Large employers remain committed to offering health insurance coverage for their employees, according to two recent surveys. -More-
Reported by SmartBrief 5 hours ago.
Large employers commit to offering health care benefits, surveys say
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How the right benefits keep workers happy
Organizations risk losing employees if they don't offer benefits workers seek, such as health insurance, flexibility and paid -More-
Reported by SmartBrief 5 hours ago.
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Illinois consumers to get peek at Obamacare rate changes, but uncertainty remains
Illinois consumers who buy health insurance on the Obamacare exchange will find out in a few days how much more that coverage might cost them next year — and if other states are any indication, it's not going to be pretty.
But the Illinois rate proposals, expected to be publicly released Tuesday,... Reported by ChicagoTribune 5 hours ago.
But the Illinois rate proposals, expected to be publicly released Tuesday,... Reported by ChicagoTribune 5 hours ago.
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Health plan hinges on the young, but they're a tough sell
Julian Senn-Raemont isn't convinced he needs to buy health insurance when he loses coverage under his dad's plan in a couple of years — no matter what happens in the policy debate in Washington, or how cheap the plans are.
The 24-year-old musician hasn't known a world without a health care safety... Reported by ChicagoTribune 5 hours ago.
The 24-year-old musician hasn't known a world without a health care safety... Reported by ChicagoTribune 5 hours ago.
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Trump's moves are causing health insurance premiums to jump, study says
Actions by the Trump administration are triggering double-digit premium increases on individual health insurance policies purchased by many people, according to a nonpartisan study.
The analysis released Thursday by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that mixed signals from President Trump have... Reported by L.A. Times 50 minutes ago.
The analysis released Thursday by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that mixed signals from President Trump have... Reported by L.A. Times 50 minutes ago.
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Financial Tips for Purchasing the Best Insurance
It’s always important to have the right health insurance plan. You never know when disaster might strike and you fall ill or get unexpectedly injured. Even simply for preventative care like seeing your doctor for an annual physical means you need good health insurance. Of course, it can be tricky to choose the best plan for you and your family. You might want to go through your employer or simply purchase your own insurance through the marketplace. Here are some tips on how to find health insurance. Find the Right Marketplace The majority of people acquire health insurance through their employer. If you have a good insurance package through your workplace, you won’t have to go through the...
Reported by WorldNews 45 minutes ago.
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Business Highlights
NEW YORK (AP) — Department store chains saw key sales figures fall again in the latest quarter as customers increasingly move online. WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Postal Service is warning that it will likely default on up to $6.9 billion in payments for future retiree health and pension benefits for the fifth straight year. (AP) — There is a black market for fuel in the United States, and it has rapidly become a lucrative, widespread organized crime venture syphoning millions of dollars from gas stations. Authorities are taking notice as thieves make counterfeit cards with stolen account information and use them to fill large tanks hidden in pickup trucks and vans. WASHINGTON (AP) — Trump administration moves are triggering double-digit premium increases on individual health insurance policies purchased by many people. The Columbia-Snake River Irrigators Association wants the government to convene a Cabinet-level committee known as the "God Squad" with the power to allow exemptions to the Endangered Species Act. SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Politicians at all levels are embracing social media to discuss government business, and their ability to block people from their accounts has led to debate about whether that violates free speech rights. The American Civil Liberties Union sent warning letters to Utah's congressional delegation and sued the governor of Maine this week. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite bore the brunt of the sell-off, losing 135.46 points, or 2.1 percent, to 6,216.87. Wholesale gasoline dropped 2 cents to $1.60 a gallon, while heating oil shed 2 cents to $1.63 a gallon.
Reported by SeattlePI.com 32 minutes ago.
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The Texas legislature is voting whether force women to buy abortion insurance
Texas is moving toward a plan that could see women buy insurance coverage for abortions after a House vote derided by critics as “ridiculous and cruel.” The GOP-controlled House voted 95-51 Tuesday in favor of restricting abortion coverage in health insurance, under a rule that would ban...
Reported by Raw Story 23 hours ago.
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Study says Trump moves trigger health premium jumps for 2018
Actions by the Trump administration are triggering double-digit premium increases on individual health insurance policies purchased by many people, according to a nonpartisan study.
Reported by Denver Post 17 hours ago.
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Trio of Pet-loving Cleveland Brands Bring Embrace Pet Insurance’s New Website to Life
Embrace Pet Insurance partnered with Cleveland's leading pet-loving creative brands to launch a new mobile-friendly, pet-parent focused website! With concept and design by Cleveland-based Marcus Thomas LLC and photography by “Peanut Butter Dogs” creator Greg Murray, the site strives to personify the pet-pet parent connection that compels us to go above and beyond for our furry family.
Cleveland, Ohio (PRWEB) August 11, 2017
Embrace Pet Insurance is turning heads with the launch of a new mobile-friendly, pet parent-focused website (https://www.embracepetinsurance.com).
With concept and design by Cleveland-based Marcus Thomas LLC and photography by Peanut Butter Dogs creator Greg Murray, the site strives to personify the pet-pet parent connection that compels us to go above and beyond for our furry family.
Embrace Pet Insurance protects cats and dogs across the U.S. with nose-to-tail pet health insurance coverage, but is proud of its Cleveland roots. So, when the opportunity presented itself to work with internationally-known advertising agency Marcus Thomas, the path forward was clear.
“At Marcus Thomas, our dogs come to work with us every day, so we brought a lot of personal knowledge and inspiration to the subject,” said King Hill, senior vice president/digital strategist. “It was a passion project for us, presenting the Embrace story and explaining the benefits of pet insurance to other pet lovers like ourselves.”
But what really brings the site to life are the stunning photos created by Lakewood-based pet photographer, Greg Murray. Previous iterations of the Embrace site have featured photographs of Embrace-protected pets from across the country (photoshoot locations included Los Angeles, Seattle, and Sarasota). This time the Embrace team looked a little closer to home, with Murray capturing the wagging tails and perky ears of Embraced cats and dogs across Northeast Ohio.
“Nothing excites me more than partnering with and supporting other Cleveland-based companies, especially when they’re all about the animals,” said Murray. “We have each other’s back in this city and it shows.”
The new site’s inviting, eye-catching design is simple to navigate and optimized for mobile visitors – which are currently more than half of Embrace’s traffic. With that number only expected to rise in the coming years, Embrace is working to meet its audience where they are, with a mobile experience that allows visitors to move seamlessly through the site.
