Bicycle Safety - For Adults & Children!

Warmer weather is finally here! Adults and children alike enjoy bicycle riding when the sun is shining, so here are some tips to keep safe, while still having fun!

ü       Wear a helmet.

o        Choose one that meets the Consumer Product Safety Commission standards.

o        Make sure it fits properly.  It should cover the rider’s forehead and should always be fastened.

o        Don’t throw the helmet; this could damage the integrity of the product.

ü       Make sure the bicycle ‘fits’ the rider.

o        The rider should straddle the top bar; both feet flat on the ground.

o        There should be 1-2 inches between the top bar and the rider for a road bike, and 3-4 inches for a mountain bike.

ü       Perform regular maintenance.

o        Check tires for air and tire pressure.

o        Test brakes to make sure they are working properly.

o        Be sure wheels, seat and handlebars fit tightly.

o        Inspect the chain for damage, and oil regularly.

ü       Stand out.

o        Wear bright colored clothing.

o        Place reflectors on the bicycle and reflective stickers on the helmet.

o        Avoid riding at night if at all possible; if it can’t be avoided, wear light-colored clothing and affix a bicycle light and reflectors to the bicycle.

ü       Listen up.

o        Avoid headphones; music can prevent riders from hearing noises in their surroundings.

ü       Dress smart.

o        Avoid loose-fitting clothing, long backpack straps and long shoelaces that can get caught in the chain, and cause injury.

o        Wear shoes that cover the foot; never ride barefoot or in sandals or flip-flops.  Shoe soles should grip the bicycle pedals.

ü       Be aware.

o        Look for cars and other motorists.

o        Follow traffic regulations and learn appropriate hand signals.

o        Avoid riding into puddles and leaves, and over grates or gravel.

o        Look out for other bicyclists, pedestrians, and children playing in the area.

o        Learn the laws in your local jurisdiction for rules specific to your area.  Or for more safety information check with the National Highway Safety Administration at www.nhtsa.dot.gov.

CELEBRATE MEMORIAL DAY WITH US!!

Swing on by our office during the Memorial Day Parade on Post Road for FREE coffee, cookies and balloons as we celebrate our country and the heroes who fight for it!

Take a look at some of the excitement from last year's festivities!





All set up and ready to go! 









Phew!



Gov. Malloy Talks Mental Health Claims

Malloy Announces Plan to Reduce Insurance Denials

for Mental Health Services

The Connecticut Insurance Department and the UConn Health Center are collaborating to help families struggling to get mental health treatment paid through their insurance, according to Gov. Dannel Malloy.

Malloy said the department and the health center are developing a “user-friendly ‘claims tool kit’” for policyholders and providers, including out-of-network providers who operate on cash basis.

The goal, according to a news release from Malloy’s office, is to reduce the number of insurance denials.

“No one should have to overcome mountains of red tape when they are trying to access mental health services,” Malloy said. “This collaboration allows us to leverage the respective expertise of the Insurance Department and the UConn Health Center to put in place a common-sense approach to what can be a profoundly frustrating process. I commend the Insurance Department and the Health Center for their commitment to improving mental health care access for residents.”

Access to mental health services is part of the governor’s multi-prong plan to reduce gun violence in response to the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown in December.

“It’s been the Department’s observations that incomplete or incorrect information, coding errors, and other documentation issues are often the cause of claims denials requiring multiple appeals. We don’t want families having to fight to get the care they need,” Deputy Insurance Commissioner Anne Melissa Dowling, who oversees the Department’s health insurance initiatives, said.

Malloy said the claims tool kit, which should be complete this summer, is the first in a series of behavioral health projects the Insurance Department and Health Center are undertaking to assist consumers and providers.

The smartest homeowner's insurance move: a $100,000 deductible

Did you know you can shave hundreds of dollars off your annual homeowner's insurance bill by increasing your deductible? We don't just mean going from $500 to $1,000. Think big. $2,500. Already have a $2,500 deductible? Then think bigger. $5,000. $10,000. Or really big. Like $100,000.

