Jacquelyn Lynn, Business Writer, Speaker

Disaster planning issue

Does your disaster response/recovery plan include accommodations for your disabled employees and customers?

Your evacuation plan should consider the needs of people with disabilities that may make it difficult for them to see or hear instructions or to move quickly move around. Your plan for backup facilities (should your own location be inaccessible) should address disability access.

These are issues you won’t have time to think about when a disaster strikes, so take the time to do it now.

You’ll find much more on various aspects of disaster planning and recovery in The Entrepreneur’s Almanac.

Jacquelyn Lynn

Should insurance companies notify consumers when their bad credit is used against them?

The essential question is: Are insurance companies violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) when they make an adverse decision based on information contained in a credit report and fail to tell the consumer?

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear two consolidated cases that address the issue.

According to the Supreme Court of the United States blog: Although the facts for each plaintiff-respondent differ, their complaints are essentially based on the same theory: respondents were entitled to an adverse action notice because they received rates that were higher than the best available rates the companies could offer; and because the companies willfully failed to provide these notices, respondents are entitled to both statutory and punitive damages. Click here for the full post.

Opinion in the business community tends to support insurers; consumer groups claim the insurance companies are weakening the system. A key issue is whether the insurance companies willfully broke the law.

If your business is subject to the FCRA, you’ll want to monitor this case.

Jacquelyn Lynn

Long-term Care Insurance: Coverage you should consider

While working on an upcoming insurance column for Entrepreneur magazine, I did some research on long-term care insurance (LTCI). If you are 50 or older, you need to consider this coverage.

LTCI pays for care that health insurance doesn’t cover—things like non-medical assistance that allows seniors to live at home rather than move into an assisted-care facility. There’s more to it, of course, but a blog isn’t the place to go into a full discourse on what LTCI does. So let’s just hit two important points:

Something many people don’t realize is that LTCI premiums may be tax deductible if you are self-employed or a business owner. Check with your tax advisor to be sure the plan you select is qualified.

If you have employees and want to make this insurance available to them as a benefit (either voluntary, which means the employees pay the premiums, or as a company-paid benefit), I recommend that you look for a policy that allows your employees to also cover their families. Baby boomers in their 40s and 50s are starting to think about what sort of care their parents are going to need in the coming years. With adequate insurance, they’ll be able to maintain their focus on their jobs and not be distracted by dealing with caregiver issues.

For more information about long-term care insurance, contact the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance.

Jacquelyn Lynn