“Embrace has always been focused on supporting the bond between pets and pet parents. The new website amplifies that message, creating a synergy between who we are as a brand and our digital presence,” shared Embrace’s President Chris Hagesfeld.
A six-time Northcoast 99 winner and three-time winner of The Plain Dealer’s Top Workplaces, Embrace Pet Insurance is a Cleveland company that takes pride in creating a corporate culture that goes above and beyond for employees, pet parents, and partners. Embrace celebrated its 10th anniversary in October 2016 and insured its 100,000th pet in June 2017.
About Embrace Pet Insurance
Embrace Pet Insurance is an Ohio-based pet health insurance provider, offering comprehensive, personalized insurance products for dogs and cats across the United States. Embrace is consistently ranked as one of the highest-rated U.S. pet insurance companies and is a proud member of the North American Pet Health Insurance Association. Embrace is the only company to offer a diminishing deductible feature, the Healthy Pet Deductible, and continues to innovate and improve the pet insurance experience for pet parents across the country.
About the North American Pet Health Insurance Association
Embrace is a proud member of the North American Pet Health Insurance Association (NAPHIA). NAPHIA is comprised of reputable pet health insurance (PHI) organizations from across Canada and the United States. NAPHIA’s membership makes up over 99% of all pet health insurance coverage in effect in North America.
As a coalition, NAPHIA works to advance and grow the PHI industry through proactive research, data sharing, benchmarking initiatives, advocacy efforts, strategic partnerships, resource sharing and the dissemination of information to collaboratively address challenges and opportunities. To learn more, visit http://www.naphia.org.
###
Media Contact:
Dawn Pyne
(800) 511-9172 ext 146
dpyne(at)embracepetinsurance(dot)com Reported by PRWeb 16 hours ago.
Cleveland, Ohio (PRWEB) August 11, 2017
Embrace Pet Insurance is turning heads with the launch of a new mobile-friendly, pet parent-focused website (https://www.embracepetinsurance.com).
With concept and design by Cleveland-based Marcus Thomas LLC and photography by Peanut Butter Dogs creator Greg Murray, the site strives to personify the pet-pet parent connection that compels us to go above and beyond for our furry family.
Embrace Pet Insurance protects cats and dogs across the U.S. with nose-to-tail pet health insurance coverage, but is proud of its Cleveland roots. So, when the opportunity presented itself to work with internationally-known advertising agency Marcus Thomas, the path forward was clear.
“At Marcus Thomas, our dogs come to work with us every day, so we brought a lot of personal knowledge and inspiration to the subject,” said King Hill, senior vice president/digital strategist. “It was a passion project for us, presenting the Embrace story and explaining the benefits of pet insurance to other pet lovers like ourselves.”
But what really brings the site to life are the stunning photos created by Lakewood-based pet photographer, Greg Murray. Previous iterations of the Embrace site have featured photographs of Embrace-protected pets from across the country (photoshoot locations included Los Angeles, Seattle, and Sarasota). This time the Embrace team looked a little closer to home, with Murray capturing the wagging tails and perky ears of Embraced cats and dogs across Northeast Ohio.
“Nothing excites me more than partnering with and supporting other Cleveland-based companies, especially when they’re all about the animals,” said Murray. “We have each other’s back in this city and it shows.”
The new site’s inviting, eye-catching design is simple to navigate and optimized for mobile visitors – which are currently more than half of Embrace’s traffic. With that number only expected to rise in the coming years, Embrace is working to meet its audience where they are, with a mobile experience that allows visitors to move seamlessly through the site.
“Embrace has always been focused on supporting the bond between pets and pet parents. The new website amplifies that message, creating a synergy between who we are as a brand and our digital presence,” shared Embrace’s President Chris Hagesfeld.
A six-time Northcoast 99 winner and three-time winner of The Plain Dealer’s Top Workplaces, Embrace Pet Insurance is a Cleveland company that takes pride in creating a corporate culture that goes above and beyond for employees, pet parents, and partners. Embrace celebrated its 10th anniversary in October 2016 and insured its 100,000th pet in June 2017.
About Embrace Pet Insurance
Embrace Pet Insurance is an Ohio-based pet health insurance provider, offering comprehensive, personalized insurance products for dogs and cats across the United States. Embrace is consistently ranked as one of the highest-rated U.S. pet insurance companies and is a proud member of the North American Pet Health Insurance Association. Embrace is the only company to offer a diminishing deductible feature, the Healthy Pet Deductible, and continues to innovate and improve the pet insurance experience for pet parents across the country.
About the North American Pet Health Insurance Association
Embrace is a proud member of the North American Pet Health Insurance Association (NAPHIA). NAPHIA is comprised of reputable pet health insurance (PHI) organizations from across Canada and the United States. NAPHIA’s membership makes up over 99% of all pet health insurance coverage in effect in North America.
As a coalition, NAPHIA works to advance and grow the PHI industry through proactive research, data sharing, benchmarking initiatives, advocacy efforts, strategic partnerships, resource sharing and the dissemination of information to collaboratively address challenges and opportunities. To learn more, visit http://www.naphia.org.
###
Media Contact:
Dawn Pyne
(800) 511-9172 ext 146
dpyne(at)embracepetinsurance(dot)com Reported by PRWeb 16 hours ago.
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Vista Launches VTO, Providing High-end Health Care Services To High Net-worth Individuals In China
SHENZHEN, China, Aug. 11, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --To cater to the increasing demand for exclusive health care services among the Chinese high net-worth, Vista, a veteran with two decades of high-end medical service experience in China integrated its best medical resources and launched VISTA THE ONE (VTO), a private health care institution targeting high net-worth individuals and families.VTOChina's rapid economic development has created exponentially growing numbers of high net-worth individuals. The gradual aging of this group of people has opened the "private doctors" market in China. The targeted demographic of people is more willing to spend on decreasing their health risks in the future. Specifically, to reduce the uncertain threats on their accumulated wealth - the inheritance issues caused by sudden diseases has become one of their most pressing needs.
Yang Kaixiang, Chief Operating Officer of VTO said: "The significant advantages of VTO's core services compared to the competitive market of "private doctors" lie in Vista's unique position and experience. Having served China's high-end community for over 20 years, Vista has absorbed the essence of high-end private doctor services from other countries. Vista has also accumulated affluent professional experience as well as gaining a profound understanding about the customers' personalized needs. The highly customized service and products have been widely recognized by Vista customers."