"We have clients with deductibles of $100,000 fairly routinely on $5 million homes," says Mary Boyd, senior vice president and chief operating officer for ACE Private Risk Services. Some ACE clients with multiple homes and a "significant" net worth have deductibles in the millions of dollars, she says. What do they know that you don't?

When you choose a deductible, you're picking a number you're willing to spend out of pocket if you suffer a loss. It should certainly cover what you think of as run-of-the-mill outlays (when calling the insurer would be more of a hassle than writing a check to the repairman). But if you're comfortable with laying out even more at the time of a loss, over time you can really save money on premiums.

Choosing a low deductible is "a characteristic mistake," says Jack M. Guttentag, a professor emeritus at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania who runs MortgageProfessor.com. "What you want is coverage for the risks that you can't pay for yourself," he says. (A pine tree bisects your living room; a major electrical fire takes out your gourmet kitchen.) Pick the number you're willing to spend out of pocket based on your resources -- how much income you have coming in and how much money you have in the bank.

How much might you save with a bigger deductible? On a house insured for $1 million with a $2,500 deductible, a homeowner could save $1,000 a year by going to a $10,000 deductible at ACE (the premium and savings will vary depending on the house's location and other factors). Since the homes ACE insures typically suffer a loss about once every 20 years, this is a very good bet, says Boyd.

Ted Mitchell, a senior public relations specialist with MetLife Auto & Home says MetLife has seen a trend toward consumers choosing higher deductibles in recent years. While a typical homeowner's insurance policy deductible is $500 or $1,000, MetLife offers flat dollar deductibles of up to $10,000 (except in Texas which has percentage deductibles). But you don't have to go to the max for the savings to kick in. In one example, on a coastal Virginia house insured by MetLife for $1 million with a $1,000 deductible, a homeowner could save $300 a year by going to a $2,500 deductible or $600 a year by going to a $5,000 deductible.

To help minimize the chance (and severity) of a loss and your out-of-pocket tab for a high deductible, Boyd says homeowners should install the usual burglar and fire alarms but also consider installing more high-tech safety measures such as automatic leak detectors, battery backup systems for sump pumps, and lightning protection systems. You get additional credits on your premium for these efforts.

Your agent might use the savings opportunity to sell you other insurance, and that can make sense and still put you ahead of where you were before making the deductible changes. What if you have expensive jewelry? The ACE homeowner's policy covers up to $10,000 in jewelry with a maximum of $5,000 for a single item -- subject to your deductible. That means if you chose a $10,000 deductible and lost a bracelet and earrings worth $10,000, there would be no reimbursement. So you might want to consider insuring jewelry (and fine arts or other collectibles) under a valuables policy as an add-on to your homeowner's policy. With a valuable policy, no deductible applies in the event of a loss.

Connecticut Races To Reach Uninsured, Open Health Insurance Marketplace

HARTFORD, Conn. — In the nation’s insurance capital, the hunt to find uninsured people and get them enrolled in the state’s new online health insurance marketplace has already begun.

Officials working for Access Health CT, created under the federal health law, have collected names of more than 1,300 people needing coverage at recent town-hall meetings across the state. This spring and summer, they plan to use booths at festivals and street fairs to gather thousands more. Come fall, they’ll also pay community groups and small businesses, such as barbers and beauticians, in New Haven, Bridgeport and other cities with high uninsured rates to reach out to people and sign them up for coverage on the spot.

The marketplaces open nationwide Oct. 1 and are key to the health law’s expansion of coverage to millions of individuals and small businesses.  In Connecticut – one of 16 states slated to run its own marketplace, also called an exchange – the goal is to sign up 220,000 people by next March, or two-thirds of the state’s uninsured. That’s ambitious considering that only a third of the uninsured nationally are expected to enroll in the first year.

