May 31, 2009 is a busy day for insurance licensing
. The following professionals need to have all of their
continuing education credits in place by May 31, 2009:
General Insurance Agents and Life
and A&S Agents in Manitoba
Insurance Adjusters in Alberta
General Insurance Agents, Adjusters,
and Life and A&S Agents in British
Columbia
While there is still time to get all of your required
credits in place, we recommend beating the deadline
by completing your courses now.
ILScorp has hundreds of hours of accredited courses
online. Browse through our catalog to find something
that is interesting and relevant to you and your job
role and get started with just a couple of clicks of
the mouse. Visit www.ilscorp.com today.
Industry
Briefs
Alberta reverses 2005 decision
and approves cancer drug Avastin for coverage
Alberta has joined other provinces in approving
Avastin, a high-priced cancer drug that has been costing
some patients and their families thousands of dollars
per month.
Health Minister Ron Liepert made the announcement in
the legislature Thursday while more than a dozen family
members of cancer patients looked on from the gallery
above the assembly.
"I still can't breath," Debbie Wood said after
hearing the brief announcement. "I was in the process
of going to bank managers to decide which RSPs to cash
in."
Wood's 52-year-old husband, Russell, was diagnosed with
colorectal cancer a year ago.
"He's doing really well with chemo, but with Avastin
his prognosis is 100 per cent better," she said
in an interview. "It was $4,000 a month (for Avastin)
until he became what they call operable."
Alberta has lagged behind other provinces in approving
Avastin.
The Colorectal Cancer Association of Canada issued a
release last fall calling on Alberta to "step up
to the plate and fund Avastin."
Liepert conceded to reporters outside the House that
the province needed time to assess the drug's value
to cancer patients.
"This is not a drug that is a cure. It is a drug
that extends people's lives for the most part,"
he said.
Avastin will be added to Alberta's approved drug list
as of April 1, but anyone who has been paying out of
pocket for the drug up until then will not be reimbursed,
said Liepert.
Avastin has been approved for use in Canada since 2005
and is used as a first-line treatment for metastatic
colorectal cancer.
Alberta initially rejected Avastin from medicare coverage.
More than half the provinces have already approved coverage
of Avastin, including Ontario, British Columbia, Saskatchewan,
Quebec, Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia.
An expert panel recently decided that the drug should
be approved for coverage in Alberta at a cost of up
to $5 million a year, said the minister.
Colorectal cancer, or cancer of the colon or rectum,
is the second-leading cause of cancer death in Canada.
An estimated 21,500 Canadians will be diagnosed with
the disease this year, and approximately 8,900 will
die from it. In Alberta, 1,750 patients are expected
to be diagnosed this year and about 650 will die.
--
Lloyds shares fall as British government gains control
Shares in Lloyds Banking Group fell more than 10 percent
Monday as investors dumped the stock after the weekend
announcement that the government will take a controlling
stake in the company.
The news shook market confidence in the wider banking
sector, causing HSBC and Barclays shares to also tumble
about 10 per cent, Standard Chartered eight per cent
and Royal Bank of Scotland seven per cent.
Under a deal reached on Saturday, the government's stake
in Lloyds is expected to rise from 43.5 per cent to
at least 65 per cent. In exchange, Lloyds will get insurance
for potential losses on more than 260 billion pounds
($367 billion dollars) in toxic assets, most of them
acquired when Lloyds TSB took over Halifax/Bank of Scotland.
Lloyds shares were down 10.7 per cent to 37.5 pence
in early trading on the London Stock Exchange.
Lloyds is the second bank to take part in the government's
asset protection program after Royal Bank of Scotland
PLC last month agreed to a deal to insure 325 billion
pounds of risky assets.
-- Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation sells 36,056
Berkshire shares
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's trust has
sold 36,056 of its class B shares of Berkshire Hathaway
Inc. so far in 2009 to comply with tax laws.
The foundation revealed the sales in a filing with the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday.
After the sales, the foundation still held more than
1.3 million Berkshire shares on Thursday.
Berkshire chairman and CEO Warren Buffett plans to give
10 million B shares to the Gates Foundation in a series
of annual gifts.
The Seattle-based foundation is the world's largest
with an endowment of $29.1 billion as of Jan. 1.
-- Industry Briefs courtesy of The Canadian Press.
A message from ILScorp
Introducing a new course series from ILScorp
and DLI – Maximize your resources and leadership
Remember March 10, 2000? The NASDAQ peaked at 5132.52, more
than double its value just one year before. It was the beginning
of the end for the dot-com bubble, the era of widely available
venture capital, brand new business models and rapidly-changing
technology.
Business has changed since then and owners and managers have
had to shift paradigms in order to keep the bottom line in
mind. Today, global economic issues have bankrupted some companies
while others are receiving unprecedented government aid.
For 8.7 million Canadians, the end of their working life is
near as the baby boomer generation – who account for
almost 39 percent of Canada’s working age population
– is set to retire in record numbers. Generation Xers
are now steady in their job positioning, but the Generation
Ys, also known as the Millennial Generation or the Google
Generation, are set to bring their unique perspectives and
experiences to the workplace.
On the surface, it seems like it could be difficult for businesses
to navigate through today’s professional environment.
