Month: July 2014
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Ehealth financial results and strategy are surprising to Freedom Benefits
The most recent financial operating results reported by health insurance industry leader E-health were startling to me as the owner of the much smaller Freedom Benefits. Submitted applications for individual and family plan products decreased 78% in the second quarter of 2014 compared to the prior year. We consider Ehealth to be our most direct and…
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The spiral effect of southern New Jersey’s economic slide
Today the Atlantic City Press published another bleak economic forecast for the southern New Jersey region at http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/business/stockton-report-details-series-of-job-loss-scenarios-as-atlantic/article_3fcce228-1769-11e4-bbe4-0019bb2963f4.html. This new report is based on a Stockton economic professor’s report. Another earlier study released last month by the U.S. Conference of Mayors and HIS Global Insight predicts that for the rest of this decade the Atlantic City/Hammonton…
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10 Tips for handling an Offer in Compromise to the IRS
When a taxpayer has no reasonable hope of paying the full amount of past taxes due or when it makes sense to borrow money from another source to pay taxes, sometimes it makes sense to settle the matter with an Offer in Compromise in order to get rid of the old debt and make a…
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Reporting changes that affect health insurance
The federal government says: “Once you have Marketplace coverage, you must report certain life changes. This information may change the coverage or savings you’re eligible for.” Millions of people say: “Dear Healthcare.gov: I am one of the 75% of individuals who bought coverage on the exchange paid for with tax credits. I understand that I…
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What if I don’t have supplemental health insurance?
I recently recorded a presentation called “How to find supplemental health insurance” for Freedom Benefits. For those not familiar with the topic, the question may be “so what, what if I don’t have supplemental insurance?” It’s a good question in the rapidly changing field of health insurance. Health insurance policies have changed dramatically since the…
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Script of new introductory video
This is the working script to my new personal introduction video that will be recorded soon and then made into a multi-media video some time after that: “Hello, this is accountant Tony Novak with a quick 10 point personal introduction: 1. The value I bring to clients today comes directly from experience and relationships built over several decades…
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Where is small business health insurance headed?
This article was written for 2014 and then updated for 2017. Little has changed. These points are still not well understood or agreed upon by professionals in the small business health insurance field: Quality of information: Most of the information published in this field appears to comes from those with a vested economic interest and/or political…
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The problem with fee-only financial advice
Much is written about the benefits of fee-only financial advice. Yet the drawbacks that prevent its wider adoption among the relatively large portion of working-class affluent individuals are almost totally ignored in public media. The result is that we are sending a harmful message to the bulk of Americans who would otherwise benefit from solid professional financial advice.…
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Can an insurance policy serve as an employee benefit plan document
Why an insurance policy does not substitute for an employee benefit plan