientists and psychologists at the Naples Philharmonic Center for the Arts in Florida.
The winning entry, from a Bucknell University professor, may help explain why curve balls in baseball are so tricky to hit. His animation shows a spinning ball that, when watched directly, moves in a straight line. When seen out of the corner of the eye, however, the spin of the ball fools the brain into thinking that the ball is curving.
See the illustration here.
|
