If you vote for Obama you can get a free colonoscopy. At least that is what Joe (the human gaffe machine) Biden is promising.“Everyone knows, everyone in this room knows that President Obama has increased the benefits available to people on Medicare by the action he took,” Biden said. “You are now able to go get a wellness...
We've touched on "stranger owned" life insurance and annuity plans many times in the past (most recently: here). While there are legitimate uses for these kinds of plans, they are often of dubious legality.Recently, Joseph Caramadre (a Rhode Island financial planning guru) decided to try his hand. Believing that the Ocean State's insurable interest requirement was weak, he decided it'd be a good idea...
Russell Hutchinson hosts next week's Cavalcade of Risk - Entries are due by Monday (the 1st).To submit your risk-related post, just click here to email it.You'll need to provide:■ Your post's url and title■ Your blog's url and name■ Your name and email■ A (brief) summary of the postPLEASE remember: ONLY posts that relate to risk (not personal finance tips and the like). And please only submit...
Some time ago, can't say exactly when, the Roebuck name was dropped from the Sears and Roebuck brand. I am pretty sure Alvah Roebuck was dead so there was no objection from him.Now it appears the folks at Sears will be dropping group health insurance for their employees.Sears Holdings Corp. plans to to fundamentally change...
■ FoIB Holly R tips us to this potentially helpful news for dog-owning diabetics:"Diabetes alert dogs have become a burgeoning industry in which highly-trained golden retrievers go for as much as $20,000. But some trainers are now trying to harness the lifesaving potential of the family pet."Old dogs, new tricks, lives saved....
While we don't normally engage in speculation and rumors, this one comes from a reliable source. It appears that General Electric (GE) has sent a letter to current retirees regarding their benefit program.According to the letter, effective January 1, 2015, GE will no longer offer post retirement life insurance or health insurance to their salaried employees.This does not apply to current retirees,...
Seems no matter how often we remind people there are still folks out there that truly believe their health insurance will be affordable under Obamacare. Believing doesn't make it so.According to a Kaiser Foundation report, health insurance premiums are $3,000 HIGHER than they were before Obamacare.And, there...
A close friend told me that William Shakespeare once wrote (in King Richard II, Act 5, Scene 3) "If thou do pardon, whosoever pray, More sins for this forgiveness prosper may." Which is a fancy way of observing that forgiveness increases sin. I mention this in relation to the Jewish concept of "t'shuvah," or "turning." It's not enough to regret our transgressions, nor even to vow not to repeat them....
One of my very favorite IB posts was actually an extended comment by Mike (writing under a pseudonym). Unfortunately, it's been lost in the mists of the intertubes [ed: see update below], here's a taste:"[Mike] proposed a "national, single-grocer plan ... many people go hungry because wholesome groceries cost too much."It appears...
An acquaintance of ours is a paramedic who was recently diagnosed with cancer. Despite a weakened immune system and the effects of chemo, she continues to work as many days as she can. She's just that dedicated. We understand that this is not atypical - these are folks who really care and are committed to serving others.Lucky...
Pssst. Want some weed? Don't go to Montana. The government says you have a right to be sick but you do not have a right to treatment, at least when it comes to medical marijuana.State restrictions on medical marijuana access and sales do not violate patients’ rights to pursue health care under the state constitution,...
We are all aware, all of us but those running the program, of the rampant fraud in Medicare; most perpetrated by providers. I see a whole new type of fraud developing. It started with an increase in commercials advertising free no hassle products to those with Medicare."offering FREE diabetic supplies to Medicare and private insurance members" then I started seeing another type of advertising;"Thank...
Besides the millions of people that work in these fields for a living who could have possibly seen this comming;http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/22/business/medicare-billing-rises-at-hospitals-with-electronic-records.html?_r=0"When the federal government began providing billions of dollars in incentives to push hospitals and physicians to use electronic medical and billing records, the goal was not...
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) does not bar charging higher health plan premiums to employees who don't complete wellness screenings, the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. The 11th Circuit Court is located in Atlanta and has jurisdiction in Alabama, Florida, and Georgia. The parties are Bradley SEFF, Plaintiff–Appellant, v. BROWARD COUNTY, FLORIDA, a political subdivision...
Several years ago, we noted that social media-using British property owners faced the prospect of higher insurance premiums:"Users of social networking websites could face higher insurance premiums because burglars are using them to 'shop' for victims' personal details."Never let it be said that the British P&C insurance...
■ Turns out salt can actually be good for you:"Simply soaking in a bath of salt water could ease the agony of arthritis."And you don't need special, expensive, designer salt, either: even plain old table salt will do. Although it seems to me that kosher salt would give the best cure.■ As we've long noted, the AARP has been...
