by OnSight | Mar 2014 | Connect for Health Colorado
With the open enrollment rapidly approaching, Connect for Health Colorado is spreading the word about getting covered before March 31. After this date, most Coloradans will not be eligible to enroll in health insurance coverage until October, and those plans will not kick in until January 1, 2015.
So what does this mean for you?
If you’ve already enrolled, great! You may revel and relax in the fact that you’re covered. If you haven’t enrolled but are planning on it, head to your nearest computer and log on to www.connectforhealthco.com or call the customer service line at 855-PLANS-4-YOU (855-752-6749). There are 19 days left in the enrollment period, so get on it!
Barring a life-changing event like loss of coverage or change in citizenship, most Coloradans will not be able to enroll in health coverage after March 31 and will likely incur a fine by the feds.
Avoid all that now and visit Connect for Health Colorado online or in person, and check out plans to fit your needs today.
Connect for Health Colorado has seen much success since it opened on October 1, 2013. Colorado’s new heath insurance marketplace has enrolled more than 220,441 Coloradans in health insurance coverage since opening on October 1, 2014. More than half of those enrolled in private insurance are eligible for tax credits, saving them an average of $248 a month on their premiums (source: 2013 C4HC Annual Summary). While ConnectforHealthCO.com saw some hiccups during the first week, the issues were quickly resolved and the site now has 1,024,254 unique visitors. View more metrics here.
by OnSight | Mar 2014 | Campaign, Ed Perlmutter, politics
No matter which side of the marijuana legalization issue you’re on, we all recognize the changes made to the Colorado Constitution by Amendment 64 created some unique conflicts between state and federal law – including access to regular banking services. Because marijuana is still a controlled substance under federal law, banks may face criminal and regulatory penalties if they engage with these marijuana businesses.
Ed Perlmutter ran for Congress to be a voice and represent the needs of Colorado, and when he saw this banking conflict arise, he wanted to fix it. That’s why he introduced a bill to allow banks to provide services to marijuana businesses in states with a legal and regulatory structure in place.
It’s simple: legal businesses (including marijuana businesses and banking businesses) should have the freedom to operate just like any other business in the state.
Running a small business is hard enough without the additional challenge of being limited to a cash-only operation. Bottom line: denying entrepreneurs access to banking is a dangerous and costly gamble. It makes shops easy targets for robberies, is a logistical burden for shop owners and employees, and is tremendously inefficient for government offices which end up counting piles of bills when collecting taxes.
It’s time for Congress to take this issue seriously and bring up my bill for a hearing in the House Financial Services Committee. Please sign Ed’s petition, and join him in working towards a common-sense solution to a real public safety problem in Colorado.
Last week, President Obama’s Justice and Treasury departments issued guidance to banks about dealing with changes in states like Colorado and Washington. But that’s not enough. We need a real, permanent solution updating federal law. Many of Ed’s colleagues – Democrats and Republicans – agree and are cosponsoring his bill
Please sign this petition if you want Congress to stop arguing about old ideological battles and start focusing on tackling the everyday problems.
by OnSight | Feb 2014 | Branding, Graphics
The Winter Olympics — a magical fortnight of sports, international truce, and athletic accomplishment (unless you’re an Olympics grinch, of which we might have one lurking around the OnSight office). With an event that has such international interest, and which has a long and proud history, it’s fun to trace the graphical representations of the Olympics, present and past. Here are few great links.
- Great interactive graphic of the events of the 2014 Winter Games
- Looking Back at the 90 Year Evolution of The Winter Olympics Poster
- Official logos of the Winter Olympics since 1924
- How the “walk” signal looks in different countries around the world (and art installation)
- A compendium of design (and other) fails from Sochi
by OnSight | Feb 2014 | Social Media
Rarely have I heard of a social media network — one of those things designed to increase connection and community — described as baffling or intimidating as much as Twitter is. Twitter itself is a great tool, for both listening and for reaching out and sharing messages and interacting, but it does have its own lingo and its own codes, which can put folks off on first sight.
With only 140 characters per tweet, real estate is at a premium on Twitter. Out of necessity, it has developed its own set of codes and shorthand to make room for the important bits. The good news is that those codes — once you learn them — are providing useful information, like “here’s where I heard this from” or “please share this with others!” or “hey, this is part of a conversation you may only being seeing part of, check the rest out!”
With that in mind — and every assurance that not only is Twitter really worth exploring, but that what can seem overwhelming at first glance is really easy to learn — here’s a glossary of common Twitter lingo to help ease the journey:
@: The @ sign is used to call out usernames in Tweets, like this: “Hello @Twitter!” People will use your @username to mention you in Tweets and to send you messages.
FOLLOW: Subscribing to someone’s stream of Tweets is called “following.” To start following someone, click the Follow button next to their name, and you’ll see their Tweets as soon as they post something new. You don’t have to ask permission to follow someone. Anyone on Twitter can follow or unfollow anyone else at any time.
@HANDLE: A user’s “Twitter handle” is the username the user has selected and the accompanying URL, as in: twitter.com/username. It is represented by the @ then name, e.g. the @handle for Twitter Media is @TwitterMedia.
HASHTAG: A hashtag is any word or phrase with the # symbol immediately in front of it. This symbol turns the word into a link that makes it easier to find and follow a conversation about that topic.
MT: Similar to RT (Retweet), an abbreviation for “Modified Tweet.” Placed before the retweeted text when users manually retweet a message with modifications, for example shortening a Tweet.
RETWEET:
You can pass along someone’s Tweet by clicking the retweet icon. Retweeting is a lot like forwarding an email — you’ll send along someone else’s Tweet to all of your followers. It can be abbreviated with a “RT” when a user manually retweets a message instead of using the retweet button.
There’s lots more here.