“We are on a mission to make history,” Access Health CEO Kevin Counihan said in an interview at his downtown office that looks out at UnitedHealthcare Center and the golden dome over Aetna’s corporate headquarters.

Looking around his headquarters, where 25 staffers work alongside employees from private contractors, including Deloitte Consulting and KPMG, he said, “It’s not Groundhog Day here.”

‘Connector On Steroids’

From 2006 to 2011, Counihan was chief marketing officer for the Massachusetts Health Insurance Connector Authority, which attracted national attention because it helped the Bay State achieve near universal health coverage and become the model for the federal health law. Massachusetts also won kudos for its marketing to the uninsured, which included advertising at Fenway Park during Red Sox games.

Those experiences prepared him for his current challenge, which Counihan describes as “the Connector on steroids.” He said the Connecticut exchange is a more ambitious start up because it must be a one-stop shop for both private coverage and Medicaid, and because of the federal law’s extensive insurance reforms.

As in Massachusetts, Counihan and Access Health have had to balance the sometimes conflicting interests of health insurers, hospitals, doctors and other providers, employers, insurance agents and consumer advocates. Ellen Andrews, executive director of the Connecticut Health Policy Project, a consumer group, predicts the private plans offered by Access Health will be too expensive for many people, even those with subsidies to defray the costs. At least half of the people buying policies in the marketplaces are projected to qualify for subsidies.

“We are concerned the standard plan is very expensive,” she said, citing the exchange board's decision to use the state’s most popular small group plan as the basis for the benefits required of every policy sold in the exchange. Most state exchanges did the same thing to reduce disruption in the insurance market.

Health plans begin to submit their prices to the exchange next month for coverage that begins in January.

Andrews said Access Health’s decision not to negotiate rates with insurers initially -- as Massachusetts does -- will also result in higher prices.

Small business groups say they share that concern. “Relying on the carriers to be able to bring plans into the exchange with no structures to challenge price is just plain irresponsible,” said Kevin Galvin, chairman of Small Business for a Healthy Connecticut.

Exchange officials say they opted against negotiating with carriers initially because they did not want to dissuade any from participating, said Jason Madrak, chief marketing officer. Five insurers, including all the major carriers in the individual and small group markets, plan to participate.

A Public With High Expectations, Little Patience

Despite such criticisms, Connecticut has advantages over other state exchanges.

That’s because it started more than two years ago with more than $100 million in federal grants. And the state’s small size means it can more easily pinpoint outreach efforts. Most of the uninsured are in a handful of cities including Hartford, New Haven and Bridgeport, and the exchange knows which neighborhoods to find them in from Census reports.



Access Health CEO Kevin Counihan



As the nation’s insurance capital, the state may have less of a challenge convincing people of the value of health coverage, Counihan said. Being the wealthiest state in terms of per capita income should also help.

While the exchange will advertise on television, newspapers and billboards, the focus will be on working with community health centers and other providers to identify the uninsured when they seek health care, Madrak said. The group will also work with local chambers of commerce to get the word out to small businesses. Nearly 10 percent of Connecticut residents are uninsured.

Part of Counihan’s job these days is managing expectations. “It won’t be perfect on Day One,” he said, recalling how the introduction of Medicare’s prescription drug benefit in 2005 ran into many snags although it was ultimately successful.

Compared to the Connector’s launch, Counihan said the public has higher expectations and less patience. “People on the left want to see this fail so they can say, ‘Another reason for a single payer system,’ and people on the right want it to fail so they can say, ‘Big government does not work.’”

Counihan said the online exchange may have fewer features than originally envisioned – for instance, quality ratings of insurance plans -- so it gets done on time. Though he has help from some of nation’s largest consulting firms as well as from his former boss at the Connector, Jon Kingsdale, he knows the buck stops with him.

“It’s a tough, lonely job,” said Counihan. “I’ve never had so much coming at me at the same time.”

He said an Obama administration official recently asked him what he could offer to help, and he replied, “’Give me another year.”

