It is indeed the season. Yes, it's that magical time of year when the wee folk of Capitol Hill actually get something done. These brief bursts of activity only happen very rarely, of course, and always immediately proceed another one of the many, many long vacations Congress takes during the year.

Before the end of next week (so they can take a full three weeks off for the end of the year, of course), Congress has a lot on its plate to deal with. The House began the circus by boldly passing yet another "we hate that Obama is president" bill, showing what it considers crucially important to them.

The dangerous thing about these sprees of actual bill-passing, however, is that because there is so much frenetic legislative activity, it's easier to hide unpopular things in the midst of the frenzy. Both parties are guilty of this sort of thing, mostly because the public is so easily distracted. It's hard to get as outraged at a dozen things happening simultaneously, so most of them will escape any kind of scrutiny at all. Hey, 'tis the season, right?

Here's just one example out of many: John McCain is pushing a rider to the defense authorization bill (the funding for the Pentagon, in other words) that would allow Native American lands to be turned over to a mining company (who, incidentally, co-owns another big mine with Iran). Thought screwing the Indians out of their land was a thing of the past? Think again! An Apache spokesman responded by stating: "Since time immemorial [our] people have gone there. That's part of our ancestral homeland. We've had dancers in that area forever -- sunrise dancers -- and coming-of-age ceremonies for our young girls that become women. They'll seal that off. They'll seal us off from the acorn grounds, and the medicinal plants in the area, and our prayer areas." Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! This happened during a week when an independent study was unveiled which concluded that Native American youth and education are in "a state of emergency." Maybe they can all get jobs working the mines, or something.

Of course, what Congress really has to accomplish before the end of the year is to pass a budget and to change the tax code (because it is the last chance they will have to do so before everyone files for the 2014 tax year). The big budget battle is scheduled for next week, so stay tuned for that. The big tax battle is happening now, mostly behind closed doors. Because both of these are big, complicated bills, the lobbyists are in a frenzy to insert all sorts of goodies they hope nobody will notice. Such as gutting the Dodd-Frank financial reform law that kept big banks from gambling on derivatives with taxpayer-insured funds. Just to show you how bipartisan this kowtowing to Wall Street is, the provision (written by a Citigroup lobbyist) was inserted into a budget debate by Representative Jim Himes, a Democrat from Connecticut. When it was last attempted, it passed the House with 70 Democratic "aye" votes (122 Democrats, to their credit, voted against it).

Then there are the more-visible tax shenanigans happening to "temporarily extend" tax breaks for everyone who can afford a lobbyist (translation: not you and me), such as NASCAR track owners (you just can't make this stuff up). Harry Reid tried to put together a package to make many of these tax breaks permanent, but President Obama shot that idea down with a veto threat (because Harry threw wind energy tax breaks, the Earned-Income Credit, and the Child Tax Credit under the bus).

But it's not just Democrats who are ignoring key principles their party is supposed to believe in and fight for. Republicans were going to go along with the deal, even though it added 450 billion dollars to our national debt over the next decade. So much for the deficit hawks, eh? This $450 billion would not be paid for or offset in any way, meaning it's all essentially borrowed money. Not one single peep was heard from the entire Republican Party over all this deficit spending -- not one. I imagine there'd be a bit of an outcry once the Republican base got wind of it (if it had passed John Boehner's House) but so far... nothing. Again, so much for bedrock party principles.

It's easy to blame the mainstream media for not adequately covering this stuff, but in the spirit of the season, we're going to let them off the hook, because there were so many other stories that they also were busily and studiously ignoring -- like the one where an ultra-right-wing anti-immigrant homegrown terrorist shot up a Texas city in the name of his twisted concept of religion. The religion? Christianity, not Islam. If the same thing had happened and the guy had been carrying a Koran, imagine how different the news coverage would have been (and the sheer volume of it)!

Speaking of Islamic terrorism, yet another congressional investigation run by a Republican wrapped up and released its findings on the Benghazi attack. These findings amounted to: "Everything Fox News has ever said about Benghazi is completely false and there is no evidence for any of their conspiracy theories." Yet another big story the mainstream media (including the non-Fox media) largely chose to ignore, after breathlessly reporting on every rumor and crackpot theory for two years.

In other religious news, a Republican congressional staffer thought it'd be amusing to take cheap shots at the two Obama children, while passing a heaping amount of judgment on their parents as well. This quickly degenerated into "slut-shaming" the girls for the outfits they wore. After a weekend of outrage online, the staffer then attempted to apologize: "I reacted to an article and quickly judged the two young ladies in a way that I would never have wanted to be judged myself as a teenager. After many hours of prayer, talking to my parents and re-reading my words online, I can see more clearly how hurtful my words were. Please know that these judgmental feelings truly have no place in my heart." So, either these feelings had no place in her heart -- in which case she was publicly bearing false witness -- or she does indeed believe what she wrote and is just lying about it now. Hopefully, some of those hours of prayer included meditation on the Bible verse: "Judge not, that ye be not judged." Her apology wasn't enough, and she was forced to resign Monday morning. Now she'll have a whole lot of time for such self-reflection.

The city of San Francisco, after passing a $15-per-hour minimum wage, followed it up by passing a "retail workers' bill of rights" to end abusive practices by corporate franchises. Didn't hear about it on the evening news? Well, they had other things to obsess over in the past two weeks, didn't they?

Last year, the media went into overdrive to report night after night on the Obamacare website's many problems. Compare this coverage to this year -- the website is working fine, handling more people than ever, and half a million used it in the first week to sign up for health insurance. There's actually lots of good news on the health care front, shown by such headlines as: "U.S. Experiences Unprecedented Slowdown In Health Care Spending" -- that's a literal use of "unprecedented," since they've never before seen this happen in the half-century they've been collecting data. Missed that nugget on the evening news? So did I, but it doesn't surprise me much.

