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Two of Washington’s largest nonprofit health insurers are each sitting on record surpluses of more than $1 billion.

“At a time when people are paying more for their health premiums and getting less, these companies have stockpiled huge assets,” said Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler.  State law requires Kreidler’s office to ignore insurer surpluses when reviewing proposed premiums. Kreidler has repeatedly tried to change the law.  “It’s like trying to ignore an elephant in the room,” he said. “And the elephant’s getting bigger.”

The surpluses have grown dramatically and steadily from around $400 million in 2000 to their current levels.  Premera Blue Cross has a surplus of $1,015,692,693, according to its most recent quarterly filing with the insurance commissioner’s office and Regence BlueShield’s surplus is $1,048,103,555.

“Some insurance lobbyists like to describe these surpluses as `reserves,’” said Kreidler. “That’s simply not true. A company’s surplus is above and beyond what the company has set aside in its reserves.”  Kreidler has proposed legislation three times to allow his office to consider surpluses when reviewing rates. The most recent was Substitute Senate Bill 5247, which died in the Senate Rules Committee earlier this year.  “Families are clearly struggling to afford insurance,” said Kreidler. “More than a million Washingtonians have no health coverage at all. Yet very few people know how much these nonprofit health insurers are sitting on.”

Kreidler intends to propose the legislation again next year.  “The larger these surpluses grow, the harder it is to make the case that we should ignore them,” he said.

Press Release by — June 12, 2012 in Everything Else

Are you confused about Long Term Care Insurance?  We are.  So we asked two experts to try to help us get to the bare bones of what it is, what it covers, should we buy it and who should buy it.  Mike Robinson from United Way and Robert Johnson of New York Life agreed to give us a look at this often ignored insurance.

Mike Robinson: Maybe but there are other options

Getting the help you or your parents need can put incredible strain on family members who feel an obligation to lend a helping hand. If voluntary care is unavailable, paying for that help can decimate your savings accounts very rapidly. Contrary to popular belief, Medicare does not pay for long-term care in the home or at assisted living facilities. The federal insurance program for seniors pays for care only in the first 100 days after a three-day hospital stay.

Starting in the 1980s, long-term care (LTC) insurance policies have been available in the private market to meet this need. However, these insurance policies have been widely criticized for being unnecessary and overly expensive.

The most obvious and compelling reason for purchasing long-term care insurance in your 50s or 60s is protecting your nest egg. Because Medicare does not pay for long-term care, the only public program left to offer assisted-living coverage is Medicaid. To qualify, you’ll need to spend all but a few thousand dollars of your own money on home care. In fact, recent changes in the federal law make it difficult if not impossible to give your money away to family members in the five years before you require long-term care.

Along the same vein, purchasing long-term care insurance allows you to make more choices about your care than Medicaid does. This is true because only some nursing homes and assisted living facilities accept Medicaid patients, and those that do accept it offer a limited number of beds. That can mean being stuck in a facility that falls far below your current standard of living. If you do have a current LTC policy, it could help you stay in your own home longer because you can choose which providers to hire. For that reason, these policies are sometimes known as home care insurance.

The last major benefit of this type of insurance has to do with inflation. Standard policies come with inflation riders of between 3 and 5 percent annually, so you and your fortune will be protected as health care costs increase over the years.

Paying large sums of money for care that you never need or receive is the biggest criticism of LTC policies. Premium costs can be especially harmful for seniors who don’t have significant assets to protect. On average, the premium for one year of long-term care insurance is about $1,000 for an individual in his 50s. By a person’s seventieth birthday, that price will shoot up to $3,000 or more per year. Therefore, a healthy 55-year-old man who purchases a policy will have invested $25,000 or more by the time he turns 80. His daily benefit may be only $160, so it would take more than five months to see any kind of return on the policy.

Alternatively, he could put that $25,000 in a retirement investment account and pay for long-term care with dividends and interest. In the end, he would still have the original money for either himself or his estate.

Another criticism of long-term care insurance is that many people are unable to pay high premiums after retirement although they could afford them while working full time. For these people, thousands of dollars paid in premiums will be totally wasted because their policies are cancelled for nonpayment after they retire.

The last of the major criticisms leveled against insurance for long-term aid is that these policies are often difficult to understand. This can lead to seniors buying policies they don’t need and can also mean a lot of hassle when the time comes for benefits to be administered.

