You are currently browsing the daily archive for January 22, 2008.
On the weekend, my business partner and I went to establish new bank accounts for Gremolata. We had a 2:00pm appointment and I was assured that all I had to do was show up, sign some documents, and be done – max 5-10 minutes. I can be so naive sometimes.
Of course, it turned into a flood of paperwork, documents, signatures, witnesses, initials, duplicates, and authorizations just to give the bank our money. Now I understand that the bank wants to limit their liability and to protect the interests of the client but the process was certainly not customer-focused. This has always puzzled me about the banking and insurance industries…why do they make it so difficult to give them your money?
I have worked in several industries outside of the finance and insurance world and I have yet to find one where paperwork and multiple forms are so rampant. The health insurance industry in particular is filled with paperwork and forms. I have always believed in making the sign-up experience as painless as possible for the customer. After all, why would you make the process for a customer to give your their money so tedious that they would consider not following through. At Benecaid, we are always trying to reduce paperwork and automate the process because we believe that the barrier to accessing our products should never be the paperwork involved with purchase. I wish more companies in our industry would follow this philosophy. It would have reduced my level of frustration with the bank on Saturday.
What a week for the markets with yesterday being the biggest drop in 7 years for the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). And as I type this, people on Wall Street and Bay Street are panicking, waiting for the bell to see what will happen in the US. So far this morning, the Fed unexpectedly cut interest rates by 75 basis points and U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, spoke to the US Chamber about the need for Congress to agree quickly on a package of tax cuts and other measures to boost the economy. Everybody is nervous – especially those with Health “Savings” Accounts south of the border. Some of our US counterparts have their HSA money invested in a wide variety of funds and equities. It is one thing to loose $500 in one day on a bad stock bet. It is another thing when that $500 was to pay for your diabetes medication!
Luckily, I live in Canada. My Health and Welfare Trust does not earn interest for me and I cannot invest the funds. It sits in the account, through good times and bad times, waiting for me to make a claim. The only thing bothering me today is my retirement fund…it is getting battered to pieces. But I have invested in solid companies…so I know they will come back. They always do. So I will sit back, relax, and hope that my HSA colleagues south of the border can afford their medication by the time the bell rings this evening.