It appears that we have resolution to a case we posted about 5 years ago:"(A) pulmonary specialist at Denver's National Jewish Medical and Research Center has written to federal agencies to say doctors there believe they have the first case of a consumer who developed lung disease from the fumes of microwaving popcorn several...
Regular readers know of our disdain for the Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) requirements in the ObamaTax plan. One of the reasons - although by no means the most egregious - is that the rules include agent compensation as part of the calculations. As we pointed out last year, "[b]y mandating a specific disbursement threshold, agents' commissions go away, making it impossible for us to continue servicing...
Cato's Michael Cannon may count another ObamaTax Exchange scalp:"Based on arguments we present in that article [ed: link here], Oklahoma’s attorney general today amended that state’s dormant ObamaCare lawsuit to add a complaint challenging the IRS rule on the grounds that it unlawfully taxes Oklahoma employers and deprives the state of its sovereignty."Turns out, the new rules affect over a quarter...
According to the CBO, an estimated 6 million people, most of them "middle class", will be hit with the Obamatax penalty.The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) have estimated that about 30 million nonelderly residents will be uninsured in 2016, but the majority of them will not be subject to the penalty tax. Unauthorized immigrants, for example,...
While the subject is a bit outside our wheelhouse (my new favorite expression), we're big fans of the Bed & Breakfast phenomenon. As regular readers know, we're not P&C agents, so we often turn to our on-call P&C guru, Bill M. As it turns out, we're not the only ones.In this month's issue of National Underwriter:[click...
"With the news that the Utah health exchange -- one of just two state-run online insurance marketplaces in operation -- was recently hacked, states planning their own exchanges as prompted by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) might want to take a closer look at how they’ll handle cybersecurity."Private firms, like your insurance broker, fear allowing this to happen as it can put them out of business....
Yesterday we posted about a unique business model for health care transparency. In Must See TV featured an interview with Dr. Keith Smith where he outlined the unique practice at the Surgery Center of Oklahoma.The hospital operates on a cash only basis. They do not accept health insurance, Medicare or Medicaid...
In order to afford to offer health insurance a number of my clients audit their hospital bills to make sure the charges are reasonable and undelivered services are not slipped in. As most PPO contracts are a percentage off billed charges that starting number is very important.Following is part of a letter we received from a hospital's attorney last week;"Hospital personnel were in communication with...
Interesting view on health care transparency. Skip ahead to 2 minutes in to the video. There are certainly some good ideas floated here but at the same time there is a bit of spin. Here are a few observations.Obama should not pretend to be a doctor (2:50 in the video).Real "meat" starts at 5:50.The spin starts around 7:45. The doctor is using exaggeration based on fact. If everyone paid their hospital...
So now it seems the Catholics aren't the only ones upset about the Obamacare/HHS proclamation which requires employers to include contraceptive devices and medication in their health insurance plan. The founders of Hobby Lobby consider themselves evangelical Christians and are not pleased with this government mandate.Note,...
These yeshiva students from Jerusalem know that life goes in one direction:To all of our readers, may you be inscribed in the Book of Life, and may the new year be one of joy, health and happiness for y...
Finally, a breath of fresh air regarding pre-existing conditions:"The emphasis on pre-existing conditions is aimed at creating the false impression that the only way to cover anyone who might become seriously ill is with ObamaCare’s heavy-handed and government-centric requirements."Quite so.In health insurance parlance, a pre-existing condition (or "px") is generally defined as an illness or injury...
Today's episode of Life Insurance Awareness Month is pretty cool: the 10th anniversary of MassMutual's LifeBridge program.Longtime readers may recall our 2006 post celebrating the program's 4th anniversary; the folks at MassMutual reached out to us to bring us up to date as it reaches the decade mark.We're joined today by Nick Fyntrilakis, Vice President of MassMutual's Community Responsibility department.InsureBlog:...
There is an elephant in the room. Not the political one. The one no one wants to acknowledge. No one wants to talk about.Washington politicians don't want to talk about it.Political groups like AARP don't want to talk about it.Seniors don't like to talk about it.Doesn't mean it doesn't exist, and it certainly isn't going away.The...
Jeff Rose hosts next week's Cavalcade of Risk - Entries are due by Monday (the 17th).To submit your risk-related post, just click here to email it.You'll need to provide:■ Your post's url and title■ Your blog's url and name■ Your name and email■ A (brief) summary of the postPLEASE remember: ONLY posts that relate to risk (not personal finance tips and the like).Thanks!NB: Thanks to these folks, we're...
Obamacare. Perhaps the most polarizing piece of . . . legislation to come out of Washington in decades. The law was drafted by committee and voted on by people who never read it.Apparently they never thought it through either, because if they did they might realize Obamacare will be responsible for reduced profits.And profits...