One good thing happening in the background of all the congressional dealmaking is that Democrats seem to be standing up for the legalization of marijuana in Washington DC. The citizens of the District overwhelmingly voted for a referendum to do so, and while one House Republican swears he's going to derail the new law any way he can think of, Democrats seem to be holding firm that no such measure will be attached to any spending bill that will get any of their votes.

While the only thing the mainstream media can comprehend is the immigration fight and the bare bones of the budget maneuvering, there is a whole lot more going on in the background, and it's only going to intensify over the next week (so that the congresscritters can all take the rest of the month off, of course). Pay close attention, because it is indeed that very special time of year when Congress actually does more than just posture for the cameras. 'Tis the season, indeed.

 

We're going to have to present the *Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week* award anonymously this week, due to the closed-door nature of who is getting it. We could give it to Nancy Pelosi, since she is the leader of the House Democrats, but until someone actually goes on the record standing up for the idea, it'll have to remain anonymous.

Buried in a Washington Post article on how House Democrats are using their considerable leverage with John Boehner over what gets into the "cromnibus" budget bill (which is due to be unveiled on Tuesday and must pass by Thursday to avoid another government shutdown) was the following interesting sentence: "Any attempt to block the District of Columbia from legalizaing [sic] marijuana also would earn the ire of Democrats, aides warned."

I expounded yesterday on the importance of this, because if true (and if they stick to their guns) it marks a big turning point. Congressional Democrats will -- for the first time ever -- be fighting politically for the concept of legalizing recreational marijuana. Previously, in a somewhat halfhearted manner, some Democrats have felt confident enough of their own voters' wishes to stand up for medical marijuana, but this is the first time the Democratic Party is drawing a line in the sand in a budget battle with Republicans over recreational weed.

I have said all along that this issue is only going to grow in political importance, and will be a major component of the 2016 race (since many states held off on attempting a legalization ballot measure until a presidential year, when more Democrats vote). If House Democrats are banding together and using the issue as leverage, it shows that the party may have gotten over being afraid of its own shadow on the subject. This is a very heartening shift, if true.

But since no Democrat has come out and publicly claimed their leadership in this fight (unnamed "senior Democratic aides" don't count), we have to rather anonymously offer up this week's *Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week* award to whomever put his or her foot down and said: "We should stand up for this issue -- it won't hurt us politically, and it's the right thing to do."

If a champion of DC's new legalization law does come forward soon, then we will transfer over ownership of this award immediately. This week's "Golden Backbone" statuette is ready for engraving, in other words. All we need is a name.

 

This one, sadly, is pretty easy to identify.

Senator Chuck Schumer made some news this week when he used a speech to publicly admonish his party for passing Obamacare when they held both houses of Congress. What Schumer said, on the face of it, seemed reasonable enough -- that the Obamacare debate took up too much time and attention and Democrats should have been busy passing jobs bills and economy-boosting measures instead.

What Schumer didn't speak to, however, is that there was absolutely nothing stopping Democrats from doing multiple things at once. They held the House, by a comfortable margin. For the year and a half that Obamacare took to get passed, there was nothing stopping Democrats from passing any jobs bill they wanted. Or immigration reform, for that matter. Or any other sort of legislation they dreamed up. All of these bills could have made it through the House (many of them, in fact, did) and then when Al Franken was finally seated as the 60th Senate Democrat, Harry Reid could have just zipped them all through and placed them on Obama's desk to sign. Of course, they only held this supermajority in the Senate for two months (one of which they took off on vacation), until Ted Kennedy's untimely death. But still, there was nothing stopping them from walking and chewing gum at the same time.

There was only one thing that prevented this from happening, in fact, which is why the timing of Schumer's speech was so odd. With a more robust Majority Leader, more good things might have happened in the Senate. Harry Reid allowed the Obamacare bill to languish for months and months before finally moving on it. If another Majority Leader had different priorities (or less patience with people like Max Baucus and Joe Lieberman), it is a certainty that more could have been accomplished.

Which is why the timing was so strange. If Schumer had stood up and said what he did a few weeks earlier, then he could have mounted a leadership challenge to Reid -- who may lose his 2016 re-election campaign in Nevada anyway. But Schumer decided to vent right after Reid's reconfirmation as Democratic leader in the Senate for the next two years.

Schumer is one of two Democrats who will likely duke it out for the Senate leadership, whenever Harry Reid does step down (Dick Durbin is the other). If he truly felt so strongly that Democrats in the Senate had their priorities so out of whack under Reid, then the honorable thing to do would have been to state this loudly before the leadership elections in the Democratic caucus -- not after. Schumer then could have mounted a challenge for Reid's spot.

He chose not to do so. If he feels so strongly about the direction of the party, then he should try to lead it in a different direction. He obviously didn't. His carping came a day late and a dollar short. Which is why we feel Chuck Schumer is the only possible candidate for this week's *Most Disappointing Democrat Of The Week* award. Not for speaking his mind and trying to change the direction of his party -- but for waiting until it was meaningless for him to do so.

[Contact Senator Charles Schumer on his Senate contact page, to let him know what you think of his actions.]

 

*Volume 329* (12/5/14)

Because it is the season of goodwill towards all, we are going to offer up some very positive talking points this week.

