Benefits Newsletter -- Back Issues of BBI Benefit Bits

We publish a monthly (snail mail) newsletter. Well, almost monthly... we miss now and then.

If you want to jump right to the Newsletter Table of Contents and links to back issues, click here and skip my explanation of what we're trying to do in the newsletter.

First, we talk about employee benefits... new ideas, new products. Ways to cut costs (almost every month there's a cost-cutting tip).

But we try real hard to avoid jargon.

We go into depth on specific products that we feel either have significant potential to dynamically change your benefits picture or that we feel are misunderstood.

For example, right now we believe that the Health Savings Account (HSA) is potentially the single most powerful tool to radically change the way you do health insurance. A huge potential breakthrough in controlling medical costs.

The HSA Plan could be the biggest breakthrough in Health Insurance in years.

But, candidly, it's vastly underused -- particularly in Massachusetts.

Why? While our paternalistic HMO-oriented history plays a part, at least part of the reason for its slow growth is lack of understanding.

So we've focused on the HSA for the last three months of 2007, and we'll continue the focus in the first few months of 2008 as well.

Another thing we believe in is that business only occurs between people... personalities... individuals. We think it's important for you to know us so that you can trust us.

So BBI Benefit Bits talks a lot about us -- the folks in our firm, our clients, our philosophy. We try very hard to give you a window into our minds so that you can know what to expect as a client.

So while, as one client told me in an email, "sorry, I don't care what you did on your summer vacation," we still put that stuff in there. She might not care, but most of our clients do.

Case studies. What works for one of our clients might work for you, too. So we talk about what various clients were able to achieve and how they did it. We never give away specifics of anyone's business, but we tell you about actual outcomes, so you can judge for yourself.

Last, anything that strikes my fancy goes in. Why not? I write it, I should be allowed to put in what I like and leave out what I don't. As President George H.W. Bush said about broccoli, "Heck. I'm the President. I don't have to eat broccoli if I don't want to."

Therein lies the only explanation for some of the stuff I put in BBI Benefit Bits

Table of Contents By Issue -- In Reverse Order

The second main point in this brief version of the newsletter was a brief summary of the changes in the Family Medical leave Act including who can get access to your information, changes that involve the definition of light duty and of course, when you are required to report that you are taking leave to your employer.

I also included a plug for the Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence in hopes that all readers will dig deep and give big.

November 2008, Volume II, Number 11 -- For the main course I presented a veritable buffet table over laden with clichés- it was almost criminal how many I managed to stuff in- (oops, thought I was done). I presented an article titled “Six Strategies from a Master Business Builder” about my idol, marketer extraordinaire, Dan Kennedy. Dan gave the six tips to remaining not only afloat but actually profitable when everyone around you is sinking or abandoning ship. (Damn, I really did think that I had it all out of my system.)

I also covered:

• My reluctant praise of an article in (gasp) the Boston Globe (choke) that was actually well written and informative. (I still stand by the assessment that you get cancer of the eyeballs from reading the Globe.) If you would prefer to avoid possible eyeball issues, you can read my summary instead.
• I also joyfully included the Golf Lexicon so you can call your golf shots by the most amusing and potentially Non- politically correct terms possible. (If your friends don’t think calling a straight into the trees shot a “Sonny Bono is funny, get new friends).

• Increasing the amount of the co-pay the employer can save money and will theoretically be able to cover more of the cost of the policy.
• A higher co-pay can lead to an increase in employee involvement in the health care cost especially if there are options that include H SA or other options. A side benefit can include higher employee satisfaction.

I also covered other Boo-worthy items such as:

Never events which are events that are NEVER supposed to happen but still do. Insurance carriers are going to stop paying for these costs.

• Welcomed to the family: Dynasty International (imports)
• Featured some amazing carved pumpkin photos, definitely worth checking out.

I got right back to work for September though, and in this issue we covered the tricky topic of healthcare costs and inflation. You know how I just love to give you facts and figures, and these were doozies: healthcare costs are increasing at a rate of 10-12% every year while the overall inflation rate is 3%. Egad!

I also explained how the standardization of forms and electronic filing of claims could reduce costs and yes, I waved the H SA flag around again. I finally mentioned the concept of Take Care Health Systems that would eliminate some of the needless wait and see attitudes of some patients. Instead, you pop into the clinic at the local pharmacy for a minor illness, get a prescription which you can have filled on the spot and then go home to recover.

