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Skyrocketing Health Insurer CEOs' Paychecks Are "Crazy," Says Executive Comp Expert

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If health insurance companies announce big premium increases on policies for 2015, I hope regulators, lawmakers and the media will look closely at whether they are justified, especially in light of recent disclosures of better-than-expected profits in 2013, rosy outlooks for the rest of this year and soaring CEO compensation.

Almost all of the publicly traded health insurers reported big increases in revenue and profits last year. The big winners have been the top executives of those companies, led by Mark Bertolini, CEO of Aetna, the nation's third largest health insurer. Bertolini's total compensation of $30.7 million in 2013 was 131 percent higher than in 2012.

If the stock prices of these firms keep growing at the current pace, Bertolini and his peers can expect to be rewarded even more handsomely this year, especially if they can hike premiums high enough to satisfy shareholders.

According to Health Plan Week, a trade publication, the CEOs of the 11 largest for-profit companies were rewarded with compensation packages last year totaling more than $125 million.

Over the past several weeks, several of them have told shareholders and Wall Street financial analysts that their companies likely will have higher profits at the end of this year than they expected, despite having to pay more medical claims as a result of the new Obamacare customers they picked up.

Those announcements have been music to the ears of shareholders, who are considerably wealthier today than they were this time last year.

Of those 11 companies (Aetna, Centene, Cigna, Health Net, Humana, Molina, Triple-S Management Corp., UnitedHealth Group, Universal American, Wellcare, and WellPoint) nine saw their stocks close near 52-week highs this past Friday.

The biggest gainer has been Humana, one of the largest operators of Medicare Advantage plans, whose share price has increased more than 53 percent over the past year.

The increases have been equally impressive at most of the other big companies. Aetna's share price is up 31 percent, Cigna's 32 percent. United's is up 28 percent. And WellPoint's is up 39 percent.

But it is the CEO compensation that has been the most eye-popping, especially at two of the publicly traded companies that specialize in managing Medicaid enrollees in several states: Centene and Molina.

Centene's CEO Micheal Neidorff saw his compensation increase 71 percent last year, from $8.5 million to $14.5 million. Even more impressive was the 140 percent raise Molina's J. Mario Molina got. His compensation jumped from $4.95 million in 2012 to $11.9 million in 2013.

All of those totals were disclosed in the proxy statements those companies filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this spring.

When I handled financial communications for Cigna, the day I dreaded most every year was the day we filed the company's proxy. That's because I knew I would get calls from reporters wanting to know how we could justify paying the CEO so much when most other employees were lucky to get 3 percent raises.

I always had talking points drafted with plenty of help from the company's lawyers and HR executives. They didn't vary much from year to year. Basically, all I said was, hey, this is a very big company, the CEO has a very big job and his pay is in line with what other firms of similar size pay their top guys.

I made frequent use of those talking points the first couple years. But toward the end of my 15 years at the company, I would rarely get more than one or two calls. By 2008, the year I left, the phone didn't ring at all, at least not from the media. Fewer and fewer reporters even bothered to look at the proxy statements.

Chances are you are learning for the first time right now just how much the CEOs of big health insurance companies make. Unless you subscribe to Health Plan Week, it's not likely you will stumble across their salaries. Nor it is likely that many members of Congress have subscriptions to Health Plan Week. That's a shame, because they probably haven't seen this quote, attributed to Paul Dorf, managing director of Compensation Resources Inc., from the May 19 edition, in reaction to insurers' increasingly stratospheric CEO pay:
"I think what is going to happen is that the government is going to be stepping in. I really foresee it. As this stuff becomes public and more of the media recite these numbers, I think people are going to go to their legislators ... This is crazy."
I agree. But I'm not holding my breath waiting for the media to recite those numbers. Or for Congress to pay any attention to the outsized paychecks those CEOs are demanding -- and getting -- even though by law we now have to buy coverage from those companies. Reported by Huffington Post 15 hours ago.

Father’s Day Index 2014: Dads Worth About $24,000 Around the House This Year

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Insure.com’s annual Father’s Day Index finds that dads can increase their household value by doing more family finances, plumbing and coaching.

Foster City, Calif. (PRWEB) June 09, 2014

A father’s typical jobs around the house are worth $24,103 this year, up slightly from his value in 2013.

Insure.com’s annual Father’s Day Index measures the “value of Dad” based on a list of common household tasks and average wages for those duties from matching occupations from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Fathers are enjoying their highest economic value since the Index began:·     2014: $24,103
·     2013: $23,344
·     2012: $20,248
·     2011: $20,415

If fathers want to increase their economic value at home, they should spend more time doing family finances, repairing pipes, coaching a team and helping with homework – all tasks with the highest hourly wages in Insure.com’s survey.

“Unfortunately barbecuing and mowing the lawn – two favorite Dad pastimes that are often memorialized on Father’s Day cards – have the lowest economic value, but at least provide a good-looking lawn and some dinner,” said Penny Gusner, consumer analyst for Insure.com.

See the full task chart and associated wages.

Moms, by comparison, were worth $62,985 this year after two consecutive years of decline, according to Insure.com’s annual Mother’s Day Index.

Knowing a father’s value at home is especially important in choosing the right life insurance amount. Policy amounts often encompass salary replacement, debt, a family emergency fund, future costs such as college tuition and replacing tasks around the house.

Dinner should be central to Father’s Day: It’s the No. 1 gift pick among dads this year. Insure.com also surveyed 999 fathers with children under 18 living at home about their top gift choices for Father’s Day. Dads could choose more than one gift from a list of 18 choices and pointed to:

1.    Dinner at the town’s best restaurant: 31%
2.    A weekend getaway with the whole family: 27%
3.    Electronics: 26%
4.    Tickets to a show or sporting event: 26%
5.    A weekend getaway with the wife: 25%
6.    Power tools: 21%

Don’t bother giving fathers a remodeled room, selected by only 5 percent (dads are outside doing low-value mowing anyway) or books, chosen by 8 percent (refer to top choice No. 3, electronics).

Based on responses to other questions, dads want to spend Father’s Day with the whole family (57 percent) and receive a homemade card (22 percent) or homemade artwork (19 percent).

See the full article at http://www.insure.com/articles/lifeinsurance/fathers-day-index.html.

Methodology

“Dad’s value” is based on occupational wages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and does not include a salary from work outside the home. It is calculated from a list of common household tasks.

For fathers’ gift choices and ways to spend the day, Insure.com commissioned a survey of 999 married men with children under age 18 living at home. The survey was fielded in April 2014.

About Insure.com

Insure.com provides a comprehensive array of information on auto insurance, home insurance, health insurance, and life insurance. The site offers an extensive library of originally authored insurance articles and decision-making tools that are not available from any other single source, including its extensive car insurance discounts tool. Insure.com is owned and operated by QuinStreet, Inc. (NASDAQ: QNST), one of the largest Internet marketing and media companies in the world. QuinStreet is committed to providing consumers and businesses with the information they need to research, find and select the products, services and brands that best meet their needs. The company is a leader in visitor-friendly marketing practices. For more information, please visit QuinStreet.com.

Twitter: @InsureCom

###

Press contact:
Penny Gusner
(805) 492-2489
pgusner(at)insure(dot)com Reported by PRWeb 15 hours ago.

MicroMarket Monitor: Healthcare Payer IT Market Worth $16238.44 Million by 2018

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Healthcare Payer IT can be segmented by Geographies, Companies and Submarkets. http://www.micromarketmonitor.com/market-report/healthcare-payer-it-reports-7546361712.html

(PRWEB) June 09, 2014

Payer healthcare IT refers to those who reimburses or finances the health services cost. The global payer healthcare IT was estimated to grow at a CAGR of 5.4% from 2013 to 2018, to reach $16238.44 million by 2018, from $12483.64 million in 2013. The payer healthcare IT market is segmented into workflow systems and administrative systems. Workflow systems are categorized into pharmacy analysis and audit, claim management, customer relationship management, and fraud detection. The administrative systems are categorized into billing, payroll, and general ledger system. In developed and developing countries, patients have been using health insurance systems (single payer system and multiplayer system) to access affordable care. The major change that has been brought about by the payer IT industry are the shorter planning cycles and better adaptability of new technologies in the healthcare IT solutions market. The global major players in the Payer IT market include Oracle (U.S.), Aspect Software (U.S.), Cerner Corporation (U.S.), and Avaya (U.S.).

