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Nuts and Bolts of the HSAs
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It’s pretty much a given that when it comes to health care the premiums will keep going up.
With health care premiums on their way up just about every year, it
should come as no surprise that a lot of companies are starting to
offer health savings accounts as a benefit for working. These accounts
are beginning to replace PPOs and HMOs.
The most attractive thing about health savings accounts is the fact
that they are tax free when linked to an insurance policy with a high
deductible; usually about $1,250 for a single person and $2,500 for a
family. When you hit the deductible you get comprehensive coverage.
Many people are finding that they like this type of arrangement.
Since it’s a bit of a burden to handle some of the upfront
out-of-pocket expenses, you have the option of handing over (pre-tax of
course) anywhere up to $2,650 for a single person and up to $5,250 for
a family.
All you need to do is tuck that away into a health savings account.
Remember as well that when you take money out of a health savings
account it is also tax free just so long as the money is used for
medical expenses.
Not too many people seem to realize that any money that isn’t spent
in the health savings account will roll over automatically year after
year. That money can then either earn interest or you can invest it
into participating mutual funds. This would kick up your returns and,
with some luck and smart investing, you could find yourself sitting on
a tax free bundle of cash for health care costs.
Here is another tip for employers. They are able to save between 25
to 30 percent on health premiums just by the simple expediency of
switching to health savings accounts. That would mean lower premiums
for workers. Really, both employers and workers get a good deal when
they switch to health savings accounts.
However, some companies are finding it hard to sell the concept. For
example, some health care plans have a very low deductible of about
$150. It’s pretty hard to sell a worker on switching to a plan with a
much higher deductible. Furthermore, those who have been used to having
a co-pay when they visit a doctor are rather put out by having to pay
the whole amount up-front.
Another barrier to companies offering health savings accounts is the
perception that they aren’t for the average Joe Blow worker and are
instead for those who are in good health and have lots of money. Over
time these objections have proven to be invalid and many workers are
now reaping the advantages of health savings accounts. Many industry
pundits think these accounts will be the wave of the future, as they
are certainly attractive options.
Clelland Green is with Benepath.com, a leader in providing health
insurance quotes. Benepath provides individuals, families, and
businesses with affordable health insurance quotes in just a few mouse
clicks. To learn more about Health insurance quotes, affordable health insurance, affordable health insurance quotes, health insurance plans, visit Benepath.com.
Health Insurance and Your Lenses
How many people do you know who give much thought to their lenses when thinking about health insurance?
There are so many health care options available on the market that
it confuses people. Companies have a wide variety of benefits they
offer employees and due to the recession many of those options are
being changed to be more advantageous to the company and not
necessarily the employee.
For example, many organizations are strongly encouraging their
workers to switch plans or fork over money out-of-pocket to cover the
deductible on existing plans. Another option is combining a high
deductible plan with a health saving account.
Of course health savings accounts are fairly popular because they
tend to serve two purposes. They’re a high deductible health insurance
plan combined with a tax deductible savings plan, the health savings
account. What this means for those interested in this is that a high
deductible insurance plan means the first $1,000 to $3,000 for any
medical service is paid for completely by the person with the plan.
There are some exceptions such as annual physicals and other
preventative care, which is covered with a small co-payment. The
deductible has to be paid in total before the insurance company kicks
money in. After that point however, you would not pay anything.
Now you might be thinking where on Earth would a company employee
get that kind of money to meet a deductible that high? That is where
the health savings plan comes into play. Internal Revenue has created
special accounts so that all contributions are totally tax free. That
means the funds in the account may be used to deal with any
health-related expense such as eyewear (your lenses), vision exams,
dental and yes, even acupuncture; not to mention any other services not
usually covered by your primary health provider.
Now here is a good tip to save some money. High deductible health plans
offer some really nice savings when compared to traditional plans. This
may mean your employer might use part of the difference to fund your
health savings account.
