Risk & Business

I subscribe to an email entitled "Positive Quote of The Day". I thought I would share today's quote, worth some thought I think. "We come into this world crying while all around us are smiling. May we so live that we go out of this world smiling while everybody around us is weeping". -- Persian proverb

Image via Wikipedia According to an article on BusinessInsurance.com, the Senate is putting together a bill that would mandate health coverage to be provided for employees for all business' except for "small" firms. The small firms would be those with 25 or fewer employees. In the latest health care reform proposal, firms would be required to pay 60% of their employees health premiums or be assessed annually $750.00 for each full time employee not covered and $375.00 for each part time employee not covered. Another bill be worked on would require employers to pay for employees health coverage or be assessed 8% of each employees pay for those not enrolled in health care coverage. This bill also exempts small firms but doesn't specifically state what a "small" firm is. Sounds like the run up to government run health care. Has the private sector messed it up that much that health care now needs to be run by the government? Another question is, can the go...

It's not widely known by the general public but insurance companies have been steadily losing income the past couple years, mainly due to their self inflicted premium reductions which occur every few years. These premium reductions cause what's known in the industry as a "soft market". This has been the industry's way of increasing individual companies' policy holder share through premium reductions of 20 to 40%. The problem is that in the midst of their soft market the industry has been hit with some large losses and one of their primary sources of income, investments, has been severley damaged due to the recent economic downturn . They are in a bind currently due to this economic downturn since their usual remedy was increasing premiums. This remedy can't be their quick solution since many business are struggling with their own economic difficulties and can't afford the increased premiums. An article in Property-Casualty.com states that prop...