Browse through the market data tables, figures and detailed ToC on the “Healthcare Payer IT Market.”

http://www.micromarketmonitor.com/market-report/healthcare-payer-it-reports-7546361712.html

Related Reports

North American Healthcare Payer IT Market
The North American payer healthcare IT market in 2013 was valued $7355.48 million and is projected to be $9722.93 million by 2018, expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.7% from 2013 to 2018. North America occupied a share of 58.9% in the global Payer healthcare IT market, thus holding the largest share in the global payer IT market. In the U.S., estimates showed the existence of around 1,500 healthcare insurance companies, and the overall North American region is expected to grow more in numbers, owing to the need of healthcare IT advancement, which will change the functioning of the payer IT market. In this region, the payers spend 30% of their income in administrative cost due to manual process. Healthcare payers are under tremendous pressure for customization of services, which is the main reason for implementation of payer IT systems in the U.S. and Canada. Consequently, to remain in the competitive market, payer healthcare IT is expected to improve its operational performance by bringing new payer IT solutions. However, the U.S. Medicare is hampering the private plans as customers shift to government healthcare plans ultimately, thus reducing the opportunity for private healthcare payer plans. The major players dominating the North American Payer IT market include Oracle (U.S.), Aspect Software (U.S.), Cerner Corporation (U.S.), and Avaya (U.S.).

http://www.micromarketmonitor.com/market/north-america-healthcare-payer-it-5736955120.html

European Healthcare Payer IT Market
The European payer healthcare IT market was valued at $2908.69 million in 2013 and is projected to be $3686.13 million by 2018, expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.9% from 2013 to 2018. Europe is the second largest market in the global payer healthcare IT market, with a share of 23.3%. The growth of this segment in Europe is mainly due to the growing pressure on healthcare payers to cut cost and reduce time lags. The European market is emerging gradually, after the Eurozone debt crisis in 2008. Even after the financial crisis, Europe has been successful in implementing the payer IT solutions to meet the needs of the stakeholders in this region. The countries in this region are improving their purchasing power; also the market has succeeded in attracting foreign players to the European payer IT market. Moreover, due to the aging population, the number of younger tax payers declined, which led to less financial support by government. This provided the private healthcare Payer IT firms an opportunity to flourish in the European region. Oracle (U.S.), Aspect Software (U.S.), Cerner Corporation (U.S.), and Avaya (U.S.) are the prominent players in the European payer IT market.

http://www.micromarketmonitor.com/market/europe-healthcare-payer-it-5725724312.html

Asian Healthcare Payer IT Market
The Asian payer healthcare IT market was valued at $1560.96 million in 2013 and is projected to reach 2065.85 million by 2018, expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.8% from 2013 to 2018. The Asian payer healthcare IT market is the fastest growing market, as compared to the other regions, and has achieved a share of 12.5% in the global market, owing to the penetration of healthcare insurance in Asian regions, such as India and China. Major drivers for the implementation of the payer IT system in healthcare are consumer demand for efficiency and improved quality, government initiatives, and pressure to reduce growing healthcare costs. Healthcare organizations in Asia-Pacific are actively moving towards advanced payer IT solutions to streamline the entire workflow system in large healthcare enterprises. Therefore, Asian players are emerging with new healthcare insurance policies. Medical tourism is also one of the factors contributing to the growth of the payer healthcare IT market in the Asian region. All these aspects are expected to bolster the payer healthcare IT market in Asia. Oracle (U.S.), Aspect Software (U.S.), Cerner Corporation (U.S.), and Avaya (U.S.) are the key players in the Asian region.

http://www.micromarketmonitor.com/market/asia-healthcare-payer-it-6344144854.html

About MicroMarket Monitor

MicroMarket Monitor identifies and attends to various unmet needs of different industrial verticals, which include value chain impact analysis. The company publishes about 12000 Market Research Reports on various Micro Markets across the world. The graphical nature and multidimensional analysis of these reports provide advanced Business Intelligence Tools to the clients in that particular target market.

Contact:
Mr. Chandrasekhar K.
5601 Bridge Street
Suite 300
Fort Worth
TX 76112
Tel: +1-888-502-0539
Email: sales(at)micromarketmonitor(dot)com
Connect with us on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/company/micromarketmonitor Reported by PRWeb 15 hours ago.

Union workers ratify contract with McGuire nursing homes

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More than 900 nursing home workers at four McGuire Group sites have a new three-year labor contract. Workers represented by SEIU United Health Care Workers Local 1199 approved the new deal in a ratification vote. According to the union, the contract includes $1.15 in raises, a 10 percent increase in pension contributions as well as recognition bonuses. It also maintains the current health insurance plans and contributions. SEIU represents certified nursing assistants, licensed practical nurses… Reported by bizjournals 15 hours ago.

Why the GOP Is the Party of Creative Thinking

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Over the weekend, Republicans in Virginia pulled off an extraordinary feat. Faced with a state senate deadlocked at 20-20 and a battle with Democratic governor Terry McAuliffe over whether to accept the expansion of Medicaid, they apparently persuaded a Democratic senator from a conservative district to retire, thus giving them a majority and making it even less likely that McAuliffe will be able to get 400,000 low-income Virginians health insurance. And all it took was delivering a couple of jobs:



RICHMOND — Republicans appear to have outmaneuvered Gov. Terry McAuliffe in a state budget standoff by persuading a Democratic senator to resign his seat, at least temporarily giving the GOP control of the chamber and possibly dooming the governor’s push to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.

Sen. Phillip P. Puckett (D-Russell) will announce his resignation Monday, effective immediately, paving the way to appoint his daughter to a judgeship and Puckett to the job of deputy director of the state tobacco commission, three people familiar with the plan said Sunday. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.



I know what you're thinking: forget "outmaneuvering," isn't that bribery? Legally speaking, the answer may be a little murky. But this demonstrates that when you combine Republicans' fervent opposition to allowing poor people to get health coverage with their innovative and resourceful procedural creativity, you have a powerful force.

And that procedural creativity is undeniable. Faced with a tied Senate, Virginia Democrats just sat on their hands bemoaning their fate. But Republicans, men and women of action that they are, found a novel solution to their problem.

I've been writing for years about how Republicans are just willing to go farther than Democrats when it comes to stuff like this. They recognize that there are rules governing political behavior and there are norms governing political behavior, and the latter can be violated without much consequence. At key moments, they say things like, "Well, what if we just filibuster everything? There's no rule against that." And there isn't, so they do.

The Democrats are sometimes willing to take similar steps (like changing Senate rules to require only a majority vote on some judicial and administration appointments), but more often it's Republicans finding novel ways to shut their opponents out of the process or keep the wrong people from voting. They may not have a lot interesting ideas when it comes to making policy to solve societal problems. But faced with a political challenge, they show a truly inspiring level of imagination. Reported by The American Prospect 14 hours ago.

Truven Health Analytics Launches Cost-Sharing Reduction Analysis and Reconciliation Solution for Health Insurance Exchanges

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Truven Health Analytics Launches Cost-Sharing Reduction Analysis and Reconciliation Solution for Health Insurance Exchanges ANN ARBOR, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Truven Health Analytics Launches Cost-Sharing Reduction Analysis and Reconciliation Solution for Health Insurance Exchanges Reported by Business Wire 13 hours ago.

Edifecs Executives Host Workshop on Innovations in Collaboration, Connectivity, and Engagement at AHIP Institute 2014

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Experts present strategies for driving sustained transformation while navigating structural healthcare market changes

BELLEVUE, WASH (PRWEB) June 09, 2014

Edifecs, Inc., a global health information technology solutions company, will host a workshop at America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) Institute 2014. Experts from leading payer organizations will discuss their real-world innovations around payer, provider and member collaboration, connectivity and engagement. Session panelists will also address how health plans are evolving to meet changing marketplace demands, including how to make information more transparent, inspire better member engagement, improve partner collaboration, and reach new populations. Panelists will discuss how technology is driving innovation and sustaining changes across the healthcare ecosystem.

WHAT: Session title: Innovations in Collaboration, Connectivity, and Engagement. Leading payers setting the bar high in the new age of consumerism.

Featured keynote speaker, Denny Brennan, executive director and CEO of Massachusetts Health Data Consortium, will discuss how payers and providers in the State of Massachusetts are handling ICD-10 collaborative testing and ACO partner data sharing to improve population health. Additional panelists from commercial and Blue Cross Blue Shield payers will discuss how they are using technology to drive sustained transformation in their organizations including enhanced member engagement and payer-provider collaboration.

Sunny Singh, Edifecs president and CEO, will kick off the workshop by welcoming AHIP attendees to Seattle. Sam Muppalla, executive vice president of products and strategy for Edifecs, will close the session with an overview of Edifecs technology and how it is powering healthcare partnerships to reduce costs, increase financial sustainability and enhance customer experience.

The workshop is the only session at the AHIP Institute designated to offer attendees education credits.

WHEN: Wednesday, June 11, 2014 at 3:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. PDT

WHERE: Washington State Convention Center

Edifecs will also be exhibiting at the show and providing demos at booth #731.

To register, please visit http://www.edifecs.com/ahip-institute-onsite

For updates on the latest news and announcements at the conference, be sure to follow @EdifecsToday on Twitter.

About Edifecs, Inc.
Edifecs is a leader in developing innovative, cost-cutting solutions to transform the global healthcare marketplace. Since 1996, Edifecs has provided technology that automates many administrative functions in order to trim waste and reduce costs as well as increase revenues, collaboration and operational performance. Customers who have benefited include healthcare providers, insurers, pharmacy benefit management companies, and other trading partners. More than 250 healthcare customers today use Edifecs solutions to simplify and unify financial, clinical and administrative transactions. They also use Edifecs technology to automate manual business processes (e.g., enrollment, claims and payments management) and to support compliance for HIPAA, Operating Rules and ICD-10 mandates. In addition, Edifecs develops supply chain management solutions to support worldwide customers in non-healthcare industry segments. Edifecs is based in Bellevue, WA, with operations internationally. Learn more about us at edifecs.com. Reported by PRWeb 13 hours ago.

PBGH ramps up pressure on Highmark, UPMC

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A Pittsburgh-area employer group wants to see contract talks between Highmark and UPMC ramp up as relations between the two health care titans winds down. The Pittsburgh Business Group on Health Monday launched the Priority Initiative, a campaign aimed at expediting contract discussions between Highmark and UPMC. Turning up the heat: 39 percent of PBGH’s membership renews health insurance plans July 1, and another 22 percent renew in August while the Highmark-UPMC contract runs out at the end… Reported by bizjournals 12 hours ago.

