Workers’ Comp
Re your Feb. 6 story, “Measures Would Undo Workers’ Comp Reforms”:
The article made reference to initiatives being presented to the state’s attorney general that would undo workers’ compensation reforms and increase benefit payouts to injured workers and fees for physicians.
The person interviewed for the “business owner’s perspective” said that he had not seen any changes in workers’ compensation premiums, and that his premiums had actually increased this past year.
The California insurance commissioner has implemented substantial decreases in the base rate for workers’ compensation insurance,15% last summer and another 15% in the fall. In some cases premiums have been cut in half for some classes of business.
I invite you to interview individuals who have experienced these reductions in workers’ compensation rates and have decided to keep their businesses in California because of said reductions.
Mat von Kroeker
Colony West Financial Insurance Services
Orange
Port Security
I strongly disagree with those who say a Dubai company’s bid to manage six U.S. ports is good for America. The ports of New York, Baltimore, Miami and three other major cities will not be safer in Dubai’s hands.
Which begs the question here on the West Coast: What about us?
A major funding gap exists between what the federal Department of Homeland Security provides California’s ports and what state, county and municipal governments provide. According to several sources, this gap could be as high as $1 billion a year.
As part of his plan to rebuild California, Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, has requested $100 million for port security. Unfortunately, that’s just a drop in the bucket.
The goal of making California’s ports safe from terrorist attacks should not be pigeonholed as a Republican or a Democratic issue. This is a California issue,with national implications.
Since the Legislature, on its own, is not going to fund the gap between what the federal government pays for port security and what currently is available, this means the issue needs to be decided by the state’s voters.
The California ports security initiative that I am suggesting will require the Legislature to reallocate $1 billion a year in state funds for a period of up to five years.
This means the dollars available to bridge the existing funding gap for port security will be carved out of future state budgets,in other terms, be budget-neutral. There must be no user or temporary tax imposed.
It is time to get serious about bridging California’s port-security funding gap.
Denny Freidenrich
First Strategies LLC
Laguna Beach
Health Insuranceu
In his recent State of the Union address, President Bush stressed the need to confront the rising cost of healthcare.
Spiraling medical costs are forcing many businesses, especially smaller companies, to stop offering health insurance. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, in 2005 just 59% of small firms nationwide offered employee health benefits; among the smallest employers (fewer than 10 workers), the percentage falls to 47%.
Alarmingly, these percentages are dropping annually by nearly 5%. In California, more than 6.5 million people, or 21% of the population, under the age of 65 are uninsured.
This leaves some workers with the daunting choice of purchasing insurance on their own,or go without.
However, there is good news. Healthcare companies have developed new types of insurance that will protect both workers and their employers.
One of them, a health savings account, is a fund that allows employees and their employers to put away money, tax-free, for healthcare expenses. The money in these accounts belongs to the employee and is portable, meaning employees can take it with them when they change jobs or retire.
Another type of health insurance is the health reimbursement account. Unlike an HSA, the HRA is funded solely by the employer and stays with the employer if the employee leaves or the plan is terminated. Since 2002, midsize and large employers have increasingly been offering HRAs to maintain healthcare coverage for their employees and keep premiums affordable.
By offering an HRA, a small business employer will have lower premiums, tax advantages, easy HRA administration with automatic rollover from the health plan to the HRA fund and unique employer design options.
It is up to each of us to find new ways to keep healthcare affordable. HSAs and HRAs are a good start.
David Hansen
CEO
UnitedHealthcare of California
