Reduce Your Health Plan Costs, Give Back and Increase Productivity

I was asked to attend a membership meeting last week for an organization we are working with and give a brief introduction to the “Discount Benefits” program we are launching over the summer. I thought the timing of the presentation was interesting because prior to my slot in the agenda, the organization had their medical benefits insurance broker on hand to discuss the recent changes and increased costs in their medical plan. Predictably, attendees voiced their frustrations in how their “co-pays” increased by $20, had to use “in-network” providers, and if they travelled outside the NYC tri-state area, a whole new set of rules applied. Further, the acronyms of “PPO”, POS”, “HMO”, “PCP” and a few other I do not even recall made for very interesting theatre and added to the confusion. This meeting very educational and validating for me in many ways because I again witnessed first-hand what I share with (prospective) partners…that although current economic conditions are requiring companies to change their employee benefits, the perceived savings result may be very different than what a company is expecting.

According to Mercer, and I agree with this through my own experience, many companies fail to manage employee engagement and absence rates effectively because of a lack of good data. This should not be a shock because almost every company is busy trying to address health and benefit plans to save money and keep their business profitable. When it comes to managing employee absence, less than 50% of all companies collect data on the cause of absence and about one-third collect data on the exact cause of absence. When you look at today’s volatile, increasingly competitive environment it is imperative that employers identify ASAP the causes of absence so that productivity, customer service and engagement can be maximized.

An employer can take a very simplistic approach in calculating what absence costs amount to over the course of the year. Simply take the number of sick days and multiply what was paid out in compensation over those days and there it is…a numerical cost to absence that many people would agree with. These figures are probably just glossed over at a management meeting and accepted as a cost of doing business. However, there are many other factors that need to be accounted for:
· What did it cost for other employees to “cover the desk”?
· How many phone calls got returned in a timely manner?
· What happens to morale in the area impacted by absence?
· Were standards of service met?
· How many customers go elsewhere or do not buy because of a drop or change in service level?
· Do other areas of your organization “bottleneck” a day or two later, causing overtime or additional shifts to be worked, when other areas return to capacity?
· Were price concessions given to overcome poor service levels?
· And it goes on and on…

Again, per Mercer, in 2008 the average employee calls out sick 5.1 days per year. That does not include “unmarked” instances such as coming in late, leaving early, taking an extended lunch period to attend to health related issues or not being as productive as possible because of not properly addressing a health issue (how many people go to work with head colds, aches, etc and are less productive?). If you happen to be a company where employee engagement/ satisfaction is on the low end, the number of sick days will rise accordingly, up to 10 days per year. Think about it, who wants to be where they are not happy?

What if there were other ways?

TelaDocTM is an option that employers need to consider in today’s marketplace. By offering this benefit, employers can introduce something new, reduce absence, increase productivity and save money all at the same time! This service gives employees (and their family age 10 and above) telephone access 24/7/365 to board certified, state licensed physicians that use telephone medical consults to diagnose a member’s non-urgent medical condition. Did you know that 72% of doctor visits, including ER and Urgent Care visits, are for non-emergency reasons where telemedicine can diagnose and treat? I am a member of this service myself and over the past six months, it has saved my family at least 5 visits to our primary doctor, 2 visits to an “Urgent Care/ ER” type facility and saved my vacation. Additionally, I saved about $300 in co-pays.

I try not to use this space to specifically advertise or promote my website, but in this case I ask you to check it out and read up on the benefits of TelaDocTM. There is also a YouTube video link I invite readers to view that does a great job illustrating what I am talking about here. Check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnDSFQ9SV_E.

Imagine if an owner of a 100 employee company can potentially save $15,000 to $30,000 per year? A larger organization can potentially save hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars per year if associates re-direct doctor visits and ER/ Urgent Care visits to TelaDocTM. I strongly urge leaders of both employment and membership organizations to consider making this type of benefit a part of their offerings. This is one of the biggest win-win opportunities I have ever seen…why not start today?


Introducing a benefit like TelaDocTM can save organizations a lot of money when you consider absence reduction and productivity increases to hit the national average.














Information herein represents opinions and thoughts of the author & is intended for informational purposes only.

Know Your Credit History, Know Your Credit Score

I recently heard somebody say that your college transcript and GPA is a record of your academic profile, but today your most widely used and important number is your credit score. Think about it, credit scores are everywhere: job, insurance, loan, tenant applications…it never ends. When I started in the mortgage business back in 1985, credit reports were mostly a mystery to borrowers and certain bureaus were better in certain areas of the country than others. Lenders would use a lot of subjectivity in making a credit decision…banks even had “loan committees”. If a borrower had a negative item on their credit report, it may stay there for up to seven years and could cost them a higher interest rate, higher payment or worse, result in a credit denial.

