Fixing the Problems at LAX – PBS Studio SoCal
I sat down for a half hour discussion about some of the issues surrounding LAX. It was a fun discussion that first aired last night at 7p. I haven’t seen it yet, so hopefully they got my good side…
In the Trenches: Health Insurance Challenges for a Nontraditional Business
I’ve been looking into getting health coverage for employees, and it’s proving to be incredibly difficult.
12 comments on “Cranky on the Web – Fixing LAX, Finding Healthcare”
I tried to watch that PBS video, but it wouldn’t load on my laptop. If I remember I’ll try my desktop on Monday since it’s rare for me to use it on weekends.
You’re insurance issue makes for a good point. A small business owner usually has all workers in one small central location, but now with computers a small business can have workers all over the country or planet. And as you are finding out, it doesn’t seem to be something considered by insurance company’s, states, or the Feds.
Now I have a face with a name. Nicely done.
Great job Brett. The guy on the panel with you was kind of a dud though. He did not make his point very eloquently at all.
Thanks Ryan. We were definitely two very different kinds of guests. I’d
never met him before, but he’s certainly been doing this for a long time.
You may want to consider sitting down with your accountant instead. You can provide pre tax funs for your staff to use on a private exchange to get health insurance. They shop on their own with some funding provided by the employer.
Gary – I did speak with several people including accountants. I’m told you
can’t just reimburse private healthcare premiums. If you know otherwise,
then please tell me more.
Great job on the video!
As for medical insurance, have you checked out any of the co-employment companies like Administaff? They use the aggregate buying power of many small businesses to get good deals on medical insurance, and they may be able to help you navigate your particular situation. You can e-mail me directly for a contact I know.
Thanks Haj. I’ve been talking to Trinet and that seems like it may be the
way to go. If this doesn’t work, I will reach out for that contact for
sure.
The Professional Employer Organization sounds like the way to go.. Would that cover all the Concierges? I thought a decent amount of them were contractors.. Covering those folks might be trickier wouldn’t you say?
Also, care to finish your thought that was cut off because of time limitations on the TV show?
No, the Concierges are independent contractors so this wouldn’t cover
them. This is for the architects who are traditional employees.
As for finishing my thought, sure. I was just going to talk about how
ground congestion is such a big issue at LAX. You don’t have a central
rental car center, so you have to have a bus for each one. You also have a
crazy number of off-airport parking lots so there’s tremendous congestion
there. And don’t forget about the hotels. Some have started to share
buses, but then you get big complaints about how long it takes to get one.
Combine all this with the fact that there is no public transport into the
airport (there’s an off-site public transit area that connects to an
airport shuttle bus), and nobody wants to take public transit. It’s
gridlock and that’s a huge reason why people don’t like LAX.
Hrm, its a good point about ground congestion.
I know all the rental car places are a bit scattered around LAX, but I wonder if there is enough stuff together where it’d make sense to put in a fixed rail public transit system, that hits near or at many of the major traffic generators . Perhaps a Monorail.. Generally I’m against the things since they don’t make as much sense, but I think this application would be okay.
Perhaps the airport could go in with the rental car places, the public transit agencies, and a few of the hotels to fund the thing. Probably a pipe dream, but who knows it might work.
What they really need to do is simple (but expensive as all hell). They
need to run a train around every terminal and then straight out to the east
down Century Blvd. Build a rental car center somewhere along Century and
you now eliminate all the rental car buses and many hotel buses since
several of the hotels line Century. At the end of Century, you connect it
into Metro Rail.