Posts Tagged ‘Health’
Posted by William Byrnes on December 30, 2013
When it comes to long-term care coverage, advising risk-adverse clients has historically required a balancing act that many traditional long-term care insurance (LTCI) policies simply are not cut out for. In weighing the need for coverage against the risk of a lost investment, clients frequently decide against obtaining coverage.
Fortunately, changes in the long-term care marketplace have recently inspired a new crop of products that can alleviate some concerns of clients who are already feeling the pinch of a persistently low interest rate economy. While longer lifespans and the ever-increasing cost of care have led to dramatically higher LTCI costs, new asset-based products can allow your clients to obtain affordable coverage on an almost risk-free basis, with features and tax-preferences that will likely tip the scales in favor of coverage for even the most cautious of clients.
Read the analysis of Prof. William Byrnes and Robert Bloink at ThinkAdvisor !
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Posted in Retirement Planning | Tagged: Business, Financial services, Health, insurance, Interest rate, long term care insurance, Long-term care, LTCI | Leave a Comment »
Posted by William Byrnes on November 27, 2013
and it has finally come to pass time … the new health care penalty, tax, fee – whatever it is, to be calculated for businesses. Perhaps not the best timing considering the rocky roll out. On the other hand, better to get the bad news 11 months before the next election, when it can be forgotten by the time mail in ballots are sent out.
Notice 2013-76 provides guidance on the health insurance providers fee related to (1) the time and manner for submitting Form 8963, “Report of Health Insurance Provider Information,” (2) the time and manner for notifying covered entities of their preliminary fee calculation, (3) the time and manner for submitting a corrected Form 8963 for the error correction process, and (4) the time for notifying covered entities of their final fee calculation.
For each fee year, the IRS will make a preliminary fee calculation for each covered entity and will notify each covered entity. The notification will include (1) the covered entity’s allocated fee; (2) the covered entity’s net premiums written for health insurance of United States health risks; (3) the covered entity’s net premiums written for health insurance of United States health risks taken into account after application of § 57.4(a)(4); (4) the aggregate net premiums written for health insurance of United States health risks taken into
account for all covered entities; and (5) instructions for how to submit a corrected Form 8963 to correct any errors through the error correction process.
The information reported on each Form 8963 will be open for public inspection. This aspect will be very interesting as various groups pull and then post business’ 8963s.
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Posted in Compliance | Tagged: Agents and Marketers, Business, Financial services, Health, Health insurance, insurance, Obama Care, Obama Care tax, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, tax penalty, United States | 1 Comment »
Posted by William Byrnes on October 15, 2013
The latest figures from America’s Health Insurance Plans tell the story: Enrollment in Health Savings Accounts has reached nearly 15.5 million, growing by almost 15 percent since last year and more than tripling in the past six years.
HSAs, for the uninitiated, are a central element in the so-called consumer-driven health care realm, designed to give individuals more control where and how their health care dollars are spent.
Six burning questions are answered about HSAs by William Byrnes and Robert Bloink at > Benefits Pro < in an open media format…
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Posted in Tax Policy, Wealth Management | Tagged: Consumer-driven health care, Flexible spending account, Health, Health insurance, Health savings account, High-deductible health plan, insurance, United States | Leave a Comment »
Posted by William Byrnes on September 10, 2013
A basic problem for clients looking for long-term care insurance today is that they simply may not be able to find it. Major carriers have pulled out of the market in the last year, and the policies that remain can be prohibitively expensive and contain strict qualification requirements.
Fortunately, the product market is evolving so that a relatively new method of securing tax-preferred long-term care benefits has emerged. Hybrid annuity products that combine the estate and income planning features of an annuity with the protection of long-term care insurance are becoming increasingly popular among clients looking for replacement insurance.
Read William Byrnes’ analysis of building your own solution to long-term care insurance at > The Law Professor Column of Think Advisor <
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Posted in Insurance, Retirement Planning | Tagged: Agents and Marketers, Business, financial planning, Financial services, Health, insurance, long term care insurance, Long-term care, Retirement planning | Leave a Comment »
Posted by William Byrnes on November 29, 2011
In addition to confirming earlier beliefs, a new academic study about the effects of increase life-spans on savings rates has inspired new intrigue.
The conclusions reached by Optimal Retirement and Saving with Increasing Longevity, by David E. Bloom, David Canning, and Michael Moore are simple enough but need some further discussion: “[A] higher level of wages leads to earlier retirement and increasing savings rates. On the other hand an increase in life expectancy leads to an increase [in] the retirement age, but less than proportionately, while reducing savings rates.”
Consequently, the importance of planning for middle-income families increases. Without a solid plan, many are left working many more years than they hoped or planned.
Read this complete analysis of the impact at AdvisorFX (sign up for a free trial subscription with full access to all the planning libraries and client presentations if you are not already a subscriber).
For previous coverage of retirement values in Advisor’s Journal, see Appealing to Your Affluent Clients’ Retirement Planning Values (CC-11-42).
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Posted in Wealth Management | Tagged: David E. Bloom, Health, Life expectancy, Michael Moore, Pension, Retirement, Retirement planning, Saving | Leave a Comment »
Posted by William Byrnes on September 28, 2010
Although regulation of insurance generally has been left to the states, the Wall Street Reform Act may foreshadow future federal oversight of the industry. The Act creates the Federal Insurance Office (FIO) within the Treasury, which will monitor all components of the insurance industry—excluding the health, crop, and long-term care sectors.
Today’s analysis by our Experts William Byrnes and Robert Bloink is located at AdvisorFX Journal The Federal Insurance Office
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Posted in Insurance | Tagged: Business, Federal Insurance Office, Financial services, Health, insurance, Long-term care, Regulation, Wall Street | Leave a Comment »
William Byrnes' Tax, Wealth, and Risk Intelligence 