2018년 4월 19일 목요일

탐색: contractor, caregiver// bonded, bonding


출처 1: "Hiring a Contractor: What's the Difference Between Bonded and Insured?" (Angie's List, Jan 2016)

A contractor's bond and insurance are important forms of protection for you, the consumer. They help ensure that you're more likely to be working with a reputable professional, and they provide some recourse should something go wrong.

Bonding protects the consumer if the contractor fails to complete a job, doesn't pay for permits, or fails to meet other financial obligations, such as paying for supplies or subcontractors or covering damage that workers cause to your property.

Experts our team interviewed say that to be bonded, companies typically pay a premium to a surety company. You can ask a contractor for a bond number and certification, through which you can confirm that he or she is appropriately bonded. In addition, you can contract the surety company directly if work isn't completed or you believe it's subpar.

Requirements regarding bonding vary depending on the state and municipality where you live, so it is important to do your research beore you hire a contractor.


출처 2: "A Guide to Contractor Bonding" (SuretyBonds.com)

Contractor license bonds are required at the state, county, or local level to become a licensed contractor. ( ... ... )

What is a Contractor Bond?

Contractor license bonds are legally enforceable contracts binding together three separate parties.

1. The construction professional buying the contractor license bonds act as the ^principal^.
2. The entity requiring the contractor to be bonded acts as the ^obligee^.
3. The company issuing the bond and guaranteeing the contractor's obligation acts as the ^surety^.

If a contractor fails to fulfil the bond's terms, then the obligee can make a claim on the contractor bond as a way to gain compensation for any damages.

However, the surety will not simply absorb the loss. Whereas underwriters of traditional insurance policies assume there will be a loss, surety underwriters consider the policy they write to have no risk.

^In the event a claim is made against the bond, the contractor is expected to reimbursethe surety for any money it pays when settling the claim.^

( ... ... )


출처 3: "Licensing and Bonding for Caregivers" (Caring.com, Feb 2018)

What Licensing and Bonding Does a Caregiver Need to Have? If you're choosing a caregiver for an aging parent or loved one, you've probably heard the advice that your caregiver should be licensed and bonded. The implication is that being licensed and bonded means the caregiver is more trustworthy. But what do these terms actually mean?

Licensing is a general term that can cover many different kinds of certifications. And the rules for certification vary according to which type of care a caregiver is providing. ( ... ) As a general rule, caregivers who help with the tasks of day-to-day living, such as cooking, companionship, and personal care, may not need to be licensed; licensing or certification is required for home health aides (HHAs), certified nursing assistants (CNAs), and others providing medical care.  ( ... ... )

What does "bonding" mean for in-home caregivers?

Now, on to bonding. Bonding is used as a means to reassure you that you don't need to worry about theft. So what does it really mean to be "bonded?"

Bonding is a legal term for a type of insurance taken out from a bonding company that covers theft by an employee. If you hire a caregiver from an agency, it's very likely that they have bonded the caregivrs in their employ. Independent caregivers also can bond themselves, though this not as common.

This means that the agency has purchased a bond that will compensate you (the client) should you be the victime of theft by a caregiver. The bonding company would repay you the value of the items stolen up to the amount of the bond. The bond issued for caregivers are typically $5,000, which means you could theoretically be reimbursed up to $5,000.

Bonding is not, however, as strong a protection as it sounds. This is because typically the bonding company does not have to reimburse you unless the theft you've reported has been validated in a court of law. This means the caregiver has to be arrested, charged, and convicted in criminal court before the bond is paid out. As you can imagine, only a small percentage of caregiver thefts get this far in the legal system. And even when they do, theft is very difficult to prove, meaning that convictions aren't guaranteed. ( ... ... )


출처 4: bonding company (business dictionary)

Firm such as a bank or insurance company that provides bid, fidelity, performance, and other types of bonds on behalf of a first party (called the obligor) to a second party (called the obligee).


