Worcester Business Journal

32 Worcester Business Journal • September 14, 2015 www.wbjournal.com Best Advertising Agency Best Web Design Firm Proud Winner of Two 2015 Best of Business Awards Join the WBJ's LinkedIn discussion group by scanning the code to the left on your smartphone. To scan the code, you need the NeoReader. Visit get.neoreader.com to download it onto your phone. Want to participate in the conversation? F L A S H P O L L T A L K B A C K SQUEEZE MORE COSTS OUT OF HEALTH CARE Health insurance base rates are poised to spike more than 6 percent in early 2016 for about 300,000 people in Massachusetts, according to state regulators. That brought out this comment about the costs of health care in the United States and how they don't match up with the results: "No surprises here folks. The World Health Organization long ago pointed out that the United States has the highest cost of health care while ranking something like 37th or 38th globally in terms of the effectiveness of our health care." Online reader Mark Vincent NOT THE TIME TO EXPAND T'S GREEN LINE An online story Aug. 25 that cited a more than doubling of the estimated cost — to $2 billion — to expand the MBTA's Green Line into Somerville and Medford drew this reaction from a reader: "The T can't run what it has now. Fix that before it expands." Online reader Molly E conomic problems in other countries have helped pull down the U.S. stock market more 8 percent over the past several months, leading to concerns about the impact of those problems on this country's — and Massachusetts' — economy. From 2012 to 2014, the value of all exports from Massachusetts grew nearly 7 percent, to $27.4 billion. That's been a help in Central Massachusetts, which has a relatively high concentration of manufacturers. But our poll for the week of Aug. 31 indicated that most firms in this area are insulated against downturns outside the U.S. How much does your business rely on sales outside the United States? Importance of exports? Not too much T he Federal Reserve has maintained a low interest rate policy for several years to help pull the United States out of the Great Recession. Recovery has led the central bank to indicate that its key benchmark rate will rise before the end of this year to tame inflation. But global economic conditions have helped lead to a significant drop in U.S. stock markets, which could cause the Fed to hold off on raising the benchmark rate. In last week's poll, most voters said the rate will rise either this year or maybe next. When do you think the Federal Reserve will raise its benchmark interest rate? Fed rate hike? It's coming COMMENTS: By the end of October 18% "It depends on the stock market and the international economy." "They had better raise it or the volatility in the stock market will increase. The stock market is correcting itself for a rate increase." COMMENTS: We don't – all revenue is domestic. 43% "Our foreign sales are primarily with Canadian firms, so we are not concerned about international markets at this time." Less than 10 percent 30% 26-50 percent More than 50 percent 12% November 12% First quarter of 2016 15% Hard to tell at this point 29% 10-25 percent 9% 6% After the first quarter of 2016 23% 3% December

• Cover