Democrats, as a whole, are notoriously reluctant to proclaim any sort of good news. They're even more shy about claiming any credit for good news. Now, it's obviously debatable how much influence politicians have over some of this stuff, but there are two enormous reasons why Democrats should focus on good news now and again. The first is that if the tables were turned, Republicans certainly wouldn't be shy about tooting their own horn (deserved or not). And the second is that if the news were gloomier, the Republicans would certainly not hesitate to attach all of the blame to Democrats (see: the past 50 years or so). Good or bad, Republicans are a lot better at hammering on such themes, you've got to admit.

In this particular point in time, Democrats are also shying away from proclaiming any good news because it might seem insensitive to those who haven't seen any tangible benefit from the good news. We've just been through the era of the Great Recession, and any hint of Pollyannaism would have appeared out of touch with average Americans' lives.

But at some point, that's got to give way to some degree of optimism -- especially when there is so much good news to choose from. America is doing better now, and even better days lie immediately ahead. So spread a little holiday cheer, for Pete's sake!

[Note: We simply have to give credit where credit is due -- this week's talking points were in large part inspired by a fantastic recent article from Eric Boehlert, which wondered where all the "Obama comeback" stories were. We doff our hat in Eric's general direction.]

 *   Jobs, jobs, jobs*This was the big news this morning, of course.

"America added 321,000 jobs last month, and the unemployment rate stayed at its lowest level since the summer of 2008. The last three months was the best quarter the labor market has seen since the financial meltdown. If this continues, this year will be the best on record for job creation since Bill Clinton was in office. We have added 2.65 million jobs this year, an average of over 240,000 a month. For the past 10 months, we've added over 200,000 jobs each and every month -- a record you'd have to go back to 1994 to match. Wages moved up slightly this month as well. It's really hard to see this month's job report as anything short of great news for the American worker -- the economy is improving faster than the analysts expected, and it now looks like a full recovery can be achieved next year. Compare that to when President Obama took office, and we were losing 750,000 jobs per month."

 *   American exceptionalism*This is always a good chord to strike, with the American people. We are doing one whale of a lot better than everyone else, so point it out. The following is a direct quote from President Obama, taken from the same article as the previous talking point.



Now it's been a long road to recovery from the worst economic crisis in generations, and we still have a lot more work to do to make sure that hard-working Americans' wages are growing faster. But the United States continues to out-pace most of the world. Over the last four years we've put more people back to work than Europe, Japan, and all other industrialized, advanced countries combined.



 *   More Americans say things are going well*This is also big news, because it comes from the American people, not politicians.

"For the first time since 2007, a majority of Americans say that things are going well. When asked whether things were going well or going badly in America, a new poll shows 52 percent said things are going well. This is the first time in a long time the people are becoming more optimistic about the future. What it shows is that more people are seeing things more positively than in the past seven years. You'd think this would be news, but all I see from the media is more fearmongering and doom-and-gloom. The future is looking brighter for a majority of Americans, so sooner or later the talking heads in the media are going to have to take notice."

 *   No Ebola pandemic*It's always useful to have a handy example, to show what you're talking about.

"You may think that previous remark is too snarky towards the media. I disagree. A month or so ago, the media went into full overdrive in an effort to scare the pants off John Q. Public over the threat of an explosion of Ebola cases in America. We got night after night of near-panic and wild speculation on the evening news, but guess what? The system largely worked, after its initial problems were addressed. For all that breathless reporting, you would have expected some followup to inform America: 'Hey, all those terrifying worst-possible-case scenarios never actually happened, folks!' I guess I must have missed all those stories apologizing for scaring the bejeezus out of everyone, huh?"

 *   Obamacare working well*This goes beyond the website, but it's a good place to start.

"You can go back further to see the disparity in how so-called 'journalists' treat bad news and good news. Last year, the mainstream media focused obsessively on the disaster of the Obamacare website's rollout. This year, there were no problems whatsoever, and a half-million people signed up in the first week of the open enrollment period alone. Where were all the stories on the evening news trumpeting this success? Again, I must have blinked and missed Brian Williams reporting the story that night. In fact, the story is much bigger than the success of the website -- Obamacare is working wonders in keeping costs down and getting more and more people insured. By any objective measure, the program is successfully doing exactly what it was designed to do. It has slowed the rise in health care costs down to levels never before seen, in fact, in the fifty years we've been collecting such data. There are all kinds of good-news stories about Obamacare, but somehow they never seem to make the news. Allow me to summarize what they aren't bothering to tell you: none of the Obamacare disaster scenarios which the news media has spent the last five years hyperventilating over has actually happened. Sure -- the website was broken. Then it got fixed. And the program as a whole is now doing great."

 *   18,000?*If the situation were different, the blame would be spread far and wide. So take some credit for how things stand now!

"The Dow Jones average is now flirting with 18,000 -- a new record high. If I had told you in 2009 that the Dow would be up before Obama left office by over 10,000 points, and that it would be so routinely hitting new highs that the news didn't even bother to report it anymore, would anyone have believed me? For all those people who routinely call Obama a Marxist or a socialist, he certainly seems to be doing a pretty bad job of it -- capitalism seems to be absolutely flourishing under his leadership, in fact."

 *   Two bucks a gallon?!?*Once again, a good argument can be made that politicians really don't control the world market that much, but that argument is never heard when the prices go up. So use the obverse argument when they go down! Republicans certainly wouldn't shy away from doing so, if they had been in charge.

"The fall in energy prices is the biggest noticeable improvement in average Americans' lives. Money they now don't have to hand over to the oil companies at the gas station stays in their pocket and can be freely spent on other things -- which has the side-effect of boosting the rest of the economy. America is well on its way to finally achieving energy independence, in fact. We're getting close to producing more than even Saudi Arabia now. If you blamed Obama for gas being over four bucks a gallon, then you've got to also give him credit now that gas is getting so cheap. Analysts are even whispering about the possibility of gas hitting two bucks a gallon again. That is the best economic news American families have heard in a long time, because it's such a big boost to everyone's wallet."