출처 5: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bonding%20company

bonding compay: a company issuing fidelity and surety bonds: surety company.


출처 6: "Special Needs In-Home Care: Questions to Ask When Hiring a Caregiver" (A Hand to Hold, Mar 2018)

Is Your Caregiver Bonded and Licensed?

A licensed caregiver is held to the highest standards of care according to official regulatory boards which vary from state to state. They are often required to undergo continuous professional development to maintain their license which means they are always knowledgeable about up-to-date care practices and healthcare technologies.

Unfortunately, there have been cases of caregivers stealing from their vulnerable clients. If a caregiver is "bonded," it means the bonding company will pay you a certain amount to cover the cost of theft. Bonding acts as additional insurance for you and your loved one, and most candidates found through an agency will be bonded.

2018년 4월 18일 수요일

탐색: 1980년대 미국 주택시장

※ 발췌 (excerpts):

출처 1: America's housing market in five interactive charts (The Economist, Aug 24, 2016)


출처 2: How Bad Was the 1980s Real Estate Crash? (Mark J. Perry | Seeking Alpha, Feb 2, 2009)

In a previous post, I wrote about how the housing market crashed in the early 1980s under the crushing weight of the 17~18% mortgage rates, and how we seem to have forgotten how bad the real estate market suffered during that period. We hear a lot though about the "worst economy since the Great Depression," but nothing about the "worst real estate market since the 1980s."

The graph above tells the story of how bad it really was back then. From the peak of 4 million existing-home sales in 1978, there was a 50% drop in home sales over the next four years, so that by 1982 only 2 million homes were sold (data here, Table 7). It took almost two decades, or until 1996, before home sales exceeded the 1978 level of 4 million units. ( ... ... )


출처 3: America's 4 Nastiest Regional Housing Busts (Luke Mullins | US News, June 19, 2009)

( ... ... ) By looking at real estate crashes that occurred between the first quarter of 1975 and the first quarter of 2009 in inflation-adjusted terms, researchers uncovered some ominous findings:

First, house price downturns have tended to be long. The median time required to return to prior peak prices was 10½ to 20 years. Second, it tends to take longer for prices to rise from the trough to their former peak than it takes prices to decline from peak to trough. While the difference is small for Census Divisions and states, FHFA’s Metropolitan Statistical Area and Division (MSA) indexes suggest that the time from peak to trough tends to be about 3¾ years, whereas the median recovery period (from trough to prior peak) was 6⅔ years.

2018년 4월 8일 일요일

탐색: 신용카드// processing fees, rebate or refund


※ 발췌 (excerpts):

출처 1: Beware Credit Card Processing Fees, Especially Refunds (Practical Ecommerce, Jul 2013)

Merchants periodically send me their credit card processing agreements afterthey have negotiated new pricing with their existing provider or when changing providers. ( ... ... )

How Does the Provider Handle Customer Refunds?

You must know how the provider handles a credit refund transaction. This is esp important for ecommerce merchants since they typicallly initiate more refunds than brick-and-mortar businesses. When you credit your customer, the interchange fee--the largest part of the processing fee--is refunded back to the provider.

Some providers return the refunded interchange to the merchant and only charge a small fee to route the refund. Some providers keep the interchange and charge a transaction ee. And some not only keep the interchange but also charge the merchant an additional processing fee and transaction fee on the refund. The difference in these three ways of handling refunds can have a large impact on your cost. Say you had $10,000 in credit card refunds and each refund was for $100. The first refund method shouldn't cost you more than $20. The second method would cost you around $250. The third method would cost you around $500. This cost is even more significant when you consider that you made $0 in actual sales.

( ... ... )


출처 2: Who Pays for Credit Card Rewards and Rebates? (The Finance Buff, Apr 2007)

There is debate about whether one should charge everything on credit cards for reaping the rewards (cash rebate or miles) or pay everything by cash (and by debit card and checks). In this post I examine the source of the credit card rewards. ^Who pays for them?^

I see four potential candidates:

 1. The credit card companies;
 2. The establishments which accept credit cards, i.e., stores, restaurants, etc. ("merchants");
 3. Other credit card holders who pay interest charges to the credit card companies;
 4. Myself.

