Your Problem Solvers, LLC.

06/06/2017

Thank you, everybody, who have viewed and liked my page. In thinking about the best scope of what I'd like to help with, I think what I initially envisioned was too broad. I can't competently be all things to all people. Therefore, I've decided to limit the scope to insurance. Take a look at www.theinsuranceproblemsolver.com. There is a lot to read that I hope will be helpful. I will create a page for it soon, but in the meantime, contact me if you need insurance-specific help.

11/08/2014

YOUR PROBLEM SOLVERS
-Offering Solutions to Everyday Small Business & Consumer Problems-

2910 Kerry Forest Blvd.
Suite D4-280
Tallahassee, FL 32309

850/ 597-0345 YourProblemSolvers100@gmail.com

If you or your small business are plagued by one—or more—of these or other issues, perhaps you need YOUR PROBLEM SOLVERS. We can help with:

• Disputes with merchants, suppliers or customers
• Insurance issues
• Government benefit headaches
• Other matters that you just don’t understand, have time for or prefer not to handle yourself

If you are plagued by one-or more-of these, or others issues, perhaps you need YOUR PROBLEM SOLVERS!

We will:

• Help you prioritize the issues and create a plan of what to handle in what order
• Review documents to get to the bottom of the problem and help you understand it
• Identify key decision makers who can work with us to resolve the problem
• Make effective phone calls and write letters to help achieve an acceptable solution
• Handle the follow-through needed to put the matter to rest

In short, YOUR PROBLEM SOLVERS helps to cut through the RED TAPE. We will help you get a handle on your personal or small business problems while maintaining relationships in the process.

We will help by taking some of the pressure off so that you can go on with the other important things in your life or in running your business.

We are not attorneys and cannot offer legal advice. But remember: You don’t always need one!

06/07/2014

I'm not sure where to start, so I'll just start.

One of the pitfalls of practicing law for 30 years was that I got staid in the way I speak and write. Maybe "precise" is a nicer way to say it. I had to be precise--there were strict rules to follow and time limits to comply with. Otherwise, I got into trouble with a court system and, if not done right, a client could suffer. Not a good outcome.

I had to retire for health reasons, and boy, has it opened up my eyes to myriad of dilemmas that people have to deal with day in and day out. They don't always know how to deal with them, they may not have the time to deal with them, or they may just get fed up with the red tape of dealing with them. It was one thing to represent a client in a lawsuit against, for example, an insurance company for policy benefits. At least then, there were "formal rules of engagement"--court rules, the necessity of contacting only your opponent's lawyer, rather than the insurance company itself and sitting on hold for 30 minutes. In that sense, it was a great deal easier.

One of the things that happened to me because of my illness
was that I was on the front end of having to deal with not just the illness, but with all that comes with it--getting diagnoses, treatment, hospitalizations, insurance, billings-the whole gamut of stuff. And that doesn't even consider the long recovery from the medical problem such as finding professionals to help with that. I had a little head start because I had a more broad understanding of how the system worked, but even at that, once I was a patient, I could not call the shots (no pun intended).

I was not the only one affected by the medical problem. My wife and son had to do a yeoman's task of picking up the slack-and they still do. Most physicians and medical-like people do a great job in fixing the patient to the extent that he/she can be fixed. But my experience is that the families often do not know what to expect--either from the standpoint of changes in the physical condition, personality or behavior of the person with the medical problem, or the issues that follow a major life upheaval--total unemployment, an inability to resume former employment, the difficulties of "reinventing" oneself, dealing with ongoing treatment and therapy, finding resources in the community to help, insurance, creditors and similar.

11/19/2013

Politics aside, and presuming that the Affordable Health Care law and attending IT problems will get fixed and operate, the reality is that they are not running properly right now. While the President has allowed private insurers to reinstate prior policies, if they do, it is going to take some time to accomplish. Further, there is no guarantee that the (prior) insureds will still be eligible for coverage or can afford the new premiums.

