California Association of Health Underwriters will host its virtual awards ceremony at 11am Pacific, September 21. This is your chance to celebrate the accomplishments and contributions of chapters and individuals! Register here.
DRUGS
The Food and Drug Administration recently let us all know that they are making real gains when it comes to greenlighting generic drugs. In fact, the FDA recently noted that it has now approved more than 100 drugs under its competitive generic therapy (CGT) designation. CGT is a designation for products that have inadequate generic competition in the market due to low market potential, less profit margin or complexity in manufacturing. Here’s a list of the CGT drugs approved thus far. There appears to be new generics for GI issues, blood pressure, asthma and more.
TELEHEALTH
ATA Announces Telehealth Awareness Week
The American Telemedicine Association (ATA) and a coalition of endorsing partners/sponsors will host the inaugural Telehealth Awareness Week September 19-25.
The week include a series of national and regional events highlighting the role of telehealth services in care delivery and the significant contributions telehealth providers have made during the public health emergency. Check out the virtual events here. You can also subscribe to the ATA newsletter for advance notice of additional events.
LIFE
September is Life Insurance Awareness Month
Interesting fact: we are smack dab in life insurance awareness month! And apparently something like 60 million Americans don’t have adequate life insurance. A new survey from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) finds that more than half of consumers surveyed say that if they died within the next 10 years, their beneficiaries would need their life insurance payout to cover basic living expenses. Yet, despite its importance, only 46 percent are ‘extremely’ or ‘quite a bit’ confident that their policies are enough to meet their beneficiaries’ needs.
Psst..This might be a great time to reach out to prospective clients with a little bit of info.
CLIMATE
Climate Insurance Working Group Releases Recommendations
As a result of the nation’s first-ever law to study how to use insurance to protect Californians from climate change, the California Climate Insurance Working Group released 40 state and local policy recommendations focused on reducing damage and improving recovery following a wildfire, extreme heat wave or flood. While benefiting all consumers, the recommendations also focus on low-income communities, seniors and those without insurance who are more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
The report “Protecting Communities, Preserving Nature, and Building Resiliency; How First-of-Its-Kind Climate Insurance Will Help Combat the Costs of Wildfires, Extreme Heat, and Floods” recommends policies to the Insurance Commissioner, the Governor’s Administration, the State Legislature, local governments, businesses, and communities across the state.
While many of the recommendations would require action by the Governor, the State Legislature, or local governments, California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara says he’ll prioritize several policies under his existing authority, including:
- Creating “climate ready” pilot projects utilizing nature-based solutions, such as a community flood insurance plan for an at-risk area that gives residents some disaster coverage and also invests in wetland preservation, reducing future relief, and rebuilding costs.
- Advocating for ranking of heat waves to better communicate the deadly risks to consumers and help communities prepare, similar to how tropical storms and hurricanes are described by “category” level, as a member of the Extreme Heat Resilience Alliance.
- Increasing pre-disaster mitigation by consumers, business, and local governments, which Commissioner Lara is currently pursuing through a partnership with Governor Gavin Newsom’s administration to create a list of wildfire mitigation measures.
- Incentivizing safer building and keeping people out of harm’s way through proposed regulations to require insurance companies disclose wildfire risk scores to consumers and businesses while incentivizing home- and community-hardening.
GIVE BACK
IICF Week of Giving
The Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF) will celebrate industry volunteerism with in-person and virtual service opportunities during its annual Week of Giving October 9-16. Want to take part? More info here.
Cal Broker Invites You…
We’re gearing up for 2022 and we’re keen to add new contributors to the mix. Please reach out if you’re interested! Email us at editor@calbrokermag.com.
Want to know more about the magazine? Read about our recent reader survey here.
Also take a look at the September issue, where you can find articles from Alan Katz on the history of the publication and from Phil Calhoun on benefits to writing for the magazine.
COMMON GROUND
Aflac Survey Finds Wide Support for Local Small Businesses
While the pandemic seemed destined to bring disaster, Aflac’s 2021 Business Culture Survey finds many business owners, employees and customers pulled together to weather the adversity.
According to the survey, support for small businesses in the community is near universal, even breaking through ideological divides that exist within the country. Whether left-leaning or right-leaning, urban or rural, consumers remain united in their support for small businesses:
- 59% of left-leaning and 61% of right-leaning consumers are willing to pay more at local businesses for the same product they can find online, with 59% of urban and 62% of rural consumers also willing to do so.
- 69% of left-leaning and 70% of right-leaning consumers are willing to forgo the convenience of online ordering to shop at local small businesses, with 70% of urban, and 69% of rural consumers also willing to do so.
Though 45% of small businesses reported decreased profits, small-business owners showed strong support by investing in their employees and communities:
- 81% reported that they maintained or grew closer to their employees, and 53% became more informed of their employees’ personal lives.
- 76% said they maintained or increased closeness to their customers, and 51% saw the relationship between their customers and employees improve.
- 81% felt retaining talent was as or more important than previous years. In fact, 82% maintained or increased benefits for their employees.
- 80% maintained or increased their level of community involvement, regardless of location or business type.
Read the whole survey here. Or watch a video about it.
EVENTS
- NAIC 2021 Summit Part 2, virtual Sept 13-17, Info and register here.
- DCAHU Senior Summit, in person Sept 16, Register here.
- NAIFA/LAAHU 15th Annual Health Forum, virtual Sept 24, Register here.
- LAAHU Medicare AEP Kickoff, in person September 30. Sponsorship info here. Register here.
- SIIA 41st Annual National Educational Conference & Expo, In-Person & Virtual, October 3 – 5, JW Marriott, Austin, TX. Register & secure room NOW! Hotel is nearly sold out. Info here.