That was not an option.

Anthem Responds To Criticism Over Psychotherapy Reimbursement

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Connecticut responded to criticism by doctors groups that the insurer isn’t paying for psychotherapy when it is provided in conjunction with other medical services.

Wallingford-based Anthem, the state’s largest health insurer, said the American Medical Association published significant changes and updates to the procedure codes associated with behavioral health services, which took effect Jan. 1.

These code changes do not set behavioral health provider reimbursement,” Anthem spokeswoman Sarah Yeager said in a prepared statement. “In compliance with federal law, Anthem implemented the code changes and adopted new fees to match to the new codes. Anthem sought to preserve the level of payment that behavioral health providers were receiving before the code changes.”

Anthem was criticized Thursday by three doctor groups — the Connecticut Psychiatric Society, the American Psychiatric Association and the Connecticut State Medical Society — which claim Anthem responded to the annual change in medical-billing codes by covering only visits for an evaluation or management of medical issues, and not psychotherapy as a separate equal category when provided during the same visit.

The most recent version of “current procedural terminology,” or CPT, medical-billing codes take effect Jan. 1 each year, and psychotherapy has been isolated as a separate service in the past, but with different codes.

“These practices are both unethical and illegal,” the American Psychiatric Association’s chief executive Dr. James H. Scully, Jr., said in a prepared statement. “We worked very hard to enact mental health parity laws, and it is now clear that Anthem is seeking a way to avoid compliance. We are not prepared to allow them to skirt their obligations under the law.”

Anthem’s spokeswoman, Yeager, said, “We believe that our provider reimbursement rates for behavioral health services are appropriate, in compliance with applicable laws, and allow our members to continue to have access to mental health services which we recognize are critical to overall health. All applicable behavioral health services, including psychotherapy services, continue to be covered in accordance with our members’ benefit plans.”

Factors To Think About the Next Time You Are Purchasing Insurance

In terms of deciding whether to change personal-lines insurers and which new carrier to choose, price remains the primary —but not the only— factor considered by auto and homeowners’ consumers.

Indeed, when asked about their decision points when placing auto insurance for the Deloitte Research "Voice of the Personal Lines Insurance Consumer" surveys, more than two-thirds of the 1,080 respondents said price was either extremely (54 percent) or very (28 percent) influential the last time they changed carriers. The numbers were similar among the 1,080 homeowners surveyed, although a lower share (45 percent) cited cost as extremely influential, along with 30 percent who said the price was very influential.

Interestingly, among the four age segments surveyed, those 26-34 recorded the largest percentage (71 percent) of those ranking the price of auto coverage as extremely influential but also the lowest percentage (31 percent) among homeowner respondents ranking price as important. This could perhaps be explained by the fact that having the right coverage for a home —most likely a young consumer’s biggest investment— is simply a more important consideration than price.

Another intriguing point is that while respondents cited price in retrospect as the most influential factor in their decision to change personal-lines carriers, when asked prospectively what would influence them, price did not rank nearly as high. Among auto respondents, 58 percent said price would be either extremely (27 percent) or very (31 percent) influential when they next shop for a new policy, compared to about one-third each among homeowners.

Many consumers surveyed indicated they would respond favorably to multipolicy-discount offers. Looking back, four in 10 auto respondents cited the availability of an auto/homeowners’ insurance multipolicy discount as extremely (17 percent) or very (21 percent) influential in their last decision to change carriers. Among homeowners surveyed, the influence of multipolicy discounts was even stronger, with 58 percent citing this factor as extremely (28 percent) or very (30 percent) influential the last time they changed carriers.

Many auto respondents noted that the availability of telematics —technology to monitor driving experience in return for a potential break on the price of coverage— might prompt them to change carriers. Indeed, 3 in 10 said getting a discount for installing such a device would be extremely (12 percent) or very (17 percent) influential in their next purchase decision.