And one other hint that may come in handy is that you may be able to
use your health savings account to buy glasses online. This would be
applicable if your employer is contributing money to your savings
account. This would then mean glasses would cost nothing out-of-pocket
and their expense would go toward your deductible. So buy your glasses
online with your health savings debit card. What a great deal, tax free
eyewear for a really reasonable price.
Clelland Green is with Benepath.com, a leader in providing health
insurance quotes. Benepath provides individuals, families, and
businesses with affordable health insurance quotes in just a few mouse
clicks. To learn more about Health insurance quotes, affordable health insurance, affordable health insurance quotes, health insurance plans, visit Benepath.com.
What’s a Health Care Cooperative?
Right now, the only “public” option for affordable health insurance
is Medicare, which is only for those over 65 years old. If there isn’t
another “public” option for others, this has ramifications for Medicare
and Medicaid.
Right now in the U.S. there is a single payer government plan,
Medicare, for those over the age of 65. The plan works as well as it
can, given the debt load of the nation and the spiraling costs of
health care. There isn’t anything else like this idea for other people
who can’t afford health care or can’t afford much coverage at all. This
is where health care reform is supposed to come in.
The clear problem with health care reform that doesn’t have a
government option or component is that those who aren’t in Medicare or
Medicaid may wind up raiding those programs to get what they need. That
may mean a decrease in funding and greater difficulty in accessing
programs for those over 65; a sort of Robin Hood approach of robbing
the richer programs to pay for the poorer programs.
The substitution of the so-called health care cooperative for the
government option is simply a thinly veiled excuse for the creation of
more insurance companies. The usual example trotted out of a health
care cooperative is something called Group Health. In fact, Group
Health is an “insurance” company that reinvests its yearly revenues not
redistributes them among members. It is only governed like a
cooperative, making it one in name only.
Group Health’s fees are a tad lower than other insurance outfits,
records are computerized and physicians get performance based salaries
which seems to be a code word for “keeping costs down to a minimum.”
To access affordable health care by this route, those needing medical
assistance are assigned a team of primary care practitioners, meaning
you have no say in the matter. If access isn’t readily available to see
the doctor, you will see a nurse; no ifs, ands or buts. If keeping
medical costs down is the raison d’être for the insurance company,
chances are expensive tests are not ordered that often and treating
deathly ill patients would not be a preference.
Drugs and procedures, how medicine is practiced, and health
insurance coverage decisions are made by the company – made by an
insurance company. Think about that for a minute. Reading between the
lines here, Group Health isn’t really “group health,” it is an
insurance company with a bottom line to stay in business and make
money. Staying in business by cost cutting medical care is a scary idea.
Will this come to pass? Only time will tell, and since the health
care reform bill is gathering some dust right now, no one seems to know
what will transpire for the future. For now Medicare and Medicare
supplements are doing yeoman’s duty and allowing people the choice of
physicians. It may not be perfect, but it limps along, working for
“now.” Stay tuned for what the future may bring, and in the meantime do
some thinking about what alternatives might work for your health care.
The President has said if people like their health care they can keep
it. Can they?
Clelland Green is with Benepath.com, a leader in providing health
insurance quotes. Benepath provides individuals, families, and
businesses with affordable health insurance quotes in just a few mouse
clicks. To learn more about Health insurance quotes, affordable health insurance, affordable health insurance quotes, health insurance plans, visit Benepath.com.
Major Issues Still Remain with Health Care Reform
While it sounded like a good plan to have health care reform on the go by Labor Day, the deadline came and went. What’s next?
Next is what the House chooses to do when they sit in September.
Some of the ridiculous issues raised over the summer months have up and
gone away, but others remain that will likely be a great deal more
contentious and have greater ramifications.
The leading issue seems to be the “public plan,” which is a polite
way of speaking about a kind of government insurance plan that would be
available to those who had absolutely no other health insurance
options. While this sounds like a dandy plan on the surface, there are
those that insist it would be a government takeover of health care, not
always a good thing given the current state of affairs.
On the other side of the fence there are those that make the case
that the public plan is ultimately necessary for any kind of reform to
be effective. If access to health care is an issue that is supposed to
be resolved, then this particular point of view tends to make sense to
a large number of people.