Let's take a look at each one.

1. The credit card companies. The credit card companies pay for the rewards directly to me, but they are unlikely the source. For each charge I make, the credit card companies levy a fee on the "merchant" which accepts my charge. The fee they charge to the merchants is larger than the rebate they pay to me. The fee is also larger if I use a reward card than if I use a non-reward card. So the cost of rebate is build into the credit card companies' pricing structure.

2. The merchants. The merchants pay a fee to the credit card companies for each charge. If 80% of their sales are charged on credit cards which cost them 2.5% of the gross sales, that means credit card fees are 2% of their sales. That number has to be factored into how they price their products and services. Naturally prices are 2% higher than what they would've been without credit cards.

3. Other card holders. Credit card holders who carry a balance and pay interest charges to credit card companies are called ^Rovolvers^ because they carry a revolving balance. Credit card holders who pay off their balances in full every month are called ^Transactors^ because the are in for the transactions. Revolvers are more profitable to the credit card companies than Transactors, but that doesn't mean the Transactors are not profitable to them. According to [this DOJ document](http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/cases/f11700/11793.htm),

"... indeed, MasterCard's own documents confirm that its issuers earn at least a 15% return on equity with some "pure transactors"--those transacting sufficient volume. "

( ... ... )

4. Myself. Now it comes to myself. I paid for the rewards and rebates through higher prices for the products and services I buy. In pursuit of a 1% rebate, I helped push the prices higher by 2%. The credit card industry made a clever rule that disallows different prices for cash and credit. Without this rule, it makes no sense to pay a 2% surcharge in order to get 1% back in rebate. By enticing its customers with rewards and rebates, the credit card industry carved out a nice 1% from almost every retail sale for itself. Very smart!

^The rewards and rebates from credit cards are not free lunch.^ There is no free lunch. ^I paid for every reward and rebate I received and then some.^ What should I do about it? Well, because I already paid for it through higher prices, I might as well grab the rewards and rebates. However, I would prefer that the credit card industry's no-surcharge rule be declared illegal. Then I will happily pay cash in exchange for a discounted price.


출처 3: Santiago Carbó Valverde, Sujit Chakravorti, Francisco Rodríguez Fernández, "The role of interchange fees in two-sided markets: An empirical investigation on payment cards", Review of Economics and Statistics, ....

ABSTRACT: We study the impact of reductions in interchange gees on payment card services. We find that consumer and merchant acceptance and transaction volumes increased when interchange fees were reduced. Our result suggest that a 10% reduction in the rate of decline per quarter in the average interchange fee by an acquirer resulted in a rate of increase in merchant acceptance per quarter of up to 1.4%. Additionally, a 10% increase in the rate of interaction of merchant acceptance and the total number of cards increased the rate of quarterly issuer transaction volumes up to 1.7%.

1. Introduction

( ... ... ) Payment cards are generally characterized as a two-sided market. Rochet and Tirole (2006b) define a two-sided market when the price structure, or the share that each type of end-user pays the platform, affects the total volume of transaction.[주]1  The key aspect of these markets is the presence of indirect network externalities and how fee structures are able to internalize these externalities. Often platforms will subsidize the participant of one type of end-user by extracting surplus from another type of end-user to internalize this externality.

[주]1. For a broader description of two-sided markets, see Armstrong (2006), Rochet and Tirole (2006b), Rysman (2009), and Weyl (2010).

Payment card networks are comprised of [:]
- consumers (one type of end-user),
- their financial institutions (known as issuers),
- merchants (the other type of end-users),
- their financial institutions (known as acquirers), and
- a network operator or platform.