 

Chris Weigant blogs at:Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant
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  Reported by Huffington Post 2 days ago.

President Obama declared that "the typical family isn’t bringing home more than they did 15 years ago. And that still has to change" while touting "good news" on the economy in his Weekly Address on Saturday.

Transcript as Follows:

"Hi, everybody.  Just in time for the holiday season, we now have another piece of good news about the pace of our economic recovery.

Last month, our businesses created 314,000 new jobs.  And that’s not a fluke – it keeps up the solid pace of job creation we’ve seen all year long.  November was the tenth month in a row we’ve added more than 200,000 jobs.  So far this year, our economy has created 2.65 million new jobs.  That’s the most of any year since the 1990s – even with a full month to go.  All told, our businesses have created 10.9 million new jobs over the past 57 months.  And that’s the longest streak of private-sector job creation on record.

We also know that the upswing in job growth this year has come in industries with higher wages.  Overall wages are on the rise.  And that’s some very welcome news for millions of hardworking Americans.  Because even though corporate profits and the stock market have hit all-time highs, the typical family isn’t bringing home more than they did 15 years ago.  And that still has to change.  And a vibrant jobs market gives us the opportunity to keep up this progress, and begin to undo that decades-long middle-class squeeze. 

But first, we need the outgoing Congress to pass a budget and keep our government open.  A Christmas shutdown is not a good idea.  Then, when the new Congress convenes in January, we need to work together to invest in the things that support faster growth in higher-paying jobs.

Building new roads and bridges creates jobs.  Growing our exports creates jobs.  Reforming our outdated tax system and our broken immigration system creates jobs. Raising the minimum wage would benefit nearly 28 million American workers, giving them more money to spend at local businesses – and that helps those businesses create jobs. 

America, we still have a lot of work to do together.  But we do have real, tangible evidence of our progress.  10.9 million new jobs.  10 million more Americans with health insurance.  Manufacturing has grown.  Our deficits have shrunk.  Our dependence on foreign oil is down.  Clean energy is up.  More young Americans are graduating from high school and earning college degrees than ever before.  Over the last four years, this country has put more people back to work than Europe, Japan, and every advanced economy combined. 

The United States of America continues to outperform much of the world.  And we are going to keep it up until every American feels the gains of a growing economy where it matters most – in your own lives. 

Thanks, and have a great weekend."

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett Reported by Breitbart 1 day ago.

UnitedHealth Group is expected to post solid earnings growth next year, but UnitedHealth's earnings outlook pales in comparison with the outlook for Molina Healthcare. Reported by Motley Fool 1 day ago.

Consumers have until Dec.15 to sign up for health insurance coverage effective Jan. 1, 2015, through the state's federally facilitated state marketplace. Reported by dailypress.com 23 hours ago.

Filed under: Health Care, Family Money, Personal Finance, Health Insurance

*Getty Images*

By Jennifer Kelly

Whether we like it or not, we're stuck in an era of rising health care costs -- and even with insurance, we're all increasingly bearing the brunt of it.

According to one study, employees' share of medical costs -- including contributions to their insurance plans and out-of-pocket costs -- is projected to jump by more than 52 percent between 2010 and 2015.

Meanwhile, those purchasing plans through insurance exchanges set up through the Affordable Care Act can expect a hike too -- one estimate says the average premium will rise more than 5 percent next year.

On top of all that, the country is dealing with extensive medical debt: Americans pay three times more toward health care-related debt than they do toward credit card and other bank-associated debt combined.

So what gives?

You could debate for hours all the reasons that contribute to the health-related pinch to our wallets -- some political, some economic, some tied to our own ailing health -- but one trend seems to be holding true: More companies are increasingly offering high-deductible health plans, or HDHPs, to their employees in an effort to cut back on their own overhead.
There's no question that high-deductible plans are becoming more common.

At first glance, most people tend to want to shy away from HDHPs because they're dissuaded by the high out-of-pocket costs they have to reach before their insurance kicks in. But what many workers may not realize is that HDHPs are often accompanied by a Health Savings Account, a tax-advantaged account that holds money intended to cover medical costs.

"There's no question that high-deductible plans are becoming more common," says David Blaylock, a certified financial planner at LearnVest Planning Services. "And I have a lot of clients who have been provided an HSA option through their company. They're a little hesitant at first, but once they understand that it allows them to save in an account of their own -- that's not necessarily tied to the employer -- they usually prefer that route."

In fact, HSAs (and their linked high-deductible policies) have been growing rapidly both in the private markets and on the new public exchanges. Devenir, a Minneapolis-based HSA investment firm, says its assets in HSA accounts have reached almost $23 billion -- a 26 percent increase over last year.

With open enrollment season in full swing, you may be wondering, "Is an HSA right for me?" To help you land on the answer, we've put together a 101 guide on how they work -- and what makes them different from other types of savings vehicles.

*HSA Basics*

Much like a 401(k) or IRA that you can use to save for retirement, an HSA is a savings account to which you contribute pre-tax dollars that earn interest or could be invested, depending on the options that are provided to you by the financial institution where you hold your account.

And much like with a 401(k), you can have your contributions taken straight from your paycheck -- plus, some employers may opt to make HSA contributions on your behalf.

As is the case with retirement accounts, HSAs have contribution limits that are set by the IRS every year. For 2015, individuals who only cover themselves through an HDHP can contribute up to $3,350 a year; those on a family plan can contribute up to $6,650. If you're 55 or older, you can also add another $1,000 as a catch-up contribution.