But it doesn’t have to be.
ILScorp is happy to announce the launch of a new course series,
created with Dynamic Leadership Inc. This series of six streaming-video
courses address the human and logical side of management in
the 21st century. Led by Wayne Kehl, a Certified Professional
Behavioral Analyst and Certified Professional Values Analyst,
can help maximize efficiency and productivity in an ever-changing
marketplace.
Included in this series are the following courses:
The Ten Easy Commandments of Getting Along with People
18 Steps to Dealing with Confrontation
Behavior Selling
The Secrets of Commercial Insurance
A Positive Passion Presentation
Job Security during a Recession and Beyond
This series is available for $125 for all six courses. Alternately,
each course may be purchased individually for $75.
For more information on these courses or to purchase them
now, visit www.ilscorp.com/DLI.
Celebrate International Women’s Day
all month long with ILScorp
International
Women's Day, officially on March 8 this year, is a global
day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements
of all women, and the women to come.
Whether they've impacted the world with tenacity and valor
or helped out a small neighbourhood, women around the world
have made tangible differences.
To celebrate International Women's Day, ILScorp is happy
to offer a discount to all students, of 15% off
three of our Super Courses, each led by one of
our own female Strategic Partners.
Julia Simpson, a former broadcaster who has led courses
on international business and personal training around the
globe, has worked with financial institutions, hotel chains,
telecom providers, IT companies and entertainment groups.
Her course - "Successful Communication"
– examines the impact of personal relationships on
communication. It's not always merely about words, Julia
says, but group and individual dynamics can have great effects
on a message.
Susan Swedberg-Kohli came to ILScorp with a strong media
focus. An accomplished Canadian journalist with works in
print and broadcast media, Susan developed two courses from
which anyone in today’s news-driven world can benefit.
In "Advancing Corporate Goals via the Media",
Susan explains how traditional media exposure can help grow
your business, providing certain steps are taken to maintain
control. In "What to do when the Media Call",
subscribers can find out how to handle calls for quotes.
With the insurance and financial services industries making
headlines across the world, find out how you can handle
impromptu interviews and come out on top.
From now until March 31, you can save 15%
on each of Julia and Susan's courses. Visit our Super
Courses page and enter the code Superwoman
at the checkout to have your 15% discount applied!
A Broker Network can save you money
Are you in an office with at least two people who need to
obtain continuing education credits every year? ILScorp's
Annual Subscriptions are already priced to give you great
value for your dollar, but you can save even more with a Broker
Network.
For just $100 (plus tax) for each Broker Network member per
year, you can have unlimited access to ILScorp's General CE
credit courses.
Broker Networks also benefit by getting full access to the
five-part Broker Privacy Training Program which was developed
to familiarize staff with privacy legislation. This course
series costs $1,250 when purchased as a standalone product,
but Broker Networks can access it for free.
And, Broker Network members can receive a percentage discount
for any of ILScorp’s CAIB courses. ILScorp currently
offers video exam preparation courses for CAIB 1 through 4.
Kick start your career or add to your skill base with the
ILScorp CAIB series. (More than 80% of students who prepare
to write their CAIB exams with the ILScorp CAIB video tutorial
courses are successful!)
Groups can choose to select a Group Administrator. This person
will be the go-to person between the office and ILScorp. The
Group Administrator also has quick access to reporting features
that can display how many people in their group have completed
a certain course, how a member has fared on a quiz, and more.
All of these great benefits and features are available to
companies with more than one person, and for just $100 per
user per year. Contact ILScorp to find out how you can get
your Broker Network started today.
Please note that in order to take advantage of these savings,
a two-year contract must be signed.
Coming up on ILSTV
On Monday, March 16, ILSTV
will be speaking with John McArthur, Chairman of AMAC Consultants
Inc. about what happens to smaller brokerages during a hard
market.
Can't watch on Monday? Don’t worry. All of our ILSTV
stories are archived at www.ilstv.com.
You can search by keyword at the top of the page or browse
through topics in the channels box on the right-hand side.
Can't view or listen to video? All of our current and upcoming
ILSTV stories are transcribed, so you can read them in text
format or even print them out. You can access the text version
either by the corresponding link on ILSTV or by going directly
to the News
and Articles list of ILSTV stories.
Holiday Hours
Please note that the ILScorp office will be
closed on Friday, April 10. We will be open again on Monday,
April 13.
We hope you enjoy the long weekend. Should you wish to complete
courses or access other ILScorp features, you may –
all of our courses and content are available 24 hours a day,
every day of the year. Simply log into your account at www.ilscorp.com
to get started.
Live CAIB II Preparation Course at BCIT
For those wishing to attend a live CAIB II preparation
course, West Coast Training's Todd Hochban will be holding
a course from April 13 - 17, 2009.
Held at BCIT in downtown Vancouver, the immersion
course prepares students for the CAIB II examination.
A long-time insurance educator and ILScorp course presenter,
Mr. Hochban's courses offer intensive in-person training.
Important dates:
CAIB III Course: April 13 - 17, 2009
Examination registration deadlines: April 3, 2009
Examination date: May 6, 2009
International
Women's Day, officially on March 8 this year, is a global
day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements
of all women, and the women to come.