A tax on health insurance. Sound familiar. Remember John McCain's proposal? This proposal is worse. Only when McCain proposed it Obama went nuts. Now it is okay because it is Obama's idea. What is up with this guy? Besides be a socialist, he is crazy!
From the perspective of a small or family owned business person, it you have struggled to be able to give your employees health insurance, now they want to tax it. How stupid regardless of the basis or principles involved. From what I know, about the proposal, it is a way to tax "income" without raising basic rates. It is a way of getting to the little business person AGAIN! under Obama, small business will be taxed higher than ever. That is certainly a way to STIMULATE the economy.
I am not sure there is anyone in D.C. who knows what is going on any more! What do you think?
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
Yikes! Keep a close watch on health Insurance.
I like buying from and getting to know various small and family owned businesses. Recently, a small business that I consult with regularly received notification from the insurer that provides health insurance to their employees, to me and my wife and to their related entities that the rates for the year beginning July, 2009 and last for a year, would not change. REALLY! Would not change. I have been hearing of 30% and 40% increases and we were prepared for the worse, However, NO CHANGE. Rates would stay the same as they were in 2008!
Amazing? Maybe! But not for our insurer. They are a locally owned health insurance provider that is owned by the two major hospital groups in the state. Although many companies that they insure did receive increases, they made a concerted effort NOT to increase the rates for the businesses hardest hit by this recession, the smallest of the companies and those that had managed their health plans to insure that employees were well educated about what they can and cannot do with their health insurance. Thank you CCOO.
Now what do I mean by saying that they were trying to help companies that had managed their health plans. A lot of companies just provide the insurance and the employees go to the doctor, deal with the insurance provider and try to charge whatever they can to the health insurance. In a company I am familiar with, the employees were trained twice a year on what they could and could not do with health insurance. The employees were required to come to the coordinating person in the company if they disagreed with the health provider or had a problem or just did not understand. 83% of the time, the company person was able to solve the problems saving the health insurance carrier time and money in the meantime. An added benefit, relations between the company and the insurance provider was and is great. The insurance company was happy to provide documentation and information for the training sessions and they only had to, in most cases, deal with one person to resolve an issue.
If you do not provided health insurance but would like to, several states now have state supported plans that pick up some of the cost for employees making less than certain amounts of money. In Arkansas, Oklahoma and others, the plan is simple. You send your health insurance bill to the state office, they reimburse you for eligible employees up to 90% of the cost.
So, don't give up on health insurance, manage it. What do you think?
Amazing? Maybe! But not for our insurer. They are a locally owned health insurance provider that is owned by the two major hospital groups in the state. Although many companies that they insure did receive increases, they made a concerted effort NOT to increase the rates for the businesses hardest hit by this recession, the smallest of the companies and those that had managed their health plans to insure that employees were well educated about what they can and cannot do with their health insurance. Thank you CCOO.
Now what do I mean by saying that they were trying to help companies that had managed their health plans. A lot of companies just provide the insurance and the employees go to the doctor, deal with the insurance provider and try to charge whatever they can to the health insurance. In a company I am familiar with, the employees were trained twice a year on what they could and could not do with health insurance. The employees were required to come to the coordinating person in the company if they disagreed with the health provider or had a problem or just did not understand. 83% of the time, the company person was able to solve the problems saving the health insurance carrier time and money in the meantime. An added benefit, relations between the company and the insurance provider was and is great. The insurance company was happy to provide documentation and information for the training sessions and they only had to, in most cases, deal with one person to resolve an issue.
If you do not provided health insurance but would like to, several states now have state supported plans that pick up some of the cost for employees making less than certain amounts of money. In Arkansas, Oklahoma and others, the plan is simple. You send your health insurance bill to the state office, they reimburse you for eligible employees up to 90% of the cost.
So, don't give up on health insurance, manage it. What do you think?
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Be glad you are not GM or Chrysler-Maybe!
My nephew Scott handles my investments for me. They are meager but important to me and my wife. He sent me an e-mail today that said "Aren't you glad you did not buy GM"! A few days ago I had asked his advice about GM because I am a bottom fisher of sorts right now. He said "No" then and I am glad. Our entire portfolio consists of stocks that reached their lowest price ever between January and March of this year. So far it has paid off. I guess the long term will tell. My oldest Son does not call it "investing" he calls it "gambling".
