Identifying Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends

6A – Identifying Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends

1. Economic Tread - The Profound Social Cost of American Exceptionalism

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/29/business/economy/social-cost-american-exceptionalism.html

This article brings to light that there are several opportunities throughout the entire United States that could be addressed. The one that stood out the most to me was the fact that America has one of the largest infant death rates in the World. Americans have created so much technology towards finding and treating infant diseases yet we are still one of the highest with infant deaths.

This is an opportunity because if the technology exist to save more infants the United States should be using it. If the same technology was created by Americans then being able to get a hold of it should be easier than if it was created overseas somewhere.

I don’t believe I am the first to see this opportunity, but I believe that if there is technology out there created by Americans being used by other countries to save infants we, the United States, should also be using that technology to save more infant lives.

2. Economic Tread - Don’t kill that spider in your house. It’s unlikely to bite you and is good for the environment.

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/dont-kill-that-spider-in-your-house-its-unlikely-to-bite-you-and-is-good-for-the-environment/2018/05/25/6f9aef3c-5de6-11e8-a4a4-c070ef53f315_story.html?utm_term=.2653b401bee6

This article is about letting the spiders in your home live. There is an opportunity here because most people don’t like the idea of spiders in their homes. This is how the pest control business started. If you think on the opposite side of this though, there could be opportunity in promoting the lives of spiders and allowing them to stay in your homes.

3. Regulatory Tread - Big Banks to Get a Break From Limits on Risky Trading

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/30/business/volcker-rule-banks-federal-reserve.html

This article talks about the opportunity banks will have to possibly make a lot of money by gambling with the stock market and other people’s money. For the prototypical customer this could be a big change in trading stocks. If this rule is passed, big banks would be allowed to make a more risky trade. These trades could either make the banks a lot of money or back fire and they loose.

4. Regulatory Trend - How Health Care’s Regulatory Landscape is Shifting in 2018

Source: https://www.cerner.com/blog/how-health-cares-regulatory-landscape-is-shifting-in-2018

This article addresses some of the changes to the Affordable Care Act since the Republican tax bill was passed. The main difference now is that there is no longer a penalty for not having insurance. It is now predicted that healthly people who only bought insurance to avoid the penalty will now drop that coverage. This can also cause the insurance companies to raise premiums to make up for the loss of coverage.

The opportunity in this is to find a solution that would have healthcare in general more affordable. In Florida if you qualify for the ACA provision of Medicaid you actually don’t get any type of coverage. There is not a Medicaid plan in Florida that will cover adults who qualify for ACA. I know personally someone who has to know go without insurance because her income is too low and she doesn’t qualify income-wise for a health plan through ACA.