1. Insurer investment returns

The financial crisis of 2008 caused insurers to write down their investment portfolios and reallocate seeking higher returns. However, with a prevalence of low-yielding investments, attractive returns were not possible. Furthermore, credit quality impaired insurer’s massive corporate bonds holdings. For insurers with an international footprint there was also the impact of the sovereign debt crisis in Europe and the drain on surplus caused by 2011 delivering one of the worst worldwide catastrophic loss years on record. Interest rates on 10-year treasury notes have been following a downward trend for over a decade and are now at all-time record lows. Since roughly 80% of the property-casualty industry’s bond/cash investments are in 10-year or shorter durations, most insurer portfolios will have low-yielding bonds for years to come. In addition, the recession reduced demand for workers’ comp (demand = payroll).

Our community "produces thousands and thousands of kids who aren't prepared for higher education or the workforce," said Bruce Greenberg, former CEO for Family & Children's Center, a not-for-profit umbrella organization that includes the Boys & Girls Club of St. Joseph County among it's affiliates. Bruce and new CEO Jory Kelly know the difference an organization like the Boys & Girls Club can make in the community. This letter says it all!

And with so much demand for services, they couldn't do it without great community support. "Since many not-for-profits begin every year with an amount 'to be found', receipt of unplanned funding helps provide services without the risk of cancelling due to funding shortfalls", commented Greenberg.

Unhealthy, unproductive, unengaged employees are among an employer’s largest strategic risks. Employers have seen this in health insurance rates for years. Now, the workers’ compensation insurers are starting to pay attention. Workers’ compensation insurers are coming to the realization that safety programs aren’t enough. Yes, these programs are necessary and beneficial, but they don’t address the health and wellness of each individual employee and often fail to impact employee engagement focusing instead on physical hazards (e.g. machine guarding). Insurers recognize the changing demographic of today’s employees: an aging workforce that’s retiring at an older age and more likely to be overweight. This is leading to comorbid health issues like hypertension, diabetes, and high cholesterol. Taken together, these elements have the makings of a perfect storm.

Imagine this scenario: Mary is in the supply room getting a box of paper. It falls on and injures her foot. Her employer sends an incident report to their workers’ compensation carrier. A few days later, Mary’s foot is still bothering her with an ulcer forming at the impact site. Mary gets medical treatment, but the ulcer won’t heal. Fast-forward a few months to the possibility of Mary losing her foot - a complication of untreated diabetes. Of course, this is an extreme example, but it’s one that’s becoming a trend.

As Health Care Reform is implemented, the debate continues on two fronts: (1) is the law truly going to impact costs and (2) how will the millions of Americans who are currently uninsured impact provider access? While these two topics have dominated the discussion, there has been little discussion on how health literacy will impact both.

Ron Johnson, the former Apple executive, was hired as CEO in 2011 by struggling retailer JC Penney to revive the organization. He embarked on an aggressive vision - something he labeled a "transformation" - that ultimately ended with his recent firing.

What happened? Danielle Sacks provides her thoughts in an online Fast Company article I read recently during some down time between flights. It got me thinking about some of my own experiences with change management.

In late 2005 I joined Gibson, in part because of its private and independent ownership structure. I had been collecting a mental notebook of ideas and strategies during my time at the national firms and was just itching to put them into practice. As one of my clients said when I told him I was going to buy in to a smaller firm, "Tim, there's nothing like owning a piece of the rock!"

Whenever we encounter a particularly shocking piece of news, we tend to assume the worst. When the videos of the West Fertilizer Co. explosion appeared on YouTube and the news of the devastation was carried across the country, it caused many people to make some wild assumptions. The fact that it occurred in the same week as the tragic events at the Boston Marathon, led many to assume some kind of connection between the two tragedies.

On Thursday the Internal Revenue Service issued Revenue Procedure 2013-25, heralding changes to health savings account contributions for individuals and families for 2014. As well as this, employee out-of-pocket expenses are also set to change. These changes are to reflect the changes in the cost of living.

With Mother's Day on Sunday, I feel compelled to devote this post to our Moms. A short blog won't do them justice, but it would be worse to miss them all together.

My three favorite Moms are my lovely wife Kimra, my mother Ruth, and my mother-in-law Marilyn. I have, of course, listed them no particular order. Obviously if you're my favorite you know who you are so really no need to spell that out here, right?

I'm not perfect and I've learned a lot from these ladies. What I've realized is that the more I handle situations the way they would, the better off I am. They make it look effortless, but for me, it's real work.

No one ever thought the implementation of Health Care Reform would be easy. Even fervent supporters of the law admit that things are going worse than expected.

Gun ownership is a hot topic at the moment, one that is never far from the headlines. With this debate comes the discussion of gun liability insurance. Many states have considered making it mandatory in the past but recent events have caused many individuals to seek protection themselves.