"VTO provides its members exclusive healthcare services, for example, exclusive medical group, exclusive family follow up, 24/7 VIP hotlines", added Yang. "In addition, standard VTO membership equips its owner global medical butler services, including top-tier doctors' appointments around the world, VVIP services through the whole process and VIP priority access to any medical channels. VTO members are also entitled to Vista's established world-wide emergency medical rescue service, namely the exclusive usage of Vista's aviation medical plane."
Besides the individual and family healthcare services for high-end VVIP customers, Vista operates the VTO member community collectively to build an ecosystem surrounding the idea of the "pan-health industry", providing a communication platform for resource exchange, such as capital investment and business cooperation for elites.
In order to ensure that VTO members enjoy the high-end health services that matches their status, the conditions for joining are comparatively stricter, including no less than RMB 50 million net assets for an individual and no less than RMB 100 million net assets for families. VTO adopts an invitation only membership management model and applications are not accepted.
*About Vista*
Vista is the first medical institution to enter the "high-end medical" market in China. All its general doctors have more than 10 years of general practice training, with more than 20 years of practice experience. In 2016, Vista was named "The Most Popular Medical Institution" in China for embassies. Vista has signed up with more than 70 high-end commercial health insurance companies around the world, and has mature medical reception capabilities in 139 mainstream hospitals around the world. The Vista Air Rescue Team has accumulated more than 200 hours on its service record and is currently working as a sole medical partner in cooperation with the Chinese National Health Service Commission on the "One-Belt-One-Road" emergency rescue project, which provides Vista customers more effective medical protection in the countries along the belt and road.
View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vista-launches-vto-providing-high-end-health-care-services-to-high-net-worth-individuals-in-china-300503182.html Reported by PR Newswire Asia 16 hours ago.
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How to be a good boss: Top 10 things employees want from their superiors
Want to be a good boss? Get the beers in, hand out bonuses and pat people of the back. Maybe even ask some probing personal questions. Of course, if you are a boss in the City, you probably don’t need any advice.A survey of UK employees has found that financial services bosses are the most highly rated by their employees, with 62 per cent describing their surperiors as “good” or “excellent”.
Financial services bosses narrowly beat their professional services peers to top spot, with lawyers and accountants giving their leaders a score of 61 per cent.
Utilities propped up the table with a score of 43 per cent, behind transportation and manufacturing, both 49 per cent. The survey of 1,000 UK employees by One4all Rewards found an average score of 56 per cent across all sectors.
What are employees looking for in their bosses? In a nutshell: beer, bonuses, pats on the back and flexible hours.
Here are employees’ top 10 tips for being a good boss:
· Good communication skills - 78%
· Regularly thanking staff for their efforts - 65%
· Showing a willingness to muck in and help out with work that technically isn’t in their job description when times are tough or busy - 62%
· Showing consideration for workers’ work/life balance - 60%
· Actively trying to develop workers’ skills (e.g. arranging training) - 56%
· Regularly catching up with all staff about how they are progressing / feeling - 55%
· Rewarding staff for their efforts in a tangible way (e.g. buying a round of drinks, giving bonuses, etc.) - 47%
· Offering flexible working - 43%
· Asking about workers’ lives outside of work - 29%_
· Providing tangible benefits - e.g. health insurance, gym membership, childcare vouchers, etc.
*Read more*: City A.M. Unregulated: How to be badass in business
And, for fun, here the bosses who are doing it best:
The embedded content could not be displayed. Please go to the article to view this content. Reported by City A.M. 14 hours ago.
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W&W Group with Strong Earnings Momentum
DGAP-News: Wüstenrot & Württembergische AG / Key word(s): Half Year Results
11.08.2017 / 11:41
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
--------------------
*W&W Group with Strong Earnings Momentum*
*- Consolidated net profit clearly grows to EUR 154.9 million*
*- Good result from property and casualty insurance is the driver *
*- Wüstenrot with solid new home loan savings business on a high level*
*- Clear plus in construction financing after a strategic realignment*
*- Digitisation course is further intensified *
*- Chairman of the Executive Board Jürgen A. Junker: "Good business development in the first half of the year is anything but a matter of course."*
The Wüstenrot & Württembergische Group (W&W) has posted a successful first half-year 2017 and was clearly able to increase the dynamism of its business. Despite an unchanged ambitious market environment, the financial planning group increased its consolidated net profit after taxes in the first six months by 28 per cent to EUR 154.9 million (prior year period: EUR 121.0 million). In its divisions W&W achieved robust positive results. The W&W Group is expecting further spurts of growth in new business for the entire year 2017. On the basis of this development, the Executive Board, as was already announced on 30 June 2017, revised its expectations for the current year upwards and now expects to significantly exceed its prior year's net income of EUR 235 million.
"We are improving our business in nearly all areas at the moment. This development in the first half of the year is anything but a matter of course. On the one hand, it was hard work, on the other it is the first results of our measures to align our Group more clearly in a customer-oriented way. These first effects show what the W&W Group is capable of. However, it's too early to describe this as a stable trend already. We still have a long road ahead of us. What's clear is that The W&W Group has all the best prerequisites for becoming one of the winners of the recognisable industry upheaval in the coming years", commented Jürgen A. Junker, Chairman of the Executive Board of W&W AG. "We can make good use of this tail wind when it comes to income. Not least, it will ensure that we have the leeway for carrying out the high investments required from our own resources in the course of digitisation."
The W&W Group has begun to make far-reaching investments to improve ways to both approach and support customers in addition to digitisation. At the same time it has initiated further development in the structures and workflows within the company.
*Key indicators of the Group for the first half-year 2017*
*- *Consolidated net profit after taxes amounted to EUR 154.9 million. It was thus just shy of EUR 34 million (plus 28 per cent) over the prior-year value.
- The highest income contribution again came from property/casualty insurance. The segment increased the net income by 71 per cent to EUR 96.1 million (prior year period: EUR 56.3 million). The sustainable and risk-conscious underwriting policy pursued in this segment for years, as well as the favourable development of the damage from natural disasters led to an even more improved combined ratio (gross) of 86.2 per cent (prior-year period: 90.0 per cent).
- Compared to 2016, the profit contributions of the Home Loan and Savings Bank and Life and Health Insurance segments were slightly lower, against the backdrop of the on-going low-interest environment.
