Rasta Rants

The press has been on fire over Obamacare. I feel so sorry for all the millions of folks out there that do not understand insurance. I guess this is one time I can say I am blessed to have been in the health insurance business for 35 years. (we in the industry are usually running for cover as we are criticized constantly). Let me try clarify a few things about Obamacare. First there is all this noise about the President lying to America by saying we could keep the coverage we had. So what - this isn't his first lie. You got to keep what you had till essential benefits were decided in each state and then the insurance companies were forced to change your policy to comply or terminate it. If you had a limited benefit plan at a lower costs, chances are you are going to get a cancelation notice. Here is why. Insurers based the price of a policy on many factors but the biggest is the plan design. If a policy limits what it pays then it will be cheaper. Since Obamacare forced essenti...

Okay I admit at my age it is not hard for me to be confused, a fact my wife and kids remind me of regularly. I tell them that my brain is like a glass and after 56 years it is very full so when I am given more information to add to it I have to be selective. Accordingly anything trivial or irrelevant to my days priorities gets dumped. This explains why I never remember social engagements, stories about other people's life's, shopping or sports that I don't like. Despite this malty I am actually in full control of all my faculties and relatively acute. So it concerns me when I become confused. This whole government shut and debt ceiling debate has done just that. So help me understand less I become fed up and dump it from my already full glass - as I suspect most Americans have done already. If you believe the apathetic polling results. So the Republicans won't fund the government (the 17% that is shut down) because they want to defund Obamacare. I think I got that r...

As I watched the news last night I had an epiphany that I thought I would share. Everyone is mad at the Congress for the "shutdown" of the US Government. The Democrats and President blame the Republicans and the Republicans blame the President and the Democrats. There was so much rhetoric and finger pointing -  so much hatred and anger. It made me sad and disappointed in us as a country. Then it hit me. We are a Democracy (or a Democratic Republic as the conservatives would say) and as such our elected officials are a reflection of us. We elect them - we choose them and we drive them to some extent. So is it any wonder that we have such a divided Congress? After all we have a very divided country. In my 35 years of living here I have never seen such a divided America. Sure we have had differences before and to a great extent those opposing views have kept us balanced and strong. The juxtaposition of the two parties created national debate and compromise. Not any more! Sur...

Introduction Exchanges are the centerpiece of the new ACA legislation and are due to cover millions in January 2014. Unfortunately, there are many flaws in the concept and roll out that may just cause the program to fail. That said the definition of success and failure will be significantly different based on the two political factions. My definition of failure would be enrollment less than projected, covering less currently uninsured than projected and the financial failure or withdrawal of more than 5 plans nationwide after the first year. Based on this definition here are some of the reasons I think the exchanges could fail. Exchanges The concept is simple – offer preset plans from many different insurance carriers for small groups and individuals at competitive rates with no pre-existing limitations. The initial foray will be offered to groups fewer than 50 and individuals. Anyone under 400% of the FPL will be eligible for subsidies. Also to help prod enrollment amo...

I know it has been a while since I have posted anything. I have heard from many of you about how much you missed me! Ha! well I have been busy trying to make a living since I can't do it driving cars :( I am sure you have all seen the ads for the new F Type Jaguar. It has been getting a lot of press as well. For over 30 years Jag has been effectively out of the sports car market. The last E Type was produced in 1974. Over 70,000 of these beauties were sold in its 13 year run and today is still considered one of the most beautiful cars ever made. I remember my first experience with an E Type. My parents decided I needed to grow up a bit so they shipped me off for a summer to a camp in Europe. Actually it was a traveling camp and we went all over Europe that summer. I was the ripe age of 14 and was accompanied by my best friend from Jamaica and approximately 40 girls from all over the US. It was a "tough" summer! We were in the south of France for about a week and you...

For those that have never had the joy of owning or driving a Ferrari let me share that all the hype is true. In my mind most of them are close to perfect cars. Now before I get attacked by loving Porsche and Lambo owners let me explain. Ferrari's are clearly designed to be driven and if you have a passion for driving they come close to perfection. Sure there are many other great cars and I take nothing away from them, but as a marque Ferrari is at the top in my book. Additionally, there is no way I can cover all the history or cars from this significant marque in this blog entry, so I will merely touch on some interesting highlights. Let me break Ferrari's into four distinct categories - race cars, classic cars, modern era cars and of course super cars. Naturally Enzo was a racer and that is what drove the man to build cars in the first place. Everyone that knows the marque knows Enzo only built street cars to finance his racing programs. So Ferrari is obviously a great m...

Cable is a great invention and most of us are blessed with having access to over 200 channels. I am still in awe of this as I grew up in Jamaica and never saw TV in my country till I was 9. When it came we had one channel and it was only on about 6 hours a day. With time it was on all day till midnight but we did not have any color just good old black and white. I know many in US in my age category remember only a few channels, no 24 hour coverage and color TV as a luxury. Like cars, TV has changed so much. In Jamaica today, they have cable very similar to the US and tons of channels to watch. As a gear head and racer I naturally check out anything automotive. Over the years the auto content on TV has improved a great deal. Actually, there is so much auto content it is hard to figure out what to watch. Well I am here to help. Before I dive in let me say that TV shows are very personal choices and you may hate mine. I just share as a service so that you know what to expect should yo...