But here's one big difference from a retirement account: While 401(k)s, IRAs and HSAs all let your earnings grow tax-deferred -- which means you pay no capital gains tax -- you do pay ordinary income taxes on the withdrawals you make from your IRAs and 401(k)s in retirement.

With an HSA, however, you don't pay taxes on withdrawals, at any age, as long as you're using them to cover qualified medical expenses -- which means you can get a tax break on what you put in and get out, provided the money is being used properly.



The other pro to an HSA? That money and investment growth is all yours -- there are no year-end, use-it-or-lose it or limited carryover provisions.



"I think the average account holder is getting around $25 to $40 in tax savings per month [by using an HSA]," says Todd Berkley, president of Minnetonka, Minn.-based HSA Consulting.

Another pro to an HSA? That money and investment growth is all yours -- there are no year-end, use-it-or-lose it or limited carryover provisions, as is the case with flexible spending accounts.

Of course, one of the biggest limitations to an HSA is the fact that you can't open one unless you're enrolled in an HDHP, and for 2015 that means an insurance plan with a deductible of at least $1,300 for individuals and $2,600 for families. Another caveat: An HDHP may not be the right insurance choice if you have a long-standing illness or already know that you tend to incur high medical bills you can't cover out-of-pocket.
If your medical costs are low, [HSAs] enable you to set aside money to cover future health care costs and, if you stay healthy, even retirement [medical costs].

"If your medical costs are low, [HSAs] enable you to set aside money to cover future health care costs and, if you stay healthy, even retirement [medical costs]," Blaylock says. "But if you have a chronic medical condition, you are probably better off in a traditional health insurance policy."

Berkley, however, believes that the slant toward healthy, wealthy participants has been overstated. His company sees participants across the age and income spectrum, with the average account holder between ages 40 and 45.

"It's not a great tax shelter for the rich, since you can only put away $6,650 a year," he says. "It's actually a [better] tax shelter for the middle class."

Another important thing to note: Since HSAs are meant to be paired with an HDHP, you can't contribute more money to them unless you are enrolled in such a plan. You can, however, keep the account open and continue to let the money grow that's already been contributed.

*Decision Time: Key Things to Look for in an HSA*

As with a 401(k), you might be limited to the HSA providers that your company offers. But for those who are free to choose their own, there are a plethora of financial institutions that participate -- many major banks include HSAs among their offerings.

Before you open an account, take a look at the fees you'll be charged, suggests Blaylock, because they can vary widely from bank to bank. A comparison table at the HSA Search website shows monthly maintenance fees ranging from $0 to $7, some of which are waived for people with higher account balances.

If you decide to invest your HSA funds, also consider taking a look at any additional fees that are charged by the funds that you may invest in. The higher the fees, the more you're eating into the value of your account and offsetting your tax benefits.

Beyond fees, the HSA features you value will really depend on how you intend to utilize the account.

"If you feel like you're going to use the account frequently, then convenience is probably going to be a big factor," Blaylock says. "You may want to choose a bank that offers a debit card, ATM access and other easy ways to pay."

On the flip side, if you're viewing your HSA as more of a long-term savings vehicle, then choose a provider that offers a good mix of investment options, Blaylock adds. "You may want to go with a larger company -- they're going to have a wider range of investment choices than the local credit union."

In fact, because of their tax benefits, some people view HSAs as another way to save for retirement. If you're 65 and older, you can withdraw money from an HSA for any reason -- even non-medical ones -- but the non-medical withdrawals you make will be taxed like ordinary income, which is similar to IRA or 401(k) withdrawals.



A study from Mount Sinai found that, on average, people with Medicare coverage paid more than $38,000 for medical care out-of-pocket in the last five years of life.



"Most people come in to HSAs thinking of them as a replacement for a flexible savings account. They just want to put in the amount that they expect to spend on medical expenses," Berkley says. "But I think the [next] big frontier for HSAs is in investing. The options [you have in HSAs] are generally similar to a 401(k)."

For instance, Berkley says that investors who have maxed out their 401(k) contributions can consider putting any additional retirement money into their HSA up to that contribution limit, which also helps bump up their tax benefits for the year. The other upside, of course, is that if the HSA money is used to cover medical costs in retirement, it won't be taxed at all."I always encourage people to first get your match on your 401(k). That's free money," Berkley says. "Then max out your HSA."

Blaylock takes a more cautious approach. "An HSA is not really a long-term planning tool, in my mind," he says. "It's really about taking care of our health needs today."

With that in mind, Blaylock encourages people to put money into their HSAs until they have enough to cover their deductible. After that, he explains, "we want to make sure they're filling other important financial buckets: emergency savings, retirement savings and college savings."

Regardless of how you use your HSA, Berkley notes that these accounts are helping to address a problem that almost no one is prepared for today -- the mounting costs of health care in retirement.

A study from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai found that, on average, people with Medicare coverage paid more than $38,000 for medical care out-of-pocket in the last five years of life.

"I think we all wish everyone was saving a little more for post-retirement medical costs," Berkley says, "and HSAs can help with that."

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments Reported by DailyFinance 13 hours ago.

Leading health system to use new risk management and information security solution to better manage risk and regulatory compliance when working with innovative healthcare startups.

Arlington, VA (PRWEB) December 08, 2014

Ostendio announced today that MedStar Health, the largest not-for-profit health system in Maryland and the Washington, D.C., region, will be harnessing Ostendio’s MyVCM™ platform to ensure its innovative health IT vendors are managing sensitive health data in a responsible and compliant manner. MyVCM will help MedStar assess vendors’ security risk, create and manage critical policies and procedures, and monitor continuous compliance with industry regulations.

