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"Double Your
Voluntary Benefits Revenue Stream" in 2009!
Receive this book as part
of your membership application / renewal.
(Click
here to see more information about this book.)
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Healthcare
Reform News From INSURANCE NEWSCAST
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The Workplace Benefits
Association is a coalition dedicated to helping employers and employees
with a total solution to financial planning and security.
Members share a
recognition that for many Americans, the hub of their finances and
security are related to their employment including; state and federal
mandated programs, employer funded programs, and voluntary employee
funded programs.
The Members of the
Workplace Benefits Association strive to bring an integrated solution
through a master plan that involves a standardized employer guide and
checklist. |
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Receive this exclusive White Paper,
"Best Practices to Prepare for National Health Care Reform"
immediately provided
when you register for Workplace Benefits Mania 2009 or join the
Workplace Benefits Association. |
This procedure ensures that no
important area is overlooked while providing the flexibility for each employer
and employee to create an individual solution to the financial planning puzzle.
When an employer sits
down with a Workplace Benefits Consultant, they embrace the power of a
procedure that will bring about a total solution in a consultative
manner involving an entire team of qualified and experienced
professionals.
The knowledge required
to be an expert in all areas of workplace benefits would be challenging
for the most gifted professional even with an overly generous amount of
study time.
Since this is not practical
in most cases, a team of specialists, each competent in their
specialized areas, can collectively serve the needs and goals of a
business and the total employee population of that business.
Unique Value
Proposition
The Workplace Benefits Association is structured around an integrated
approach to workplace benefits to maximize benefit resources and
employee security and satisfaction. This is accomplished through a
consultative approach utilizing a team of specialists committed to a
comprehensive review and recommendation process.
Workplace Benefits Association Members
A
Workplace Benefits Association Member may be from the disciplines of
law, banking, insurance, investments, academics, or other fields, but
what they share in common is a purpose and commitment to an integrated
solution. Getting some products from here and some advice from there is
not necessarily bad provided that it doesn't leave any gaps in planning
and implementation, or cause an unnecessary overlap in coverage and
wasted benefit dollars.
A Workplace Benefits Consultant will provide an
employer a Workplace Benefits Guide that is comprehensive in its
approach, and strive to help with a solution in their areas of
competence. They may also be able to recommend professionals in those
areas outside of their own area of expertise, where the employer has not
already created relationships.
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Monday, August 3rd, 2009
Track 1 - Your Voluntary Benefits Business Needs The
Right Strategic Partners
Enroller Expo - Part I - Meet & Greet
Tuesday,
August 4th, 2009
Enroller Expo - Part II
Track 2 - Mini Medical / Limited
Medical Plan Sales & Marketing Extravaganza
Track
3 - Enrollment “Smackdown”
Wednesday, August 5th,
2009
Track
4 - Regulation Hedge & Recession Hedge Your Business
VEBB
(Voluntary Employee Benefit Board Annual Meeting)
For complete meeting details, please visit:
http://www.workplacebenefits.org/wbm2009.htm
Be sure to see the
"Enroller Expo" Agenda Track
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Potential Broker-Disruptive
Healthcare Reform Legislation; Ignore it, Reject It, Fight It, Or
Embrace It? |
| Cleveland, OH - 06/01/09
Increase Revenues, Agency Valuation, And
Hedge Potential Broker-Disruptive Healthcare Reform Legislation All At
Once!
The possibility of fundamental change in
healthcare delivery may be on the horizon with the options to: ignore
it, reject that change will happen, fight it, or embrace it.
The Workplace Benefits Association offers
two ideas that are not necessarily original, but propose a viable course
of action for sustained profitability. 1) Now may be the time to
consider building a voluntary benefits revenue stream. 2) Start the
process of positioning yourself as a fee-based benefits consultant.
Consider the facts below:
Agency valuation is typically a multiple
of earnings. Earnings go up, agency valuation increases. Earnings go
down, so does agency valuation.
Disintermediation is defined at
dictionary.com as removing the middleman or intermediary. There are
people that think that the benefits broker is an intermediary whose
removal would be an improvement and / or necessary. And
disintermediation is just one of the legislative threats being discussed
and on the table (removing the tax-deductibility of benefits by the
business is another).
If some well-meaning advocates get their
way diversification and alternative revenue streams that also lock in a
relationship with the employer and employees could become crucial for
benefits brokers.
