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Attorney Stefan Nicholas helps us understand the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act
By Stefan C. Nicholas, Esq., Director and Chairman
Logan H. Winn and Jedediah R. Bodger, Jackson & Campbell, P.C., www.jackscamp.com
For the past few years, the joke among estate planning practitioners and their clients had been that 2010 would be a good year to die.
The one-year “death” of the estate tax, however, has been greatly exaggerated. The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (“EGTRRA”) actually put in place a much more complex and burdensome estate and gift tax system that will impact more taxpayers than the traditional estate tax and has caused so much uncertainty that 2010 may be anything but a good year to go gently into the quiet night.
The current state of affairs has made many, including many members of Congress, yearn for the simpler days of the estate tax.
Key issues
The key issue at hand involves a provision that “repealed” the estate tax for only one year – this year, 2010 – although the estate tax may be retroactively reinstated at any time. Yes, it’s really that confusing. Congress failed to act prior to the end of 2009 to extend the estate tax, despite repeated promises to do so.
Stephanie Cohen to speak at Disruptive Women in Health Care panel, March 30
Washington DC, March 29, 2010 — Stephanie Cohen, CEO of the health and retirement benefits firm Golden & Cohen (www.golden-cohen.com), will offer insight into what insurance customers can expect from the health reform tomorrow morning, Tuesday March 30 from 7:30 to 9 a.m. at the Hotel Liaison Capitol Hill.
Cohen will be a panelist at the first monthly breakfast series on health reform, which is hosted by Amplify Public Affairs’ Disruptive Women in Health Care Blog (www.disruptivewomen.net) and its media partner, The Hill (http://thehill.com).
The topic: Health Reform: US Patience (not a typo) Pay the Price.
Thoughts on the New Health Care Bill: The good, the bad and the uncertain
Washington, DC, April 2010 — Now that the health care bill has been approved by both the House and Senate, Stephanie Cohen and Scott Golden, owners of the health and retirement benefits firm Golden & Cohen (www.golden-cohen.com), offer insight into what customers can expect.
The Good
People who are uninsured now will have a chance to be insured. “Some will be subsidized and others may not,” says Cohen. “The bottom line is that everyone will have access to health insurance.”
You are invited: Maryland Women Ambassadors for Business
Sign up today for the March 25 Maryland Women Ambassadors for Business luncheon being co-hosted by Stephanie Cohen of Golden & Cohen, and Debbie Klis of the law firm Shulman and Rogers.
The fee for the luncheon is only $45.
“Measures to optimize women’s entrepreneurial and professional success, and to make it easier for them to do so, can take many forms,” says co-host Debbie Klis. “We launched Maryland Women Ambassadors for Business to raise the visibility of existing female entrepreneurs and executives in our community by creating a dynamic networking and mentoring climate that is favorable to professional women and entrepreneurs alike. Access to mentoring and networking, the exchange of information and best practices, and the implementation of positive changes can increase the scale and profitability of women-run businesses in our community.”
The featured speaker: ALISON ASTI, General Counsel and Executive Director of the Maryland Stadium Authority
The featured non-profit organization: SUNFLOWER BAKERY
Register by logging on here: womenambassadorsforbusiness.eventbrite.com.
IN THE NEWS: Scott Golden talks about “Four health insurance musts for students”
Feb. 17, 2010, AOL.com — In an article in today’s issue of AOL’s Walletpop,- reporter Steven Kent talked about how college students can find, and afford, health insurance.
He interviewed Golden & Cohen co-founder Scott Golden, who said, “Know your policy, and pay attention to the fine print.”
“We’ll always get a call from someone who was penny-wise and pound-foolish,” Golden said. “A student gets in a car accident somewhere off-campus, and then they go into their inexpensive student plan and find out it only covers accidents on their campus. There’s just not much we can do for them at that point.”
Students can use online resources like the health insurance FAQs at about.com to help decipher the complex (and occasionally daunting) language of health care.
“View the decision to purchase health insurance as a research project,” Golden added. “Don’t just rubber-stamp it; it’s a huge decision that can have life-altering consequences.”