Mike Robinson is Senior Vice President of Planned Giving for United Way of Pierce County.  Please consult a qualified estate planner before making a gift in your will.

Robert Johnson: It’s complicated.  Get help.

You probably know someone who has needed long-term care. Maybe you have witnessed a family member, friend or colleague struggle with the emotional and financial issues that can come with a long-term care experience. The truth is, no matter when the need arises, because of age, disability, or because of an unexpected illness or accident, long-term care can affect any age group, any social strata, and any geographic location. But what is it and how can you plan for it?

Long-term care is help you may need due to a lengthy illness, an unexpected injury or accident, or a severe cognitive disorder such as Alzheimer’s disease. It’s assistance with the everyday tasks or the activities of daily living (bathing, eating, dressing, toileting, transferring, and continence). Long-term care may be provided in a variety of locations, from nursing homes and assisted living facilities to adult day care centers and even your own home.

Most of us strive to live active, healthy lives well into our later years, and indeed as a society, American are living longer than ever before. This extended longevity is one of the things that drives the growing need for long-term care – the longer we live, the greater the odds that we may need long-term care services. It is predicted that in the year 2020, some 12 million older American are expected to need long-term care.
While the majority of long-term care services are provided for seniors, a surprising amount of long-term care services are provided to younger people. In fact, the U.S. Government Accountability Office estimates that 40 percent of the 13 million people receiving long-term care services are between ages 18 and 64.

Long-term care can be expensive, financially and emotionally. An unexpected need for long-term care can have a significant impact on a family’s assets and lifestyle. Close to one-fourth of all nursing home costs are paid out-of-pocket by individuals and their families.

Many people mistakenly believe that their health insurance will cover the cost of long-term care.

Long-term care insurance can be a very smart way to address the challenges from a long-term care need. Long-term care insurance can help pay for nursing home care, as well as a variety of home and community based care services. Long-term care insurance may not be for everybody, so if you are considering a policy, read it carefully and be sure to work with an insurance agent who understands long-term care issues.

With long life comes long-term planning.  Make a plan for you and your family today.

This educational third-party article is being provided as a courtesy by Robert Johnson. For additional information on the information or topic(s) discussed, please contact Robert Johnson at (253) 306-1422.  Johnson is a Registered Representative for NYLIFE Securities LLC, member FINRA/SPIC, a Licensed Insurance Agency at 1201 Pacific Ave, Ste. 1600, Tacoma, WA  98402.

Contributing Author by — June 5, 2012 in Everything Else
Charles Skagg, letter man

Charles Skagg sits in front of some of his work on display at the Lillian Pratt Art Gallery at Franke Tobey Jones.

Charles Skaggs began his career early.  “When I was in high school, I arranged my schedule so I could get off at noon.” He apprenticed himself to illustrator, Bob Richey in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky.  “In those days, good typesetting was expensive,” Skaggs said.  “My hand lettering was less expensive.”  He left Kentucky for Cincinnati after high school to work for Kroger Grocery and Baking Company.

From Cincinnati, Skaggs went to Chicago to work on advertising including ads for Wrigley gum and Schlitz beer.

“It was an exciting, fertile time for the graphic arts,” said Skaggs.  In Chicago and later New York right after the war, hundreds of talented young people “eager to do something” entered the city.  “There was this creative explosion of music and drama.”

Skaggs worked on book jackets for Knopf and for a “very fancy and exclusive publisher called Peter Pauper Press” as well as Simon & Schuster, Harper Row and Macmillan publishing companies.  His favorite book  to design was “Dracula” although he also loved designing “The Go-Between” by L.P. Hartley and David B. Wharton’s “The Alaska Gold Rush”.  “A lot of people looked down on lettering,” but Skaggs loved absorbing the history of typography and forms.
During this time he became acquainted with Frederick Goudy and W.A. Dwiggins, leading figures in calligraphy, type and book design.  Dwiggins was Knopf’s prime book designer.  “Fred Goudy and W. A. Dwiggins became my idols.  They were a treasure beyond description. I like to say that it was like sitting at Christ’s left elbow,” said Skaggs.

