CASE OF THE WEEK:

This is a good one: An insured was out in his yard doing yard work. All of a sudden he sees a person running and being chased by a policeman - the guy runs right by him over his fence into his back yard. So - he immediately goes after him because his kids are in the back yard. He though doesn't make it over the fence - but falls and cracks his back. (Kids are fine and the bad guy was caught). However, in a split second the insured is disabled for well over 18mths. With his disability benefits - they kept their house, car and dignity!!!

Care Giving can be Stessful

This Just In Caregiving can be stressful—just ask your employees who care for an older relative.  They are more likely to report health problems such as depression, diabetes, hypertension or heart disease. The MetLife study Working Caregivers and Employer Health Care Costs estimated that employees with ldercare responsibilities cost employers an average of 8 percent more per year in healthcare costs than employees withthout eldercare responsibilities.

This equals an estimated $13.4 billion annually in additional costs for all U.S. employers. 

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Coverage for Students, Faculty, and Scholars who travel outside of their home country.

Student Travel Medical Insurance


Liaison Student

Best for: Students who are traveling outside of their home country that are engaged in full time educational classes, and or research.

•Price specifically designed for students

•Maternity coverage included

•Underwritten by Nationwide

•24 Hour Worldwide Assistance Service

Jobs in the South Bay doing better!

While dismal unemployment numbers continue to challenge the nation, there is good news to report from the South Bay. Thanks to the South Bay Workforce Investment Board (SBWIB) and their partnerships with government, non-profits, and the local business community, a remarkable number of people are getting put back to work.

Of the thousands of job seekers that visit the SBWIB every year, 80% get placed in new jobs. It is exciting to see so many lives being saved.



This week, I visited the SBWIB’s Beach Cities One-Stop in Redondo Beach to observe this success story in action. Several hopeful clients filled the computer stations in the recruitment station where help was at hand to revise resumes, find training programs, and make connections with potential employers. By 11 o’clock on the morning of my visit, Cortez Washington in the Jobs Development Department had already found one job seeker a permanent position with an air conditioning repair company in San Pedro.

What can we do for those we love!

The older you get, the more you realize that love is synonymous with family security.

Disability Case

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUipMiDtFSU to view video

A client who was earning $40,000. He needed disability income. However - he also had about $30k of unearned income. Normally, this would take him out of the disability income line up as his earned/unearned ration was pretty high. We put our heads together to see if there was anything that could be done - and among our office - we found a company that would let us go with a benefit. It saved the case.

U.S. judge allows Va. health-care lawsuit to move ahead

The Washington Post (8/3, Helderman) reports, "A federal judge refused Monday to dismiss a Virginia lawsuit challenging the nation's sweeping new healthcare law, indicating the law represents a novel extension of Congress's constitutional authority that should be tested in court and handing the law's foes an early legal victory." Had the suit been "dismissed," the development "would have provided powerful ammunition for the law's supporters, who believe such suits are frivolous political exercises."

Reform May Result in Higher Health Insurance Premiums

President Barack Obama fulfilled his promise to reform the nation's healthcare system and make health insurance affordable on March 23, 2010, when he signed the Patient Protection and Affordability Care Act of 2010 (PPACA) into law. Proponents of the law applauded the reform, based on the assumption that many formerly uninsured Americans would be given the opportunity to obtain health insurance coverage.

Obama predicted at the time, that the average family would save $2,500 in yearly premiums. This amount was later refuted by the Congressional Budget office, which predicted a yearly health insurance premium increase of $2,300.

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Reform May Result in Higher Health Insurance Premiums

How one hospital rebranded itself from the inside out | Article |

Enhanced in-house communication and taking a vow of excellence have motivated the staff to improve the experience for patients.

Trover Health System was suffering from a less than sterling reputation.

If things were perceived badly from the outside, it didn’t look too bright on the inside, either. The culture inside the Madisonville, Ky., hospital was described as “stressed.” A hospital survey showed that employees wanted better internal communication.