- Despite collectively bargained salary increases, the general administrative expenses were stable at EUR 534.3 million (prior-year period: EUR 533.0 million).
*Performance of the divisions *
*Home Loan and Savings Bank*
In net new business (paid-in business) with EUR 5.76 billion contract volume, Wüstenrot Home Loan and Savings was able to closely approach (-4.8 per cent) the prior-year level (prior-year period: EUR 6.05 billion). It thus clearly developed better than the market as a whole. With a market share of just under 14 per cent, Wüstenrot has been able to further consolidate its position as Germany's second-biggest building society. Gross new business according to contract volume with EUR 7.01 billion was below the very high prior-year value (EUR 7.64 billion), which had been positively influenced by the special effects of a change in rates. In construction financing, the new business in loans arranged throughout the Group increased by 8.2 per cent to EUR 2.76 billion from EUR 2.56 billion in the prior-year period.
The measures to improve the structure of the segment had a positive impact in the first half-year: The transfer of the construction financing and bond business of Wüstenrot Bank to the Wüstenrot building society - which occurred in the spring of 2017 - as well as the transfer of the savings and investment products, increased the internal efficiency by making processes, systems and products uniform. In addition, the building society now has clearly broader refinancing options. Both effects are having a positive impact on the building society's earnings situation and are also opening up prospects for growth in the area of homes and housing.
*Insurance*
Gross premiums written in property and casualty insurance increased by another 4.6 per cent to EUR 1.122 billion (prior year: EUR 1.073 billion). New business increased by 17 per cent to EUR 140.5 million (prior-year period: EUR 120.1 million). All business segments contributed to this encouraging growth, while the corporate customer segment especially grew. The risk-conscious underwriting policy and the positive development with damages from natural disasters contributed to further improvement of the gross combined ratio - which has been in decline in recent years - by almost four percentage points to 86.2 per cent (prior-year period: 90.0 per cent).
Gross premiums written in life insurance dropped 12.3 per cent to about EUR 951 million (prior-year period: EUR 1.085 billion), due to the clear reduction in the single premium business. This is also reflected in new business, where the single premium life fell 38.2 per cent to EUR 199.3 million (prior-year period: EUR 322.5 million). In contrast, the regular premium rose by 2.8 per cent to EUR 44.0 million (prior-year period: EUR 42.8 million).
Gross premiums written in health insurance increased more than 8.1 per cent to EUR 114.9 million in the first half-year 2017 (prior-year period: EUR 106.3 million). The annual new premium grew by 61.1 per cent to EUR 5.8 million (prior-year period: EUR 3.6 million). This encouraging development was still due to the good market success of the supplementary health and long-term care rates of the Württembergische Krankenversicherung.
*High financial solidity*
In July 2017, the rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) again confirmed all ratings of the W&W Group with a stable outlook. The core companies of the W&W Group thus continue to have a rating of A-, while the holding company Wüstenrot & Württembergische AG has a BBB+ rating. Furthermore, the short-term rating of the Wüstenrot building society, which evaluates the short-term solvency of a company, was raised from "A-2" to "A-1". The risk management of the W&W Group will continue to be classified in the "strong" category. These classifications substantiate the high financial stability of the Group.
*Digital strategy headed for further implementation steps*
The W&W Group continues to drive digitisation forward. W&W Digital GmbH, a joint venture between W&W AG and etventure GmbH launched in 2015, will bring its developments and its expertise into the operative areas of the financial planning group in the coming weeks. The goal now is to feed the experiences gained from the development of digital business models and digital processes to the operative business of the W&W Group. Strategic key projects such as the digital financial assistant treefin, the digital third mark launching in the second half of 2017 and the "Housing Platform" should benefit from this.
*Outlook for the entire year of 2017*
In view of the ongoing real estate boom in Germany, the W&W Group expects to see spurts of growth in the fields of home loan and savings and construction financing. The financial planning group also remains optimistic as to the further development of the insurance business, in particular in the property/casualty line. High investment in digitisation as part of the "W&W@2020" programme, but also in classic on-site sales, will continue. They form the foundation stone for future growth.
Although the very positive earnings performance in the first half-year 2017 does not necessarily mean that income will continue to develop through the rest of the year, the Executive Board is confident for the entire year of 2017 and confirms its statements to date. It proceeds on the assumption of a recognisable rise in net income for the Group compared to the prior-year value of EUR 235 million. In addition to the growth in new business and the favourable development in the property/casualty insurance segment, a one-time effect from a portfolio sale will also have an impact.
--------------------
11.08.2017 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.
Archive at www.dgap.de --------------------
Language: English
Company: Wüstenrot & Württembergische AG
Gutenbergstrasse 30
70176 Stuttgart
Germany
Internet: www.ww-ag.com
ISIN: DE0008051004
WKN: 805100
Indices: SDAX
Listed: Regulated Market in Frankfurt (Prime Standard), Stuttgart; Regulated Unofficial Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Tradegate Exchange
End of News DGAP News Service Reported by EQS Group 13 hours ago.
11.08.2017 / 11:41
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
--------------------
*W&W Group with Strong Earnings Momentum*
*- Consolidated net profit clearly grows to EUR 154.9 million*
*- Good result from property and casualty insurance is the driver *
*- Wüstenrot with solid new home loan savings business on a high level*
*- Clear plus in construction financing after a strategic realignment*
*- Digitisation course is further intensified *
*- Chairman of the Executive Board Jürgen A. Junker: "Good business development in the first half of the year is anything but a matter of course."*
The Wüstenrot & Württembergische Group (W&W) has posted a successful first half-year 2017 and was clearly able to increase the dynamism of its business. Despite an unchanged ambitious market environment, the financial planning group increased its consolidated net profit after taxes in the first six months by 28 per cent to EUR 154.9 million (prior year period: EUR 121.0 million). In its divisions W&W achieved robust positive results. The W&W Group is expecting further spurts of growth in new business for the entire year 2017. On the basis of this development, the Executive Board, as was already announced on 30 June 2017, revised its expectations for the current year upwards and now expects to significantly exceed its prior year's net income of EUR 235 million.
"We are improving our business in nearly all areas at the moment. This development in the first half of the year is anything but a matter of course. On the one hand, it was hard work, on the other it is the first results of our measures to align our Group more clearly in a customer-oriented way. These first effects show what the W&W Group is capable of. However, it's too early to describe this as a stable trend already. We still have a long road ahead of us. What's clear is that The W&W Group has all the best prerequisites for becoming one of the winners of the recognisable industry upheaval in the coming years", commented Jürgen A. Junker, Chairman of the Executive Board of W&W AG. "We can make good use of this tail wind when it comes to income. Not least, it will ensure that we have the leeway for carrying out the high investments required from our own resources in the course of digitisation."
