Grant Grigorian's Blog » healthcare

CEBS and CLU

Grant Grigorian — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 16:05:29 +0000

It’s been almost 3 years since I graduated from college and I feel like I haven’t stopped learning new things, nor has the pace slowed down since leaving the ivory towers of Boulder.

Now I’ll have even more opportunities to advance my education. The company I work for rewards (with cash) employees who pursue and complete applicable professional designations, and in my case they are CEBS and CLU.

CEBS: Certified Employee Benefits Specialist. To attain CEBS I have to take 8 correspondence courses and 8 exams. Since I am new to the industry, and to corporate culture in general, I view these classes as a way to speed up experience – to learn a lot in a compressed period of time. It’s not rocket science, and it’s not a graduate degree, but it’s a lot of practical and useful knowledge to make me more confident at work.

CLU: Chartered Life Underwriter. I’ve only recently began to research into this designation, but I am intrigued because it would give me an opportunity to learn more about insurance and how it’s rated. CLU is something I will consider pursuing after I get my CEBS.

Eventually I would like to go to a proper graduate school. But the professional degrees will have to do for now. Besides, this will allow me to practice “night school” for if and when I decide to attend evening classes for a JD.

Heathcare Reform in Colorado: Blue Ribbon Commission

Grant Grigorian — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 05:27:28 +0000

This is not news to those that follow Colorado state policy, but just over a year ago then-Governor Bill Owens signed Senate Bill 208, which established the The Blue Ribbon Commission for Health Care Reform (aka 208 Commission). The commission’s goal is to

“study and establish health care reform models for expanding coverage, especially for the underinsured and uninsured, and to decrease health care costs for Colorado residents.”

The Commission is required to make final recommendations for comprehensive health care reform to the General Assembly by November 30, 2007.

What’s interesting about the work of the commission is that as part of it’s work, the commission solicited reform proposals from… well, from anyone who was interested enough to submit one. And indeed, there was no shortage of input (there were 31 in all).

In May of this year, the commission selected four proposals to to “undergo detailed ‘modeling’ analysis, the next step in the process of identifying proposals to submit to the General Assembly for consideration.”

The four proposals represent a wide spectrum of reforms and for a public public buff like me, they also represent a chance to really dig below the surface and analyze the benefits and costs of the reform actions. This is also an opportunity to learn about how state government works – how lively debate can (or can not) shape the course of legislation.

I will review and discuss each proposal separately in future posts.

TED Talks: Allison Hunt gets a new hip in Canada.

Grant Grigorian — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 03:38:35 +0000

TEDster Allison Hunt‘s five-minute talk finds humor and marketing strategy in the most unlikely of places — her own hip-replacement surgery. As the world scrutinizes broken health-care systems, this particularly timely clip shows how getting to the front of a two-year waiting list can have an altruistic effect. (Recorded March 2007 in Monterey, CA. Duration: 5:00.)

TED Talks: Alan Russell, Why can’t we grow new body parts?

Grant Grigorian — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 20:20:52 +0000

A fascinating video about helping the body heal itself. Mr. Russell shows (graphic!) examples of how this is already being done, for example by re-growing an old man’s finger tip!

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/142