Generally, the merchant charges the same price regardless of the type of payment instrument used to make the purchase. Consumers often pay annual membership fees to their financial institutions for credit cards and may pay service charges for a bundle of services associated with transactions accounts including debit card services. Merchants pay fees known as merchant discounts. Acquirers pay interchange fees to issuers.


출처 4: Jean Charles Rochet & Jean Tirole (2006). "Two-sided markets: A progress report", Rand Journal of Economics, 37 (3), 645-667. [링크 1, 링크 2 ]

ABSTRACT: We provide a road map to the burgeoning literature on two-sided markets and present new results. We identify two-sided markets with markets in which the structure, and not only the level of prices charged by platforms, matters. The failure of the Coase theorem is necessary but not sufficient for two-sidedness. We build a model integrating usage and membership externalities that unifies two hitherto disparate strands of the literature emphasizing either form of externality, and obtain new results on the mix of membership and usage charges when price setting or bargaining determine payments between end-users.

2018년 4월 7일 토요일

용어: 미국의 건강보험// 건강보험 거래소(healthcare exchange), 개인들이 사설 건강보험을 선택하는 시장


※ 발췌(excerpts):

출처 1: Understanding The Healthcare Exchanges (Forbes, 2013년 9월 23일)

Health care exchanges are being rolled out on October 1st and 50 million people will be encouraged to go the exchanges to obtain coverages. Upon the roll out of the exchanges there are 5 developments that you need to consider:

# What is an exchange? Where do you purchase coverage?

An exchange is an online marketplace where individual and small group consumers will be able to go online to shop for and purchage health insurance plans. Individuals and small business owners can access the exchanges through navigators, government websites, or independent brokers. Many brokers, like Newtek Insurance Agency, are appointed on the exchange and with private markets. This will help line up the coverage options and differences between the exchanges options, and what is available in the private market.

# How do the subsidies work?

If you do not meet certain income requirements then the federal government will give you a tax break/subsidy to purchase health insurance. As a consumer, you can choose one of two ways to accept your tax credits: ( ... ... )

# What will the coverage look like?

The plans available will have metallic coverage leels consisting of catastrophic, bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. ( ... ... )


출처 2: 오바마케어 각 주 가입 사이트, 가입기간, 벌금 등... 오바마케어 1편 (2013년 12월 1일)

( ... ... ) 각 주의 건강보험 상품거래소 온라인 사이트 (Health Insurance Marketplace chart): 아래 사이트를 통해서 본인이 거주하는 지역의 zip code를 입력하면 자세한 정보를 볼 수 있습니다.


출처 3: ‘머리가 폭팔하게 하지 않는 의료보험’, Oscar Health (Healthcare Innovation Forum of Korea, 2015년 8월 27일)

( ... ... ) 최근 우연한 기회에 이 분야에서 널리 회자되는 또 다른 회사인 Oscar Health에 대해서 생각해 볼 일이 있었습니다. Oscar Health는 보험 가입자에게 활동량 측정계인 Misfit을 지급한 혁신적인 보험 스타트업으로 유명...

Oscar Health는 어떤 배경에서 만들어졌을까?

의료보험은 대표적인 규제 산업입니다. 투자 금액도 많이 들어갑니다. 미국의 주정부는 예상 보험료 수입의 1/8 정도를 예치금으로 낼 것을 요구합니다. Oscar Health는 현재 뉴욕주와 뉴저지 주에서 사업을 하고 있는데 뉴욕주에 2900만 달러, 뉴저지주에 400만 달러를 예치했습니다.

( ... ... ) 왜 Oscar health는 왜 굳이 머리 아픈 보험업에 뛰어든 것일까요? 미국의 의료보험이 구리기 때문에 혁신의 여지가 크다고 보았기 때문입니다. Oscar는 의료비용을 투명하게 공개하고 의료비 부과 방식도 이해하기 쉽게 만들려고 합니다. 거기에 더해서 스마트폰을 이용해서 손쉽게 각종 서비스를 이용할 수 있게 만들면 많은 사람들이 좋아할 것이라고 생각했습니다.

