Healthcare Reform: The Great Conflict

As I listened in my car this morning that Individual Mandate tax in the Healthcare Reform Bill had been upheld by the Supreme Court, I sighed and kept driving. There are positives and negatives to this Bill, but I fear that the negatives & cost outweigh the positives. And yes, I have read the Healthcare Reform Bill...have you?

Are the new benefits in this Bill evil? Not exactly. However, I'm extremely upset that I will be paying a percentage of the premiums for someone's abortion, but that's another article for another time (Insurance companies should only have to cover Medically Necessary abortions for pregnancies that are threatening the life of the mother, not Whoops-I-had-a-one-night-stand Abortions). But I digress.

The biggest problem I have with Healthcare Reform is that there is a reason why the provisions below haven't been covered by insurance companies before. Forcing insurance companies to cover a multitude of new benefits, and forcing individuals to purchase Healthcare or pay a penalty is also wrong.

Will children grow up wanting to be doctors? Probably not. They'll want to be entrepreneurs. More profit, less mandates, more freedom.

Let me explain my relationship with Healthcare Reform. I am a licensed Insurance Broker, and I work mainly with Group Health Plan clients. Therefore I am not only training my clients on the changes we are facing, but I study Healthcare Reform weekly, if not daily.

Also, if I am the person that enrolls individuals and companies in their health insurance, then what happens to my job & all of the other brokers out there when people are forced to go to the Exchanges? I thought jobs were the biggest priority for our president (not capitalized on purpose, capitalization is for important things).

The changes that have already been implemented are not terrible things, but they do bring an increase in cost. It's like going to a fancy restaurant and having them force you order the filet, a bottle of Cabernet, 3 sides, and dessert in order to eat there. Those things are great, but they will increase your bill. Oh wait, this restaurant has a group mentality, so other people's bills will be averaged into yours. Enjoy.

Here are some of the changes that have been implemented so far that have increased the average Insurance Plan renewal rates 15 - 17% each year (Not my opinion, actual numbers from insurance carriers I work with like Blue Cross Blue Shield, Health Net, Cigna, etc.):

• Dependents Coverage to Age 26
• Adult/married children can be enrolled under the parent's group health plan regardless of full-time student status
• Pre-Existing Conditions waived for Children under 19
• Life Benefit Limits Removed
• Health Insurance plans used to have Lifetime Benefit limits of $5,000,000 (we've only had 2 clients max this out, out of the hundreds we work with), now have an Unlimited Maximum (insurance company liability).
• Preventive Services Covered in Full 
• Your Well Woman, Well Man, Well Baby, etc. exams are now covered in full...whereas before it would be subject to your PCP copay, usually $20, $30, maybe $45.
  (Don't be fooled, this cost is now built into your insurance rates.)

Is individual insurance for families without Group Health Coverage a bad thing? Absolutely not. What concerns me is Government Mandated insurance. Are four tiers of coverage enough to choices for all the families in America? I doubt it.

The Individual Mandate (you know..the one that the Supreme Court ruled on today) states that "U.S. Citizens and legal residents are required to have "minimum essential coverage" or else face a tax penalty...The tax penalty for noncompliance is the greater of $695 per person per year, up to a maximum of $2,085 per family, or 2.5% of household income." 

If your employers don't provide enough health benefits, they get financially penalized (Employer Mandate). If your employers provide too much health benefits, they will be financially penalized (Cadillac Excise Tax). 

So you'll probably have to go to the Exchange since your employer might opt to pay those taxes (which are lower than the cost of providing Health Insurance for you) instead of providing a Group Health plan. Of course, then they will have to increase your pay in order to compensate for not providing Group Health Coverage, and pay the increased payroll taxes that come with it, which lowers their profitability from when they were paying pre-tax dollars to your health plan. It seems that the Government has created a jumbled mess with intended & unintended consequences.

Guaranteed Issue, is guaranteed to raise costs. "Carriers must accept all applicants regardless of pre-existing condition & health status and must use adjusted community rating." This applies to the Exchanges too...claims costs from everyone else in your state, possibly even country, are now being added to your monthly premium.

The Exchange - January 1, 2014

If you do not have minimum essential coverage (which is yet to be determined, of course), whether through your coverage at work or individually, you will be forced to go to the Exchange. 

"There are four tiers of coverage. Each tier covers the following minimum actuarial value of covered benefits. Coverage in each metal category must include essential benefits and have out-of-pocket maximums no greater than HSA limits ($5,950 for individuals, $11,900 for families in 2011)."

• Bronze - 60% Coverage
• Silver - 70% Coverage
• Gold - 80% Coverage
• Platinum - 90% Coverage 

Since the only say I really have here is on who I will vote for to be our next President, all I can do is educate myself on current issues & pray that God will be with our country during this time of turmoil, confusion, and debt.