However, about 30 percent said they would not agree to install such a device, while another 30 percent said they would. But about 40 percent said their answer would depend on the premium discount being offered. Nearly half of those on the fence said they would expect more than a 20 percent discount to make such electronic monitoring worth their while, while another 22 percent would want a price break of 16-20 percent. About 1 in 5 would install the device for a potential discount of 11-15 percent. Only 1 in 10 would go along for a 6-10 percent discount, and only a handful (2 percent) would agree for less than 6 percent in savings. Age is a factor here as well, with the two older segments surveyed more likely to agree to have a monitoring device installed, while younger respondents were more leery of the idea.

The amount and type of coverage offered was the second most important decision point among respondents the last time they changed carriers, but not nearly as strong a consideration as price, with only 31 percent of auto respondents citing coverage as extremely influential (compared to 54 percent on price). The same pattern held for homeowners (24 percent on coverage versus 45 percent on price).

Reputation and trust were also key factors. Three out of four auto respondents said brand name, reputation for financial strength and the insurer’s rating were important, including 1 in 5 who considered these elements extremely influential when they last changed carriers. The numbers were similar for homeowners.

Brand-name recognition was a very important decision point among both auto and homeowner respondents. About 3 in 4 bought through an exclusive agent because they represented a widely known insurer, two-thirds bought direct because they prefer to do business with a widely known insurer, and about half would be more willing to buy direct if the insurer had a widely known brand.

The importance of brand recognition and perceptions of integrity spotlight the need for more proactive reputational risk-management efforts by insurers in general and the industry as a whole.

One particular area impacting brand reputation is claim service, which was a significant decision point among both samples queried, with about 1 in 3 respondents indicating that poor claims handling was extremely or very influential in their last decision to change carriers.

In terms of which individuals influence personal-lines buyers in their purchase decisions, respondents indicated they were swayed more by recommendations from family, friends and colleagues than from an agent. However, once again age plays a big part, as younger buyers indicated they were much more heavily influenced by their family and acquaintances.

A significant percentage (41 percent) indicated that an affiliation between their bank and their auto insurer would be extremely (18 percent) or very (23 percent) influential in their decision whether to buy coverage. The numbers were similar among homeowner respondents. However, an affiliation with the respondent’s employer did not score nearly as high.

There was a split when it came to the influence of an endorsement from a group or association to which the respondent belongs. This was cited as a major factor among auto-insurance buyers, with half of the respondents notin g t his as either extremely (17 percent) or very (33 percent) influential. Among homeowners, however, this factor was cited by fewer than half that number—20 percent overall, and only by 8 percent as extremely influential.

About 1 in 4 among both samples said a recommendation from their auto dealer or real estate agent would be influential in their insurance-purchase decision, including about 1 in 10 who said these referrals would be extremely influential.

Interestingly, while about 1 in 5 said advertising was either extremely (9 percent) or very (14 percent) influential in deciding where to buy auto insurance, more than half said ads were not very influential (17 percent) or not at all influential (35 percent). The numbers were similar among homeowner respondents.

When asked what would be their three most preferred ways to shop for a new auto policy, "checking a website offering quotes from multiple carriers" scored the biggest response, cited by 41 percent of those surveyed, including 15 percent who said this would be their most preferred channel (respondents could choose multiple options, in order of preference). Next came an independent agent representing multiple insurers at 36 percent (also including 15 percent as most preferred), followed by agents selling exclusively for one carrier at 31 percent (although this option drew the largest percentage of the top preferred choice at 17 percent).

Among homeowner respondents, about 40 percent chose either independent or exclusive agents among their Top 3, with 1 in 5 citing either one as their first choice. Checking a website offering quotes from multiple carriers made the Top 3 among 1 in 3 respondents but was cited as the first choice by only 13 percent.

These responses indicate that while price is a critical element for personal-lines buyers, there are other factors they consider when choosing a carrier, offering insurers a variety of decision points they can leverage to differentiate themselves and thereby retain more customers and boost new business.