Taking a step backward to get a clearer view of the debate, one
comes to the conclusion that both sides of the argument have a point,
but neither is totally right. That isn’t too much of a surprise given
that it’s politicians doing the infighting. Really, the questions that
ought to be asked, rather than focusing on poverty and access to health
care, might be, “How will the government make Medicaid better and
stronger?”
This question makes sense since the original universal health care
changes have been tanked for now and the focus shifted to expanding
health insurance coverage to certain segments of the population.
Obviously, one of those segments is people living in poverty. Everyone
should have a safety net for medical expenses, and there isn’t one
right now. Instead, families face potential bankruptcy and total
financial ruin over medical bills.
Ironically, the one program that should be able to help those in
such dire circumstances – Medicaid – doesn’t guarantee either insurance
or health care to people in poverty. Reform, if it is indeed on its
way, needs to perhaps have Medicaid returned under the federal
government’s wing and change the reimbursement doctors are given so
they may assist people in poverty. That would make a significant change
in the health care system.
If poorer people did have access to health care, it would keep them
from having to use hospital emergency rooms. Just think about how much
this one small change would mean to the system wide budget that faces
escalating costs, thanks to poor people using ERs as doctor’s offices.
Clelland Green is with Benepath.com, a leader in providing health
insurance quotes. Benepath provides individuals, families, and
businesses with affordable health insurance quotes in just a few mouse
clicks. To learn more about Health insurance quotes, affordable health insurance, affordable health insurance quotes, health insurance plans, visit Benepath.com.
The Necessary What-Ifs of Life
One necessary “what if” in life is life insurance, but during this
recession, life insurance seems to be the “last” thing that people buy.
Buying life insurance during a recession is one of the last things
that people tend to do, rationalizing that any spare money they have
needs to go toward keeping food on the table and a roof over everyone’s
heads. It goes without saying the many business sectors have been
drastically affected by the stunning drop in the economy, and the life
insurance business is no exception.
You should be aware that despite the tough times, life insurance
“does” make a great deal of sense. It is one of the smartest
investments you can make. What makes life insurance slightly different
from other financial sectors is that most bill payments are binding and
can’t be allowed to lapse without some serious consequences.
Life insurance may lapse if the premiums aren’t paid, but that is
all that happens. The insurance lapses and you don’t pay any more
premiums, but then, you don’t have life insurance coverage either. Yes,
many people think that buying life insurance for those “what if” things
that “might” happen in the future is not as necessary as buying food,
etc.
Recognizing this, life insurance brokers have been taking a hard
look at the products they offer. These days many life insurance
companies are asking themselves what they need to do to retain their
customers. On the other side of the fence, many customers are thinking
that they can do without life insurance until their economic situation
improves, and resume the same level of coverage when they are ready to
start paying on premiums once again.
This is a misguided assumption as age is a critical factor in buying
life insurance and in determining the premiums. This is a risk factor
that all life insurance companies use to insure consumers. The older
you happen to be, the higher the risk of the life insurance company
paying out. That means higher premiums or a smaller sum on payout on
death. Put another way, letting your life insurance lapse may mean your
life insurance will be “more” expensive when you resume coverage than
if you have kept the policy in force.
Perhaps the most critical point to remember is that life insurance
is intended to take care of those left behind in the event of a death;
to provide them with a safety net if you will. With insurance companies
re-evaluating their customer service approach, there may be incentives
available for you to retain your life insurance policy even during
rough financial times. Ask your broker what options may apply to you.
Evan Tunis is with FloridaHealthcareInsurance.com, the leading provider of Florida health insurance quotes. To learn more about Florida health insurance, Florida health insurance quotes, Florida life insurance,Florida life insurance quotes, Florida group health insurance visit Floridahealthcareinsurance.com.
Millions Don’t Have Life Insurance
It’s true, millions of people do not have life insurance and when life throws them a curve, it may spell disaster.
A little long range planning for your life is a smart thing,
particularly if you have a family to care for and responsibilities to
handle. Consider the case of the young family whose father was the
picture of health at the age of 38 years old. Then one day, something
went wrong and it was discovered that he had stomach cancer.