Colorado health exchange board approves $13 million fee on insured

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Colorado’s health exchange board on Monday approved a $66.4 million budget for the next fiscal year to be funded in part by a $13 million fee on all Coloradans with health insurance. The costs to run the exchange — known as Connect For Health Colorado — are far higher than the $26 million a year that managers have long anticipated. They are continuing to spend federal tax dollars for some of the expenses and have vowed to reduce costs to about $26 million in future years. The budget and $13… Reported by bizjournals 9 hours ago.

HUFFPOLLSTER: Americans Lean Toward Disapproval Of Taliban Prisoner Swap

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Veterans have little sympathy for Bowe Bergdahl. Hillary Clinton has lots of support among Democrats. And Nate Silver updates his (not-yet formal) model. This is HuffPollster for Monday, June 9, 2014.

*OBAMA GETS LOW MARKS ON HANDLING OF PRISONER EXCHANGE, ESPECIALLY AMONG VETS* - Gregory Korte: "Public opposition to the exchange of five Taliban prisoners for captive Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has less to do with Bergdahl himself and more with how President Obama handled the transfer according to a new USA TODAY/Pew Research Center poll. The poll shows 43% of Americans say it was wrong for Obama to make the deal, compared with 34% who say it was the right thing to do….Half of respondents [with an opinion on Bergdahl] say they were sympathetic, and half say they are angry with Bergdahl. *Veterans are much more harsh in their assessment of the 28-year-old sergeant. Only 6% of veterans who responded say they sympathized with him, while 33% say they were angry. By 68%-16%, veterans say Obama made the wrong decision.*" [USA Today]

*Opinions follow party lines, but most say Congress should be informed* - Pew Research: "Reactions to the Bergdahl case are deeply divided along partisan lines. Fully 71% of Republicans think the prisoner exchange was the wrong thing to do, while just 16% say it was the right thing to do. Democrats, by more than two-to-one (55% to 24%), have a positive opinion of the agreement. Republicans, particularly conservative Republicans, also are far less likely than Democrats to say that the U.S. was obligated to do all it could to secure Bergdahl’s freedom….When asked to think generally about situations like the Bergdahl exchange, most Americans (64%) say 'the president should be required to inform Congress in advance of decisions like these'; *just 30% say he 'should have the flexibility to make decisions like these without informing Congress in advance*.' This view is nearly unanimous among Republicans (87%-11%), and 67% of independents also say the president should be required to inform Congress in advance of decisions like these. Democrats are more divided." [Pew]
*Roughly in line with past polling* - An online Reuters/Ipsos poll released Friday found Americans split 44/29 against the prisoner swap, while a HuffPost/YouGov poll found 35 percent in favor and 39 against. [Reuters, HuffPost]*HILLARY CLINTON RETAINS BROAD SUPPORT...* - David Nakamura and Scott Clement: "Hillary Rodham Clinton retains broad public support for her performance as secretary of state, a sign that President Obama’s struggles abroad and Republican attacks over Benghazi have not been a major drag on her reputation. *Clinton left office 1 1 / 2 years ago as the most popular outgoing secretary in recent memory, and 59 percent of the public still approve of her tenure*, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll this month. That dipped from 68 percent in late 2012, but 67 percent call her a strong leader in the most recent survey. The findings suggest the public is willing to view Clinton’s term separately from Obama as she attempts to define her legacy with the release on Tuesday of 'Hard Choices,' a reflection on her four years overseeing the State Department. The poll found just 41 percent approve of Obama’s handling of foreign policy, an all-time low for the president." [ WashPost]

*...but Democrats still want her to face a challenger* - Gary Langer: "Should she run, among registered voters, 69 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents favor her for the party’s nomination over seven other hypothetical contenders. Vice President Joe Biden gets 12 percent, Elizabeth Warren 7 percent, with the rest barely registering….*[E]ven among Democrats who support her for the nomination, 58 percent also say they’d rather see other candidates run as well* – a preference for a race, not a waltz. That, of course, would keep her in the spotlight and perhaps hone her campaign performance. But contested campaigns are never a sure bet, even for frontrunners, as Clinton herself found in 2008." [ABC]

*Clinton's overall favorability remains positive* - While the Post/ABC poll didn't ask a favorability question, other surveys found Clinton's rating falling about 10 points after her tenure ended as secretary of state, before stabilizing late last year at just about 50 percent. [HuffPollster average]

*GREAT SOCIETY PROGRAMS REMAIN POPULAR* - Peter Moore: "YouGov's latest research shows that, fifty years on, the main surviving Great Society programs are viewed favourably by most Americans. The National Endowments for the Arts and for the Humanities (NEA and NEH), the least popular of the Great Society programs included in the poll, are *viewed favorably by 51% of Americans and unfavorably by only 28%*. The NEA and the NEH offer federal support and funding for cultural and artistic projects. Medicare, which provides health insurance to Americans over 65, is the most popular of the Great Society federal benefits mentioned, with 76% liking the program and only 16% disliking it." [YouGov]*FIVETHIRTYEIGHT'S SENATE FORECAST: MOSTLY STABLE SINCE SPRING* - Nate Silver: "Our March forecast projected a Republicans gain of 5.8 seats….The new forecast is for a Republican gain of 5.7 seats. So it’s shifted ever so slightly — by one-tenth of a seat — toward being a toss-up. *Still, if asked to place a bet at even odds, we’d take a Republican Senate.* Of course, it can be silly to worry about distinctions that amount to a tenth of a seat, or a couple of percentage points. Nobody cares all that much about the difference between 77 percent and 80 percent and 83 percent. But this race is very close. When you say something has a 47 percent chance of happening, people interpret that a lot differently than if you say 50 percent or 53 percent — even though they really shouldn’t." [538]

*But note...* - Silver: "It’s important to clarify that *these forecasts are not the results of a formal model or statistical algorithm* — although it’s based on an assessment of the same major factors that our algorithm uses. (Our
tradition is to switch over to fully automated and algorithmic Senate forecasts at some point during the summer.)" [538]

*BLACK VOTE COULD BE KEY IN MIDTERMS* - Nate Cohn: "Black voters will play an outsize role in this year’s fight for control of the Senate. *Mississippi, Louisiana and Georgia are the three states where African-Americans represent the largest share of the population*, and North Carolina isn’t too far behind, at seventh on the list. According to the Census Bureau, the black share of the national electorate has dropped off in every midterm election since at least 1998. That could cripple Democrats in these states. But it is possible to imagine the black share of the electorate holding at 2012 levels in those states, or even increasing. It has happened before. In the 2002 Louisiana Senate runoff, Mary Landrieu, a Democrat, benefited from a small but surprising increase in the black share of the electorate, which rose by 0.6 of a percentage point between 2000 and the 2002 runoff, according to turnout data from the Louisiana secretary of state….Black turnout in Louisiana wasn’t higher in 2002 than it was in the 2000 presidential election. White turnout just dropped off more. The same thing happened in 1998, when the black share of the electorate nearly reached 30 percent, even higher than in the Democratic wave year of President Obama’s election in 2008." [NYT]*HUFFPOLLSTER VIA EMAIL!* - You can receive this daily update every weekday via email! Just click here, enter your email address, and click "sign up." That's all there is to it (and you can unsubscribe anytime).

*MONDAY'S 'OUTLIERS'* - Links to the best of news at the intersection of polling, politics and political data:

-Vox Pop (R) finds Joni Ernst (R) leading Bruce Braley (D) by 5 points in the Iowa Senate race. [Vox Populi]

-A Chism (D) poll of the Mississippi Senate runoff finds challenger Chris McDaniel (R) 3 points ahead of Thad Cochran. [Chism]

-A Suffolk poll finds the Massachusetts governor's' race narrow. [Suffolk]

-David Nir notes that the horserace questions were preceded by a long battery of other questions. [Daily Kos]

-Depression rates are higher among the unemployed. [Gallup]

-Simon & Schuster denies Hillary Clinton's camp is using her book site for data mining. [Buzzfeed] Reported by Huffington Post 9 hours ago.

Online Car Insurance Finder Now Actively Searches Consumer Rates in Real Time Online

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Online car insurance finder is now helping car owners to find rates for coverage plans at the Quotes Pros website. The finder system actively researches national and local rates at http://quotespros.com/auto-insurance.html.

Miami, FL (PRWEB) June 09, 2014

New technologies now exist throughout the automotive industry that are helping to impact consumer education in the U.S. The Quotes Pros company is now opening its online car insurance finder to the public to search consumer rates from agencies at
http://quotespros.com/auto-insurance.html.

This open system has been programmed to find local and national agencies currently discounting popular vehicle insurance products in North America. The complete system that is in place requires entry of a consumer zip code before rates are calculated for each type of insurance product requested.

"Our system provides one of the most secure Internet-based solutions for reviewing and evaluating rates from insurers without contacting companies one by one," said a Quotes Pros company rep.

The finder system is currently modified to allow research for full coverage, high risk, non owner and state minimum vehicle insurance plans companies are underwriting. Because the search database is open to the public, no information is collected from drivers outside of the zip code entry.

"The system that we have developed is a go between for car owners and insurance agencies that is accessible with a standard mobile or PC Internet connection," said the company rep.

The QuotesPros.com company is also introducing various formats to review other insurance agency products through the website. Consumers planning to explore exact quotations for life insurance or health insurance can immediately use the finder tool at http://quotespros.com/life-insurance.html.

This extra tool can be useful for delivering an excellent source of rates data to a person who is not actively researching online for motor vehicle insurance coverage.

About QuotesPros.com

The QuotesPros.com company has launched its interactive vehicle insurance quotation tool on the Internet for any vehicle owner to utilize for price reviews. This company has a team adding different agencies in the quote system to widen car owner research. The QuotesPros.com company has interactively programmed its system to provide monthly or annual pricing for coverage plans. Vehicle owners can access the insurer data 24/7 direct from the company homepage daily. Reported by PRWeb 9 hours ago.