Netflix Foreshadows End to DVD's, Customers Foreshadow End of Netflix

A new company that because successful quickly is a beautiful thing. It's like a flower popping out of the ground, it has a great chance to not survive at all, but then there are the ones that do. Netflix was an almost instant success with it's business model of charging a flat price for keeping a DVD for however long you wanted, with choices of up to 3 DVD's at a time. My dad was thrilled! No more late fees. We can watch the movie over and over again for a month if we wanted to, hallelujah!

Ten years later, as I watch the Netflix stock fall with each passing hour, I wonder what they were thinking.

I have been a Netflix customer for the past year, and my family has had a Netflix account since the beginning of it all. Since I don't have a TV in my room, the ability to watch shows and movies online on my laptop was wonderful. I loved getting DVD's in the mail, because the online selection is crap compared to the DVD selection. I watched so many movies the first few months of starting my account, it wasn't even funny! I caught up on all the 80's and 90's movies that I was never allowed to watch. I never knew how Harry Met Sally or how Julia Roberts was a Pretty Woman.
After reading the e-mail from Netflix CEO Hastings yesterday, I was very irritated for many reasons. So irritated that, even though I love getting my Netflix in the mail, I cancelled my DVD subscription. I will also be cancelling my streaming subscription in a few weeks when I move into my new home with my (almost) husband, since I purchased an Apple TV for my parents I think it would be cruel & unusual punishment if they could not watch their Arrested Development re-runs without notice.

For me, I felt that Netflix needed to financially know how dumb (for lack of a better word) their decision is to split up their company into two seperate companies. I don't know if they all have hover crafts and hologram messaging, but down here on earth we like our DVD's. We like to hold them, a DVD wont have a slow network. A DVD wont have site maintence.

I like seeing my collection, physically browsing through my own DVD's, and the excitement of popping in a new one into my DVD player. Not everyone has a device like an Apple TV where they can connect their online streaming choices to straight to their television. The DVD player did not come out that long ago, and Netflix is trying to bury their own product so quickly it's making people's heads spin. By trying to predict the future and be ahead of the game, they are infuriating their customers and yanking away something that is so comfortable, something that we love.
I refuse to log into two seperate websites, get charged by two seperate "companies" for my DVD services. I would much rather go check out Blockbuster's DVD services, or continue to rely on the trusty RedBox. Netflix has made it easier than ever for their competitor's to slide into first place.

The name of the second company Netflix is splitting into is called "Qwikster." I took many branding and marketing classes, and have created brand names and marketing pieces for freelance clients, so if this new name is baffling to me, I understand why it is baffling to everyone else. It is unfamiliar, it isn't even the same font and doesn't have any "flix" association with it. Any smart marketing director would be able to see the need to create an association between the two.

Netflix has tried to defend itself saying that they don't want to hurt Netflix's brand name by the inevitable erosion of the DVD industry. While I understand that, their timing was all wrong. DVD are still very much apart of our society and daily lives, and will be for a long time. I purchased my DVD's, I spent money on them. I will not be throwing them in the trash simply because a corporate bafoon is re-routing his company in hopes that millions of people will in fact do so.

In summary, the marketing director, creator of the name "Qwikster," individual who spurred on the price increase, and Hastings for his tone-deaf messages sent to MY e-mail account...all should be fired.

Call Me a Coinstar...I'm loving all this Change! Part 2

It's Monday afternoon...and 40 days til my wedding day with Chris. While I have a slight burning sensation in my stomach with the anxiety that is building as our big day nears...I'm trying to take it all in the best that I can and absorb these precious days as they come. I get asked all the time how everything is going, so this is my little way to fill everyone in, & also document this time so I can look back on this year & never forget it...

April was a rush of excitement, as I got engaged & bought my wedding dress. May started with the happiness of celebrating my (soon to be) neice coming into this world, then celebrated my graduation from Arizona State University, & off to work two days later at a wonderful Financial Firm. June was just plain scorching. July was intense, as I finished my last three college credits with a night class after my Account Managing position.

August has been exciting & nerve racking, as packages flood to my parent's house holding Wedding goodies galore. I think my mom is trying to beat me on how many packages she can get delivered to the house...either way, my dad is concerned, ha!

My bachelorette party weekend spent at the Royal Palms Resort was the greatest weekend I could have ever asked for, and reminded me of the amazing young women in my life who planned an amazing party and thsoe who came to support me. In two weeks I'll be able to celebrate my Bridal Shower with family & friends, yet another day I have been looking forward to for years.

It seems so surreal that Chris & I are also in the process of purchasing a house...and will sign the papers any day now to make it ours. These past few months have been a whirlwind mixture of invitations, glitter, centerpieces, couch searching, blessings, conflicts, family & friends. God has been there with Chris & I through it all, & I would not change a thing.