The W&W Group has begun to make far-reaching investments to improve ways to both approach and support customers in addition to digitisation. At the same time it has initiated further development in the structures and workflows within the company.
*Key indicators of the Group for the first half-year 2017*
*- *Consolidated net profit after taxes amounted to EUR 154.9 million. It was thus just shy of EUR 34 million (plus 28 per cent) over the prior-year value.
- The highest income contribution again came from property/casualty insurance. The segment increased the net income by 71 per cent to EUR 96.1 million (prior year period: EUR 56.3 million). The sustainable and risk-conscious underwriting policy pursued in this segment for years, as well as the favourable development of the damage from natural disasters led to an even more improved combined ratio (gross) of 86.2 per cent (prior-year period: 90.0 per cent).
- Compared to 2016, the profit contributions of the Home Loan and Savings Bank and Life and Health Insurance segments were slightly lower, against the backdrop of the on-going low-interest environment.
- Despite collectively bargained salary increases, the general administrative expenses were stable at EUR 534.3 million (prior-year period: EUR 533.0 million).
*Performance of the divisions *
*Home Loan and Savings Bank*
In net new business (paid-in business) with EUR 5.76 billion contract volume, Wüstenrot Home Loan and Savings was able to closely approach (-4.8 per cent) the prior-year level (prior-year period: EUR 6.05 billion). It thus clearly developed better than the market as a whole. With a market share of just under 14 per cent, Wüstenrot has been able to further consolidate its position as Germany's second-biggest building society. Gross new business according to contract volume with EUR 7.01 billion was below the very high prior-year value (EUR 7.64 billion), which had been positively influenced by the special effects of a change in rates. In construction financing, the new business in loans arranged throughout the Group increased by 8.2 per cent to EUR 2.76 billion from EUR 2.56 billion in the prior-year period.
The measures to improve the structure of the segment had a positive impact in the first half-year: The transfer of the construction financing and bond business of Wüstenrot Bank to the Wüstenrot building society - which occurred in the spring of 2017 - as well as the transfer of the savings and investment products, increased the internal efficiency by making processes, systems and products uniform. In addition, the building society now has clearly broader refinancing options. Both effects are having a positive impact on the building society's earnings situation and are also opening up prospects for growth in the area of homes and housing.
*Insurance*
Gross premiums written in property and casualty insurance increased by another 4.6 per cent to EUR 1.122 billion (prior year: EUR 1.073 billion). New business increased by 17 per cent to EUR 140.5 million (prior-year period: EUR 120.1 million). All business segments contributed to this encouraging growth, while the corporate customer segment especially grew. The risk-conscious underwriting policy and the positive development with damages from natural disasters contributed to further improvement of the gross combined ratio - which has been in decline in recent years - by almost four percentage points to 86.2 per cent (prior-year period: 90.0 per cent).
Gross premiums written in life insurance dropped 12.3 per cent to about EUR 951 million (prior-year period: EUR 1.085 billion), due to the clear reduction in the single premium business. This is also reflected in new business, where the single premium life fell 38.2 per cent to EUR 199.3 million (prior-year period: EUR 322.5 million). In contrast, the regular premium rose by 2.8 per cent to EUR 44.0 million (prior-year period: EUR 42.8 million).
Gross premiums written in health insurance increased more than 8.1 per cent to EUR 114.9 million in the first half-year 2017 (prior-year period: EUR 106.3 million). The annual new premium grew by 61.1 per cent to EUR 5.8 million (prior-year period: EUR 3.6 million). This encouraging development was still due to the good market success of the supplementary health and long-term care rates of the Württembergische Krankenversicherung.
*High financial solidity*
In July 2017, the rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) again confirmed all ratings of the W&W Group with a stable outlook. The core companies of the W&W Group thus continue to have a rating of A-, while the holding company Wüstenrot & Württembergische AG has a BBB+ rating. Furthermore, the short-term rating of the Wüstenrot building society, which evaluates the short-term solvency of a company, was raised from "A-2" to "A-1". The risk management of the W&W Group will continue to be classified in the "strong" category. These classifications substantiate the high financial stability of the Group.
*Digital strategy headed for further implementation steps*
The W&W Group continues to drive digitisation forward. W&W Digital GmbH, a joint venture between W&W AG and etventure GmbH launched in 2015, will bring its developments and its expertise into the operative areas of the financial planning group in the coming weeks. The goal now is to feed the experiences gained from the development of digital business models and digital processes to the operative business of the W&W Group. Strategic key projects such as the digital financial assistant treefin, the digital third mark launching in the second half of 2017 and the "Housing Platform" should benefit from this.
*Outlook for the entire year of 2017*
In view of the ongoing real estate boom in Germany, the W&W Group expects to see spurts of growth in the fields of home loan and savings and construction financing. The financial planning group also remains optimistic as to the further development of the insurance business, in particular in the property/casualty line. High investment in digitisation as part of the "W&W@2020" programme, but also in classic on-site sales, will continue. They form the foundation stone for future growth.
Although the very positive earnings performance in the first half-year 2017 does not necessarily mean that income will continue to develop through the rest of the year, the Executive Board is confident for the entire year of 2017 and confirms its statements to date. It proceeds on the assumption of a recognisable rise in net income for the Group compared to the prior-year value of EUR 235 million. In addition to the growth in new business and the favourable development in the property/casualty insurance segment, a one-time effect from a portfolio sale will also have an impact.
--------------------
11.08.2017 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.
Archive at www.dgap.de --------------------
Language: English
Company: Wüstenrot & Württembergische AG
Gutenbergstrasse 30
70176 Stuttgart
Germany
Internet: www.ww-ag.com
ISIN: DE0008051004
WKN: 805100
Indices: SDAX
Listed: Regulated Market in Frankfurt (Prime Standard), Stuttgart; Regulated Unofficial Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Tradegate Exchange
End of News DGAP News Service Reported by EQS Group 13 hours ago.
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Texas House votes to limit abortion access
Texas is moving toward a plan that could see women buy insurance coverage for abortions after a House vote derided by critics as “ridiculous and cruel.” The GOP-controlled House voted 95-51 Tuesday in favor of restricting abortion coverage in health insurance, under a rule that would ban...
