Building your Small Business Brand — Be Emotional! | Small Business Conversations by Network Solutions

Building your Small Business Brand — Be Emotional! | Small Business Conversations by Network Solutions

We will have to get more creative with our Health insurance in 2011

With all the changes coming at us from Health Care Reform we cannot do business as usual in 2011.  When it comes to Employee Benefits we have to be willing to get out of the box and try new ways to cut costs and
to get our employees more involved in their health care expenditures and their lifestyles.

Change will not be easy but will probably pay big dividends down the road.
 

Report on small business in Missouri and their challenges

The report, which the authors claim is the first of its kind, draws an interesting portrait of small business in Missouri:

• Half of all Missourians work for a small business. Nationwide, small businesses create 60 to 80 percent of net new jobs.
• Less of 4 percent of Missouri’s businesses qualify as “cheetahs,” but those 6,252 businesses added 130,000 jobs during the five years covered by the study. The Kansas City area was home to 18.52 percent of those companies, which account for about one of every 13 jobs in the region, slightly higher than the statewide average.
• About one-sixth of the firms were in construction, and it’s worth pointing out that construction is one of the areas hardest hit by the economic downturn that was hitting with full force just at the time the report was issued. More than one cheetah in 10 is a retailer, and other major groups are “professional, scientific and technical services,” wholesalers and administrative and support services.
• These entrepreneurs say Missouri is a pretty good place to do business – 78 percent said state policies have not been a barrier to their success – but they’d always like to have fewer regulations.

“The top issues that Missouri’s fastest growing firms are faced with due to their rapid growth include: finding and retaining qualified workers, increased administrative duties, higher healthcare costs and payroll, and higher office costs and cash flow,” the report says, adding later, “Half of Cheetah respondents indicated that government could best assist them via regulatory reform, changing the business tax structure, and reducing the costs for health care and energy.”
 

Blue Cross of Texas joins the rest of the insurance carriers

Individual Primary Cancelled Under 19 Coverage Options

We want you to be aware of a recent decision regarding dependents under the age of 19 on Individual/family policies. Effective immediately, cancellation of coverage by the primary policyholder will result in cancellation of any dependents under the age of 19 on the policy. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas (BCBSTX) does not offer a policy for primary insured policyholders under the age of 19 at this time.

There are two exceptions to this situation:

• In instances where the primary policyholder dies, BCBSTX allows their dependent under the age of 19 to become the primary policyholder. If there is more than one dependent under age 19 on the policy, the oldest dependent becomes the primary policyholder.
• In the event of a divorce, BCBSTX will allow a spouse under the age of 19 to move to their own policy as a primary policyholder.

Did you know: Diabetes cost could double or triple by 2050?

According to an October 2010 report released by the Centers for Disease Control and published in Population Health Metrics, the annual cost of diabetes in the United States is $174 billion, $116 billion of which is in direct medical costs. That figure is expected to double or triple by 2050, with one in every three Americans suffering from the disease.