Anyway, all automotive stocks plummeted today based on the announcement that GM was issuing 300 million new shares of stock to fund their debt to the UAW and Chrysler had banks, that it expected to follow the lead of their big banks, that demanded a majority stake in the car maker now in bankruptcy. It is such a shame caused not only by the greed I have written about here before, but because of their incompetency at the top and fear of doing the right and hard things last year and years before. Ford made some of those hard decisions last year and the year before when they were in trouble and everyone knew about it. GM and Chrysler were in trouble too but were not talking or taking action.
So why am I saying this other than to rant. Because you as a small and/or family owned business person should be doing that right now. If things are bad, do what you have to. The pain will not get easier. If things are going well now, plan, plan, and do more planning and saving. Really, not only could things get bad they might stay good and that may be an even bigger problem. Seek some advice and counsel from competent people such as I am. It is more important than ever to do the right thing for you and your employees!
What do you think?
Anyway, all automotive stocks plummeted today based on the announcement that GM was issuing 300 million new shares of stock to fund their debt to the UAW and Chrysler had banks, that it expected to follow the lead of their big banks, that demanded a majority stake in the car maker now in bankruptcy. It is such a shame caused not only by the greed I have written about here before, but because of their incompetency at the top and fear of doing the right and hard things last year and years before. Ford made some of those hard decisions last year and the year before when they were in trouble and everyone knew about it. GM and Chrysler were in trouble too but were not talking or taking action.
So why am I saying this other than to rant. Because you as a small and/or family owned business person should be doing that right now. If things are bad, do what you have to. The pain will not get easier. If things are going well now, plan, plan, and do more planning and saving. Really, not only could things get bad they might stay good and that may be an even bigger problem. Seek some advice and counsel from competent people such as I am. It is more important than ever to do the right thing for you and your employees!
What do you think?
Monday, May 4, 2009
Interesting! First 100 days.
Is it too soon for you to evaluate, as a small or family owned business, President Obama on his job as President based on the first 100 days in office. No it is not. President's have been evaluated on their first 100 days every time and new President comes to office. As a business person, it is important to see "where he stands". In my humble opinion, he stands for everything that sound business does not stand for and, as a person, he stands for a weak America, tax the daylights out of the people who make this country run (small business) and give in to those who really do not want to work and have an entitlement mentality. Sure, there are those who CANNOT work and they need to be taken care of, but our President wants to be King and, therefore, a Socialist. "I am the government and I am here to help". Hogwash, Balderdash, Nonsense and other words too strong to interject here.
So far he has shown a lot of motion and little substance. The liberal media is touting all the things he has a "tackled" in his first 100 days. He has "tackled" nothing but has spoken (even eloquently) about a lot. In Scripture (Proverbs) it says "where words are many, sin is at hand" (My translation). It is os true of this guy. Do I think his stimulus will work? Possibly. If Wall Street and the banking industry are smart, they will follow Ford Motor Company's example. When Ford went to the government with hat in hand, so to speak, with the other car makers, they saw the writing on the wall. "We are the government and we are here to help" really means "we are the government and we are here to control you if you take our money and turn you into a socialist enterprise". Ford said thanks but no thanks. We do not need your money and they have made hard decisions, hard choices and are going to come out of this stronger and better without government intervention. The Ford CEO took a voluntary 30% pay cut, they are leaner and ready to proceed. Look at Ford stock as opposed to GM. Wall Street, Bankers, pay attention!
By the way, more oversight might be needed for Wall Street unfortunately. You know why? Greed! Greed! Greed! Unfortunately President Obama is right in that they cannot regulate themselves as President Bush had hoped for. Remember Wall Street, you brought this on yourself!
What do you think?
So far he has shown a lot of motion and little substance. The liberal media is touting all the things he has a "tackled" in his first 100 days. He has "tackled" nothing but has spoken (even eloquently) about a lot. In Scripture (Proverbs) it says "where words are many, sin is at hand" (My translation). It is os true of this guy. Do I think his stimulus will work? Possibly. If Wall Street and the banking industry are smart, they will follow Ford Motor Company's example. When Ford went to the government with hat in hand, so to speak, with the other car makers, they saw the writing on the wall. "We are the government and we are here to help" really means "we are the government and we are here to control you if you take our money and turn you into a socialist enterprise". Ford said thanks but no thanks. We do not need your money and they have made hard decisions, hard choices and are going to come out of this stronger and better without government intervention. The Ford CEO took a voluntary 30% pay cut, they are leaner and ready to proceed. Look at Ford stock as opposed to GM. Wall Street, Bankers, pay attention!
By the way, more oversight might be needed for Wall Street unfortunately. You know why? Greed! Greed! Greed! Unfortunately President Obama is right in that they cannot regulate themselves as President Bush had hoped for. Remember Wall Street, you brought this on yourself!
What do you think?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)