Past Issues
-October 2006Contact us:
Ed Bates
952.944.5044
Mary Bates
952.942.8355
Jereme Bates
952.944.2919
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Quarterly Quote
"Fear less, hope more; Whine less, breathe more; Talk less, say more; Hate less, love more; And all good things are yours."
- Swedish Proverbs
Written by Ed Bates
In as much as this is our first of many newsletters to clients and friends, I thought I would take this opportunity to share with you a little more about our company and those services that are available to you.
Our family owned company was started in September of 1988, which means we are entering our 15th year of service to the business community. Our target client is the smaller employer that dues to the many challenges of doing business, and typically with not enough adminstrative help, depends heavily on us to help them meet their employee benefit needs. Our expertise is significant. I began my involvement with health insurance over 30 years ago. I have been on the buying and selling side of things, allowing me to appreciate the challenge from both perspectives. I have also owned two third party adminstrative firms (TPAs) that pay claims and provide services for self-funded (sometimes referred to as self-insured) plans. This has given me good insight into alternative plans and their structure. Mary, early in her career, was a claims examiner for a large health insurance company. This allows her to have unique talents in explaining to our clients why particular claims were handled as they are, and in reviewing various plan benefit alternatives with her clients. Jereme, a recent University of Kanas graduate, brings the enthusiasm and energy to our company that allows our service to be second to none. He also represents the future of Bates & Associates. As a combined effort you have significant resources available to you as our client.
Our company provides our clients a willingness to market their health alternatives, simply upon request. Why wonder if you should be with another company and not doing anything about it? Further, our availability by phone, fax and email are unprecedented. Many of our clients are amazed how quickly we get back to them with the answer to their question or challenge. Finally, such services as our new COBRA administration, extensive benefit expertise and market knowledge allow our clients to survive better in this difficult and expensive world of health insurance. We also offer to all of our clients, products such as property, liability, workers compensation, and all other business insurance products.
We will be here for you in the future providing these valuable services. We will be here for you in the future providing these valuable services. Our goal is not to be the largest benefits agency in Minnesota, only the best. I hope you have found this information about our company interesting and we want you to know that we do appreciate your business. Happy Holidays!
Written by Mary Bates
A "Babyboomer" turns 50 every 11 seconds! Of Americans over 65, 60% are expected to need some long-term care in their lifetime. Nearly 40% of people currently receiving long-term care services are adults between the ages of 18 and 64. Medicaid covers less than half of all long-term care costs, and families must be impoverished to be eligible. Changes in demographics and federal policy have shifted the burden of long-term costs from the government to individuals and their families. Long-term care is one of the health insurance plans today. LTC insurance helps to preserve assets by providing resources to help defray the cost of care during a severe illness or accident, natural conditions related to aging, or deterioration of mental capacity. Long-term care can include home care, adult day care, assisted-living facilities, skilled nursing home care, and residential and in-home hospice services. The average annual cost today of nursing home care is $55,000. Consider the effects of 5% inflation, compounded annually, and in 20 years this cost will be $139,000. The advantages of corporate sponsorship are: any premiums contributed are tax deductible for corporations, benefits received are tax free, guaranteed issue, large case discounts, and spousal coverage is available. Employers can contribute towards the program or not, and employees have buy-up options. Individual plans are also available and, the younger one applies, the cheaper the rate. Let me know if you'd like to investigate some options...
Written by Ed Bates
I wanted to take time in this newsletter to introduce Jereme Bates to you and officially welcome him on board at our company. Jereme represents the second generation of Bates for our firm. He graduated from Jefferson High School in May of 1996. With an athletic scholarship to Augsburg College in Minneapolis, his mother's alma mater, he began his post secondary education. After suffering a knee injury, he transferred to the University of Kansas where he graduated in December of 2000, with a bachelor of arts degree in communication studies. He was then asked to work on the consulting side of our business for a client in Kansas, and eventually joined our employee benefits division here in Bloomington. We are excited to have Jereme as part of our corporate objective of being the best benefits agency available to employers in Minnesota.