Skaggs said, he had designed and collected books since I was about 30.  He also collected wood engravings and etchings.  In 2001, Skaggs donated his considerable library of books, printed materials, articles and letters to Smith College.  The school exhibit includes an online exhibit located at http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/rarebook/exhibitions/skaggs/.

A retrospective exhibit of more than 60 years of the art of Charles Skaggs is on display until Aug. 3 in the Lillian Pratt Resident Art Gallery at Franke Tobey Jones, 5340 North Bristol in Tacoma.  The eclectic exhibit includes book covers, articles and abstract artwork, is free and open to the public.

“All of these were an excuse to include different styles of the alphabet,” Skaggs said as he waved his hand indicating the two walls of displays.  “The layman image of an artist is someone who does pretty pictures and I don’t do pretty pictures.  I’m appreciative of extraordinary illustrative as distinct from fine art.  I love using colors.  I love the feel of burlap and canvas.  When you choose to do brushwork, those surfaces are so receptive to the brush work,” he said.  burlap and canvas.  When you choose to do brushwork, those surfaces are so receptive to the brush work,” he said.

Cover illustrations by Charles Skagg
Book covers designed by Charles Skagg Photo by Ruth Daugherty
Bonnie Dickson by — June 5, 2012 in Everything Else

by Sherrie Kenyon

Who says there isn’t any spunk in our young children?  Who says they can’t, under their own steam, work up recreation and entertainment and keep themselves out of any and all trouble?  If you have any doubt about how you’d answer these questions, take a run up to the Eastside, around the Fairview Street area, and find out what the young boys and girls have done this summer for fun, recreation and entertainment. (The Daily Olympian, August, 1955, by Mike Contris)

What do kids do during the summer?  We had no organized sports or transportation to get to special summer activities, so my mother was the self-designated organizer.  The kids always gathered at our house because there was a baseball game in the street, a taffy pull at the kitchen table or planning a sleep out in the backyard.

This summer in 1955, my mother gathered all of the neighborhood kids together to check out how much talent was available.  “Charles can sing” we shouted out.   “Florence, Charlotte and I can do a dance.  I’ll teach them!” my sister, Diane, offered.  I raised my hand to do the hula.  And so it was, a smattering of talent stepping up, but there were other kids sitting there with blank looks on their faces.  What would they do in the show?

The other day they had a big neighborhood show in the Crosetto basement on Fairview Street.  When the parents, relatives and neighbors gathered in the show site, it was packed, with standing room only.  But the biggest surprise was to be proved in what those kids had cooked up in the way of entertainment.  “Simply astounding”  was what adults repeated as they marveled at what had gone on among their neighborhood children.

Sheets were hung over a clothes line in the basement.  The curtains were drawn by the cast of characters in the show.  Everyone was kept busy, either on stage, opening and closing curtains, or getting ready for the next act.

The popular show on television was “This is Your Life”, so we adapted the concept into our own show.  Don, Diane’s friend, was the subject of the life show.  One after another, each of the neighborhood kids would come in and tell a funny story about Don, pretending to be long lost people in his most interesting life.  This skit did not require any special costumes, so it was easy to pull off.

Charles sang not one, but two songs.  Diane and her girlfriends did a skit, adding a few dance steps.  I did the hula.  The rest of the talent was carefully choreographed to our record player.  Gary, Gordon and Tom pantomimed ‘Mr. Sandman’.  Each wore a skirt. A bandana was wrapped around each young masculine head.  Add a little lipstick and they almost pulled it off, except it was hard to control the laughter that came from the audience.

But that isn’t all. To one side, in a separate part of the basement, the children had set up exhibits of their hobbies:  rock collections, salt-and-pepper shaker collection, paintings, dolls and similar items.  No show, of course, is complete without popcorn and stuff to munch on while the arts are going on.  So the children, for several days before, prepared a quantity of popcorn and such for sale during the show.

A nickel here, a dime there and the money started to add up.  In all, we made about $15.  That money was used a couple of weeks later as my mother took all of us, 10 kids, ages from 10 to 17, camping at Millersylvania Park.

What a summer it was.  We laughed as we practiced, each encouraging the others to be even better.  We surprised all the adults with our talent and creativity.  And, it seemed like a professional show to us.  Our prize was not only the satisfaction of putting on a good show, but all going camping together.  Oh, the summer of ’55.

Contributing Author by — June 5, 2012 in Everything Else