Also in the issue:

• Welcomed Gilbert and Renton, a litigation firm
• Reviewed Phat Cat Bistro,. (Hey, I liked this one!) in Amesbury
• And I grossed everyone out with a photo collage called Lunch at the Beijing Olympics.

We also:

• Welcomed to Our Family the Savings Bank in Wakefield
• Discussed golf and the fact that I have two left feet most of the time- with bunions.
• Met our new client: C&C Fabricating Inc. who have a successful machine shop in Middleton. (I also showed my lack of knowledge with the word “chassis”. Please, if you know the plural, drop me a line).

• Welcomed new client: Eaton Apothecary
• Big picture and article about Dan Kennedy, international marketing whiz and well, me, the Big Galoot at a Nashville Conference in April.
• An update on wellness benefits and consumer directed healthcare and prescription costs. Costs go down by providing incentives to make better choices. It’s like giving an allowance to kids to get them to clean their room.

HSA plans can benefit nearly every company by lowering the costs of health insurance,(everybody likes to save money) and by allowing the additional benefit of flexibility- most Health Savings Accounts are offered in connection with other health plan types.

Other topics we covered in this issue:

• The announcement of the Where’s Little Jimmy photo contest.
• Introduced New Addition to the BBI Family:
• Aerodyne Research in Billerica, MA
• An inspiring story about Corporal J.R. Martinez, US Army (RET) who won
• The Shining Star of Perseverance Award by Assurant Health
• Golf Tips (?) for Wes Walker. Alright, not really.

• Our Welcome to Gastroenterology Consultants, Lowell, MA ( they saved 14% on their health plan costs)
• Offered news about HB 5719 which would effectively kill all of the main benefits of the HSA. I gave an update which said that the house had passed it but by reports it was going to be killed by the Senate.

We showed how Perry benefited from this change, not only now (with $130,000 in savings over old program) but in the long term, by giving him better cost per share flexibility at renewal time. We also covered the three key steps to implementing the H SA without causing a mutiny among the ranks. Those three steps in brief: dual offering, HSA money must be big enough to handle bad claims and complete and thorough explanation of plan and benefits to employees.

We also covered a lot of other ground including:

• A very candid dining review of 5 CA restaurants- 3 bad, 2 good. That ain’t good.
• Welcomed E.G. Barker Lumber of Woburn, MA
• Shopping for healthcare? Recent surveys suggest that up to 70% of us are doing more research about just that. Other facts from this survey and about medicine in general.
• Client profile this month: Manufactured Rep. They provide lighting layouts and plans to schools, retail stores, hospitals, research facilities and more. I bet they have heard every light bulb joke in the world.

• A restaurant review for La Verdad, Boston. Semi-sucked” That was the final verdict and that is la verdad (the truth)
• Introduced new clients: Merrimack Urology and Butler Linen, Lawrence MA
• Client Profile of Northeast Manufacturing, Stoneham MA
• I also covered several “news” type blurbs about the Health Savings Account which if nothing else interests you is worth the quick read.

Other things we touched on:

• The Dollars and Cents Tip O’the Month
• Saving money on short term disability by: delaying the onset of benefits . Doing so saves money because less money is paid out in the long run (The irony of those words is not lost on me, by the way.)
• Welcome new clients: Norris-Weiner/Baystate Spray Equipment Notre Dame Academy
• Client Profile on Hi-Way Concrete, Wareham, MA

About the time that I wrote this article, we successfully used an HSA/HMO combination to save a client up to 11% on his health plan while actually improving his benefit package.

Employees had a choice of plans, one of which was the same as the current plan at the same cost, and the other of which was an HSA that left the employee even better off than under the current plan.

• Marching HSAs -- even more detail of plan design.
• BBI Website (this website) update.
• Dollars and Cents Tip o'Month - another way to reduce Short-Term Disability costs.
• Feeling Stupid -- a Second Lesson, Wherein Last Month's Lesson Was WRONG.
• Holiday Spirit Story -- the BBI Crew Gets a Headstart on Holiday Spirit by Trekking to the Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence.
• Holiday Thoughts - Last Bit of the Issue

It's interesting, but this is becoming habit... and the result is a more guaranteed delivery. I'm still working toward getting it to the printer by the beginning of the second week of each month so that you can count on seeing it by mid-month.