Non Owner Car Insurance Quotes Now Displayed Automatically at Insurance Company Portal

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Non owner car insurance quotes are now displayed publicly through the Quotes Pros website. Drivers who require this customized coverage can receive an immediate quote at http://quotespros.com/auto-insurance.html.

Midland, TX (PRWEB) June 09, 2014

American insurance companies frequently revise coverage plans for motor vehicle owners to meet the needs of different drivers each year. The Quotes Pros company allows research of prices through its website and has added non owner car insurance quotes for motorists at http://quotespros.com/auto-insurance.html.

These non owner coverage plans provide a way to review insurance protection for a person who does not actually own a motor vehicle. Because all drivers in the U.S. are required to carry minimum protection, the non owner plans now available can introduce drivers to different ways to obtain coverage.

"The website system that we've setup for consumers to use this year is meant to provide an instant resource for price discovery of multiple forms of insurance coverage," said a Quotes Pros company rep.

The insurer finder tool actively promotes various coverage types to the public at the Quotes Pros website and now has the capability to provide pricing for more policies. Price structures for full coverage, high risk, liability, antique and car rental insurance are now immediately viewable entering the system.

"The current tools we've designed to provide insurer information to consumers offer an effective way to access many different companies aside from making personal contact with each agency offline," said the company rep.

The Quotes Pros website system has been built with consumers in mind and exploring non-automotive policies is also possible this year. Different prices for life insurance, business and health insurance are now displayed at http://quotespros.com/health-insurance.html.

About QuotesPros.com

The QuotesPros.com company has retained its position in the North American insurance market by opening up a database entirely accessible to vehicle owners. The car insurance rates program this company provides access to alerts the public of price drops and other deals in the industry. The QuotesPros.com company has expanded this year to include business, renters, life and health insurance products that are entirely quotable using the detailed system now on the homepage. Reported by PRWeb 8 hours ago.

Platform of the Unite America Party

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I am proud to present the 2014 platform of the newly founded Unite America Party. I am one of the small group of men and women founders, contributors and signatories to this historic document, which seeks to bring together ALL Americans who are frustrated with the current state of American dysfunctional politics and provide a quiet revolution of new policy ideas to end economic inequality and ignite the creative imagination of Americans who desire to make the United States of America a truly exceptional democracy that creates economic liberty, prosperity, opportunity and justice for all.

The current state of leadership is blind and morally insensitive to the systemic injustices of the economy in which the tax system, the monetary system, and the inheritance system represent barriers to addressing poverty and economic insecurity in a world where advanced technologies (i.e., non-human capital assets -- productive land infrastructure, tools, machines, super-automation, robotics, digitalized computer processing, etc.) are displacing the productiveness of income-producing labor (who contribute manual, intellectual, creative and entrepreneurial work) at an exponential rate. In binary economic terms, fundamentally, economic value is created through human and non-human contributions.

The growing imbalance between how wealth is produced and how it is earned and distributed cannot be corrected without connecting up every human being with the rights and powers of capital ownership. Otherwise, freedom and power will necessarily become increasingly monopolized by the ownership elite in partnership with the elite who capture political control of government.

Until moral leaders wake up to the principles of "The Just Third Way" and the countervailing power of the Capital Homesteading reforms to the tax system, the monetary system and inheritance laws for redesigning and implementing a fundamentally just and truly free market system based on genuinely equality of ownership opportunity, the economic powerlessness of most citizens will continue to get worse. "Own or Be Owned" can be understood by wage slaves, welfare slaves, charity slaves and consumer debt slaves. Eventually, slaves, unless moral leaders can begin promoting a new system, will wake up and revolt, and ultimately violently.

In order to combat this darkening future, religious and moral leaders must combine with a highly principled vision for a future economic system for overcoming poverty and mass powerlessness, a vision aimed at organizing the victims of today's unjust system until they can attain a level of well-organized "people power" that will demand rejection of old laws and adoption of new laws aiming at the "system solution" being promoted by the Unite America Party.

Only such a strategy can overcome the "fascism" of today's elitist partnership between the private sector monopolists of economic power and those who control the power of government. No power elite can stop the people (which includes wage slaves in the police and the military) from asserting whatever threshold of organized people power to demand principled changes to an inherently unjust economic system to one based on fundamentally just and reasonable moral principles grounded on the inherent dignity and freedom of every person. The system was by people. The new model can and will be re-created without violence by people . . . assuming moral leaders of all religions and belief systems wake up and have the courage to reach out and organize people power.

If principled people like you join us, we will win. Let's work together as loyal Americans to get over the name-calling and work to unite all Americans to support a more universally just future model for America. The rest of the world will follow the new model, whose essence is a major overhaul of the economic system to lift all monetary, tax and related institutional barriers to equal opportunity for every citizen to become an owner of wealth-producing capital -- without taking property rights away from existing owners.

*PLATFORM OF THE UNITE AMERICA PARTY
(Adopted unanimously on May 28, 2014)

PREAMBLE*The Unite America Party is reaching out to all who are seeking, and are ready to work together for, a positive and peaceful "Second American Revolution" inspired by the founding principles of our nation. This revolution of ideas, we believe, can unite all Americans and, by example, all of humanity, and move us toward a more hopeful and just future. Our mission and agenda are fully consistent with the spirit of the original American Revolution, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights; namely, to create economic liberty, prosperity and justice for all.

Why start a new party? Because all of the existing political parties are addressing the symptoms, not the structural causes, of a cancer within today's economic system that is increasing the feelings of polarization and pessimism in many Americans and other people around the world. Through our Platform and the universal principles of economic and social justice 1 it expresses, we seek to unite all Americans and existing political parties around the cure for that cancer.

We realize that some of the terms we use may be interpreted negatively by people coming from differing political philosophies. For this reason, we have carefully defined our terms 2 -- developed over the centuries and based on the writings of the great moral, religious and political philosophers 3 -- in presenting the logic and applications underlying our platform and program.

Ultimately, we believe that our Platform is more important than any party, including our own party. If any well-organized party or candidate wants to adopt our comprehensive Platform, they will have our support.
*I. THE PARTY'S PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS AND VISION OF THE FUTURE*The Unite America Party derives its vision from the history behind the Preamble of the Declaration of Independence adopted by Congress on July 4, 1776, which declares:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Our vision also has its roots in the language of the Preamble of the Constitution. This affirms the correct and limited role and mission of our national government, expressing that:

*We the People of the United States*, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

The vision of the Unite America Party is further supported by America's Bill of Rights, without which the Constitution would not have been approved by founders such as George Mason. These first ten amendments to the Constitution set limits on the power of the Federal government vis-à-vis the people, reinforcing the civilization-changing ideal that the true source of power and rights rests with the people, not government.

The Unite America Party bases much of its agenda and fundamental principles on the largely ignored Ninth Amendment of the Constitution, which reads:

The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

This Amendment subordinates the coercive powers of government to the God-given sovereignty, freedom, dignity and "unalienable rights" of each human person. Such fundamental human rights include the right to own property, which forbids turning people into property. These rights are inherent in human nature and are based on each person's capacity to reason and independently develop moral virtues, which America's founders devoted their "lives, fortunes and sacred honor" to defend.

By reviving popular understanding and support for America's founding principles, our Party will bring about a new unity among now divided Americans. We reject the premise that people are incapable of developing systems that would allow today's politically polarized Americans to work together and thrive. What distinguishes this new party is our approach to uniting Americans through a non-partisan coalition on the politically suppressed issue of who should own and control the future wealth of our nation.

The commitment of Americans to "property" was best expressed in the Virginia Declaration of Rights authored by George Mason and approved on May 15, 1776 by the Virginia Convention "as the basis and foundation of government." Section 1 of the Virginia Declaration's Preamble reads:

That all men are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, *with the means of acquiring and possessing property*, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.

Therefore, the question is, why did Thomas Jefferson leave out "property" when revolutionary thinkers like John Locke, Thomas Paine, John Adams and many others considered the preservation of private property rights as the highest purpose of government? Many believe that Jefferson, a slave owner, left out "property" as an essential founding principle in authoring the Declaration of Independence because he was not prepared politically to address America's "original sin" -- the institution of slavery.

Slavery violated the "unalienable" right of human beings to own themselves and other things that can help them become more independently productive to meet their consumption needs. Slavery dehumanized people by treating them as "things" whose bodies and economic productiveness would belong to and be totally controlled by the slave owners, not the enslaved victims.

America's Civil War, followed by Abraham Lincoln's successful promotion of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, ended the legality of the institution of slavery. Yet the current economic system of America and the world continues to perpetuate a more subtle form of slavery.

The Unite America Party seeks to emancipate and empower all of today's "wage slaves,""welfare slaves,""charity slaves," and "debt slaves." We will lift all unjust institutional and legal barriers to equal opportunity for every citizen to become an economically empowered owner of productive capital (in other words, wealth-creating, income-earning assets), without taking away property rights over existing assets from today's owners. We believe that a unified culture based on economic democracy, freedom and justice for all will inspire every child, woman and man to work collaboratively for the common good, which aims toward the prosperity and fullest development of every person.

The fundamental right of every person to become an owner is asserted in Article 17 of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 4 adopted on December 10, 1948 by the United Nations. Article 17 reads:

*(1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.*

*(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.*

It should be sadly noted, however, that no nation in the world systematically promotes and protects this fundamental human right. The Declaration, in promoting the right to own, would have been strengthened by adding the language in the Virginia Declaration of Rights emphasizing access to "the means of acquiring and possessing" property.