Over the next 10 years, credit scoring gained more awareness, but by and large, there was still a of discretion and subjectivity in lending decisions. Credit Scores really integrated into most forms of lending as the internet, stock and housing markets went on their incredible runs in the early 2000’s. As the financial news channels and periodicals have reported in their forensic analysis of the economic downturn, credit scoring became an objective, formulated way to extend or deny credit and as various models have shown, the results can vary from good to catastrophic.

This posting will not be used to voice my true thoughts (balancing credit scoring with the “4 C’s” of credit) on how credit should be extended, but to illustrate the result of not controlling your credit profile and credit score to the best of your ability. I get very passionate about this type of product, yet when I see companies charging hundreds of dollars for credit repair, or per item removed I get a bit uncomfortable. Credit restoration is not intended to remove true and accurate items. It is not designed to make a poor credit risk appear like a great credit risk when they really are not. It exists to ensure that your credit profile is true, accurate and reflects accurate information. When I offer this product to clients through my business, it is bundled with other protective type services like ID Theft Protection and Pre-Paid Legal Plans to ensure clients become better educated when it comes to credit and position themselves better should they ever have to deal with credit issues again.

Here are some commonly asked questions about credit scores and what you should do about investigating, addressing and correcting items contained in your report.

Who Needs Credit Score Enhancement? Believe it or not, over 71% of American consumers—no matter how good their credit is—have errors or inaccuracies on their credit reports. If these problems do not get corrected, a person can unwittingly pay thousands—even hundreds of thousands—of dollars more in interest over the life of a home loan, auto or boat, RV or motorcycle loan. Ensuring your credit profile is accurate is an economic no-brainer. If you have ever been embarrassed by being denied credit, you should consider credit-enhancement.


Should I do it myself? Disputing a credit report is easy. Getting results from the credit bureaus can be amazingly difficult, complex, and infuriating. It is not a coincidence that the Federal Trade Commission receives more complaints against credit bureaus than any other type of business. Remember, credit bureaus are in the “for profit” business and investigating your challenge consumes these profits. Restoring your own credit is like repairing your own transmission or representing yourself in court. It is possible, but you must decide if you are willing to take the time and assume the risks of doing it yourself.

Can I save a lot? If you have damaged credit, you are already paying much more for your home mortgage (if you can even qualify), auto, boat, RV, or even a motorcycle or watercraft loan. FNMA and FHA are continuously re-assessing their guidelines and up charging for even the slightest risk. Proactively addressing your credit can provide you with truly amazing savings.

Check out kind of savings a consumer can experience when pro-actively addressing their credit profile:

Home-Mortgage Savings: This is where the really big savings occur. A lower interest rate can often save you $1000 in mortgage payments, every month, year after year. Saving $12,000 a year, over the life of a 30-year mortgage, saves you a whopping total of $360,000. If you refinance your loan at a lower rate after your credit enhancement process is complete, you can start saving whatever money you may have spent in the process the very first month. If you are looking to buy a new home, or are at risk of losing the one you have, credit enhancement can truly change your life by either helping with a refinance or allowing you to afford more home at a lower down payment. Check out this chart that illustrates savings at different credit scores for a $300K loan. http://suburbansolutionscorp.com/Credit_Copilot.php.

Car-Loan Savings: Enhancing your credit can deliver auto-loan cost savings of up to $15,000. Even a consumer with “Good” credit, is likely to overpay by over $7,000. The better your credit, the more money you save.

Credit-Card Savings: Apply for a new credit card with enhanced credit, and you’re savings start right away. Suddenly, you’re not asked to pay an Application Fee—up to $350—or a cash deposit. You will probably avoid monthly or annual fees! And of course, with much lower interest rates, you’ll save even more every month on your balances.

Is it legal to address and try to enhance my credit? It is perfectly legal to dispute items on your credit report. The law says that you have the right to fully investigate each and every item—and that the three Credit Bureaus—Equifax, Experian and Trans Union—are required to respond to each of your investigations, or remove the item from your credit report. The Fair Credit Reporting Act gives each American the right to challenge any information on a credit report based on the “completeness and accuracy” of an item.

What does my Credit Report show? Every time you apply for a loan or a credit card, the prospective creditor checks your credit reports to review your credit history. Your credit history is supposed to show promptly and how reliably you have paid other creditors so they can make an informed decision. They are especially interested in late payments or delinquencies, but other factors can have a huge impact. To make creditors’ jobs easier, credit bureaus provide a “credit score” to evaluate your credit risk, ranging from a poor 450 to an excellent 850 FICO (Fair, Isaac and Company) score. Your credit information is sold by one of the three major for-profit credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian or Trans Union, to each creditor. In turn, these same creditors report each month to the bureaus, telling them how much you owe them and how well you pay them. Every loan you apply for is reported—even if you never actually take out the loan.


