October 2011

Eyes Wide Open For Open Enrollment

It happens every year. The ‘big’ open enrollment insurance benefit envelope arrives and you can’t help but feel you should be thinking a little harder about which plan to choose, but aren’t exactly sure what to ‘think’ about.  You aren’t alone.  Every year the family premium has gone up (usually around 9%), and this year,

Worker's Compensation Fraud

Workers compensation is an idea as old as time. Seriously. The ancient Sumerian Nippur Tablet – no. 3191, dating back to 2050 BC, laid out the laws of monetary compensation for specific worker injuries.  The ancient Greeks, Romans, Arabs and Chinese all had compensation schedules in place too. Since then, obviously, the concept has evolved

HIPAA 101

You’ve read it, and signed that you’ve read it, but did you get it?  Just what is HIPAA? HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, is a federal law to prevent abuses of your personal health information.  Here’s the lowdown on what it’s all about. What is HIPAA? WHO? Under the HIPAA rules the

To Be or Not to Be – a Doctor

Becoming a doctor used to be tops on the career totem pole.  If you were a physician you were part of a distinguished profession, inherent with the respect and dignity the lengthy education and responsibility deserved.  That was then, this is now.  Now a doctor is the ‘bad guy’ bringing in six figures, while the

"Super Committee", Super Cuts, Super Wise?

I’m sure you’ve already heard.  In response to the ‘debt deal’ passed in August a ‘super committee’ has been formed whose mission is to cut costs and thus reduce the deficit. In the cross hairs are Medicare and Medicaid. No doubt about it, the nation’s debt is sky high, and cuts need to be made.