The central feature in the platform of the Unite America Party is its proposed Capital Homestead Act. 5 This proposal calls for a comprehensive restructuring of America's economic policies to grow a sustainable economy in ways that create a nation of citizen owners. As all citizens gain equal access to the most effective financial means to become owners -- through insured capital credit repayable with "future savings" 6 -- the growing dependency of most citizens today for their economic well-being on big government, big business, and big labor would be reversed.

The Capital Homestead Act is based on the Party's "Just Third Way" 7 philosophy. This philosophy embodies a morality, respect for life and human dignity, and sense of the common good that is more just than socialism (which institutionalizes envy) or capitalism (which institutionalizes greed). Because it is based on changing the system for financing future growth to equalize future ownership opportunities, Capital Homesteading will empower poor and middle-income Americans, without redistributing existing wealth from today's ownership elite.

Through the democratization of the economic system and money power (now controlled by today's super-rich in partnership with the political elite of both major parties) to all citizens under the Capital Homestead Act, our political democracy will be strengthened. With a more just foundation, the Unite America Party will attract authentic and responsible leaders to run for offices at all levels. From political independents and frustrated activists of other parties, the Party will seek out leaders who are willing to dedicate their lives to serving, teaching, and empowering others.

The Unite America Party will create, from the bottom up, the political order envisioned by America's revolutionary founders of "one nation under God, with liberty and justice for all." In similar fashion Abraham Lincoln, viewing America as "the last best hope of earth," offered ownership of America's western lands to property-less citizens through the Homestead Act of 1862.

By combining land grants supported by land grant universities under this Act, our young nation was elevated to the top of the most productive agricultural nations in the world. In turn, our agricultural success freed former farm workers to shift their creative initiatives to industry, commerce, education and research, development of new communities and infrastructure and today's advanced technology post-industrial frontier.

While the nation's land frontier is finite, our capital frontier has no known limits. We therefore can open up economic opportunity for all citizens to become owners, without having to take away anyone's private property rights or current accumulations.

We recognize and acknowledge that the principles set forth in the U.S. Constitution require a sound economic base upon which we can build a free and just social order. Without a fair and democratic economic system, society can never attain social justice. A government of, by and for the people can only be supported and sustained by a stable and just money system and a tax system that is fair and simple to understand.

As part of a movement respectful of civilization's most humanizing traditions, the Party can help overcome the so-called "clash of civilizations" by bringing out the best of all cultures in their common understanding of justice as a necessary moral framework for peace, freedom, and democracy. America, by creating a culture based on universal values and sound ideas, will serve as a model and beacon of hope for every nation seeking a more free, just, and life-enhancing future for all of its citizens.
*II. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL JUSTICE 8*The Unite America Party, following in the spirit of America's revolutionary founders, all of whom recognized that concentrated power is inherently corrupting, will promote economic democracy through equal ownership opportunities as a key to effective political democracy and freedom through the following measures:*• Create Economic and Social Justice Guided by Just Third Way 9
Principles and the Logic of Binary Economics 10*Consistent with traditional principles of social and economic justice, the agenda of the Unite America Party will build a just, market-based model of economic democracy, resting on four policy pillars of the Just Third Way:

1. *Democratize Capital Credit and Ownership of Wealth-Creating, Income-Generating Productive Assets*, in order to promote full and sustainable production, a life-enhancing environment, affordable shelter, democratic and transparent corporate governance, and rising property incomes for all. The moral omission of every economy on the globe is the total indifference of political leaders, academics, and the media to exclusionary barriers faced by ordinary citizens and the poor in gaining equal access to capital ownership and capital credit.

2. *Limit the Economic Power of the State*, in order to end special privileges and monopolies, especially discriminatory access by already wealthy people to the money-creation and credit powers of the Federal Reserve System.

3. *Restore Private Property Rights*, especially in corporate equity shares, by reversing laws and court decisions that deny capital owners: (a) full voting powers in corporate governance; (b) full transparency over management decisions; and (c) access to full profit distributions. Discriminatory double- and triple-taxation of corporate profits would be ended by full dividend payouts, with capital incomes taxed at the same rates as labor incomes. Furthermore, new capital would be financed by the issuance of new shares, to be purchased by workers and other new owners using capital credit. Capital credit would be insured to cover the risk of default and made repayable with the full stream of future profits earned on those shares.

4. *Restore True Free Markets and Just Trade* as the most democratic means to determine just prices, just wages, and just profits. This would eliminate monopolistic, bureaucratic, or other coercive or unjust attempts to substitute centralized control over economic choices for the more democratic, more objective, more free, and more efficient laws of supply and demand.

• *End Wage and Welfare Slavery through Ownership Incomes for Every Citizen*

We will reform American economic policy to shift from its present reliance on inflationary wages, job-destroying employer benefits, and incomes dependent on redistributing incomes earned by taxpayers. Instead, we will promote income independence for every citizen by accelerating investment in new wealth-creating, income-generating productive assets in ways that widely broaden individual capital accumulations, new jobs and property-based earnings, while improving ecological conditions for healthier lives and a healthier planet earth.

*• Expand Capital Ownership through Capital Homesteading*

We will enable every child, woman and man from birth to set up a personal Capital Homestead Account at a local bank and receive at least $7,000 of Federal Reserve-created, interest-free, and insured capital credit every year throughout their lives to invest their annual Capital Homestead credit allocation in newly issued corporate growth stock of an expanding private sector, with such credit repayable entirely with future pretax profits derived from the added productiveness of the newly formed capital assets.

We will reduce Social Security, Medicare and welfare benefits to the extent property incomes from accumulated assets in a citizen's tax-sheltered Capital Homestead Account replace that citizen's dependency on incomes redistributed from other taxpaying workers and capital owners. This would radically reduce future deficits for Medicare and Social Security, a mounting burden on future generations the present value of which is now projected at $129 trillion, 11 or a hidden debt of over $400,000 on every child, woman and man in today's America.

*• Lift Barriers to Universal Access to Money Power and Broad-Based Ownership of Newly-Created Capital Assets*

We will reactivate Section 13(2) of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 12 to supply asset-backed currency through the discount windows of each of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks in order to: (a) enable local commercial banks to finance sustainable, non-inflationary regional growth of industry, commerce, and agriculture through tax-sheltered Capital Homestead Accounts, (b) de-monopolize the power of money, productive credit and ownership and decentralize ownership power to every citizen as a new right of citizenship, and (c) restore an elastic, asset-backed reserve currency to replace the present government debt-backed currency system. We will amend the Federal Reserve Act to democratize share ownership of each of the 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks so that ownership rights and governing powers in each region's central bank would be exclusively and equally shared by each one of its regional citizens.

*• Create a Radically More Simple and Just Tax System*

We will control government spending through a national tax system 13 designed to: (a) encourage accelerated rates of investment, sustainable green growth in urban and rural communities, productive jobs, and widespread personalized ownership opportunities; (b) eliminate the double- and triple-tax on corporate profits and job-destroying Social Security, Medicare, and other payroll taxes; (c) continue to fund all personal entitlements out of general revenues until reduced and eventually exceeded by capital incomes earned through Capital Homestead Account assets; (d) eliminate all individual income taxes below a "living income" exemption of $30,000 per adult and $20,000 per dependent, (or $100,000 for a family of four); and (e) balance the Federal budget and gradually repay old debt through a single rate tax on all personal incomes above the taxpayer's "living income" exemptions.

We will enable all citizens to report their incomes from all sources on a postal card, while allowing corporations, as with subchapter S corporations, partnerships, and cooperatives, to avoid business income taxes by treating full dividend payouts and other profit-based distributions as business deductions, taxable only when received at the personal level. We will provide citizens whose incomes (whether from private charity or other sources) are below the poverty level, with a monthly voucher check to meet their basic subsistence needs until earned income from their Capital Homesteading dividends and labor incomes rises above the poverty level.

*• Avoid Concentrations in Wealth Transfers from One Generation to the Next*

We will advocate reforms to the laws dealing with inheritance and gift tax policies that encourage the top 5 percent of wealth-holders to distribute broadly their capital accumulations from one generation directly to the next, or through tax-sheltered Capital Homestead Accounts of individual members of their families, workers, teachers, the poor and disabled, and other citizens with little or no income-producing assets. Recipients would be subject to a one-time individual income tax on the gift or bequest, applied to the portion of the gift or bequest that brings their personal capital accumulations (excluding their primary residence) above $1 million.
*III. DOMESTIC AND HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES*We, the members of the Unite America Party, American Revolutionaries of the 21st Century, stand for the protection and preservation of the following social ideals:

*• Harmony in Relationships Between Moral, Religious, and Political Institutions*

The Unite America Party supports the power of people of faith to worship freely and to express their beliefs in the public square without coercive attempts on the part of government to diminish free expression. We will preserve the historic role of the various religions, deeply rooted in the founding of America as a revolutionary nation, to teach universal moral virtues. America's unity, we also reaffirm, is based on the freedom of every person to pursue his or her own religious and spiritual life within a religiously pluralistic society.

America was founded not only to protect freedom of religion but expressly prohibited government from "establishing" any religion or religious faction to dominate other religions or the freedom of belief of other citizens. When addressing the role of religion in society, we will seek to promote an atmosphere of mutual respect among people with differing views. No religious authority should be placed in a position where, as in some other nations, a group representing one set of religious beliefs is granted the coercive powers of government to infringe on the religious or spiritual freedoms of any individual, whether or not he or she belongs to any organized religion.

