Need Some Holiday Inspiration?

admin — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 18:59:10 +0000

It seems that many of us are getting a bit fed up with the same old holiday destinations. We take a look at some alternative locations that offer that bit more.

Statisticians tell us that we have more leisure time available to us than has been the case for any previous generation. When you combine this increase in leisure time with greater disposable incomes and the rise of budget travel, it’s clear to see why holidays have become so central to many of our lives.

Of course, with the greater choice of holiday destination that we now have available to us, there are now many more options when we come to plan our holidays.

For earlier generations things were so much simpler. For many British holidays a summer break overseas meant a fortnight in France or Spain – generally as part of a package holiday.

Over the years our chance of holiday destinations have grown but the more places that we explore, the greater our need to find even more far flung places.

Where once Eastern European cities like Prague and Budapest seemed exotic, they are now just a short (and generally cheap) flight away from the UK. For those looking to experience the real Eastern Europe, many are now looking at Bulgaria, Poland and the Baltic states.

This isn’t just a factor for British holidaymakers. Backpackers and travellers from the US and Australia are increasingly looking beyond the standard vacation cities of western and central Europe.

For those who want a Mediterranean holiday with a difference, recent weakening of the barriers to entering northern Cyprus provide an opportunity to visit a part of Europe that’s been off limits for some years.

With a relative improvement in the political situation in Cyprus, it’s now possible to visit the Turkish half of the island (albeit only by flying there via the Turkish mainland).

Given the stunning scenery of the north part of the island and the relatively undisturbed nature of many areas, this is a part of the Med that provides a different type of break to the more crowded beach holidays of France, Spain and North Africa.

Health insurance companies hike premiums

admin — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 13:00:24 +0000

This February, the Department of Health and Human Resources has issued a report identifying an alarming trend for insurance companies to seek premium rate increases. This is not limited to one or two states. This is not limited to one or two percentage increases in the rates. This is all the leading insurance companies asking for the right to significantly higher premiums: in Michigan hikes of 56%, in California hikes of 39%, and so on. If this only affected small numbers of policyholders, it might have passed unnoticed. But, with millions of policyholders affected across the country, these rate increase requests have attracted the full scrutiny of the federal government. Secretary Sibelius has been leading the attack, using the requests to push the reform agenda forward.

Because of the national anger, some companies have paused. WellPoint had proposed the increases take effect from March 1. Any increases, even if approved by the states, will now be delayed until May at the earliest. This decision is partly in response to the summons of WellPoint’s chief executive officer to Washington to justify the requested increases. Insurance companies find themselves in a difficult political situation. Their management teams accept a duty to maximize profits for the benefit of the stockholders. They look around at an America seriously affected by the recession. Increasing numbers of people are unable to afford the premiums, some because of unemployment, others because of a squeeze on credit. More worrying from the insurance industry is that more healthy people are deciding not to insure at all. This means the group of people left holding policies has a higher percentage of those with existing health problems. Without more healthy people in the group paying premiums and not claiming, it becomes more expensive to insure those less healthy people who remain. It is also a verified fact that hospitals and healthcare service professionals have also been increasing their fees and charges. The pharmaceutical companies have increased the price of almost all the most commonly used drugs. The insurance industry is under pressure from both sides. As Secretary Sibelius points out, however, this is not a completely accurate picture. Every year, insurance companies are required to submit reports to all the US states in which they are licensed to sell policies. This data shows many companies actually increased the number of policyholders during 2009.

The market in health insurance plans is complicated by the political situation. Democrats and Republicans are two armies unable to agree a truce long enough for some reform to be made. As it stands, there is no immediate likelihood that medical costs will be controlled. If the costs continue to rise faster than inflation, insurers will have no choice other than increasing their premiums. If they do not, they will not have enough cash in hand to pay out on all the claims. This means, for the average person, it will become increasingly difficult to find cheap health insurance. For those with a pre-existing condition, group health insurance will be the only option but, for those plans, premiums are rising at their fastest rates. For years, it has been obvious that the healthcare industry is broken. It would be ironic if, having come this close to some meaningful reforms, we not only saw the reform bills lost in Washington, but also found every major insurer imposing massive premium increases. That really would be the final nail in the coffin.

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Need Some Holiday Inspiration?

Health insurance companies hike premiums