As I was sitting on my bed talking with my mom about the stressful parts of all these wonderful things, my dad came in my room with album pages from my baby album, and all the stress melted away. I remembered the connection I had with the little babies & children I have nannied for a total of four years, and knew that if they were my own children, seeing them grow up & get married would be 1,000 more emotional than it already would be. Seeing my dad laugh at how tiny I was, helped me regain the perspective of what a large day October 8th will be.

The centerpieces will be beautiful, the food will be great, being surrounded by friends and family will be amazing, but walking down the aisle towards Chris after three years of falling in love with each other, will be a moment that I have waited for my whole life & one that I will never forget.

This all seems crazy, this all seems so surreal. But it all feels so right.

Well Call Me a Coinstar, I'm Loving All This Change: Part 1

It is hard to believe that it is now June. Just yesterday I was ringing in the New Year, wishing it was June. Now I'm sweating off body parts I don't even have, wishing it was the New Year. Funny how that works.

Life has changed so much for me over the past 6 months it seems like the roadrunner from the old cartoons whizzed by, spun me around, & somehow I landed on my feet suddenly engaged, welcoming my fiance's neice into this world, graduating from college & looking at houses! All amazing things, but what a year.

Since it would be a bit much to cram all of these life changing events into one blog post, so I will break them all up. Here goes #1:

I think in order to look forward, or even appreciate the present, you have to look back. I believe that God designed life that way for us, this complex wonderful mixture of memories, emotions, thoughts, & actions. If we can't learn from the past, or even appreciate the steps it took to get us where we are, then our future is hopeless. As my sophomore year economics professor said, but I digress.

I look back at when Chris & I first met. I was 19, he was 23, and I was wearing a vest. One that he liked of course. I caught his eye & he was sneakily talking to my roommate, meanwhile he caught my eye & was praying about him for four weeks before I let myself talk with him.

Back to the vest, I came in late to the Element college group after work one Thursday night. I was worried I looked like a mess after rushing to get there, since there was this "cute name-tag guy" who wouldn't leave my thoughts or prayers. I was one of the last people in, & up to Cute Name-Tag Guy I went, and he said to me, "I like your vest."

Now, there's more to that story, but we've been inseparable ever since. And now, over two and a half years later we are engaged! It still seems hard to believe he proposed hundreds of feet in the air, in an airplane just for us, at sunset over Lake Pleasant.  Say wha?!

Your whole life you wonder who "the one" is. You picture some faceless guy with brown hair, who loves God, who is at least 3 inches taller than you, who doesn't have a drug record, loves his parents, and will love you for the rest of his life. Everything else is a variable, and you wonder which guy will fit the mold.

I just remember looking at Chris, in an airplane, with a ring on my left hand, and that guy wasn't such a mystery any longer. The faceless man disappeared, and here I was looking in the eyes of my future husband.

Now, some of you may be going, please tell me you wanted to marry this guy before you got in that darn airplane. Yes, of course I did! But I also believe, that we are supposed to not look for the perfect future spouse, but instead try our best to BE the perfect future spouse for someone, and let God do the picking.

If you're wondering why Mr. Perfect hasn't waltzed into your living room, while you're sitting there using your Bible as a coaster and not paying attention to any flaws that God-forbid you might be harboring, then there is a sense of full delusion that you seem to have a firm grasp on.

I don't know how Chris & I found each other, I dont know why I couldnt get him out of my head for a whole month before we even spoke more than 3 sentences, or why we ran into each other in the middle of one of the largest Universities in the country. All I know, is that I focused on myself, focused on the woman God wanted me to be and the kind of wife my future husband needed me to be, and let God do the picking.

Needless to say, this worked out great for me, and if you are in the aforementioned situation above, I highly suggest you find a different coaster, and try the same thing. God is a nice guy, and unlike your cat, He listens and even responds (Don't worry, I have a cat. Yes, yes I know he really does listen to you. It's that blinky look he gives you, isn't it?).

Well, as I'm giggling at my little title of this blog, I'm also realizing how late it is. Until the next day when I have free time to reflect on life, adios.

Why I Wont Be Purchasing a Nissan Leaf

I am graduating college this year in May, and like many college graduates, I am shopping for a newer vehicle. For the meantime, I will be driving approximately 9,000 miles per year just to work, so I need a reliable, fuel efficient vehicle.

Nissan has recently come out with an amazing new vehicle that requires no gasoline, and solely runs on electric and solar power. The Nissan Leaf really is the gateway to the future of automobiles. As political events in Egypt take way, gas prices in the U.S. are elevating with each passing day.