A few short months later, the young father died leaving two children
and a wife to grieve for him and a pile of bills to boot. The thing
that makes this scenario different is that this young dad had life
insurance and because he did, he was able to provide for his family,
even in death.
Life does have a way of biting one when they least expect it and
it’s usually a good idea to be protected for those “what if” moments
that tend to come along. Life insurance doesn’t have to be really
expensive or even have a lot of bells and whistles, but if does need to
keep your family safe. For this reason it’s a smart thing to speak to
an expert life insurance broker who knows what products will suit each
individual.
Statistics indicate that there are almost 68 million Americans who
have no life insurance at all and conversely, those who do have it,
often don’t have enough to cover what they need. This is where it makes
good sense to speak to a life insurance broker with extensive
experience in making sure your life insurance “thinks ahead” of you for
just about any eventuality. Nobody wants to die early or suddenly, but
it does happen; that “is” life, and what “life” insurance is all about.
One of the questions people ask most often is when they do decide to
purchase life insurance, just how much they will need? Actually, the
better question to ask is what would you like to have happen in the
event of a death? Put another way, what do “you” want?
The more questions you ask, the better it is to get a life insurance
policy and package that suits your unique needs. Dealing with a life
insurance broker who knows the ropes is the first step in a lifelong
relationship; one that will stand you in good stead if something ill
fated transpires.
For instance if you think far enough ahead to make provisions for
your family, they will not need to move out of their family home should
a parent die suddenly. Nor will they need to substantially alter their
lifestyles if they have the right plan done in concert with your life
insurance broker.
While life goes on no matter what happens, it’s a smart thing to
plan for the unexpected, even if it doesn’t happen. Being prepared for
those detours in life is what life insurance in all about. You can’t
get a better deal than knowing your family is protected should you not
be here. Planning ahead and having the “right” life insurance means not
having to deal with financial distress as well as emotional distress.
Evan Tunis is with FloridaHealthcareInsurance.com, the leading provider of Florida health insurance quotes. To learn more about Florida health insurance, Florida health insurance quotes, Florida life insurance,Florida life insurance quotes, Florida group health insurance visit Floridahealthcareinsurance.com.
Ins and outs of Real Estate Litigation
Real estate litigation serves to mitigate disputes that may arise in a variety of circumstances.
Litigation is defined as the process of bringing a lawsuit. In
business litigation, specialties arise within the specialty. One of
these is real estate litigation.
Real estate litigation typically arises from real estate disputes.
Such disputes may occur within purchase and sales contracts,
partnership disputes, claims involving breach of fiduciary duty,
commercial leases, property insurance, property tax assessment, and
design and construction defects or boundaries. All of these
sub-specialties within real estate law may require litigation expertise
to resolve.
The objective with any litigated real estate case is to obtain a
favorable outcome. Representation in matters of fiduciary duty and
partnership and contract disputes can often produce multimillion dollar
judgments and defense verdicts in favor of a real estate litigator’s
clients. Litigators of real estate matters often represent buyers and
potential buyers of real estate. Within the real estate milieu, land
use restrictions leveraged in advantageous ways are often litigated for
clients as diverse as owners of vineyards, hotel and motel owners and
developers (and increasingly with bed & breakfast lodging
establishments as proprietary brands are haggled over), and developers
of commercial and residential properties. Real estate litigators
frequently become engaged in disputes over boundary lines and easement
rights, enforcement of seismic retrofitting requirements, and the
failure of property owners from adjoining or abutting parcels to comply
with zoning and permit requirements.
Homeowners too, most notably persons of wealth, may engage a
business law practice handling real estate litigation for such matters
as major design and construction flaws that may have been hidden or
obscured when they initially purchased their properties; in such
instances claims against responsible parties, including contractors and
sub-contractors as laws permit, may be pursued.