*• The Family as the Basic Social Institution of Society*

We will elevate the needs and concerns of the family (the basic social unit of any moral society) and the protection of children to the highest national priority in order to secure the advance of civilization. In the spirit of family unity, we will seek to eliminate the separation of family members through deportation of those who are not citizens, leaving other family members behind. Instead, we favor maximizing the opportunities of non-citizens to become citizens.

*• An Economic Agenda that Promotes Life, Dignity, Security, Property, and Freedom through Justice and Equality of Opportunity for Every Human Being*

Our Just Third Way 14 economic agenda would eliminate financial reasons for terminating a pregnancy, ending anyone's life due to costly health care for their illness, or limiting and impairing the life of any person. With economic security society can offer greater care, dignity and safety for mothers and their unborn.

By working together to heal the wounds of the past and provide full equality of social and economic opportunity, citizens will fulfill the ultimate promise of America's founders. Uniting under the fundamental principles of social and economic justice, Americans can work together to end poverty and eliminate social and economic injustices. This would radically reduce the economic roots of crime and terrorism, strengthen personal security, eliminate class barriers, and give birth to civilization's first model of a socially and economically just, free and prosperous society.

Our Party will promote equal respect and empowerment between every woman and man in all decision-making processes, from the level of the family to all levels of human interactions (including those of business, government, education, health, and other cultural associations) within communities, states, regions, nations and international bodies.

Culturally divisive issues (such as gun control, same-sex marriage and abortion) can be debated and settled in the marketplace of moral ideas, where economically free and independent citizens can use their powers of reason and persuasion to settle their differences, rather than through the coercive and at times oppressive powers of government.

*• Educational Choice and Responsibility of Parents*

To achieve quality education for all, the Unite America Party will promote taxpayer-supported educational vouchers for all families (until parents earn enough Capital Homesteading incomes to exercise their own choices) based on the measured educational needs of each child. In that way the primary responsibility and adequate resources for exercising choice of schooling will reside with parents, not with any monopoly of educational services. With greater parental choice, government would still set minimum educational standards, while teachers, school administrators and teachers' unions would have added incentives to collaborate with parents for closing the educational opportunity gap within the American educational system.

*• Lifetime Learning Opportunities for all Citizens*

Since political democracy assumes and requires educated, informed, and independent-thinking citizens, we will create a cultural environment that enhances quality-learning opportunities for all citizens at all stages of their lives. This would include financial education necessary for participating effectively as an empowered citizen-owner.

*• Universal Health Insurance and Reduced Costs for Funding New Medical Advances*

The Unite America Party will re-establish privacy and choice through one's own personal health plan rather than through an employer. We will encourage the private sector to offer universal catastrophic health care insurance, reinforced with health care vouchers for health care insurance for those who cannot afford it.

Under the new health care policy, Capital Homesteading credit would be provided to health plan subscribers and health plan providers -- the only two groups with a direct and immediate stake in quality health care. With access to low-cost capital credit and direct ownership opportunities, these two stakeholder groups could acquire control and become co-owners of comprehensive and competitive health care delivery systems. A restoration of power to stakeholders would help restore the sacred relationship between health care subscribers and providers that has been lost in many of today's Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs).

Furthermore, we will condition all taxpayer-supported medical research on royalty-free licensing of all patentable inventions in order to stimulate competition among suppliers and reduce the costs of producing pharmaceuticals and other life-enhancing health technologies.

*• Discouraging Judicial Activism that Threatens a Just Constitutional Order*

We will encourage the judiciary to return to the original intent of the founders in interpreting and ruling on the U.S. Constitution and discourage judges from making laws that should be left to elected legislators or to the people by referenda.

We will seek rulings from the Supreme Court that restore the original meaning to the Ninth and Tenth Amendments and reinstate the rights and powers of the people under the principles of natural law that govern right and wrong (which the founders understood and drew upon), and under the principles of English common law that existed prior to our nation's founding. Among the fundamental rights of the people that were supposed to be respected and preserved under the Constitution was universal access to "the means of acquiring and possessing property," a right which was expressly acknowledged under the Virginia and Massachusetts Declarations of Rights.
*IV. GLOBAL AFFAIRS, NATIONAL SECURITY AND THE ENVIRONMENT**• Offer More Creative and Just Approaches to Global Conflict Resolution*

The Unite America Party will promote a new model of a democratic nation-state that promotes and protects freedom of religion and belief for all individuals, and bans control over the coercive power of the government by any organized religious body. These freedoms are guaranteed under the First Amendment of the Constitution, which opposes laws "respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," as well as the first two articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948.

Based on Article 17 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stressing the right to property as a fundamental human right, the new nation-state should not own land or other natural resources. Instead, every child, woman and man should share an equal, lifetime, non-transferable ownership right and share equally in the profits and governing powers for preserving, extracting and renting economic uses of all of Nature's resources. Concerning America's national parks, ownership rights would be transferred to a national Citizens Land Bank governed by citizen-owners.

With respect to human-created economic technologies, rentable space, wealth-producing systems and ideas, and infrastructure, each citizen should be guaranteed equality to secure future ownership opportunities and the monetary and legal means to acquire and earn personal property rights over new and transferred income-producing assets. Economic democracy would thus become the ultimate check on potential abuses of concentrated economic power by any level of government, as well as by those controlling private monopolies of wealth and economic power.

By promoting economic democracy and grassroots empowerment through equal ownership opportunities, the Unite America Party's approach to global poverty eradication and conflict resolution will radically reduce global crime rates. It will also neutralize the influence of preachers of hate and violence who recruit economically powerless persons to enlist as suicide terrorists to use whatever weapons they can acquire to kill innocent citizens. The new nation-state would thus build a more unifying culture and a more just economic foundation for peace, prosperity and freedom in the West Bank/Gaza/Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan, poverty-stricken countries, and other unstable countries or regions that breed global terrorists.

*• Promote a New Global Standard for Currency Exchange Rates in a Global Common Market to Avoid Outsourcing of Productive Jobs to Countries with Lower Labor Costs*

We will convene a 21st century version of the Bretton Woods Conference. The first one was held in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire in July 1944, convened by the United States with 43 other allied nations during World War II to plan the design of the post-war global monetary and financial order. Besides leading to the formation of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, the conference decided to establish the U.S. dollar as the reserve currency for global trade.

Today many countries question that global decision, given the instability in the value of the U.S. dollar. (Over the last 70 years, the dollar's value has declined by 4,000 percent when measured by the increased price of an ounce of gold, from $35 to $1,400 today.)

The Unite America Party supports a new global conference to promote a more free and just global monetary and financial order consistent with principles of the Just Third Way. Such a conference would call for adoption of a fixed global standard for measuring the value of an elastic and asset-backed global reserve currency.

Going beyond the problematic gold standard, such a fixed global standard could be based on the average global cost of producing a kilowatt-hour, while adjusting currency exchange rates for trade among countries so that they take into account the lowest market labor rates in each country. This would create a more level playing field in tradable goods and services and stem the exploitative outsourcing of jobs to low-wage-paying countries and reduce pressures for protectionist trade policies that hurt all consumers.

*• Expand Global Markets for Commercial Uses of Advanced U.S. Technologies*

We will promote truly open global markets to enable America to sell advanced technologies and high-tech services that enhance civilized life for all, particularly for sustainable food and fiber production; clean fuel and renewable technologies; advanced information, health and agricultural systems; and consulting on Capital Homesteading financing strategies for turning workers and other citizens into shareholders within commercial, financial, industrial and agricultural enterprises.

Within all for-profit enterprises, non-profit organizations and government agencies, America should be introducing participatory and justice-based management and governance 15 systems to increase performance and efficiency.

*• Help Accelerate Third World Development and Debt Relief*

We will export the principles of the Just Third Way 16 and the financial technologies of Capital Homesteading 17 to all nations. This would democratize and accelerate economic growth in developing economies; reduce the economic and political pressures for individuals and family members to immigrate to other countries and leave behind their families, friends and cultures; neutralize and marginalize the preachers and teachers of global terrorism; systematize greater transparency to reduce public corruption; and build sustainable Just Third Way economies from the bottom-up.

We will cancel old debt of developing countries that resulted from borrowing funds that went to non-productive projects or that enriched corrupt political leaders and their cronies at the expense of their own people.

*• Promote Long-Term Stewardship of the Global Environment*

We will create a ten-year equivalent of the Marshall Plan or the "Race to the Moon" to conduct research, develop, and finance advanced sustainable energy technologies (many of which have already been developed by NASA and other Federal agencies but are not yet commercially available) that reduce the rising levels of carbon dioxide and other pollutants created from continued use of finite fossil fuels. We will seek collaboration among nations and global organizations to better define the issue and present real world solutions that will not reward special interests nor cripple national economies.

We will seek to rapidly reduce America's dependency on oil and fossil fuels by shifting to renewable sources of energy, so that existing reserves will not be depleted before a "safety cushion" is preserved in the ground to handle future emergencies within an increasingly more fragile and technologically dependent world.

We will seek to design and build technologically and environmentally sound public transportation systems in cities and metropolitan areas currently without them, which are convenient and safe for those seeking alternatives to the use of motor vehicles and traditional urban transit systems. This will reduce pollution and motor vehicle accidents, decrease the use of fossil fuels, reduce traffic gridlock, and allow non-drivers access to the advantages of city life.

*• Transform the United Nations and other International Organizations to Promote Economic Democracy as an Essential Foundation for Spreading Political Democracy Globally*

We will use America's superpower status to bring together a coalition of free and democratic countries unified to support the Just Third Way. We will advocate among friendly nations the transformation or replacement of the United Nations as a global institution for advancing global peace, prosperity and freedom through global economic, social, and political justice. Such a global institution would promote peacemaking efforts that draw upon grassroots initiatives that make all people participatory shareholders in peace.