This relationship was brokered by the MedStar Institute for Innovation (MI2), the division of MedStar that is focused on creative solutions to health care’s challenges. By harnessing Ostendio’s innovative tool, MedStar will be able to view vendors’ compliance status in real-time and facilitate ongoing security assessments – a major priority for MedStar Health to ensure all information security and other regulatory requirements are met.

“We know that embracing innovation comes with huge potential rewards, but it often comes with risks too,” said Mark S. Smith, MD, Director of MI2. “Ostendio’s MyVCM gives us an effective tool to help ensure we are working only with responsible health technology vendors who share MedStar’s commitment to the highest security and privacy standards.”

The MedStar-Ostendio relationship is one of the first to emerge under MedStar’s Founding Partnership with 1776, a Washington D.C.-based startup incubator and seed fund. Central to 1776’s unique approach to incubation is finding promising startups which are focused on solving the world’s most fundamental challenges and connecting them with existing enterprises, corporations, and government entities.

“We have been impressed with MedStar’s commitment to the local startup community,” said David Zipper, Managing Director of 1776 Ventures. “Working with Ostendio, an early 1776 member, allows MedStar to extend that commitment to work confidently with even more early-stage companies which are tackling the greatest challenges facing healthcare delivery today and tomorrow.”

Arlington, VA-based Ostendio was founded by Grant Elliott in 2013 to help small- and medium-sized businesses comply with data security regulations and standards in a simple and affordable way. The Ostendio MyVCM™ platform has quickly gained traction with Health IT vendors looking for a way to manage compliance with complex regulatory requirements – such as The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

“As a former CISO for a successful Health IT company, I know how hard it is for these types of companies to build an effective security and compliance program. Being able to demonstrate this to a regulator or potential customer can be even harder,” said Elliott. “MyVCM helps solve this problem by tracking their compliance activities in a way they can share with any relevant stakeholder, including their customers.”

Dr. Mark Smith and David Zipper will be discussing how to create a vibrant health innovation community on Monday, December 8th, 2014 at the 2014 mHealth Summit.

Grant Elliott will be presenting at the Venture+ Forum on Tuesday December 9th, 2014 also at the mHealth Summit.

About Ostendio
Ostendio delivers affordable compliance solutions to small and medium businesses. Ostendio’s MyVirtualComplianceManager™ (MyVCM™) is a cloud based compliance management platform that delivers an easy to use, cost-effective way for companies to improve their Information Security posture.
MyVCM™ allows businesses to: assess risk; create and manage critical policies and procedures; educate and assess employees on their security awareness; and monitor continuous compliance against industry regulations. Visit us at http://www.ostendio.com

About the MedStar Institute for Innovation
The MedStar Institute for Innovation (MI2) was chartered by Ken Samet, President and CEO of MedStar Health, in 2009 to serve as a catalyst and seed crystal for innovation across the entire MedStar organization. Its mission--to catalyze innovation that advances health; its mantra--“Think Differently.” MI2’s first foundational premise is that a huge amount of untapped creative and intellectual capital exists at MedStar; Its second foundational premise is that the tyranny of the daily trumps the pursuit of the remarkable ...in the absence of a countervailing force. MI2 aspires to be that countervailing force. The scope of activities at MI2 include initiatives in human factors engineering; simulation training; digital health and data science; technology development and commercialization; and systems of care delivery. Visit us at http://www.MI2.org.

About MedStar Health
MedStar Health is a not-for-profit health system dedicated to caring for people in Maryland and the Washington, D.C., region, while advancing the practice of medicine through education, innovation and research. MedStar’s 30,000 associates, 6,000 affiliated physicians, 10 hospitals, ambulatory care and urgent care centers, and the MedStar Health Research Institute are recognized regionally and nationally for excellence in medical care. As the medical education and clinical partner of Georgetown University, MedStar trains more than 1,100 medical residents annually. MedStar Health’s patient-first philosophy combines care, compassion and clinical excellence with an emphasis on customer service. For more information, visit MedStarHealth.org.

About 1776
1776 is a global incubator and seed fund that finds promising startups focused on solving the world’s most fundamental challenges and helps engineer their success. Visit us at http://www.1776dc.com Reported by PRWeb 12 hours ago.

As much as any Web site claims to be an Amazon or a Kayak for health insurance, shopping for health insurance is still pretty difficult. Don't just take my word for it — just ask a health economist.

How people get their health insurance is undergoing a major transformation, in part because of changes in how employers are providing benefits and the Affordable Care Act's coverage expansion. An estimated 25 million people will have individual coverage through Obamacare's health insurance marketplaces within just a few years, while another 3 million people in 2014 received employer health coverage through similar private insurance marketplaces, or exchanges — where enrollment is projected to soon surpass the ACA exchanges, according to a couple of recent estimates. Reported by Washington Post 9 hours ago.

Attention, shoppers: After today, for those whose employers don't offer health insurance, there will only be seven shopping days left for coverage that starts on January 1, 2015.

December 15 is the last day you will be able to pick an Obamacare plan if you want to be insured beginning New Year's Day. If you're like most folks, you'll wait until close to the deadline to make a choice.

Don't be like most folks.

If you don't give yourself enough time to sort through the options available to you, you might wind up paying your insurance company a lot more than necessary -- which is exactly what a lot of my former colleagues in the business are hoping for.