그런데 미국의 의료보험이 구렸던 것은 하루이틀 된 이야기가 아닌데, 왜 2013년이 되어서야 이런 회사가 나온 것일까요? 많이 들어본 오바마케어 때문입니다.

우선 미국 의료 보험에 대해서 살펴보겠습니다.

미국은 기본적으로 고용주가 의료보험에 들어주는 시스템입니다. 고용주가 없는 사람들은 국가 (연방정부 + 주정부)에서 보험을 제공하는데, 65세 이상 노인을 대상으로 하는 메디케어와 저소득층을 대상으로 하는 메디케이드가 있습니다. 이렇게 고용주 기반의 의료 보험을 운영하다 보니, 번듯한 직장이 없는 사람들은 의료 보험에 가입하지 않는 경우가 많았습니다. 오바마 케어는 이를 해결하겠다는 법안입니다.

의료보험에 가입하지 않은 사람들로 하여금 의료보험 가입을 강제합니다. 경제적 여유가 없지만 메디케이드에 해당되지 않은 사람들은 보조금을 지불해서라도 보험에 가입하도록 합니다. 고용주들의 보험 가입 방식에도 변화가 생겼습니다. 일부 회사들은 직원들을 일률적으로 동일한 의료보험에 가입시키기보다는 직원들에게 보험료 액수에 해당하는 voucher를 지원해주고 직원들이 개인 자격으로 보험에 들도록 하기도 하였습니다. 이 경우 개인들은 자신에게 더 잘 맞는 의료 보험에 가입할 수 있습니다. 즉, 오바마 케어로 인해서 고용주의 개입없이 개인들이 알아서 의료 보험에 가입하는 경우가 늘어났습니다.

그런데 개인들이 의료보험에 대해서 알아보고 가입하는 것은 녹록치 않은 일입니다. 보험 회사와 종류가 너무 많아서 개인이 혼자서 정보를 구하고 비교 분석해야 한다면 보험 가입하기 전에 지쳐 나가 떨어지기 쉬울 것입니다. 그래서 오바마케어에서는 가입자들이 여러 보험을 비교할 수 있도록 돕고 기존 보험에 마음에 들지 않으면 새로운 보험으로 쉽게 바꿀 수 있도록 Health care exchange라는 의료보험 장터를 만들었습니다.

2014년 6월에 쓰인 New York 잡지 기사에 따르면, 당시 뉴욕주의 Healthcare exchange에서는 16개의 보험회사가 경쟁했다고 합니다. 13개는 기존의 유명 보험 회사들이고, 3개가 오바마케어 이후에 새롭게 생긴 보험입니다. 이 중 Health Republic은 비영리 협동조합이고, North Shore–LIJ CareConnect는 의료기관이 설립한 보험회사였으며, 남은 회사가 바로 Oscar입니다. 정리하자면, 오바마케어가 생겨남으로써 개인들이 알아서 의료보험에 가입하는 경우가 늘어났는데, Oscar는 개인 보험 가입자에게 어필할 수 있는 매력적인 의료보험상품을 만들고자 했다고 할 수 있습니다.

올 4월에 실린 뉴욕 타임스 기사에 따르면, Oscar의 설립자들은 원래 기존 보험회사들에게 혁신적인 기술 툴을 팔려고 하다가 비웃음만 샀으며, 그래 한번 해보자 하는 마음에서 (보험업의 복잡성을 잘 알지 못한 채로) 보험회사를 시작했다고 합니다. Oscar는 뉴욕 지하철에서 광고를 게재하고 있는데 광고 문구가 재미있습니다.

"당신의 머리를 폭팔하게 하지 않는 의료 보험, 그리고 혹시 폭팔해도 보험으로 커버해 드립니다("Health insurance that won't make your head explode." The twee punch line: "And it does, you're covered.")

( ... ... )

... ....