The new CEO, Bert Whitaker, wanted to change the internal and external perception about the organization. It enlisted the help of Ten Adams, a health-care marketing and business development consultancy. The two worked together to connect employees and the public with its new branding efforts.

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How one hospital rebranded itself from the inside out Article

Sibson Consulting's Perspectives - The Compensation Scorecard: What Gets Measured Gets Done

Employee compensation, one of the largest expenses in any organization, is also one of the least managed. While transparent data and scorecards have greatly improved the management of other aspects of performance, compensation often goes unevaluated beyond the fundamental measure of incremental costs. The invisible nature of compensation leads to problems. These include failing to differentiate pay for performance, over- and/or underpaying jobs relative to the market, having compensation spending grow faster than revenue and allowing employees to suspect they are not being paid fairly.


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SibsoConsulting's Perspectives - The Compensation Scorecard: What Gets Measured Gets Donen

How to make the most of employee benefits

Don't miss out on a match. If your company offers a 401(k) or 403(b) retirement plan, ask whether the employer will match the money you save.


Having a portion of your salary withheld from each paycheck and deposited into a tax-deferred retirement savings account is generally a good idea even without an employer match. But if your company matches the money you save, it's like free money.


"This is the biggest mistake I see people make,"  "They somehow think joining the 403(b) is costing them money, when it's actually getting them more."

Independent Contractor Vs Employee - The Exponential Risk of Worker Misclassification

Think twice before routinely classifying that next worker as an independent contractor or employee, or be prepared to write the Internal Revenue Service a large check for unpaid taxes, penalties and fines, should the worker be found incorrectly classified during an audit. In addition, employers in violation of worker classification laws should also be ready to provide retroactive access to employee benefits programs for incorrectly classified workers. And, if during an audit, a privately held company has plans to go public, it could be faced with providing misclassified workers retroactive access to stock options as well.

For more information click on this link.....a must read for business owners.
Independent Contractor Vs Employee - The Exponential Risk of Worker Misclassification

Reasons to consider Disability Insurance

Female architect had a father who got Parkinson's. She had just started her practice and wasn't making a whole lot of income, but wanted and needed disability income. To be covered, as a 32 year old female, was pretty expensive. She couldn't afford it. She had 2 other people working for her - so what we did was have her buy minimal ($1000 for 2year benefit) on each of the assistants. This let us go with a Multi-Life unisex plan and even with her buying the coverage for her employees - She saved enough to be able to afford it - This works extremely for females

IRS ombudsman warns of barriers to health reform implementation - The Hill's Healthwatch

The IRS is neither structured correctly nor funded adequately to tackle the responsibilities assigned to it under the new health reform law, an IRS ombudsman warned this week.

IRS ombudsman warns of barriers to health reform implementation - The Hill's Healthwatch Click on link for full article.

Health-care law may pose compliance issues for IRS, taxpayers

The Washington Post (7/9, Hitzenrath) reports that the IRS "has been given a key role administering health insurance premium subsidies, tax credits for small businesses, assessments on employers." For example, beginning in 2012, all businesses and tax-exempt organizations will have to issue a new IRS form to vendors "from whom they buy goods totaling $600 or more annually." The Post writes that it "will require thorough record-keeping," adding to the agency's burdens. In addition, a tax reporting requirement in the healthcare law "may impose significant burdens on businesses, charities and government agencies," the advocate service said.

Trends in Pension Planning

•Highly customized, strategic programs that are designed around a company’s specific needs, benefits, demographics, culture and existing communication channels. There’s been a big shift away from “one size fits all” education through standard plan communication materials and tools and towards custom programs that deliver personalized guidance on an individual level.



