Last summer, the Supreme Court ruled that states can choose not to expand their Medicaid programs to cover more low-income people.

It Helps To Catch A Break

Ask just about anyone that has had success in life or business how they did it and you’ll probably hear some of the following. It was due to hard work, or innovation and creativity. They diligently prepared and had laser-like focus on a plan. And they were surrounded by great people.

But, it’s been my experience that whatever mix of attributes and planning are mentioned, they always finish with something like this:

The commercial property-casualty marketplace is holding steady thus far in 2013. The market is in a positive, rate increase environment. It evolved to this point throughout 4Q11 and 2012 and in general terms is holding at a 5-7% rate increase in commercial lines. Investment yields continue to decline while catastrophe-related results worsen for insurers, so it is quite likely that rate increases will continue in 2013. Insurers are also facing challenges on certain lines of coverage notably workers’ compensation. Overstated reserves from prior years have been released which tends to temporarily help earnings, and with medical inflation eroding workers’ compensation loss ratios underwriters will focus on pricing integrity and risk selection. Employers with hazardous workers’ compensation exposures and claims experience will see the highest rate increases.

Meanwhile, insurers have the surplus to grow. Rate actions, while positive, are not enough to allow the industry to cover its cost of capital. Thus, underwriters will continue to look at developing market share which will create competition as the economy continues its fight to fully emerge from the recession.

This month marks the third anniversary of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act becoming law.

Consumers have gained access to many new benefits under the law including free preventive services, new rights to appeal insurers' decisions, drug discounts for seniors on Medicare, and tax credits for small businesses.

Yet the biggest

A Lot Of Effort And Hard Work
Is work ethic becoming passé? It seems much of today’s “leading” business thinking focuses only on working smarter not harder.

Well, one person determined to keep “work ethic” alive is William “Bill” Kennedy. He’s the owner and leader, of Hartson-Kennedy Cabinet Top Company, in Marion, Indiana.

Kennedy, 90, is still very involved with the day-to-day operations of the company he co-founded with his father-in-law in 1948. Sure he’s slowed down a bit in recent years, “only” coming into work from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., but I bet he could tell you, down to the dollar, what his payables and receivables are for the week.

When I asked about how he’s survived and prospered all these years, Kennedy said so many companies make things way too complicated. “I’ve kept it simple”, he said. “You got your account receivables and you got your payables. What’s left is what you have to work with. You have to watch it every day!”

Our President & CEO, Tim Leman, recently wrote in his executive blog about the terrific news Gibson received a few weeks ago being named a Best Places to Work in Indiana firm. We had applied for this distinction twice before and were not successful either time. Why did we succeed this year when we had failed twice in the same endeavor?

March Madness
Down by one point with 2.1 seconds remaining, Grant Hill threw a 75-foot pass to Christian Laettner. He dribbled once, turned around and shot. Swish. Duke 104, Kentucky 103.

If you’re a fan of college basketball then you likely remember the 1992 NCAA regional championship game between Duke and Kentucky. It’s widely regarded as one of the greatest college basketball games ever.

At Gibson, March Madness typically comes the second week of the month when we hold our Human Capital Summit (HCS) for area employers. We put on several major seminars for employers throughout the year, but the HCS is our largest event.

When we talk about risk management and risk assessment, the focus is often on the big issues. But it’s not the only way to look at risk assessment. When you’re working to identify every potential risk, you sometimes need to think outside the box. Well, in this case, inside the box.

Every individual product, from food to electronics, encounters risks throughout its lifespan. As the product passes through production lines, across borders, and through the hands of numerous organizations, it encounters a wide array of risks. By applying a risk assessment to the product itself, rather than the individual businesses involved we can get a unique view.

Have you ever written an email, text or letter, or made a Facebook post that you wish you could get back? The funny thing is you knew better before you sent it, didn’t you? I repeated this mistake recently.

It’s been twenty years since I graduated from high school. I went to a small public school with about 100 students in my grade. My class is getting together this July in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and I’ve been helping the reunion planning committee. Turns out the party is getting bigger every day. So much so, that we’ve outgrown the restaurant originally selected by our committee and are moving it to a larger place.

We were required to pay $200 to the original location to reserve a meeting room. A few weeks ago, we canceled our reservation, giving them 4 ½ months of advance warning. Unfortunately the general manager of said establishment is refusing to return the deposit money unless he is able to rent the room above his bar & grille to someone else.

This didn’t sit right with me. I told the committee member who had personally fronted the money not to worry. I would straighten this out.

According to a recent survey by Pew Research, approximately 45% of adults own a smartphone in the US.  Replacing a broken smartphone, or purchasing insurance through the phone carrier to cover a loss, can be very costly.