What about companies that “guarantee” my results? There is always an element of chance in credit enhancement, for the simple reason that everyone’s credit history is unique, and that the credit bureaus do not always react the same way to credit disputes. Many so-called “credit repair” companies promise to “fix” your bad credit and “guarantee” results. The fact is that no legitimate credit-repair company can guarantee specific results. Unfortunately, there are credit repair companies that do prey on those who truly wish nothing more but to restore their good credit through any means possible. To those individuals, be careful. If it sounds "to good to be true" it probably is.

Is there a better way for me to understand FICO scores? Your FICO Score is determined by a complex computer program that weighs 5 separate aspects of your credit history—and which then tries to predict, to prospective creditors, how likely you are to pay them back as promised. According to Fair Isaac Corporation, the company that invented the FICO credit-risk score, FICO Scores are calculated from many pieces of credit data in your credit report. The percentages reflect how important each of the categories is in determining your score. These percentages are based on the importance of the five categories for the general population. For particular groups - for example, people who have not been using credit long - the importance of these categories may be somewhat different.













1. PAYMENT HISTORY (35%)
Account payment history on specific accounts: (credit cards, retail-store accounts, installment loans, auto loans. insurance company accounts, mortgage, etc.)
Adverse public records (bankruptcy, judgments, suits, liens, wage attachments, etc.), collection items, and/or delinquency (past-due items)
Severity of delinquency (how long was an account past due)
Amount past due on delinquent accounts or collection items
Time since past due items, adverse public records, or collection items.
Number of past-due items on file
Number of accounts paid as agreed

2. AMOUNTS OWED (30%)
· Amount owed on accounts
· Amount owed on specific types of accounts
Lack of a specific type of balance, in some cases
Number of accounts with balances
Proportion of credit lines used (proportion of balances to total credit limits on certain types of revolving accounts)
Proportion of installment loan amounts still owing (proportion of balance to original loan amount on certain types of installment loans)

3. LENGTH OF CREDIT HISTORY (15%)
Time since the accounts were opened
Time since accounts opened, by specific type of account
Time passed since account activity

4. NEW CREDIT (10%)
Number of recently opened accounts, and proportion of accounts that are recently opened, by type of account
Number of recent credit inquiries
Time since recent account opening(s), by type of account
Time since credit inquiry(s)
Re-establishment of positive credit history following past payment problems

5. TYPES OF CREDIT USED (10%)
Number of (presence, prevalence, and recent information on) various types of accounts (credit cards, retail accounts, installment loans, mortgage, consumer finance accounts, etc.)

Ensuring your credit profile is a true and accurate reflection of your true name, social security number, credit, address and employment histories is a responsibility we must all take about securing a strong, financial future. I hope you find this information helpful and look forward to hearing from you should you have any questions or comments.

The information provided above is for information purposes only and not intended to be legal advice or consultation.

How Pre-Paid Legal Plans Can Save Your Employees Time & Money

The economy has turned everyday things into life’s luxuries. Dining out, vacations, magazine subscriptions and even medical and dental visits are being cut from personal budgets due to their costs. In addition to these types of tangible examples, there are other services consumers are either shying away from or eliminating all together based on time, energy and budgetary constraints. I spend most to all of my time working on ways to help employers and organizations get “luxuries” and critical services back into their employee’s/ member’s lives and come across many that people do not realize how easy they are to get or how valuable they truly are.
I am very impressed with how a Pre-Paid Legal Plan gives employment groups and membership organizations the opportunity to provide access to a full menu of legal care that will save individuals in their groups time and money. According to the American Bar Association (“ABA”), the average law abiding citizen will have a need for an attorney every 12 months. Keeping that concept in mind, pre-paid legal plans were created for the purpose of making comprehensive, affordable legal care available to millions of people who cannot afford the expense ( or want to invest the time and energy) to access the simplest legal care. I have become closely associated with one pre-paid legal plan that provides tremendous protection to those who subscribe to it and provides instant access to a nationwide network of attorneys with no limitations.
Think about the times when we may want to solicit legal advice and either put it off or forget about it all together:
· Disputes with service providers.
· Landlord/ Tenant issues
· Loan modification/ foreclosure inquiries
· Wills/ Estates: We never really want to think about what will happen to our assets upon death. Will those who we care about the most and have worked so hard for be properly supported? Statistics point to the fact that over 70% of adults die without a will. This does not need to be the case.
· Traffic tickets: how many times do we just pay the summons because it is cheaper than hiring an attorney?
When you consider all the reasons we would likely consult or retain an attorney, think about the time and energy it takes the individual it would impact? Not only will employees likely miss work as a result, they will be less productive while at work and spend company time and resources pursuing personal matters. It is hard to put an exact dollar figure on this…not only can employers help reduce absences that can be avoided, but they can improve productivity because other employees are not covering two jobs during an absence and also maintain optimal customer service levels. For membership organizations, we all realize how revenues are down and expenses always seem to go up. Often times, members are declining memberships because they themselves are trying to cut expenses. What if your membership organization offered membership privileges that would make members think long and hard about cancelling?