Reported by Raw Story 12 hours ago.
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Study: Trump Moves Trigger Health Premium Jumps for 2018
Actions by the Trump administration are triggering double-digit premium increases on individual health insurance policies purchased by many people, according to a nonpartisan study.
Reported by Newsmax 11 hours ago.
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How the right benefits keep workers happy
Organizations risk losing employees if they don't offer benefits workers seek, such as health insurance, flexibility and paid -More-
Reported by SmartBrief 8 hours ago.
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Taming The High Cost of Health Care: What You Need to Know About Health Savings Accounts
The problems with health care are significant, and they are not getting any better. From rising health insurance premiums to spiraling deductibles and out-of-pocket costs, the issues surrounding health care have been getting a lot of attention recently. For years, politicians of both parties claimed to have all the answers, but it has recently become clear that their solutions are unworkable and often counterproductive. In...
Reported by WorldNews 4 hours ago.
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Pennsylvania insurer’s collapse could hit Californians in wallet
Among all the reasons for rising health insurance premiums, this one might be the most obscure: A long-term care insurer in Pennsylvania just went belly-up. [...] failures are rare, but when they happen, other companies are responsible to help pay claims and protect policyholders through groups known as state guarantee associations. In these situations, long-term care coverage is treated as health insurance, so health insurers are liable for the payments — and some are disputing that. Industry analysts estimate that Penn Treaty has long-term claims liabilities approaching $4 billion, but only about $700 million in assets. Health insurers can pass along those costs by imposing premium surcharges, or they can shift the burden to taxpayers by paying less in state premium taxes. Anthem, the nation’s second-largest health insurer, estimates it will pay $253.8 million to cover its portion of claims. Most state guarantee associations will provide up to $300,000 for each policyholder who files a claim, but the limits vary by state. In California, more than 130,000 people who bought long-term care policies from the state workers’ retirement system received 85 percent rate hikes in recent years. Virtually all of the health insurance companies, especially the big ones, have never sold long-term care insurance,” Belth said, “so they are not appreciative of being assessed.
Reported by SFGate 4 minutes ago.
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Not A ‘New Deal,’ A ‘Fair Deal’ Or A ‘Square Deal,’ But Supposedly A ‘Better Deal’ – OpEd
Towards the end of July, eight months after losing the White House to Donald Trump, leading figures of the Democratic Party launched their crusade to regain control of the U.S. Congress in next year’s midterm elections. Announcing his party’s “Better Deal,” U.S. Senator Charles Schumer wrote that “Rather than having a government that benefits the special interests and very wealthy, Democrats believe that government should work on behalf of the middle class and those struggling to get there.”
A Better Deal? Better hold onto your wallet.
Clearly taking a few pages out of President Trump’s campaign playbook, the Democrats’ policy agenda contains three interrelated promises (“Better Jobs, Better Wages, Better Future”), almost none of which is a proper function of the federal government in the first place or is within its powers actually to fulfill in today’s hyper-partisan atmosphere. Full of action words like “fight back,” “crack down,” and “prioritize,” the Better Deal demonizes “unfair foreign trade;” “corporations and billionaires,” especially those who “outsource American jobs;” “monopolies;” “special interests;” “lobbyists” and “Wall Street.” It is vintage populism; it could have been written a century ago.
Meant to be a call to arms – a political manifesto – rallying the Democratic Party’s core constituencies, which either supported Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders or defected to Trump rather than vote for Hillary Clinton, the Better Deal is long on platitudes and short on details.
The first promise is to “raise the wages and incomes of American workers and create millions of good-paying [fulltime] jobs.” That goal ostensibly will be reached in a number of ways, including “investing in our crumbling infrastructure and prioritizing small business and entrepreneurs,” but the centerpieces of the proposal are to “ensure a living wage for all Americans” and to protect private pensions, “Social Security and Medicare, so that seniors can retire with dignity.”
While it has become commonplace for pundits to bemoan the conditions of the nation’s roads, dams and bridges, reality may not match the rhetoric, especially so at the state level. Even if it does, however, massive spending of the taxpayers’ hard-earned incomes to repair or replace existing infrastructure is not necessarily the best solution to the problem. That conclusion gains traction if one looks at the results of the Keynesian economic stimulus packages enacted under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Remember all of the “shovel-ready” construction projects that, if funded, supposedly would get the U.S. economy quickly moving again? Plagued by inevitable waste, corruption and delays, the stimulus hardly had any long-term effects. It is important to remember, too, that to the extent that our infrastructure is “crumbling,” it is doing so because of governmental neglect of routine maintenance, which is less visible to voters and less rewarding to reelection-minded politicians than funding new construction projects.
Democrats generally think that spending more OPM (other people’s money) is the answer for every perceived social and political ill. The jobs “created” by pouring federal resources into infrastructure, like all construction projects, are temporary and will disappear as soon as the work is finished. A bolder option, suggested recently by Nobel laureate Vernon Smith, is to privatize the federal Interstate highway system, thereby allowing infrastructure “investment” decisions to be made by private sector actors who actually have incentives to evaluate financial rates of return to the various maintenance projects available and to then select the ones for which the benefits exceed the cost is rather than having them determined politically.
How, exactly, does a Better Deal propose to “raise the wages and incomes of American workers”? Is the Democratic Party contemplating a basic income guarantee (BIG), also known as a universal basic income? Such a program, which establishes a minimum annual income for everyone, would have some positive aspects, provided that it replaces all existing taxpayer-financed income transfers (food stamps, now called “SNAP” – supplemental nutrition assistance – housing assistance, taxpayer-financed unemployment benefits, Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security and too many other ornaments of the welfare state to mention). But, like all such transfers, BIG undermines incentives to participate in the labor force and to earn one’s own way in life. The worst of all possible worlds would materialize if BIG or something like it is added on top of existing income transfers.
Another option being bandied about is to more than double the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour. Some commentators and students of the effects of minimum wages find only small negative effects on total employment, but they are asking the wrong question. As shown by a recent study of Seattle, Washington’s, labor market, where the minimum hourly wage is being raised in steps to $15 – it’s not there, yet – employers can adjust to mandated increases is cash wages along many margins. One of those ways is to keep the same number of people on the payroll, but to shorten the hours they are allowed to work per day or per week. Other responses to higher minimum wages are to cut non-wage fringe benefits, such as on-the-job training, breaks during the workday, opportunities to eat meals at no charge or at reduced prices, help with buying uniforms, paid vacations, and employer-provided health insurance and pensions, if any. If an employee does not add more than $15 per hour in value to his or her employer, then requiring such a minimum hourly wage cannot make that person better off.
