Frankly, I am unsure about whose plans to implement changes to health care will benefit or harm my business; Sen. Barack Obama’s call for mandated coverage or Sen. John McCain’s proposal for individual health insurance tax credits. Both have their merits, and many — including myself — are mulling over which would be best for their own business and the industry as a whole.

But I do know one thing for certain: In the final debate between the two presidential candidates, Obama looked directly into the camera and told Americans a big, bald-faced lie. Read the rest of this entry »

The news might be bleak for Wall Street, but news of a proposed $700 billion bailout of the nation’s financial system might give health insurers a break.

A recent Bloomberg News article published in the Salt Lake Tribune posits the notion that taking a gigantic chunk of money from the fed budget to salvage the financial markets from their losses due to the mortgage crisis, will leave little for proposed changes in the nation’s health care system, which, depending on how one views it, could be good news for some large health insurance carriers.

An op-ed piece in the Baltimore Sun Aug. 3 suggested that universal health insurance is the great panacea for the workplace. The author, William J. Evitts, a historian, builds on the ideas of William Bridges, who in 1995 wrote a book called JobShift, which called jobs a present list of consistent responsibilities for one or more people to accomplish. Evitts argues that given that the definition of a job is shifting and more jobs are consequently being outsourced, the need grows for a non-employer-based health insurance system.

“Freed from the tyranny of employment-linked health insurance, we’ll follow our dreams and take control of our work,” Evitts writes. “The creative energy unleashed by this will electrify the economy, facilitating entrepreneurship and innovation by reducing the risk of doing without the swaddling security of a long-term job.”

Read the rest of this entry »

The recent news that Tokio Marine, Japan’s largest insurer, is buying Philadelphia Consolidated Holding Corp. and Philadelphia Insurance Cos. for $4 billion may mark the start of a buying spree for the industry. I’m willing to bet that this deal will be the first in a series of foreign acquisitions of American insurance companies in the near future.With the dollar worth nearly nothing inside, and, more importantly, in this case, outside the U.S. these days, buyers can purchase a lot of American insurance company with their foreign money. Couple that value of foreign money with the tremendous profits property-casualty insurers are amassing since Hurricane Katrina three years ago and it would seem that more of them are likely to become acquisition targets in the near future. The property-casualty market may be the only one, however, to generate foreign interest.The flat life insurance market might discourage acquisitions in that arena, and no one - probably not even some of the health insurers themselves - want to grab onto a health carrier right now with universal health and other reform proposals swirling around.I’ll bet at least two more of these foreign acquisitions will occur in the next six months. 

A financial service firm has found a big, wide-open, no-one-seems-to-notice market for its long-term care insurance products. That new market for New Jersey-based Prudential Financial is the gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender community, according to an article at IFAwebnews.com.

Oh, sure Prudential runs the risk of either torquing its current client base when they get wind of the new marketing push for LTC products or enraging the GLBT community if it has any missteps along the way. “Marketplace,” the public radio program, did a news report July 7 about how car companies are treading lightly for fear of one of those possible outcomes. One error and either the general public or the GLBT community is up in arms, and if you really strike out, both are mad.

Read the rest of this entry »

Q: When is a contract not a contract?

A: When the Maryland Insurance Administration says it is not, despite all the legal experts who state otherwise.

That pretty much sums up the case that the MIA is making against Bill Jews, the former CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield CEO who had a sweet severance package of nearly $18 million.

This month, the state began long-awaited hearings on the executive compensation arrangement, and Insurance Commissioner Ralph Tyler has made it clear through his questions and comments that he wants the agreement overturned. Read the rest of this entry »

Small business owners are now more worried about the economy than providing health insurance for their employees, according to an article on IFAwebnews.com.

The news from a survey of small business owners conducted by the National Small Business Association cuts several ways, none of which are good for the insurance industry.

That health insurance isn’t the biggest concern would seem on the surface to be good news. Read the rest of this entry »

We hear a lot about branding these days, how it’s vital to a business’ success. Yet, most businesses, especially small businesses, fail to take time to think about what their brand is and how they can build it. Many businesses don’t even understand what a brand is in general, much less what theirs is. Read the rest of this entry »