Employee Benefits

time and a pause

25 years ago. I graduated from Freedom High School in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. My impressions of 1996 include memories of brightly lit, nighttime basketball games at the township municipal courts; Memories of driving around with friends, listening to mix-tapes, and arguing over the appropriate place The Roots deserved in the modern zeitgeist; I remember really bad …

Strategy: Chess and Hospital Pricing

“In life, as in chess, forethought wins.” Charles Buxton I have enjoyed the game of chess since learning the rules from my father as a young boy. I remember my dad playing the game with me and describing the importance of “looking ahead to subsequent moves.” He would take an eternity considering his moves and …

Investment into ourselves as professionals, expertise as a differentiator, and the priorities at Cigna Corporation

I have been making efforts to periodically, throughout the week, choose an occasion to listen to a webcast on a topic different from my day to day business. This week, Penn State’s Smeal College of Business’ Institute for Real Estate Studies hosted a panel discussion on capital markets in the real estate business with some …

The value chain in American prescription drugs

It is 5:43pm on Saturday, May 16, 2020. COVID-19 continues to be the topic du jour. My personal objectives today included eating breakfast, power-washing our deck, helping Holger with elementary reading, and attempting to develop some insights on the structure of the pharmaceutical industry. Introductory and meandering thoughts I have been working in the insurance …

Insurance brokers and agencies | Thoughts on market structure…

I started working in the insurance business in 1998. I was a twenty year old student at Penn State University, where I studied economics and business administration, and I attended a career fair seeking a “real life experience”. I spent the prior summertime working as a licensed real estate agent in Bethlehem, PA and felt …