In this issue we covered a lot of ground:

• Return to HSA-Land. After last month's introduction, we go into more detail of plan design.
• Best Seafood North of Boston... maybe the best North OR South of Boston. But it's in Melrose, not Malden -- major typo.
• Travel Accident insurance -- Cheap Protection for Your Travelling Employees
• Feel Stupid In One Easy Lesson -- a Really Neat Item that turned out to be basically wrong.
• Dollars and Cents Tip o'Month - another way to reduce Short-Term Disability costs by up to 32%
• Thanksgiving Thoughts - Last Bit of the Issue

We talked about:

• Pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins... some of the best pumpkin carving I've ever seen
• Benefits Bits and Briefs -- a Summary of a Price Waterhouse Coopers report on trends in Medical Costs
• Dollars and Cents Tip o'Month - a way to reduce Short-Term Disability costs by up to 26%
• HSA Plans -- Wave of the Future? The first in our HSA continuing series
• Why Pets Hate Halloween -- a breaking news story that exposes the dirty secret of dogs, cats and Halloween

If you read the next entry, you'll realize what an important moment in history this was... it was the first month that I'd published two months in a row, in the actual month indicated by the Number of the Volume.

I haven't missed since, nor do I intend to...

In September we talked about:

• Even More on Long Term Care. I wasn't about to let one negative comment stop me from talking about this important issue!!
• More on our new website -- the one you're reading now.
• Meet the Staff -- an Introduction to Doreen Mason
• The Editor as Muse -- Summary of articles I had published in recent months
• Dollars and Cents Tip o'Month - the first time this feature was introduced. We showed how to save money on HR Processes
• Dental "Rollover Benefits" -- a New Trend in Dental Coverage -- does it make sense for you?

If you look at the number immediately below, you'll see it's Vol I, Number 4, and this is Number 8. But if you look at the month in which each was published, you'll see that #4 came out in June and #8 in August.

I tell you this now so that, after my death, when my biographers are searching for the missing Volumes of my famous Newsletter, you'll be able to point them to this admission of error, wherein I admit that Numbers 5 - 7 don't exist.

In this issue we covered:

• My Summer Vacation (Spring, Actually) -- Budapest, Vienna, Salzburg, Munich, and Prague
• Long Term Care -- the Article That Led to the Famous "I don't care what you did on your summer vacation" comment reported on above.
• The Official Introduction of This New, Improved Website
• More Pictures from Central Europe

So even though this was the fourth issue, it was late May by the time it went to press and June before it was mailed... I was beginning to feel embarrassed by my numbering system and by my lackadaisical publishing schedule.

In this issue, we covered:

• Carrier Spotlight: Focus on Harvard Pilgrim. A long interview with Charlie Baker, the guru of health insurance in Massachusetts and the man who brought HPHC back from the dead.
• Guest Article - Steve Dubin of Capital Analysts of New England, "Tax Deductible Life Insurance"
• Vegetable Art

Every time we quote a case, we see the current rates and the renewal rates from the current carrier. This is the case whether it's our client or a new prospective case.

This lets us track how Blue Cross, Harvard Pilgrim and Tufts renewals are doing at any particular time, and it allows us to meet with out clients mid-plan-year to alert them if their carrier seems to be slipping out of control. If they are, we can plan ahead to the upcoming renewal and prepare for the probable necessity of moving.

The items this issue were:

• The Renewal Trend Indicator -- What It Is
• HMO vs. PPO: Which Trend Rate Is Higher?
• Deductibles vs. copay: Which is rising faster?
• Mass Health Care Reform -- Mid-Year Update
• People With Too Much Time On Their Hands - Odd Passtimes and Unusual Pictures

So February became Number 2 but remained Volume I... despite a new year dawning. That was the first of my adjustments. In this issue I discussed the following:

• Health Plans and "Self-Funding" - Save Money by Sharing Risk with the Carrier
• Group Disability Insurance - A Strategy To Get a Better Plan While Spending Less Money
• A Great Merrimack Valley Restaurant
• Will Employees Actually Participate in a Voluntary Benefit Plan?
• Signs That Didn't Really Say What the Signmaker Wanted

Volume I, Number 1 -- In my first newsletter (way delayed... I didn't do it until more than 25 years in the business! Shame on me!) I introduced the letter and talked about the following subjects:

• Mass Health Law
• A Great Boston Restaurant
• Health Plans & "Self-Funding" - High Deductible Plans and Risk Sharing
• State of Mass Discriminates -- the New Health Law and Mass's Attack on Responsible Adults
• Voluntary (Employee-pay-all) Benefits and How They Help You
• Mass Can Discriminate Against Older Workers, But You Can't
• ID Theft Threatens Your Company

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