*• Improve National Security by Winning the War of Ideas*

We will strengthen and transform the national security policy of America and its coalition partners by launching, unilaterally if necessary, a Just Third Way offensive in the war of ideas. To eliminate the breeding grounds for recruiting extremists and religious and other terrorists, this new national security policy would be immediately followed by more effective bottom-up assistance from United States and international development agencies for delivering ideas and strategies that encourage higher levels of economic and social justice for all citizens within poor and underdeveloped countries.

We will limit American military intervention as a last resort in winning the War on Global Terrorism. Instead, America should use its superpower military and economic status to lead other nations in advancing the efforts of global governance bodies and Just Third Way initiatives that promote the dignity and quality of life for all people. We should also supply, unilaterally if necessary, all forms of assistance to Just Third Way advocacy groups struggling to overcome genocidal dictatorships in all countries that harbor terrorists and other threats to global peace.

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References
1 http://www.cesj.org/learn/definitions/defining-economic-justice-and-social-justice/
2 http://www.cesj.org/learn/definitions/just-third-way-glossary/
3 http://www.cesj.org/resources/reference-tools/quotes-collection/
4 http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/
5 http://www.cesj.org/learn/capital-homesteading/capital-homestead-act-summary/
6 http://www.cesj.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/formationofcapital_cesj.pdf/
7 http://www.cesj.org/learn/just-third-way/
8 http://www.cesj.org/learn/definitions/defining-economic-justice-and-social-justice/
9 http://www.cesj.org/learn/just-third-way/why-we-need-just-third-way/
10 http://www.cesj.org/learn/binary-economics/binary-economics-in-a-nutshell/
11 http://www.usdebtclock.org/
12 http://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/section13.htm
13 http://www.cesj.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/C-taxnotes05-1024.pdf
14 http://www.cesj.org/learn/just-third-way/
15 http://www.cesj.org/resources/articles-index/justice-based-management-a-system-for-building-an-ownership-culture/
16 http://www.cesj.org/learn/just-third-way/why-we-need-just-third-way/
17 http://www.cesj.org/learn/capital-homesteading/capital-homestead-act-summary/

* * * * *
FOR COPIES: http://www.cesj.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/uap-platform.pdf

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Norm Kurland, Co-Founder, Unite America Party
Email: normk@uniteamericaparty.org
Mail: P.O. Box 40711, Washington, D.C. 20016
Phone: 703 243 5155 | Fax: 703 243 5935

Gary Reber, Co-Founder, Unite America Party
Email: garyr@uniteamericaparty.org
26864 Mandelieu Drive, Murrieta, CA 92562
Phone: 951 676 4914 Reported by Huffington Post 7 hours ago.

Cheap Automobile Insurance Agency Prices Now Viewable at Public Insurer Portal

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Cheap automobile insurance agency prices can now be viewed using the portal at the Quotes Pros company website. More affordable coverage plans are now accessible from http://quotespros.com/auto-insurance.html.

Detroit, MI (PRWEB) June 09, 2014

Conducting comparisons of companies before buying automotive insurance plans is one way that some American drivers are cutting rising coverage costs. The Quotes Pros company is now allowing public review of its cheap automobile insurance agency prices found in the quote center at http://quotespros.com/auto-insurance.html.

A resource for drivers to explore various rates has been included in the automated system since the first of this year. Because the system is now updated monthly, there are now larger groups of affordable insurance agencies that are accessible to car owners researching rates online.

"The agencies that are participating in the quotes calculations that exist on our website are mixed by state and any driver can find more than one coverage product," said a Quotes Pros source.

The intended use of the public system is to provide a way to review companies before a policy is purchased. The reviews for pricing that are now in place should help alert car owners of recent markdowns or one-time exclusives for annual plans.

"There are companies in our system that are new startups as well as established agencies that can provide a very competitive price structure for a driver regardless of past tickets or accidents," said the source.

The Quotes Pros company expects usage to increase for its quotation website this year based on the auto industry partners that are now networked in the company database. Consumers not searching for prices for automobile insurance can still find coverage plans for life, health and renters coverage at http://quotespros.com/renters-insurance.html.

About QuotesPros.com

The QuotesPros.com company is one independent company continuing to allow consumer use of its insurance industry tools on the Internet. The different company policies and price structures promoted in North America by independent agencies can be found through the QuotesPros.com website. The vehicle insurance and health insurance policies that are offered for exploration on the company website are fully quotable when accessing the system. Different companies are added regularly for consumers to evaluate. Reported by PRWeb 5 hours ago.

Accu Care Home Health Services of New York and MEDsys Software Solutions Execute Agreement

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NY Based LHCSA signs software agreement with MEDsys.

Perrysburg, OH (PRWEB) June 10, 2014

MEDsys Software Solutions, an industry leader in software solutions for the Home Care Industry announced the execution of an agreement to provide Accu Care Home Health Services of Rensselaer, NY its software solution. This includes VinCENT’s Skilled Nursing Software for Pediatrics and Adult Nursing. Additionally, Accu Care will use VinCENT’s Software for their Aide Services and will utilize VinCENT’s billing module to directly bill New York State Medicaid, other health insurance plans and private clients.

Accu Care provides skilled and paraprofessional home care services to adult and pediatric clients for a large geographical area surrounding the Capital Region of New York.

The selection of MEDsys as their exclusive software solution was based on a long and extensive search to find the right product that could meet all their company’s needs as well as being able to provide customized reporting. MEDsys’s VinCENT Software is an industry leading, comprehensive business management solution that automates workflow, integrates critical clinical and client data, HR, payroll and billing information into an intuitive, streamlined system.

Both Mary Pat Hopper RN and JoAnn R. Curry RN, the principles of Accu Care, are looking forward to partnering with MEDsys Software Solutions. “We are very excited that we have finally found a state of the art software product that will save time, integrates all the client, employee and back office information and has customized reporting. As a Licensed Home Health Care Services Agency in New York we have a number of specific needs and MEDsys is the solution that works for us.”

According to Ritch Adams, CEO of MEDsys Software Solutions, MEDsys is extremely delighted to partner with Accu Care and its unique needs of their clients. We look forward to helping Accu Care continue to be a leader in patient care by utilizing our unique heritage in home care and providing the state of the art Software Tools to help support their strong belief and proven ability in patient satisfaction."

About MEDsys Software Solutions

Developed by industry experts with over 250 years combined experience, Medsys is the complete agency solution for all business lines in Home Care. MEDsys cloud based software solution with the latest technology offers convenient, real-time data exchange and has the state of the art Point of Care. Our software solution streamlines business operations, increases and measures the quality of care being delivered and in turn drives profitability. MEDsys VinCENT software solutions support Medicare, Medicaid, Skilled and non-skilled Private Duty, Pediatrics and Adult Nursing. VinCENT Electronic Visit Verification is the leading time and attendance product supporting both the home care agency, Managed Care Organizations and State Programs.

MEDsys is the only choice for Home Care Agencies as we offer one software solution that can manage all business lines. We offer powerful tools to automate and mange workflow. Our unique heritage has empowered our software to be personalized for the unique needs of any home care agency. Our exceptional customer service team are experienced in working for Home Care agencies and software companies. Our World Class Support and Dedicated Account Management Team frees up your time as we become an extension of your agency.

About Accu Care Home Health Services, Inc

Accu Care was started in 1985 by JoAnn R. Curry and Mary Pat Hopper, both Registered Professional Nurses with over twenty-five (25) years of nursing experience. Having worked in various aspects of the nursing field throughout their careers, they realize the importance of providing quality nursing care to individuals in a home care setting.
Accu Care Home Health Services philosophy is to have services provided to every client reflect the uppermost aspect of professionalism. This includes confidentiality, respect, compassion, developed skills, punctuality, and proper attire. All of these aspects of professionalism are necessary when providing quality services. This philosophy is conveyed to all employees at the time of hire and are expected to maintain this attitude when providing care to their clients. Accu Care is committed to providing a level of quality of care that encourages the safe and cost-effective delivery of home health services.

Accu Care Home Health Services, Inc. is licensed by New York State Department of Health and is available to serve residents of Albany, Columbia, Greene, Fulton, Montgomery, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady and Warren counties. Reported by PRWeb 17 minutes ago.

Experient Health Offers Summer Swimming Safety Tips In Latest Blog Post

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The Blog series - Live Well, Work Well - aims to help the community live healthier, safer lives, which the health insurance company sees as a cornerstone to the preventative healthcare model.

(PRWEB) June 10, 2014

Summer is a great time to go swimming, and pools and beaches come to life with families enjoying the water. Swimming is a form of cardio exercise as well as a fun way to get a reprieve from the hot sun.

But it can also be dangerous when safety tips are not followed.

In its latest Blog post, as part of its "Live Well, Work Well" series, Experient Health offers tips for staying safe this summer in the water. Experient Health, a Virginia Farm Bureau company, uses its Blog to help the community live healthier lives and better understand changes in health insurance amid health care reform and how to select the right insurance for them, their families and employees.

In the swimming safety post, Experient Health offered the following tips:· Never swim alone. The buddy system should always be in effect, and it’s best if there is a lifeguard present.

· Always supervise children who are in or near water. If a child is missing, check the water first—seconds count if the child is underwater.

· Do not dive in shallow or unfamiliar water, and be aware of hidden obstacles that might be in the water.

· Stay hydrated by drinking water; avoid caffeine and especially alcohol.

· Don’t swallow the water you’re swimming in, and avoid swimming with open wounds—you don’t want to allow harmful germs into your body.

