The LIFE Foundation is once again soliciting applications for its realLIFEstories Client Service Awards Program. “Consumers need to be constantly reminded to include insurance in their financial plans and our realLIFEstories program is one of the most effective ways that we accomplish this important objective,” said Marvin H. Feldman, LIFE Foundation president and chief executive officer.
To enter, any full-time licensed life and health insurance agent or broker in the United States can submit an application form accompanied by an essay describing how life, disability, long term care or health insurance helped a client at a time of great financial need. LIFE seeks stories involving individually owned insurance, as well as coverage obtained through the workplace.
Of the many stories that LIFE receives, four will be chosen by an independent judging panel to be featured in the fall of 2011 in special advertising sections in Parents and O magazines, LIFE’s new partners, reaching a combined audience of more than 30 million Americans. In addition, the agents whose stories are featured will each receive an all-expense-paid trip for two to Washington, DC, September 9-12, 2011, where they will be honored by their industry peers at the annual conference of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA).
The application form is available at www.lifehappens.org/reallife. Agents can either complete the form and essay online, or download the application and mail or fax it to LIFE. The deadline for entries is Monday, February 28, 2011.
One final note, each month during the coming year, Broker World’s online edition will be featuring one of the many stories submitted for this competition.
The new year brought with it many changes in the U.S. Congressional population. With that flood of new faces comes much discussion about the lifespan of the health care legislation—something everyone has an opinion about.
Findings of a recent Zogby interactive poll are that “slightly more than 50 percent of likely voters favor repealing the health care reform bill passed in 2010, but by nearly identical percentages, they say the upcoming Republican plan to repeal is a political gimmick to satisfy opponents of the bill, and do not believe it will succeed.”
The poll, conducted from January 7-10, also finds that 59 percent of voters favor new House of Representatives’ rules implemented by the Republican majority that generally allow more amendments and debate, and that a plurality (47 percent) agree with the Republican majority decision not to allow amendments to the bill to repeal health care reform. Following are results of the poll.
Do you favor or oppose repealing the health care reform bill passed last year by Congress?
Responses Favor Oppose Not Sure
All Voters 54% 43% 3%
Democrats 15 82 4
Republicans 94 4 2
Independents 54 42 4
Zogby International, a U.S. market research, opinion polling firm founded in 1984 by John Zogby, polls and consults for a wide spectrum of business, media, government and political groups, and conducts public opinion research in more than 70 countries.
Paul Kopelcheck passed away January 13 at his home in Hilton Head, SC, after a long battle with cancer. He was one of the early pioneers in brokerage. While he worked for many carriers—Reserve Life, Aetna, Colonial Penn, and Columbian Mutual, among others—his brokerage connection came through his work at Indiana Blue Cross, which became Accordia and ultimately, Ascensus.
Paul attended some of the very earliest NAILBA meetings as an industry marketer. In retirement he volunteered for SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) and eventually became the national president and served on the board of directors. In 2010 he was awarded the Walter H. Channing Award of Excellence for his strategic leadership focus on fund raising and dedication to expanding SCORE’s services.
Paul is survived by his wife, Edie, and their son, David Kopelcheck, who is executive vice president of The Rucker Company, Dublin, OH.
