Enjoy and protect your life

The “sandwich generation” is confronted today with the dilemma that millions of other Americans already face: how to take care of loved ones who cannot do so for themselves.

The options on how to provide long-term care come as a shock to most people who find themselves in this situation. Medicare pays only for temporary nursing home stays, and regular health insurance policies don’t cover long-term care. Medicaid does, but only if a person spends down hard-earned assets to be poor enough to qualify. Oh, and when Medicaid does kick in, it tends to be skewed toward putting someone in costly nursing homes, rather than finding ways to help people stay in their own homes and communities as long as possible.

The millions of Americans who take on the caregiver burden themselves do it as a labor of love and find it utterly exhausting. Yet for all the pervasiveness of long-term care problems, possible solutions haven’t had a prominent place in this year’s health care debate. This just doesn’t seem to be the top priority on many lists.

One promising idea that deserves more attention than it has been getting is the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act. Championed by the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, it is included in some, but not all, of the reform measures being considered in Congress.

This plan would establish government-run, long-term insurance through payroll deductions. It would not be subsidized by employers, and people could opt out. After paying in for five years — with premiums of about $120 a month — people who became unable to take care of themselves would qualify for modest stipends of perhaps $50 to $75 a day.

That’s far below the $190-a-day average nursing home cost, but one potential benefit is that CLASS could focus Americans’ attention on long-term care issues. It might even kick-start interest in the fledgling private long-term care insurance market that provides more complete “wraparound” benefits.

The Congressional Budget Office and other analysts say the plan would take in $73 billion more than it pays out in the first 10 years. It would also likely reduce Medicaid costs, the single biggest budget item for most states. Private insurers warn, however, that the plan would give people a false sense of security and ultimately require big federal subsidies.

Given the history of government-run insurance programs and budgetary sleights of hand, sound long-term financing is a valid concern. CLASS might or might not be the best approach; other proposals would tweak Medicaid to help people stay at home longer, though they don’t address the need to be poor enough to qualify.

Whatever the approach, there can be little dispute that long-term care deserves as much attention as the “public option” or other flashpoints. More than 10 million people now need long-term care. That number is expected to soar as the Baby Boom generation ages and lifespan increase. The government should reward consumers who purchase long-term care insurance with substantial tax credits. By encouraging individuals to plan for their own care would take a big load off the state’s Medicaid program.

Speculating on life without the Internet is something which largely fills me with trepidation and with dread. In the past few years, the Internet has become the medium through which I conduct so many different aspects of my life that were it suddenly to be deprived me, my whole life would be turned upon its head.

The Internet, first and foremost, is the means by which I operate and conduct my business. Although I do have several different business interests, they have slowly developed to the stage where each and every one of them is conducted exclusively online. Without Internet access, I would be unable to administer my business interests, develop them or indeed earn the money which forms my daily bread. In the absence of the Internet, I would have to do what has been sometimes subtly and sometimes not so subtly suggested to me in recent years: get a “proper” job!

Life without the Internet would also cut me off from so many people with whom I communicate, not only for business purposes but for personal reasons as well. I have become so accustomed to e-mailing business associates or friends around the world on a regular basis that not being able to do so would to a very large extent leave me feeling cut-off and isolated. The world would in this respect become a much lonelier place.

Information is something which I would also largely be denied in a life without the Internet. Google searches, favourite Websites and the likes have become so important to me for research purposes and for staying abreast of what is happening in the world that I would be forced to start buying daily newspapers again and visiting the reference section of my local library on an extremely frequent basis.

It has to be acknowledged, however, that every coin is a two-sided one and perhaps life without the Internet would put me in touch once again with certain aspects of humanity from which I have slowly but inexorably become detached. Although I am by no means an Internet junkie, cut off from all social contact by the virtual world in which I spend most of my time, I do on occasion miss the interaction with “real-life” work colleagues and customers which used to form such a large part of my day.

Speculating on life without the Internet is therefore akin to contemplating a whole renewal and revision of my life circumstances and patterns and not a subject I care to dwell upon too long at this point in my existence. Hopefully, the speculation in this respect will therefore not become reality.

When it comes to keeping and attracting more business, quality is one of the most important features a company can provide for their customers. Quality will promote the following for a company’s products and brands:

Increase customer loyalty and repeat business.

Attract new customers looking for quality products and services.

Lower overall costs of doing business.

Decrease the need for inspection.

Increase long-term profitability.

When choosing to buy two competing products of the same cost, customers will choose the product they feel will give them better value. A longer lasting better product will give more value. Even when quality differences are narrow the brand with the better perceived quality usually will get the consumer dollar. This is how quality creates customer loyalty. Loyal customers buy repeatedly. It is important for business to profit over and over again from their customers.

Loyal and happy customers tell others and influence friends to buy the product. This is all based on quality of product and quality of service provided by the business. Once a product is known for quality, customers will be attracted to buy even when it is not reduced in price. Higher margins are then realized.

When a business makes a high quality product the first time, it does not have the added cost of rework or scrapping a poorly made unit. It does not cost a company anymore to make the product right the first time around. Fixing defects in a product costs more money and actually creates losses for those poorly made units.

Business should focus on building quality into the product. This starts at the design phase of the process. A production process with less variability will produce higher quality products. When a company builds quality into the product at the start, there is less chance for a poor quality product at the end of the process. It is much harder to take poor quality inputs and create a high quality product.

When a production process creates 100 defects per 100,000 units, inspectors will be needed to catch all defects and send to rework. If a process only created 5 defects per 100.000 units less time inspecting the units would be needed and as the process approached 0 defects the need for inspection would also be zero. High quality results in less Quality technicians.

Customers do look at quality as a feature. Quality is tangible to the customer. If a product can work better, look better and in the end if it lasts longer, the customer will have more value.

When a company can count on repeat business, customers advising others to buy, and lower costs than your competitors, then you have truly created a more profitable business. All based on quality.