· Reapply sunscreen frequently; the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) no longer allows sunscreen products to claim to be “waterproof” because, depending on the sunscreen you choose, they typically only offer the stated SPF protection for up to 40 or 80 minutes when in water.

To learn more about Experient Health, contact one of its benefits consultants.

To get health insurance quotes in Virginia, visit the Virginia Farm Bureau's online quote engine. Reported by PRWeb 4 minutes ago.

Is Your Personal Health Information Secure? Versio Comments on News of Recent Cyber-Attacks

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“Hospital on Defense for Cyber-Attacks”* was the title of an article published by the Boston Herald on April 1st.

(PRWEB) June 10, 2014

The article revealed that the Internet connection serving all Boston-area hospitals is attacked about every seven seconds, prompting Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center to block about 98 percent of incoming emails, the hospital’s chief information officer, Dr. John Halamka, said.

“Most often, people do this in Eastern Europe and China because they want to use it as a spam relay.” Of much greater concern, Halamka said, is organized crime involving the theft and sale of electronic medical records to people who may use those records to pay for operations and treatment. Other thieves may use the data to falsify drug prescriptions or to steal a doctor’s license number. A single patient's medical record is worth $50 on the black market, according to a panel of cyber security specialists at the Digital Health Conference held in 2011.

The Ponemon Institute released a survey on this topic in March 2014. That survey found that criminal attacks have surged in the past four years, from accounting for 27 percent of health care data breaches in 2011 to 40 percent this year.

Protecting Personal Health Information (PHI) has become exceedingly complex as health systems convert from paper records to electronic. There are literally hundreds of ways patient information can be compromised and the tools we are provided are generally inadequate to meet regulations as required by HIPAA. (HIPAA stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, a US law designed to provide privacy standards to protect patient’s healthcare information.)

Versio by ScribeRight (Versio) has been in the clinical documentation industry for over 14 years. As CEO, Lisa Pike, has said, “HIPAA is ridiculously strict and incredibly vague.” This strict/vague conundrum has some organizations over-compensating and others not being careful enough, albeit unwittingly. “At Versio, we take PHI security very seriously. Our mission is to ensure that every patient has an accurate health record and that organizations can count on us to keep those records secure,” said Ms. Pike

The Director of Technical Services for Versio, Thom Steinert, shared some thoughts regarding data security.

Q: What do you see as the biggest threat to data security in any organization?
TS: Unfortunately, people are the weak link in security. Much of the time lack of training and awareness is to blame, but even authorized users are subject to being careless.

Q: What are some simple steps to ensuring data security is top-of-mind in the organization?
TS: Develop an in-house awareness program. Broadcast security reminders regularly and plan training sessions to occur at scheduled intervals.

Q: How often should an organization review their data security policies?
TS: At least annually. There is constantly an opportunity to learn new ways to avoid threats.

Q: What kinds of threats we will see more of in the future?
TS: I see the biggest threat downstream will come from social media such as Facebook, etc. There are no more barriers to what individuals will put online so the trend toward carelessness will continue to amplify.

Q: What are some resources organizations can tap into for information on best practices?
TS: Stay in touch with counterparts in the industry and pay attention to trends. Many companies find that outsourcing to data security professionals brings expertise to the organization they might not find locally.

About Versio: The Renton firm has been at the forefront of quality healthcare documentation since it was established as ScribeRight Transcription Agency in 2000, and it continues to meet the dynamic needs of the industry today. The company has adopted the new name Versio to reflect the company’s expanded service offerings. Medical data are full of inconsistencies that make it nearly impossible for conventional technology to convert it accurately. The Versio program utilizes a suite of proprietary technologies and processes, combined with detailed human review in the form of knowledgeable and experienced medical data translation specialists. This hybrid approach forms an extra layer of quality control, providing clients with results that are unmatched in the industry. The process can also be applied to paper medical records.

For additional information regarding Versio, visit http://www.myVersio.com

*1Szaniszlo, Marie. "Hospital on Defense for Cyber-Attacks." . Boston Herald, 1 Apr. 2014. http://bostonherald.com/business/healthcare/2014/03/hospital_on_defense_for_cyber_attacks Reported by PRWeb 1 day ago.

Endometriosis Bible and Violet Protocol Review Introduces How To Treat Endometriosis Naturally – Vinaf.com

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Endometriosis Bible and Violet Protocol guides people on how to cure their endometriosis effectively. An overview on the website Vinaf.com shows if the program is worth buying.

Tampa, FL (PRWEB) June 10, 2014

Endometriosis Bible And Violet Protocol is a new program developed by Zoe Brown, who has many years of experience in the health industry. The program introduces to people natural remedies, and detailed instructions on how to cure their endometriosis naturally and quickly. In the program, people will discover ways to beat chronic fatigue and boost their energy levels. Since Zoe Brown released the program, she has received many positive comments from customers regarding to their success. Therefore, the website Vinaf.com tested the program and has revealed an overview.

The detailed overview on the website Vinaf.com indicates that Endometriosis Bible And Violet Protocol takes people step-by-step through the process of learning how to get rid of pelvic pain, infertility, diarrhea, constipation, lower back pain, abdominal pain. Buying the program, people will get some special gifts from the author. Firstly, people will have the “Health Insurance System – Back Door” book, the “Burn Your Body Fat Off And Boost Your Metabolism” book, and the “Natural Detox – How To Detox Naturally” book. Secondly, the author offers the “PMS To PPD – Understanding The Phases Of The Female Body” book and the “Endometriosis Bible” book. Finally, people will receive the “Pregnancy Nutrition By Zoe Brown” book, the “Stretch Marks Resolved” book, and the “Beginner’s Guide To A Health Pregnancy” book.

Mercy Kane from the website Vinaf.com says, “Endometriosis Bible And Violet Protocol is the unique program that teaches people how to cure their endometriosis. The program is designed simply for people to follow with ease. Moreover, people will have 60 days to decide if they want to keep the program or get their money back."

If people want to get pros and cons of the product, they should visit the site: http://vinaf.com/endometriosis-bible-and-violet-protocol-review/

If people want to know more information of the overview of the product, get a direct access to the official site:
__________________

About Mercy Kane, Mercy Kane is an editor of the website Vinaf.com. He provides people with many reliable reviews on health, lifestyle. People can send any question or feedback to him on any digital product via email. Reported by PRWeb 23 hours ago.

No Straight Answer For Surgery Costs

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*Rebekah Eliason for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online*

For most products, consumers have access to a wealth of data and information to guide them in a purchasing decision. When it comes to health care, especially the price of surgical procedures, information is nearly impossible to find.

According to a new study from the University of Iowa, the quote for prostate cancer surgery varied between 100 hospitals by a 13-fold range. When comparing prices, the team found a wide range of $10,100 to $135,000 as a price estimate with an average of $35,000, which is more than twice as much as the Medicare reimbursement.

Out of the 100 hospitals, only 10 provided cost estimates for anesthesia and the surgeon, which are both essential elements in the pricing of surgical procedures. Only three hospitals were willing to give a hard copy of the charges.

“Such variability in pricing can produce significant confusion for consumers who are accustomed to the rules of free-market economics, which equate higher fees with higher quality,” write the UI researchers, in the journal Urology. “Unfortunately, in health care, this has not been found to be true.”

Prostate disease is an enormous health concern in the US and accounts for 28 percent of cancer diagnoses in men. According to the American Cancer Society, approximately $12 billion is spent each year for the treatment costs of prostate disease. Government figures estimate 138,000 prostate surgeries are performed yearly. Although the disease is common and surgeries are commonly performed, it is still difficult to find an accurate price quote.

According to Bradley Erickson, assistant professor in urology at the UI and corresponding author of the study, this is partly due to the system itself since what hospitals charge for a procedure does not reflect actual costs.

He explained that the hospital quote is similar to the opening salvo of a negotiation with the health insurance provider. When this is the case, the higher the hospitals quote the more negotiation room and potential for high reimbursement.

“These (hospital) charges don’t mean anything,” Erickson notes. “There’s no weight behind them.”

Essentially this means that consumers are provided with inflated figures putting them “at a significant disadvantage,” according to Erickson. Also, consumers have no access to how well a hospital performs prostate cancer surgeries since they only divulge the data to government agencies.

That lack of transparency is “a huge problem,” Erickson says. “It doesn’t really incentivize any place to improve outcomes, because no one is holding us individually accountable for it.”

Erickson noted that under the new Affordable Care Act, the inability to find accurate pricing may be worrisome to health-care consumers who may face higher deductibles. “We’re not ready for it (pricing transparency), because most hospitals can’t tell you how much they charge,” he says. “And the ones that do aren’t based on reality.”

This study on prostate cancer surgery costs follows a similar study by UI published last year regarding the price for hip replacement, in which they found that estimated costs ranged from $11,100 to $125,798.

The findings also agree with findings from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

The authors from the University of Montreal and Harvard Medical School write in a separate editorial comment, “The discrepancy in pricing highlights the substantial incongruity between the actual costs of a surgical procedure and the hospital charges. It would be highly implausible that the exact same procedure is 13 times more expensive to deliver at one hospital relative to another.” Reported by redOrbit 15 hours ago.

North Carolina is the 9th most stressed-out state

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North Carolina ranks No. 9 on a list of the most stressed-out states, according to a national survey by Movoto. Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey and factors such as length of commute, unemployment, hours worked, population density, percentage of income spent on housing and percentage of population without health insurance, Movoto – a real estate brokerage firm that operates in 30 states – reports the top 10 most stressed-out of the lower 48 states are as follows: 1.… Reported by bizjournals 21 hours ago.
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