Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, who promised early in his campaign to repeal President Barack Obama's health care reform, says he would keep several important parts of the overhaul.

Although Romney has yet to articulate or set forth any semblance of a reform plan, he says, "of course there are a number of things that I like in health care reform that I'm going to put in place," he told NBC's "Meet the Press."

Romney favors the following:

• make sure that those with pre-existing conditions can get coverage."
• and would allow young adults (up to any age) to keep their coverage under their parents' health-insurance.

In addition though Romney has also said on the campaign trail that he favors allowing interstate purchase of health insurance, allowing employers to circumvent their own state's insurance lwas in favor of less strict regulations, which I believe would allow many employers to seek out the cheapest, and therefore inferior coverage possible.

Romney has also said he'd allow businesses to band together in asscoaitations to purchase health coverage.

11 million uninsured Americans came from the middle class, or nearly a quarter of the nation's total uninsured and under ObamaCare most would achieve coverage through health insurance exchanges.

Most middle-class Americans - nearly three out of four - are insured through their employers, according to the report. For the one out of four who are not, it's become more and more expensive to buy health insurance on their own. Between 2000 and 2008, health insurance premiums grew three times as fast as wage increases and because of that employer-based coverage has dropped from 68% of Americans to just 60% over that timeframe.

Romney reforms

One reform promoted by Romney would be to allow people to buy insurance in other states but that might dilute strong insurance standards and create a "race to the bottom.

"I want these individuals and businesses to be able to buy insurance across state lines to get the best deal they can get anywhere in the country," Romney said in a speech in June in Florida.

Romney's website outlines other reforms: Allowing individuals and businesses to buy insurance as a group to get more bargaining power, for example, and allowing money in health savings accounts to be used towards purchasing premiums.

In 2006, as governor of Massachusetts, Romney signed into law a health care plan that, like Obamacare, provides subsidies for purchasing health care. While running

The findings of a new NFIB survey show the cost of health insurance is what's keeping small employers up at night--still.

The latest National Federation of Independent Business survey reveals more than half of small business employers view the cost of insurance as their "most critical problem."

Health insurance costs for small firms have risen 103 percent in the last decade, causing many to forego offering health insurance. This increase outpaces wages and inflation, and renders insurance unaffordable for many small-business owners, the survey finds.

"Fears over increasing health insurance costs continue to dominate the list of concerns for small businesses, very much in spite of the president's health insurance reform law--certainly not an endorsement of the policy, nor a good sign for the future of the sector," says Holly Wade, senior policy analyst and survey author.

The NFIB authors also note the PPACA has failed to address the "fundamental causes of rising health care cost while opting to focus on coverage." As you know I have put forward numerous ideas in this space to courageously attack increasing costs. See this article for the details.

Health care costs overshadow the No. 2 problem for small business owners--economic uncertainty--by 14 percentage points.

The study was based on surveys of more than 3,800 small business owners.

LIMRA is reporting that less than 50% of individuals in the U.S. have life insurance. There are many untapped markets therefore that agents can target.

One of those markets perhaps is those from Generations X and Y. When it comes to retirement planning, Generations X and Y have learned from the mistakes of their elders, according to new survey findings released recently.

One site I've found, by financial advisor/ consultant, Lanh Nguyen brings together financial planning resources that may be helpful for insurance agents. This is one example of how insurance agents and financial planners can improve contacts and sales through collaboration.

Nearly 60 percent of Gen X (59%) and Gen Y (56%) make regular, automatic contributions toward their retirement savings, compared to 46 percent of non-retired Baby Boomers. And when it comes to getting a jump on their nest egg, younger generations are eager to get started - both Gen X and Gen Y started saving for retirement, on average, in their mid- to late-twenties illustrating that this is a forward thinking group perhaps in need of life insurance. That's nearly a decade earlier than Baby Boomers who, on average, stared saving at age.

By linking websites and creating partnerships for mutual referrals with local financial advisors, insurance agents can gain access to new clients and new markets. Networking is always important, partnering with other financial services professionals is key to expanding business.