Medical Personnel, hospitals, insurers,
and other stake-holders recognize and appreciate the role of the broker
in most cases, but they are facing their own set of economic and
legislative issues and challenges and may not be able to completely
check the call for transforming healthcare delivery, especially as it
relates to the benefits broker.
WHY ACT NOW?
The placement of a voluntary benefits
plan guarantees a long-term presence in the account. The employee-funded
nature of a voluntary benefit plan makes them very hard to replace.
Agents do not have to worry about a “broker-of-record” letter on that
block of business.
An employer doesn’t need two agencies to
handle their voluntary benefits. Once an agency has established
themselves as the provider of voluntary benefits, the game is over and
the victor declared. There isn’t going to be a big price increase in the
voluntary benefits next year that reopens the negotiations.
The trend is your friend: The popularity
of voluntary benefits and the movement toward defined contribution is
real because they offer value to the business and the employees.
Engagement with payroll deducted plans makes sense even in the absence
of potential broker-disruptive healthcare legislation.
There is the distinct possibility that
healthcare reform could present the biggest opportunity of all. No
national healthcare program is likely to cover everything, which could
further open the door to supplemental plans. The agency that has already
discussed these plans and has successfully implemented an
employee-funded enrollment in the past will be in a very strong position
to phase in the plans that fill the gaps in coverage.
Here is a conversation a broker doesn’t
want to be on the receiving end of. “We appreciate everything you have
done for our company over the years, but what we need right now is an
organization with experience in employee communications and the
employees have come to trust (your competitor) in this area who have
previously enrolled the (…) plan. This is what they specialize in and
this is the direction we are going to go in.”
There are multiple strategies for
business model adjustments (two of them as mentioned above include
voluntary benefits and /or fee-based benefit consulting) and these and
other models will be discussed at Workplace Benefits Mania 2009 in Las
Vegas on August 3, 4 & 5. A broker can meet with the top 80 vendors in
the voluntary benefits niche at one time as well as hear from the
industry leaders with time-tested and field-proven ideas. The agent rate
is only $199.00 for the entire meeting and the Paris Hotel & Casino
Convention Rate is only $69.00 a night.
A special resource kit ($300 value) is
being prepared that will be provided to all attendees. It will include
the information that will make fall planning meetings with clients the
most important ones ever; meetings that could dictate the relationship
with clients over the next several years. The agenda is also being
supplemented to include specific topics of importance in dealing with
the options for broker revenue diversification and adaptation.
Complete meeting information can be found
at www.workplacebenefits.org
or by calling 888-282-1765.
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Senate Democrats unveil healthcare bill
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Tue Jun 9, 2009 6:55pm EDT
By Donna Smith
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Leading Senate Democrats unveiled on Tuesday a plan to
reshape U.S. healthcare that calls for sweeping insurance market reforms and
prohibits insurers from denying coverage or charging more due to medical
history.
The measure also would require individuals to buy insurance, provide subsidies
to help make coverage affordable and set up a new government plan to help
provide medical coverage for the uninsured.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee's bill is one of at
least three healthcare proposals brewing in Congress, which Democrats hope will
lead to legislation that President Barack Obama can sign into law by October.
"Our goal is to strengthen what works and fix what doesn't," Senator Edward
Kennedy, chairman of the committee, said in a statement that accompanied the
bill's unveiling.
Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives and a second group of U.S.
senators led by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus are developing
similar proposals. Baucus has been working with Kennedy's panel and is expected
to unveil his version of the bill in the coming days.
Meanwhile Democratic members of the House Ways and Means Committee, one of three
panels writing the House version of the bill, met with Obama to discuss the
legislation. The White House issued a statement saying the group agreed that the
cost of the overhaul, which some estimates put at about $1.2 trillion, should
not add to budget deficits.
The White House said Obama -- under pressure from critics over his huge spending
and deficit plans -- would soon spell out more cost savings for the Medicare and
Medicaid health programs for the elderly and poor.
MORE WORK NEEDED
The Kennedy panel will hold a public hearing on its bill on Thursday and will
begin considering amendments in public sessions beginning on June 16, the
committee said.
"Much work remains, and the coming days and weeks won't be easy. But we have a
unique opportunity to give the American people, at long last, the health care
they need and deserve," said Kennedy, who is in his second year of fighting
brain cancer.