For any real estate litigator, certain inherent skills may be more
likely to ensure successful outcomes. One such example is experience in
adversarial proceedings. If a business practice lawyer has not appeared
before judges and juries as well as alternative dispute resolution
forums such as non-binding mediation, it is prudent for potential
clients to select another firm. In any case, a competent real estate
litigator should be fully prepared to try any case in state or federal
court.
Jack Zinda is an Austin business lawyer with Heselmeyer Zinda, PLLC. To learn more about Austin business attorney Jack Zinda visit Texasbusinessattorneys.net.
Business Contingency Cases
Contingency fees are often a key component in cases that have the
potential for a very high payoff for the client that does not have the
resources or desire to pay a law firm by the hour.
A contingency fee is the cost of legal representation when payment
to an attorney is based upon a percentage of what a client receives in
a settlement or judgment. While contingency cases are well-known to the
public in the personal injury realm, business contingency cases can
also be extremely viable for clients that have a business law issue. In
either specialty, when a case comes along that a company does not have
the resources to pay thousands, if not millions, of dollars in legal
fees, the case is frequently dropped out or not engaged initially out
of economic necessity. Contingency fees allow these cases to be pursued.
The trick of expertly handling contingency cases is to combine
large-firm expertise with small-firm attention while reducing overhead.
The best business law firms in a given state or region are renowned
for successful outcomes achieved in at least one or two, and preferably
several, well-chosen contingency cases. Certain prudent firms versed in
business contingency cases may carry three or more promising
contingency cases at all times. A single such case may consume up to 20
percent of a firm’s available time, but typically generates between 40
and 50 percent of the same firm’s revenues.
The crucial part of any business firm’s contingency strategy is that
these cases must be well chosen. The ideal formula is to have a
relatively small number of such cases in the game, as a loss in a
time-consuming and hard fought contingency case could seriously impair
even the most aggressive firm’s bottom line.
Financial thresholds for a contingency-based case can range from tens
of thousands to several million. Once an appropriate financial range is
established, the case must be thoroughly analyzed and determined to be
financially viable with sound prospects for success, assuming that the
matter is deemed substantive enough to go to trial.
Legal vehicles such as blended contingency models, in which a fee
consists of discounted hourly rates and a significant percent of the
recovery, are considered the most useful, although individual
negotiation is recommended so that the client is satisfied at the
outset.
Jack Zinda is an Austin business lawyer with Heselmeyer Zinda, PLLC. To learn more about Austin business attorney Jack Zinda visit Texasbusinessattorneys.net.
2010 Forecast: Using Technology for Compliance and Using New Technology Compliantly
November 11, 2009 - by Stephen Marsh
I had the opportunity to participate in a lively and constructive panel entitled "How to be Compliant Using Technology & Using Technology to Meet Compliance" during the National Association of Independent Broker-Dealers (NAIBD) Fall Symposium in New York a few weeks back. In the session immediately following our panel, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) CEO and Chairman Rick Ketchum delivered the conference's keynote address. He opened his remarks by noting the appropriate nature of the panel discussion in the context of his speech, which framed mission-critical priorities for the year ahead.
The financial services industry is going to rely on technology to bolster its compliance efforts. At the same time, as new technologies emerge, compliance departments will need to find ways to govern usage. Ketchum drew attention to a number of related priorities for FINRA in the year ahead, and between his address and the technology compliance panel discussion, a number of themes emerged. Professional groups like the NAIBD, regulatory bodies like FINRA and firms like yours face key technology-related challenges for 2010.
Protection of consumer data. At the time of the panel, enforcement of the Federal Trade Commission's Red Flag Rules had not yet been postponed (again). There was a palpable buzz as firms, thought leaders and regulators traded best practices on how best to prevent data breaches and protect confidential consumer data. Red Flag Rules or not, there are plenty of other state and regulatory consumer data protection mandates (Reg S-P, for instance) already in play that should motivate firms into action before June of 2010. Not to mention the threat of financial damage and embarrassment that coincide with data breaches, inadvertent or malevolent disclosure of confidential investor data and an overall irresponsible approach to client data security.