Insurance company executives have spent millions of dollars persuading us -- and the people we vote for -- that what we crave is more "choice and competition." They even bankrolled a group called the Choice and Competition Coalition, which is little more than a public relations and lobbying outfit designed to protect the profitable status quo for health insurers. They do so by making sure certain members of Congress don't even think about giving us the choice and competition that would really make a difference.

That would be the choice of a government-run "public option" to compete with private insurance companies. Insurers spent millions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions in a successful effort to strip the public option from the bill that became the Affordable Care Act.

In my 20 years in the insurance industry, I never met anyone who said they were looking forward to picking a health plan. There's a good reason for that. Trying to figure out what's best for yourself and your family can be bewildering. Even with my background in the insurance world, I would rather have a root canal than sit in front of a computer for hours trying to determine which plan offers the best value.

Industry statistics show that once people make a decision, they'll stay with the same plan for years, even if there are other plans available to them that would cost less and provide better coverage. Why? We don't enjoy the process because we're not educated consumers of insurance. We don't really know what we're doing or what we're buying. Polls have shown that large percentages of Americans don't even have a grasp of basic insurance terms and concepts.

That was borne out by a study released in October by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Kaiser Family Foundation. The researchers described insurance literacy barriers as "huge" for most Americans.

Of the millions of people who enrolled in Obamacare plans last year, "many...didn't understand basic concepts like how a deductible works or why premiums must be paid every month," the researchers wrote. "Many consumers also had trouble understanding (Affordable Care Act) premium and cost sharing subsidies."

Knowing this, the Obama administration last week pleaded with folks who will be returning to the marketplace this year to shop around. Chances are good they can save money and get better coverage if they do.

Last year, some insurers offered policies with relatively low premiums to attract customers in a practice known in the industry as "buying market share." This year, those insurers are hitting their customers with hefty rate increases. An example is Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee, which grabbed 88 percent of the Obamacare market in the Volunteer State with rates considerably lower than its competitors.

Hardly more than six months into the year, the insurer filed documents with state regulators saying it planned to raise rates by an average of 19 percent for its exchange plans for 2015. The insurer couldn't possible have had enough claims data by July to know for sure that it would need to jack rates up that much, but it wanted to be certain its Obamacare business would be profitable next year.

Even with that kind of an increase, chances are great that the insurer's Obamacare members will simply renew their coverage without shopping for a better deal with another company.

The Obama administration said in a report last week that more than 70 percent of people who bought coverage on their state exchanges last year can find a health plan for 2015 that offers the same level of coverage at a lower premium and that 80 percent could find a plan with monthly premiums lower than $100 after subsidies are factored in.

While that sounds like great news, shoppers beware. Plans with the lowest premiums often provide inadequate coverage for a lot of people, especially those who have to take expensive medications and go to the doctor frequently. The bronze plans have considerably lower premiums than the gold and silver plans, but the deductibles are typically much higher.

For 2015, the average deductible for a bronze plan for an individual will be almost $5,200. That means that you'd have to spend that much money out of your own pocket before your insurance coverage kicks in.

One of my biggest complaints about Obamacare, aside from the fact that insurers killed the public option that was once a part of the bill, is that it forces us to gamble with our health and our finances. And most of us are just not insurance literate enough to make the best choices. Reported by Huffington Post 7 hours ago.

*Yoga classes for people with joint pain*

*Q.* How can a beginner with joint pain find the right yoga classes?

*A.* Look for an instructor trained in “Prime of Life Yoga” or “Therapeutic Yoga for Seniors.” The teachers are trained to work with newbies and students 40 and up who may have physical limitations. Classes that are described as “gentle,” “beginner,” or “Iyengar” (a style emphasizing posture and careful alignment) are also good bets.Tell your instructor about your joint pain. He or she can adapt poses to give you optimal flexibility without injury. And remember, "You should decide when to come out of a posture. Don’t stay longer than you feel comfortable," advises Larry Payne, Ph.D., who developed Prime of Life Yoga and directs the Samata Yoga Center in Los Angeles. "Don’t do anything that intuitively doesn’t feel right for you."

One type of class to avoid is "hot yoga," which are sessions held in rooms heated to at least 105° F. Those classes could lead to heat stroke, joint and muscle damage, or infection.

More great ways to exercise if you have joint pain are water workouts. And simply walking on a treadmill or working out on an elliptical trainer can help with joint and arthritis pain.

*Use our free app to explore your health insurance options*

Not sure where to begin with getting health insurance? Our free interactive tool, Health Law Helper, will point you in the right direction.

A version of this article also appeared in the October 2014 issue of Consumer Reports on Health.*Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2014 Consumers Union of U.S.*

*Subscribe now!*
Subscribe to *ConsumerReports.org* for expert Ratings, buying advice and reliability on hundreds of products.
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Update your feed preferences Reported by Consumer Reports 5 hours ago.

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Health insurers in the U.S. are expected to generate solid margins and returns on capital in 2015, according to a new special report published by Fitch Ratings. In the report, Fitch discusses key factors underlying the Stable Rating Outlook for Fitch rated U.S. health insurers and the revision in its sector outlook to stable from negative. The report also identifies the conditions under which Fitch could change the outlook to positive or to negative. Fitch projects 201 Reported by Business Wire 7 hours ago.

A state audit released Monday found that Colorado's health insurance exchange lacks adequate financial controls and failed to ensure it spent public funds in accordance with federal laws. Reported by Denver Post 6 hours ago.

Since the United States Surgeon General first released a report linking tobacco to cancer in the 1950s, Americans have slowly weaned themselves off of the addictive product. They've been so successful that last year, only 17.8% of U.S. adults smoked — an all-time low. Still, smoking remains the number one cause of preventable death in the U.S. and the habit is costing the government a lot of money in health care costs. So one county in Arizona has proposed a sweeping, controversial policy some say is discriminatory.