• A shift away from “benefits communication” which provides employees with an understanding of the benefits they have available towards “benefits planning” which takes the communication a step further by providing employees with guidance around how to best manage their benefits in order to achieve their financial goals. This is in response to employers freezing pensions, eliminating or cutting 401(k) matches and reducing company-subsidized health care. Now employees have a greater burden for funding their benefits and making key choices between different options. Employers are responding by working with financial education vendors and retirement plan providers to launch programs that provide this level of guidance rather than relying on plan communication materials and workshops that simply describe the benefits available to employees.



• Launching retirement and financial education as an employee benefit, rather than simply using it to announce plan changes or communicate during open enrollment. Ten years ago, companies tended to launch education based on a specific event or change. Now, nearly all the companies we talk to are making financial education a key part of their benefits package..

Healthcare Law Expected To Help 1 Million People Obtain Coverage By 2011.

The AP (7/6, Alonso-Zaldivar) reports, "The first stage of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul is expected to provide coverage to about 1 million uninsured Americans by next year, according to government estimates." While this is a small beginning, "many others -- more than 100 million people -- are getting new benefits that improve their existing coverage." The AP notes, "For weeks, the White House has been touting the new law's initial benefit changes, even as Obama dares Republicans to make good on their threat to repeal his signature social policy achievement. Now, a clearer picture is starting to emerge from the patchwork of press releases."

Discussion: HRAnswerLink | LinkedIn

Employee vs. Intern GuideImproperly classifying an individual as an unpaid intern instead of a paid employee increases an employer’s wage and hour compliance liabilities. To help minimize your company’s risks of unnecessarily owing unpaid wage and overtime, the Employee vs. Intern Guide will help strengthen your position in case the U.S. DOL decides to pay a visit and questions your company’s internship programs. The guide covers relevant areas including:

Discussion: HRAnswerLink LinkedIn Click fo mor information,

a value added service of AMSINSURE for clients.

Discussion: HRAnswerLink | LinkedIn

"HR Fact of the Month
July 2010

Did you know?!?

90% of unemployed job seekers reported that they would accept less than they originally wanted to land a new job. (Source: Glassdoor.com)"

Insurance Pools for High-Risk Patients To Start July 1

Submitted by Denise Reynolds RD on 2010-06-25
All about:

All about:


Affordable Health Insurance

For those with chronic medical conditions who are finding it difficult to get affordable insurance, relief is on the way. Beginning July 1st, the federal government will start paying for new insurance programs aimed at providing affordable coverage for uninsured people with pre-existing conditions.

Currently, insurance for someone with a pre-existing condition can cost as much as 200% of the standard rate that an otherwise healthy person would pay, if the coverage is available at all.

Under the new Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, $5 billion has been set aside for states to set up high-risk pools for people who have been uninsured for six months or longer. These pools are intended to provide a “bridge” for people most in need of medical coverage until the insurance exchanges begin operating in 2014.

The pools will have no restrictions based on pre-existing conditions. Coverage will begin immediately and there is no annual or lifetime limit. The law mandates that the premiums for coverage must be the same as the standard rate for a healthy adult in that state.
About 18 states in the US have opted to allow the federal government to run their programs, while 30 are going to run their own program instead. The states must file a proposal to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) that will outline a list of pre-existing conditions that will help define who is eligible for each pool.

On July 1, the DHHS will introduce an online portal at www.hhs.gov that will include information on available health insurance in each state. Alternatively, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners has a directory of state insurance departments that can be contacted for further information on each state’s proposed plan, including the date they will begin taking applications.

While waiting for the programs to begin taking applications, Cheryl Fish-Parcham, director of health policy at Families USA, recommends that those who will likely qualify for the insurance program begin gathering official copies of medical records to prove pre-existing conditions.

Many experts worry that the $5 billion won’t be enough to last until 2014. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has estimated that the $5 billion will last for only two years. An analysis from the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the program may actually cost as much as three times the amount originally planned for.

“We just don’t know how many people will sign up for the new pools,” said Deborah J. Chollet, a senior fellow at Mathematica Policy Research, a public policy research company, who has studied existing state risk pools and the new plan. “Until we see what happens, there’s no way to know how long the money will last.”