Social Security and Medicare are in deep financial trouble, with those programs’ unfunded liabilities now approaching $100 trillion – five times the accumulated federal debt. Ensuring that “seniors retire with dignity” requires drastic action within the next decade or so. Payroll tax rates that fund those programs must be increased, recipients’ benefits must be cut, the age at which people become eligible for full retirement benefits must be pushed back, or some combination of those reforms must be enacted. A Better Deal is silent on how these social safety programs will be “protected.” Certainly, no mention is made of the possibility of privatizing retirees’ public pension and healthcare benefits, putting them on sound actuarial footings to avoid the looming crisis.
A Better Deal’s second promise is to “lower the cost of living for families.” The manifesto focuses on “the crippling cost of prescription drugs and the cost of a college or technical education that leads to a good job.” It pledges to “fight for families struggling with high monthly bills like childcare, credit card fees, and cable bills” and to “crack down on monopolies and the concentration of economic power that has led to higher prices for consumers, workers, and small business – and make sure Wall Street never endangers Main Street again.”
Where is acknowledgement that government itself was the proximate cause of the consolidation of financial institutions both during and after the “crisis” that precipitated the so-called Great Recession? Or that it is public regulation of childcare services and the pharmaceutical industry, along with the creation of exclusive local franchise cable television monopolies denying consumers the benefits of vigorous competition, thus leading to higher credit card fees, prescription drug prices and cable bills than otherwise? The costs of a college or technical education are souring, faster even than healthcare costs in part because taxpayer-financed grants and loans to institutions of higher learning supply incentives for those institutions to raise tuition charges and fees to capture the subsidies for themselves and then spend them on administrators rather than faculty or students.
Extolling the benefits of more active enforcement of the antitrust laws ignores the substantial public choice literature arguing that antitrust simply is just another form of economic regulation and, hence, vulnerable to capture by special interests – often the rivals of companies contemplating merging or of large, cost-efficient corporations – trying, often successfully, to win in the courtroom what they are unable to win in a competitive marketplace.
Last, the manifesto promises “to build an economy that gives working Americans the tools to succeed in the 21st century.” Such an economy will be fostered by providing “new tax incentives to employers that invest in workforce training and education and make sure the rules of the economy support companies that focus on long-term growth, rather than short-term profits.” In addition, “we will make it a national priority to bring high-speed Internet to every corner of America and offer an apprenticeship to millions of new workers. We will encourage innovation, invest in advanced research and ensure start-ups and small business can compete and prosper.”
Government institutionally is not capable of identifying and selecting the next new thing and, thus, cannot know where to “encourage innovation” or what “advanced research” merits investment. “Workforce training and education” are signal failures of the U.S. public-school monopoly and direct consequences of the iron grip of teachers’ unions. And how would politicians and the bureaucrats employed by the administrative state even begin to know which companies “focus on long-term growth rather than short-term profits”? Such decisions are made far better in decentralized market settings than by central planners. What is the value-added of “bring[ing] high-speed internet [access] to every corner of America” over and above existing government subsidies to low-income households for landline and cellular telephone service?
“A Better Deal” proposes to put the same old progressive/populist wine in new bottles. Rather than continuing to engineer society through the tax code and the federal budget, an even better deal would be to cut personal and business income taxes across the board (without a border adjustment tax that penalizes imports and subsidizes exports) and downsize the public sector at all levels so that government has fewer favors to hand out to special interests and fewer penalties to impose on businesses, workers and consumers.
I am not optimistic about the future because the concept of liberty that animated the Revolutionary generation has been lost and it turns out that many businesspeople and special pleaders are liberty’s most implacable enemies. A social safety net and protection from the harsh gales of creative destruction, not freedom, are what large numbers of Americans apparently want from government nowadays and “A Better Deal” simply responds to that demand.
“Americans … deserve for this country to work for everyone again” says Sen. Schumer. “A Better Deal” promises to enslave families even more firmly to the administrative state.” It reverses completely President Kennedy’s “Ask not what your country can do for you….”
This article was published at The Beacon. Reported by Eurasia Review 18 hours ago.
A Better Deal? Better hold onto your wallet.
Clearly taking a few pages out of President Trump’s campaign playbook, the Democrats’ policy agenda contains three interrelated promises (“Better Jobs, Better Wages, Better Future”), almost none of which is a proper function of the federal government in the first place or is within its powers actually to fulfill in today’s hyper-partisan atmosphere. Full of action words like “fight back,” “crack down,” and “prioritize,” the Better Deal demonizes “unfair foreign trade;” “corporations and billionaires,” especially those who “outsource American jobs;” “monopolies;” “special interests;” “lobbyists” and “Wall Street.” It is vintage populism; it could have been written a century ago.
Meant to be a call to arms – a political manifesto – rallying the Democratic Party’s core constituencies, which either supported Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders or defected to Trump rather than vote for Hillary Clinton, the Better Deal is long on platitudes and short on details.
The first promise is to “raise the wages and incomes of American workers and create millions of good-paying [fulltime] jobs.” That goal ostensibly will be reached in a number of ways, including “investing in our crumbling infrastructure and prioritizing small business and entrepreneurs,” but the centerpieces of the proposal are to “ensure a living wage for all Americans” and to protect private pensions, “Social Security and Medicare, so that seniors can retire with dignity.”
While it has become commonplace for pundits to bemoan the conditions of the nation’s roads, dams and bridges, reality may not match the rhetoric, especially so at the state level. Even if it does, however, massive spending of the taxpayers’ hard-earned incomes to repair or replace existing infrastructure is not necessarily the best solution to the problem. That conclusion gains traction if one looks at the results of the Keynesian economic stimulus packages enacted under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Remember all of the “shovel-ready” construction projects that, if funded, supposedly would get the U.S. economy quickly moving again? Plagued by inevitable waste, corruption and delays, the stimulus hardly had any long-term effects. It is important to remember, too, that to the extent that our infrastructure is “crumbling,” it is doing so because of governmental neglect of routine maintenance, which is less visible to voters and less rewarding to reelection-minded politicians than funding new construction projects.