FINRA is looking for firms to implement, enforce and evaluate the effectiveness of compliance policy dedicated to protecting consumer data. These policies are going to touch every department of your organization and every method for how you protect, transmit and share client data. These technology plans also need to exist independently of those that may already be enforced governing other elements of compliance, and your firm will need to be able to document differences in policy.
Governance of social networking. A few weeks back in another Transmission from Smarsh, I wrote that firms' approach to implementing compliance solutions for social media mirrors the adoption of archiving solutions for instant messaging solutions a few years ago. Simply: these tools are gaining in popularity, they're going to be used by your employees, and your firm had better be prepared.
Ketchum discussed social media in depth in his keynote at NAIBD and revisited at the Securities' Industry and Financial Markets Association's annual meeting the following week (see a transcript of this speech). FINRA recognizes the serious new challenges for regulators that social networking sites (like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn) present, as well as their promise for connecting with customers. Ketchum noted that both interest and use of these communication methods is inevitable. FINRA has created an internal task force on social networking which will "explore how regulation can embrace technology advancements in ways that can improve the flow of information between firms and their customers without compromising investor protection."
(Looking for more information on this topic? FINRA has scheduled a Compliance Considerations for Social Networking Sites Webinar on Dec. 16.)
Exam priorities. Finally, in this post-Madoff environment, regulatory enforcement efforts have become a tremendous priority, and we will see the subsequent bolstering of attention, budget and manpower. FINRA is growing and diversifying its exam staff and bringing in specialists from different areas to both conduct examinations and train examiners.
This is no surprise, but how will it translate to the examinations themselves? Firms need to be more prepared to demonstrate the effectiveness of their compliance policies and to produce data and information with a new level of precision and granularity.
Over the past few months, we have seen evidence of this more intensive examination process with our client base. Smarsh support engineers have helped a number of clients in audit situations produce messages on-demand with much more targeted queries than have traditionally been requested.
A number of our clients have made the switch to Smarsh because their internal system or third-party provider came up short with a data production request. Make sure that you test your system so when the time comes and the examiner is standing in your office, you can confidently and efficiently produce the requested data.
web-based education university or school management software, e-learning management system
NewCreationIT (www.newcreationit.com) will be launching Edyalay.com a web-based information and learning system enabling educators, students and parents to communicate, interact and facilitate learning. Edyalay is a derivative of Vidyalay, Hindi for school or place of learning. Edyalay.com is available for use by a wide range of institutions, from pre-school, kindergarten, high school, college, universities, training institutes, short-term schools and other centers of learning.
Education is not the sole responsibility of instructors, but a dynamic process of interaction between educators, students and parents. When communication and interactions are more frequent, clear, and personalized, the education experience becomes even more meaningful. In today's fast paced world, time is at a premium and hence the use of technology to provide efficiency and accessibility are mandatory. Edyalay.com provides a technology-based learning platform where educators, students and parents can communicate, interact and facilitate learning - easily, any time, and from anywhere. Edyalay.com will be available as a hosted, pay-for-service web-based learning management system where the core features of the platform are available for free for all educational institutions.
As a hosted solution, Edyalay.com offers all the core features of Edyalay.com as a free service to registered educational institutions. There are no fees to setup or use Edyalay.com. Once your institution is registered, you can authorize your students and their parents to use Edyalay.com. The cost for Edyalay is subsidized through clean Ads from corporate sponsors.
In addition to the Core features of Edyalay.com which are offered free of charge, there are paid add-on services which you can opt for. Add-on services include: Communication Center, Electronic Diary, Online Tests, Email notifications, SMS, Photo Albums, Video gallery, School Clubs, Paid Tutorials and a whole lot more.
Add-On services are entirely optional.
Want your own installation of Edyalay.com? Some institutions prefer having their own installation of Edyalay.com, usually available directly from their institution's website. Edyalay.com offers a paid service for the installation and customization of a dedicated version of Edyalay.com.
Edyalay can become your online institution/school software providing not only an institution/school management software platform but become an online learning portal. It can be leveraged as a web-based e-learning platform.
Contact us at business@newcreationit.com or sales@edyalay.com for further information.