The pre-paid legal plans that we provide to companies and organizations have the following features:
· Access to over 20,000 attorneys, charges of $125.00 per hour, or when appropriate, gives members a 40% discount off their usual and customary hourly rate.
· Nine (9) free services* which include:
· Unlimited initial phone consultations for new legal matters
· Initial one-on-One consultations for new legal matters
· Attorney review of independent legal documents (6 page max.) per new matter
· When appropriate, network attorneys will write letters on member's behalf
· When appropriate, network attorneys will make phone calls on member's behalf
· Assistance in solving problems with government programs such as welfare and INS
· Assistance with small claims court representation
· Free simple will with annual updates
· Members have online access through the plan website to prepare a free living will (advance healthcare directive). Membership access is expanded to spouse and dependents up to 23 years of age.
If you hold a leadership position at a company or membership organization, or own your own business…you should consider offering a Pre-Paid Legal Plan. The cost and value propositions are just tremendous. As we hear everyday how important it is to save money on everything we do, why would you not consider this type of protection?
*Costs and filing fees additional, specific definitions apply.

Got Identity Theft Protection?

One of the services I work closely with and offer through our menu of services is Lifelock Identity Theft Protection. I have been a member of LifeLock for the past year or so and cannot overstate the peace of mind I have knowing that I do not have to worry about Identity theft. I have personally encountered two experiences over the past few months that really make you realize how vulnerable we all are to having our identity stolen:
Story #1: My wife called in a panic that our identity had been stolen. She had received a collection call for a home service we had in our former residence that we had not lived in for 6 years. She then called the utilities department and found the same thing…that the people who purchased our old house changed two bills back to our names. Knowing that I had LifeLock and a $1M Service Guarantee I was not worried whatsoever. I was in receipt of my credit bureau reports provided through LifeLock and knew they were accurate so that the two instances my wife uncovered were the extent of the concern.
Story #2: Former managers of a company I know of vacated two office spaces over the past 3-4 years and in both cases left behind numerous boxes of customer files containing personal data such as name, address, date of birth, social security number, assets, account numbers, employer, etc…. As a result of this company’s lack of responsibility and negligence, thousands of people were exposed to identity theft through no fault of their own. It made me think how many times this can happen to people when business owners or employees do not comply with safeguarding identities as required by law.

Check out this link and think about how at risk we all are! http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/090127_Payroll_Records_Tossed_in_Trash

Some random facts on Identity Theft that many people do not know that I feel is important to share:
· ID Theft tops the FTC’s list of complaints the past 8 years and has surpassed drug trafficking as the #1 crime in the US
· In 2008, 9.9 million Americans were victims of ID theft…up 22% from 2007
· There are 27,000 ID thefts per day and a stolen ID will be used up to 30 times
· ID Theft is not isolated to individuals…costs to companies who were breached had a per incident cost up to $6.65M. Providing ID Theft as a service to employees and clients could eliminate unnecessary exposure and protect a company from losing clients, dealing with lawsuits and facing potential criminal charges.
· LifeLock’s $1M Service Guarantee begins immediately upon enrollment.
· Minors are an attractive target for ID Theft as detection can take years to discover
· If you are an ID Theft victim, would you even know where to start or what to do? Cancel credit cards? Call Police? Call Credit Bureaus? Inquire with your doctors and insurance companies to explore if identity was used for medical treatment? What if an identity thief purchased a home and defaulted on a mortgage in your name? How many creditors are going to call to try and collect debt incurred by an identity thief? What if a house was sold without the owner’s knowledge?

What I am saying is, ID Theft is a serious, serious issue and consumers trying to resolve it by themselves can spend 300+ hours of their own personal time. They will have to miss work, miss personal and social events and worst of all, never know where it is going to pop up next. What if they become financially responsible for the charges incurred by an identity thief? In my opinion, LifeLock protects their clients from everything I mentioned above and is a something EVERY PERSON IN AMERICA SHOULD HAVE.