The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) provides tax credits and subsidies for the purchase of qualifying health insurance plans on state-run insurance exchanges. Contrary to expectations, many states are refusing or otherwise failing to create such exchanges. An Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rule purports to extend these tax credits and subsidies to the purchase of health insur...

For newcomers to Canada, health care delivery varies from province to province. In New Brunswick, Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia, newcomers are required to wait 3 months before they can enrol in a provincial health insurance program. Many newcomers purchase private health insurance to ensure health care coverage; however, those in one group of newcomers—refugees—are often unable to purch...

Beginning in 2014, an exchange will be established in each state to help consumers make valid comparisons between plans that are certified to have met benchmarks for quality and affordability. The exchanges will also administer the new health insurance subsidies and facilitate enrollment in private health insurance, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Nobody will be re...

For years, insurance distribution remained largely unchanged – relying primarily on independently affiliated agents and brokers. The process of selling to and servicing insurance customers was for the most part based on “high-touch” customer encounters. These interactions consumed a lot of time and energy – requiring agents to educate and assist customers with their research and subsequent purc...

Why do people purchase health insurance? Many economists would answer that it permits purchasers to avoid risk of financial loss. This note suggests that health insurance is also demanded because it represents a mechanism for gaining access to health care that would otherwise be unaffordable. For example, although a US$300,000 procedure is unaffordable to a person with US$50,000 in net worth, a...

today more than ever customer orientation as the most important competitive advantage has gained an increasing importance. this paper aims to examine the relation between perceived value, perceived quality, customer satisfaction, and re-purchase intention in tehran department stores. this is a descriptive survey study. the statistical population of the research is composed of customers of the t...