Scott Golden asks Sen. Ben Cardin: Do you Oppose New Taxes in HR 3590?
In a letter to Sen. Ben Cardin, Golden & Cohen co-founder Scott Golden asked the legislator if he oppose New Taxes in HR 3590 — the Senate’s health care reform bill, passed on December 24, 2009 by a party-line vote of 60-39. It would expand health care coverage to 31 million currently uninsured Americans through a combination of cost controls, subsidies and mandates. It is estimated to cost $848 billion over a 10 year period, but would be fully offset by new taxes and revenues and would actually reduce the deficit by $131 billion over the same period.
The Senator replied:
Thank you for contacting me about health care reform. I support responsible reform that maintains what works in our health care system and fixes what is broken. All Americans deserve affordable, quality health care, and I am committed to working in a bipartisan way to find solutions that improve conditions for our families.
The Senate health reform bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, would achieve meaningful reform while decreasing costs and prioritizing fiscal responsibility. This legislation would provide health insurance to 31 million Americans who are currently uninsured.
The Health Care Summit – In Case You Missed It
February 26, 2010, Health Care Hiring — Stephanie Cohen was featured in today’s issue of Health Care Hiring, a blog that focuses on topical subjects in the industry.
They said: “In case you don’t have a TV in your office and weren’t glued to C-SPAN all day yesterday, we asked Disruptive Women’s Wendy Grossman to take a minute to recap a few of the highlights. She spoke with several Disruptive Women and had this to say.”
Cohen’s response: “It’s a show,” says Stephanie Cohen, CEO of Golden & Cohen, a health benefits consulting company. “They’re not focusing on what the real issues are. None of the things they’re doing is going to help anybody. It’s not going to make a difference.”
IN THE NEWS: Stephanie Cohen quoted in Washington Post article, “HHS secretary decries higher rates for health insurance”
February 19, 2010, The Washington Post — In today’s issue of The Washington Post, health insurance broker Stephanie Cohen was quoted in an article by Alec MacGillis and Amy Goldstein entitled, “HHS secretary decries higher rates for health insurance. Separately, Washington area residents holding individual health insurance policies said they have received notices that their premiums are increasing by as much as 40 percent.”
They wrote, “The Obama administration stepped up its criticism Thursday of health insurers’ efforts to raise their rates, an attempt to harness public aggravation with the industry and rebuild momentum for broad changes to the nation’s health-care system.”
“Stephanie Cohen, an insurance broker with the District firm of Golden and Cohen, said she is seeing many similar rate increases, including some that are even larger for small-business policies,” they explained. “She said the increases had been approved by regulators in the District and surrounding states. Insurance regulators in the District and Maryland were not able to provide details about the rate increases on Thursday.”
Breaking News: Health-care bill clears crucial procedural vote in Senate, 60 to 40
THIS JUST IN: The Senate cleared a crucial procedural hurdle to bring its health-care bill to the brink of final passage by Christmas Eve. The partisan vote of 60 to 40 shut down a Republican filibuster of the $871 billion package and followed days of tough negotiations with Democratic holdouts. Read more here.
SCOTT GOLDEN SAYS: The Senate bill will be approved by the end of week. That is not the most interesting event that will occur before we leave 2009, however.
When the House and Senate attempt to create a bill that both will accept, there will be fireworks.
Why? The Public Option. The House has one. The Senate does not.
Liberal groups are putting pressure on Democrats to vote NO if there is no Public Option. The public, in general, has become more skeptical about proposed changes. The process seems to be a race against time. The longer the process goes on, the more of a chance of the entire bill coming apart.
This is why there is such a sense of urgency. It is now or never.
Stay tuned for more in our January newsletter.
STEPHANIE COHEN TO APPEAR ON EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP RADIO DEC. 19, 10 a.m.
Gaithersburg MD, December 18, 2009 — Stephanie Cohen, CEO of the health benefits firm Golden & Cohen, will appear tomorrow on Executive Leadership Radio, www.bigtalker1580.com. The show will air from 10-11 a.m. on WHFS 1580.
Stephanie will talk about her company, the health and retirement benefits firm Golden & Cohen, and her life in the trenches of the insurance industry.