Democrats generally think that spending more OPM (other people’s money) is the answer for every perceived social and political ill. The jobs “created” by pouring federal resources into infrastructure, like all construction projects, are temporary and will disappear as soon as the work is finished. A bolder option, suggested recently by Nobel laureate Vernon Smith, is to privatize the federal Interstate highway system, thereby allowing infrastructure “investment” decisions to be made by private sector actors who actually have incentives to evaluate financial rates of return to the various maintenance projects available and to then select the ones for which the benefits exceed the cost is rather than having them determined politically.
How, exactly, does a Better Deal propose to “raise the wages and incomes of American workers”? Is the Democratic Party contemplating a basic income guarantee (BIG), also known as a universal basic income? Such a program, which establishes a minimum annual income for everyone, would have some positive aspects, provided that it replaces all existing taxpayer-financed income transfers (food stamps, now called “SNAP” – supplemental nutrition assistance – housing assistance, taxpayer-financed unemployment benefits, Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security and too many other ornaments of the welfare state to mention). But, like all such transfers, BIG undermines incentives to participate in the labor force and to earn one’s own way in life. The worst of all possible worlds would materialize if BIG or something like it is added on top of existing income transfers.
Another option being bandied about is to more than double the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour. Some commentators and students of the effects of minimum wages find only small negative effects on total employment, but they are asking the wrong question. As shown by a recent study of Seattle, Washington’s, labor market, where the minimum hourly wage is being raised in steps to $15 – it’s not there, yet – employers can adjust to mandated increases is cash wages along many margins. One of those ways is to keep the same number of people on the payroll, but to shorten the hours they are allowed to work per day or per week. Other responses to higher minimum wages are to cut non-wage fringe benefits, such as on-the-job training, breaks during the workday, opportunities to eat meals at no charge or at reduced prices, help with buying uniforms, paid vacations, and employer-provided health insurance and pensions, if any. If an employee does not add more than $15 per hour in value to his or her employer, then requiring such a minimum hourly wage cannot make that person better off.
Social Security and Medicare are in deep financial trouble, with those programs’ unfunded liabilities now approaching $100 trillion – five times the accumulated federal debt. Ensuring that “seniors retire with dignity” requires drastic action within the next decade or so. Payroll tax rates that fund those programs must be increased, recipients’ benefits must be cut, the age at which people become eligible for full retirement benefits must be pushed back, or some combination of those reforms must be enacted. A Better Deal is silent on how these social safety programs will be “protected.” Certainly, no mention is made of the possibility of privatizing retirees’ public pension and healthcare benefits, putting them on sound actuarial footings to avoid the looming crisis.
A Better Deal’s second promise is to “lower the cost of living for families.” The manifesto focuses on “the crippling cost of prescription drugs and the cost of a college or technical education that leads to a good job.” It pledges to “fight for families struggling with high monthly bills like childcare, credit card fees, and cable bills” and to “crack down on monopolies and the concentration of economic power that has led to higher prices for consumers, workers, and small business – and make sure Wall Street never endangers Main Street again.”
Where is acknowledgement that government itself was the proximate cause of the consolidation of financial institutions both during and after the “crisis” that precipitated the so-called Great Recession? Or that it is public regulation of childcare services and the pharmaceutical industry, along with the creation of exclusive local franchise cable television monopolies denying consumers the benefits of vigorous competition, thus leading to higher credit card fees, prescription drug prices and cable bills than otherwise? The costs of a college or technical education are souring, faster even than healthcare costs in part because taxpayer-financed grants and loans to institutions of higher learning supply incentives for those institutions to raise tuition charges and fees to capture the subsidies for themselves and then spend them on administrators rather than faculty or students.
Extolling the benefits of more active enforcement of the antitrust laws ignores the substantial public choice literature arguing that antitrust simply is just another form of economic regulation and, hence, vulnerable to capture by special interests – often the rivals of companies contemplating merging or of large, cost-efficient corporations – trying, often successfully, to win in the courtroom what they are unable to win in a competitive marketplace.
Last, the manifesto promises “to build an economy that gives working Americans the tools to succeed in the 21st century.” Such an economy will be fostered by providing “new tax incentives to employers that invest in workforce training and education and make sure the rules of the economy support companies that focus on long-term growth, rather than short-term profits.” In addition, “we will make it a national priority to bring high-speed Internet to every corner of America and offer an apprenticeship to millions of new workers. We will encourage innovation, invest in advanced research and ensure start-ups and small business can compete and prosper.”
Government institutionally is not capable of identifying and selecting the next new thing and, thus, cannot know where to “encourage innovation” or what “advanced research” merits investment. “Workforce training and education” are signal failures of the U.S. public-school monopoly and direct consequences of the iron grip of teachers’ unions. And how would politicians and the bureaucrats employed by the administrative state even begin to know which companies “focus on long-term growth rather than short-term profits”? Such decisions are made far better in decentralized market settings than by central planners. What is the value-added of “bring[ing] high-speed internet [access] to every corner of America” over and above existing government subsidies to low-income households for landline and cellular telephone service?
“A Better Deal” proposes to put the same old progressive/populist wine in new bottles. Rather than continuing to engineer society through the tax code and the federal budget, an even better deal would be to cut personal and business income taxes across the board (without a border adjustment tax that penalizes imports and subsidizes exports) and downsize the public sector at all levels so that government has fewer favors to hand out to special interests and fewer penalties to impose on businesses, workers and consumers.
I am not optimistic about the future because the concept of liberty that animated the Revolutionary generation has been lost and it turns out that many businesspeople and special pleaders are liberty’s most implacable enemies. A social safety net and protection from the harsh gales of creative destruction, not freedom, are what large numbers of Americans apparently want from government nowadays and “A Better Deal” simply responds to that demand.
“Americans … deserve for this country to work for everyone again” says Sen. Schumer. “A Better Deal” promises to enslave families even more firmly to the administrative state.” It reverses completely President Kennedy’s “Ask not what your country can do for you….”
This article was published at The Beacon. Reported by Eurasia Review 18 hours ago.
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United States: CMS Again Extends HHA/Ambulance Enrollment Moratoria in Selected States to "Prevent and Combat Fraud, Waste, and Abuse" - Reed Smith
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has once again extended for six months its "temporary" moratoria on the Medicare, Medicaid, and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) enrollment of new nonemergency ground ambulance suppliers and home health agencies (HHAs) in selected states, effective July 29, 2017.
Reported by Mondaq 15 hours ago.
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