Obama has called on Congress to pass legislation this year to overhaul the $2.5
trillion healthcare system, aiming to cut costs and ensure that millions of
Americans now without health insurance get coverage.
But many congressional Republicans have criticized Democratic proposals for
including a public insurance program that would compete with private insurers.
In a bow to Republican concerns, Kennedy's committee bill leaves open the
details of how such a plan would operate. Panel Democrats and Republicans are
set to meet this week to try to work out differences over the public plan.
Also still to be worked out are details on whether employers would be required
to offer insurance to workers.
The House and Senate bills would establish an exchange, a kind of clearinghouse,
where people and small businesses could shop for insurance. Lawmakers want the
proposed new public plan to be an option offered in that exchange.
Democrats say a public plan that competes with private insurers is the only way
to contain costs and keep premiums low. Republicans and insurers argue that it
would drive insurance companies out of business and lead to an entirely
government-run U.S. healthcare system.
"If you don't have a public option, who is going to keep the insurance companies
honest?" said Senator Charles Schumer, a member of the Senate Democratic
leadership. "Most of us don't believe that government regulation will be
sufficient because they have the profit motive."
(Writing by Donna Smith; Editing by Xavier Briand)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved |
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Kennedy,
Help Committee Democrats Announce The “Affordable Health Choices Act”
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Bipartisan
Talks Continue on Outstanding Key Issues June 9,
2009
WASHINGTON, DC- For the past year, Chairman Edward M. Kennedy and Democratic
Members and staff of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and
Pensions (HELP) have been working to develop legislation that reduces health
care costs, allows Americans to keep the coverage they have if they want it, and
makes health insurance affordable to those who do not have it today.
Today,
while discussions between HELP Committee Democrats and Republicans on key
outstanding issues continue, Chairman Kennedy released the landmark “Affordable
Health Choices Act.” Click here for a copy of the 615-page bill,
http://help.senate.gov/BAI09A84_xml.pdf.
“Our
health care system is a crisis for American families and President Obama and
members of Congress of both parties recognize the urgency of the problem. Our
goal is to strengthen what works and fix what doesn’t. Over the next few days,
we will continue working with our Republican colleagues on common sense
solutions that reduce skyrocketing health care costs, assure quality care for
all and provide affordable health insurance choices. Much work remains, and the
coming days and weeks won’t be easy. But we have a unique opportunity to give
the American people, at long last, the health care they need and deserve,” said
Senator Kennedy.
Earlier
this year, Kennedy and Senator Max Baucus, Chairman of the Finance Committee,
which shares jurisdiction of health care reform with HELP, established a joint
process that will lead to complementary legislation being marked-up in June and
on the Senate floor by July. The HELP Committee is on track to meet that goal.
On Wednesday, June 10 and Thursday, June 11, Democrats and Republicans on the
Committee will meet to discuss outstanding legislative options such as the
public option and employer mandate.
A public
hearing is scheduled for Thursday, June 11 at 3 p.m. in Dirksen 430. Mark-up
will begin Tuesday, June 16 at 2:30 p.m. in Russell 325.
Last year,
Kennedy asked Senator Christopher J. Dodd, vice chair of the HELP Committee, to
be his chief deputy on health reform to help lead the overall effort. In
addition, Senators Tom Harkin, Barbara A. Mikulski, Jeff Bingaman and Patty
Murray have also assumed leadership roles on key aspects of reform within the
Committee. Since January, the Committee has held over a dozen public hearings on
improving the quality of care, prevention and wellness, and expanding insurance
coverage.
“Health
care reform cannot and must not wait. Today, we will introduce legislation that
will strengthen what works and fix what doesn’t. If you like the insurance you
have today, you can keep it. If you don’t like what you have today, we’ll give
you better choices, including a public option for health care. This does not
symbolize the end of the game or even the end of the first quarter. We still
have a lot of work ahead of us and are looking forward to working with our
colleagues on a bipartisan basis to resolve the remaining issues and move
forward with a mark-up of this legislation next week,” Senator Dodd said.
“All
stakeholders in the health reform debate agree one of the keys to reining in the
rising costs of health care in this country is to reduce chronic disease. Data
shows that with an investment of $10 per person per year, community prevention
programs could yield net savings of more than $18 billion annually within 10 to
20 years,” said Senator Harkin. “This reform provides one of the largest
investments in prevention and wellness initiatives, offering choices throughout
the health care system. At the federal level, it creates a new inter-agency
council to develop a national health strategy and a dedicated funding stream to
support these efforts; at the clinical level, it provides coverage of preventive
services and the elimination of co-pays and deductibles for these services; and
at the grassroots level offers grants for community initiatives. It short, it
realigns incentives to make it easier to be healthy and removes the barriers to
preventive services like screenings for diabetes, depression, tobacco cessation,
and nutrition counseling – to name just a few.”
