Oscar Wilde once said, "Most modern calendars mar the sweet simplicity of our lives by reminding us that each day that passes is the anniversary of some perfectly uninteresting event."
Yet we're all slaves to them - especially this time of year. I know I am. As a journalist, there's one pinned up next to this computer, telling me what we need to do here every month to stay timely and relevant. As a parent, I have a school calendar telling what my kids are doing (or not doing) at any given moment.
So I'm sitting here nursing the last of my coffee, glancing nervously over the calendar and flat-out stunned that it's October. What happened to the last 10 months of my life? My daughter still doesn't know what she wants to be for Halloween, my art director's starting to freak out about the Buyers' Guide (again) and we got our first snowfall of the season this week.
Congress, meanwhile, is still wrestling over health care (glad they decided to work their way up to the more difficult issues), the president's back in the country long enough to accept some award and, more importantly to you, enrollment season's staring us down again.
That's a big part of why I decided to mix things up this month and put Eric Johnson's exhaustive look at Medicare on the cover. While I personally believe all the talk of Medicare cuts in Washington are little more than sound and fury signifying nothing more than scare tactics (with apologies to Bill Shakespeare), it remains a pivotal part of the reform debate. And, as Johnson points out, Nov. 15 marks the start of open enrollment for Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D recipients, so the timing couldn't be better. So check it out on page 26.
While we're of mixing things up, we're also running a piece this month about how ambitious brokers can get their hands on some of the business stirred up by the stimulus package. Look for it on page 52.
Back to the subject of calendars, it's also the time of year we let our readers do the talking. This issue marks our fifth annual Readers' Choice Awards feature, where our readers weigh in on the companies that provide the best service, offer the best products and generally make their lives easier.
And speaking of which, I'd like to welcome Jenny Ivy, our new managing editor, to the Benefits Selling family.
Editor
dstorey@benefitssellingmag.com
