May 2008 Newsletter - Alta Vista Benefits

Alta Vista Benefits is now offering some free education to businesses, churches, associations and other groups. The topics include: How to better use your employee benefits; COBRA and your options; Medicare Made Easy Long Term Care planning Identity Theft To schedule a speaker with your organization, please contact us.

Welcome Issue #5 The monthly Alta Vista Benefits newsletter is provided as a service to help with issues in your every day life. Your suggestions and feedback can be e-mailed to lucy@altavistaben.com. Long Term Care Partnership Program New Ohio Legislation Last month's newsletter explained how the new legislation worked under Ohio's Partnership program. The primary elements of the legislation dictate that Partnership policies contain inflation protection. For ages 60 and under, some form of compound inflation is required. For ages 61 - 75, inflation protection must be included, but it does not have to be compound. For anyone 76 or older, inflation protection is not required. Purchase of a partnership policy is not mandatory. The important thing is to purchase long term care coverage that has inflation protection. This will ensure that you can protect your retirement income in the event of a long term care situation. For more information on Long Term Care planning, including how to prepare your home, please contact us. Did you know? Identity Theft legislation The Federal government has implemented some legislation that makes it tougher for someone to steal your identity. This so called "Red Flag Rule" requires compliance by November 1, 2008. The essence of the legislation is that banks, credit unions, auto dealers, mortgage brokers, utilities and telecommunications companies, health care companies and others must tighten their security efforts to protect your identity. Vendors and suppliers to these companies must also have procedures in place to comply with the legislation. In effect, every business entity in the US will be impacted by the Red Flag Rules. Consumers will now have to authenticate that they are who they say they are. Proponents say that Red Flag rules will standardize how credit-issuing entities respond to suspicious activities regarding your accounts (red flags). Compliance with the legislation requires companies to have written policies and procedures, conduct a risk assessment, appoint a Security/Compliance Officer, conduct employee education about how to protect sensitive data and perform regular audits. Non-compliance with the rules include civil penalties and fines, as well as the potential for class-action suits. There are many articles on the Internet about the new rules, but there is a concise one at: http://www.bankersonline.com/executive/executive_0108lg.html If you missed previous versions of the Alta Vista Benefits newsletter, you can now find them on the web site: http://www.altavistaben.com. Lucy Grosz is the CEO of Alta Vista Benefits and can be reached at lucy@altavistaben.com or by phone at 614-889-0934. Need a better web site? Can't be found in Google? Call Tom Anderson at 614-679-0912 or visit www.excelleweb.com

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