“We can’t
fix the economy without fixing health care so families can afford it and
businesses can afford it. We can’t afford not to fix health care,” said Senator
Mikulski, who was asked by Chairman Kennedy to lead the Senate effort on
improving health care quality. “A national health care quality strategy will
provide solutions to the biggest problems – medical errors, preventable hospital
readmissions and failure to manage chronic disease – that severely impact
people, their lives, their checkbooks and national health care costs.
Emphasizing quality improves lives, saves lives and helps pay for reform by
saving money.”
“This bill
introduction marks a very important step toward fixing our nation’s broken
health care system. As we continue developing this measure in the coming days
and weeks, our primary goal will be to ensure that all Americans have access to
affordable and quality health care,” Senator Bingaman said.
“Our
health care reform bill is a step toward ensuring all Americans can see a doctor
when they need one and that our long term economic strength is not held captive
by the skyrocketing cost of care,” Senator Murray said. “I applaud my colleagues
for the hours of work they have all put in and thank Senators Kennedy and Dodd
for their leadership in moving this forward. I am particularly proud that as we
work to offer quality, affordable coverage to all Americans that we have
included a plan to ensure we have enough health care professionals to provide
that care. We still have work to do, but this bill is a good step forward on
protecting patient choice, lowering costs and providing coverage for the
millions of Americans who currently have none.”
A Quick
Summary of the Affordable Health Choices Act
Senator
Edward M. Kennedy, Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
Committee (HELP), today released The Affordable Health Choices Act, legislation
that aims to reduce health care costs, protect individuals’ choices of doctors,
hospitals and insurance plans and guarantee, quality and affordable health care
for all Americans.
The
Affordable Health Choices Act includes the following five major elements:
CHOICE: An
important foundation of The Affordable Health Choices Act is the following
principle: If you like the coverage you have now, you keep it. But if you don't
have health insurance or don't like the insurance you have, our bill will give
you new, more affordable options.
COST
REDUCTION: The Affordable Health Choices Act will reduce health care costs
through stronger prevention, better quality of care and use of information
technology. It will also root out fraud and abuse and reduce unnecessary
procedures.
PREVENTION: The best way to treat a disease is to prevent it from ever
striking, which is exactly why The Affordable Health Choices Act will give
citizens the information they need to take charge of their own health. The bill
will make information widely available in medical settings, schools and
communities. It will also promote early screening for heart disease, cancer and
depression and give citizens more information on healthy nutrition and the
dangers of smoking.
HEALTH
SYSTEM MODERNIZATION: The Affordable Health Choices Act will take strong steps
to see that America has a 21st-century workforce for a modern and responsive
healthcare system. America must make sound investments in training the doctors,
nurses, and other health professionals who will serve the needs of patients in
the years to come. It will make sure that patients’ care is better coordinated
so they see the right doctors, nurses and other health practitioners to address
their individual health needs.
LONG TERM
CARE AND SERVICES: The Affordable Health Choices Act will also make it possible
for the elderly and disabled to live at home and function independently. It will
help them afford to put ramps in their homes, pay someone to check in on them
regularly, or any of an array of supports that will enable them to stay in their
communities instead of in nursing homes.
Press
Contact
Anthony
Coley (202) 224-2633 |
|
Votes seen lacking for Obama healthcare program
Sun Jun 14, 2009 12:13pm EDT
* Key senator says votes lacking for
public insurance plan
* Biden says taxing benefits 'wrong way' to pay for reform
* Co-ops touted as possible compromise solution
By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON, June 14 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's health secretary on
Sunday pushed for a new government-run healthcare program, an idea facing
skepticism even in his own party, and a senior Senate Democrat flatly said votes
are lacking in Congress for the proposal.
In addition, Vice President Joe Biden opposed proposals being discussed by some
lawmakers to tax health insurance benefits provided to people by employers as a
way to pay for an overhaul of the $2.5 trillion U.S. healthcare industry.