Voila! what happens? Instantaneously a "hard" health insurance market develops. That means that insurance is difficult to get for reasons of affordability or otherwise. What happens next? People of less than sterling character come out of the woodwork and offer solutions that seem too good to be true. They are too good to be true.

Often, the policies and programs offered to consumers during these periods rely upon some supposed exception to State licensure requirements. Part of a State insurance regulator's job is to ensure the ability of the plan or program to pay claims (solvency). But guess what? If there is a fake plan or program that claims not to be subject to State regulation, it can be pretty easy to slip by the solvency requirements and leave lots of people and healthcare provider with lots of unpaid claims. It has happened before and it can happen again.

11/05/2013

At least in Florida, many State employees are reaching the end of the period called "Open Enrollment". Many, if not most, other States have similar periods. This is the annual time each year when State employees are allowed to make changes in their state-based insurance. They may change it in a variety of ways, including changing insurers, natures of plans, buying supplemental plans, etc.

Speaking of supplemental plans, there are a variety of them available from several insurers. These include life insurance, disability insurance, and significantly, policies that pay a fixed amount of money per day of hospitalization.

Many of latter types are structured so that the benefits go directly to the insured (rather than to a medical provider) so that the insured may use it in any way desired. Uses include the payment of deductibles or co-payments, special nursing care, or really, anything desired.

Premiums for these kinds of insurance are generally paid by withdrawals from the State employee's paychecks.

10/28/2013

Following up on last week's post about auto insurance, I've noticed many TV ads regarding auto insurance. Almost uniformly they tout the low premiums charged by the insurer. This makes a certain amount of sense when many people are unemployed and the economy is generally in the doldrums. But there is much more to choosing an insurer and the coverage that you buy than just price. I'll discuss more about this on the website (www.yourproblemsolvers.com), but for now, keep this in mind:

Everybody wants and asks which is the "best" insurance company, at least that they can afford and that suits their needs (again, "needs" will be discussed on the website). But if you had to narrow "best" down to one factor, look at the way that the insurer handles "claims". "Claims" is the stage of the process, after the policy has been issued, where the insurer assesses whether an event (such as a collision or some other occurrence) comes within the scope of the coverage, and how much money it will pay. It also encompasses how smoothly and quickly the process goes and benefits are paid

The "best" insurance company is therefore usually a subjective determination based upon your own experience.

Our mission is to help you understand the personal business issues that you face, prioritize all those issues, and to effectively address them.

10/25/2013

Insurance is complicated to say the least. There are many kinds of insurance that you do not HAVE to have (although it might be a good idea to have it), but there are other types that you are required by law to have. Here in FL, one of those is a form of auto insurance called Personal Injury Protection (PIP). It covers the driver/occupants of a vehicle for their own medical bills regardless of fault for the collision. Other states have their own form of it, sometimes called by another name.
PIP coverage in FL has been subject of a lot of abuse over the years, in part because some healthcare providers used up the $10,000 coverage for treatment that was "questionable". In turn, that had an impact on premiums-it tended to increase them.
The Legislature revised the PIP law to require injured people to seek medical care within 14 days after an incident; before, there was no time requirement. There were other changes, too.
A recent case upheld those changes. It is attached for those who want to read it.
http://opinions.1dca.org/written/opinions2013/10-23-2013/13-1355.pdf

10/24/2013

Your Problem Solvers works to live up to its name. We help you in navigating issues that you may not understand or have time for--insurance issues, healthcare billings, and so much more. We write letters, make phone calls, and cut through red tape--whatever it takes.
Our background includes more than 30 years of the practice of insurance law. Now, as a retired lawyer (no longer practicing) we're offering the expertise to you in a new way: by helping to dissect issues for you and aid in solving them.

10/24/2013

We recently had the pleasure of helping a man who was not able to clearly communicate due to a stroke-he had aphasia . He had very limited income because he was unable to work. The bank that had his mortgage and other creditors kept calling but no one took the time to work with him due to his speech problem. We were able to step in, write letters, and be his "voice box". The results were favorable--and he deserved it!