Sooner or later, America will no longer wish to be so reliant on the Middle East for our fuel, hence the hybrid cars of the future. As a person that lives in Arizona, where there is little practical public trasnportation offered, and everything is extrememly spread out, fuel efficiency, as well environmental impact are key concerns for me in my car-buying adventure.

Sadly, I was cut short of hoping to own such a vehicle, seeing that the costs of the Nissan Leaf are just too high at this point in time in my financial life. I find this interesting, seeing that I am smack dab in the middle of Nissan's target market, according to the interview Nissan's CEO Carlos Ghosn did with Fast Company magazine in the March 2011 edition.

"Fast Company: Who are your prime targets?
Ghosn: Women and young people. Our problem is not selling the car. This is something people have been asking for...[The first electric cars] were selling for $100,000. Who's going to buy that?... This is $25,000 [after Government incentives], but even that I consider expensive."

After reading this interview, I was really excited about the Nissan Leaf. I jumped on my computer and started crunching numbers. I wondered, with the approximately $130 a month I pay for in gas I would  be saving by purchasing an all-electric vehicle, I wondered if I could afford it...

My car is 11 years old, good shape, but 11 years old. I'm being realistic in saying that I will get at least $1,500 for a trade in for my silver hot rod.  I also figure that a decent down payment on a car is at least 20% of the car's purchase price. The national average for a car payment is approximately 10% of your take home pay. If I were to purchase the Leaf, I would also be saving approximately $130 a month in gas. 

Here is the breakdown for the Nissan Leaf SV:

Purchase Price: starting at     $32,780 MSRP
Max Government Incentive: $7,500 off purchase price
Arizona Incentives:               $100 off purchase price
(see the Nissan Leaf website for State Incentives that apply to you)
_______________________________________________

Cost thus far:                        $25,180  (not including tax, title and licensing fees)

Break down of the payments:
Down payment of 20%:       $5,036.   
Trade In value:                     $1,500
(With a sales tax of 8% and an interest rate 6%)


With these numbers, if purchasing my payments would be as follows:
24 month loan: $933/month
36 month loan: $640
48 month loan: $495
60 month loan: $407
72 month loan: $349

I would basically have to put $13,000 down in order to afford monthly payments on this car...no thank you. Looks like green isn't the way I'll be going.

Wiki wiki.

Someday all there will be of me are pictures and old possessions that my loved ones will cherish. Maybe there will be a paragraph about me on Wikipedia or some other news article, maybe not. But if there is, I have a chance now to write what it will say by how I act and what I do.

More deeply engraved than words on a page ever will be, are the memories of me that people will hold. Those are all guided by my choices as well. I have a choice between the good and bad, the judgmental and non, the confrontational and the peaceful. I will remember this as often and as much as I can.

East Coast

© Briana Thomas

A few months ago, I was blessed with the opportunity to go to Cape Cod, MA and New York City with a great friend of mine, Taylor. It was an amazing experience, and today I was missing it so I thought I'd share.

Heather & Taylor in Martha's Vineyard, July 2010

Cape Cod, & Kathy Lee
Cape Cod is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been too, it's stylized houses and scenery makes you feel like you've stepped back in time to the 1800's. On the 4th of July we were in Nantucket, and while looking in a cute jewelry store I heard a voice that sounded very familiar...I turned and it was Kathy Lee Gifford! She was helping her daughter pick out a bracelet, Taylor was standing right next to her and didn't even realize it! I pulled her aside to "show her something" and pointed out who was in the store with us. We were too nervous to get her autograph, but it was a fun little moment standing next to someone I watch on television almost every morning on the Today Show.

 Taylor & I in Nantucket on July 4th, 2010

Taylor & I took beautiful pictures of the ocean, hydrangas, and all the cool buildings and architechture that we saw. I remember lots of green tea being drank, and lots of bathroom stops! We definitely stimulated the economy with how many trips to Starbucks we made! We saw Dunkin Donuts EVERYWHERE, and finally Taylor needed a donut

 She finally got her donut :)

New York!
It was Taylor's 21st birthday while we were in New York, and we celebrated by eating about five slices of cheesecake, one at every single restaurant we ate at within two days of her birthday. I had never eaten so much in my entire life on this trip, I literally went home expecting to have gained about eight pounds, but nothing...which isn't a bad problem to have.

We were on a double-decker bus the day that New York experienced the largest heat waves since the 70's, to say the least, we were dying! I wore a kelly green dress, and when I stood up it looked like someone had splashed water on me (gross) because it was soo humid and we were on plastic seats on the bus. Taylor was laughing & taking pictures, I was fanning the bottom of my dress back & forth like it was on fire.

I could write about nine pages about my wonderful trip, but I will resist. It was a refreshing experience being on the other side of the country, seeing historical sites and getting to spend time with Tay. I want to go back NOW!


(All photographs are © Briana Thomas)