Obama, aiming to get healthcare costs under control and ensure that the 46
million Americans who are uninsured can get health coverage, wants a new public
program to compete with private insurers.
"The president feels that having a 'public option' side by side -- same playing
field, same rules -- will give Americans choice and will help lower costs for
everybody. And that's a good thing," Sebelius told CNN.
"The president does not want to dismantle privately owned plans. He doesn't want
the 180 million people who have employer coverage to lose that coverage. He
wants to strengthen the marketplace," Sebelius added.
Healthcare costs undermine the competitiveness of U.S. companies, drive many
families into bankruptcy and eat up a growing portion of state and federal
spending.
Versions of healthcare legislation unveiled by senior Democrats in the House and
Senate include a new government insurance program. But Republicans are adamantly
opposed to the idea, saying it could harm private insurers, and some of Obama's
fellow Democrats are against it, too.
'VERY GOOD ARGUMENTS'
Kent Conrad, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said there is not enough
support in Congress for the "public option" even though proponents offer "very
good arguments" for it.
"You've got to attract some Republicans as well as holding virtually all of the
Democrats together. And that, I don't believe, is possible with the pure 'public
option.' I don't think the votes are there," Conrad said on CNN.
There already are large public health insurance programs like the Medicare
program for those over 65 and the disabled and the Medicaid for the poor. Obama
envisions a program for those not already covered by existing public plans.
Conrad has proposed an alternative to a new public program -- a system of
federally chartered insurance cooperatives that could be a nonprofit alternative
to the insurance industry.
Susan Collins, one of the few moderate Senate Republicans, said on CNN this was
an intriguing idea that could serve as a compromise between those for and
against a new public plan.
Obama on Monday is set to address the American Medical Association, which
represents the nation's doctors and has voiced skepticism about a broad new
public plan but willingness to consider other proposals including the
cooperatives.
Sebelius did not embrace the proposal but also did not dismiss it, saying,
"There is no one-size-fits-all idea."
Biden, on the NBC program "Meet the Press," also signaled Obama's flexibility on
the nature of a new public plan.
Most Americans with health insurance get it through an employer. During last
year's presidential election, Obama derided the idea of taxing employer-provided
health benefits.
But some lawmakers have revived the idea as a way to paying for the healthcare
overhaul. "We've made it clear we do not think that is the way to go. We think
that is the wrong way to finance this legislation," Biden said. (Additional
reporting by David Alexander and David Morgan; Editing by Eric Walsh)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved |
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Your Insurance News "Strategic
Relationship"
|
"Revolutionizing the
way insurance information
is
acquired, shared and
communicated." |
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|
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The next generation of communication has been
created for the insurance industry. |
 |
What distinguishes this model is the “user-generated” nature of the content.
Members create their own profile, groups, posts, blogs, photos, videos, and
more.
Insurance Campus.org will soon be the largest insurance
networking site on the Internet. It is free to join and you can browse first
before deciding to become a member.
www.insurancecampus.org
Contact
Information:
9221 Ravenna Road, Suite
#D8
Twinsburg, OH 44087
888-282-1765
330-425-8489 fax
330-425-8399 direct
Walt Podgurski, CLU, CES, Chairman & CEO walt@insurancebroadcasting.com
Michael Flynn, CIO,
michael@insurancebroadcasting.com
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Privacy Policy |
Proviso:
The Workplace Benefits Association does not sell workplace
benefits and is not in the business of offering advice.
THIS WEB SITE SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS ADVICE: The
information contained in this web site is for informational
purposes only and should not be considered advice. It is
provided only as general information that may or may not
reflect the most current legal developments. Consequently,
the information should not be construed as legal,
accounting, tax, investment or other professional advice or
services. Each visitor is urged to consult a qualified
professional who understands the visitor's particular
factual situation before making any decision, and the
Workplace Benefits Association disclaims any responsibility
for any action taken by visitors in their specific cases or
for any misinterpretation on the part of such persons. The
Workplace Benefits Association makes no representation that
this site or any content on or accessed through the site are
appropriate or available for use in other jurisdictions. You
are responsible for compliance with all applicable laws and
regulations.
We provide this site as a convenience to our clients and the
public. The material contained herein is deemed to be
reliable, however this information is of a general nature -
the complexity of these issues and specific circumstances
dictate the applicability of this information. If you would
like additional information, please Contact Us.
Web site and all contents © Copyright Walter B. Podgurski
2006, All rights reserved. |
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