Pima County, the second most populous county in Arizona, will vote on Dec. 16 whether to reject job applicants who smoke and charge employees who do a 30% health insurance surcharge, reported the Arizona Daily Star. If passed, the policy would go into effect in July next year. Read more...

More about Health, Healthcare, Smoking, Arizona, and Us World Reported by Mashable 6 hours ago.

As more Americans gain health insurance coverage and more health plans reimburse for telemedicine consultations, companies like MDLive are prepared to take off. From the 2014 Forbes Healthcare Summit in NYC. Reported by Forbes.com 5 hours ago.

A health care research initiative using tens of millions of health insurance claims and electronic health records is forming myriad partnerships with business, employers and the health care industry to improve health outcomes and potentially lower costs. Optum Labs, the collaboration between UnitedHealth Group’s (UNH) Optum Health and the Mayo Clinic, [...] Reported by Forbes.com 5 hours ago.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe reported Monday that more than 4,000 Virginians received individual help with ACA federal marketplace health insurance enrollment in the first two weeks of the open enrollment period. Thousands more have visited the CoverVa.org web site, which helps consumers determine if... Reported by dailypress.com 3 hours ago.

Paycom once again honored as a Top Workplace in Oklahoma

OKLAHOMA CITY (PRWEB) December 08, 2014

For the second-consecutive year, Paycom was ranked as the Sooner State’s second-best place to work, on the 2014 Top Workplaces in Oklahoma list. In addition, the Oklahoma City-based software company received special recognition for its ethics policy.

“Paycom’s culture is founded on creating an environment that empowers our employees, allowing them to flourish each and every day,” Paycom founder and CEO, Chad Richison, said. “We are honored to be recognized again, and thank our employees for their contributions in this achievement.”    

In selecting the Top Workplaces in Oklahoma, WorkplaceDynamics LLC went straight to the heart of each organization – its employees – with a confidential, 22-question survey. The questionnaire covered seven factors, measuring how employees feel about their day-to-day work, whether they are working together toward a common cause, and their overall engagement.

Paycom performed well in each category because it promotes a strong work-life balance for its employees, offers needed benefits at affordable costs, and listens to and engages with its workforce. Annually, Paycom offers its employees and their families the opportunity to attend numerous events, highlighted by the annual Year-End Party in Dallas. Paycom also hosts family-friendly fall and winter parties, as well as activity-filled work events like National Payroll Week and Wellness Week.

Employee perks include $1 per-pay-period health insurance; $4 daily catered lunches; and a free, on-site gym, where free Zumba and boot-camp fitness classes are held.

Paycom’s employees also gave the Oklahoma City tech company top marks for ethics.

“Strong ethics and values should be the cornerstone of any great business, because the trust and respect of your co-workers and clients are not automatic; they have to be earned,” said Richison.

Sponsored by The Oklahoman, the Top Workplaces in Oklahoma are determined solely on employee feedback. The survey is conducted by WorkplaceDynamics LLP, a leading research firm on organizational health and employee engagement. Based in Pennsylvania, the firm conducts regional Top Workplaces programs with a number of major publishing partners across the United States.

About Paycom
As a leader in payroll and HR technology, Oklahoma City-based Paycom redefines the human capital management industry by allowing companies to effectively navigate a rapidly changing business environment. Its cloud-based software solution is based on a core system of record maintained in a single database for all human capital management functions, providing the functionality that businesses need to manage the complete employment lifecycle, from recruitment to retirement. Paycom serves businesses of all sizes and in every industry. As one of the leading human capital management providers, Paycom serves clients in all 50 states and has sales offices in 30 major cities across the nation. Reported by PRWeb 5 hours ago.

LONG BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Molina Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE: MOH) today announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Molina Healthcare of Puerto Rico, Inc., has executed a contract with the Puerto Rico Health Insurance Administration (ASES by its Spanish acronym) to operate the Commonwealth’s Medicaid-funded Government Health Plan (GHP) program in the East and Southwest regions. Molina Healthcare of Puerto Rico’s total expected enrollment in the two regions is approximately 350,000 member Reported by Business Wire 3 hours ago.

Over the past several years, New York has transformed into startup hotbed.

It's home to exciting early-stage companies like Airhelp, Abacus, Glamsquad, and Classpass. 

We compiled our list of 25 Hottest NY Startups by talking to investors, employees, fellow journalists, and active members of the tech scene in New York. Though there are some big names out there already, this list includes young startups, some of which you may not have heard of yet. All have only raised Series A funding or below and are based in New York city. 

-Bowery allows developers to set up coding environments in 30 seconds flat-

*What it is:*

Programmers waste countless hours setting up redundant coding environments. In order to begin coding a new program, developers need to manually install complicated sets of paramaters. This allows developers to test their products and make sure they work on different types of devices and screens. 

Bowery's cloud-based system removes the pain from the process and lets developers share their environment with co-workers in real time. The three young founders have attracted attention from big name investors such as Google Ventures and First Round Capital.

*Founders:*

Zachary Hamed, David Byrd, Steve Kaliski

*Funding:*

Betaworks, Bloomberg Beta, BOLDstart Ventures, Deep Fork Capital, Google Ventures, Homebrew, Magnet Agency, RRE and SV Angel. General Catalyst’s Rough Draft Ventures and First Round Capital’s Dorm Room Fund

*Website: *

http://bowery.io

 

 -Oscar is a health insurance company for the 21st century-

*What it is:*

Oscar brings simplicity and good design to the archaic world of health insurance. The company launched in October 2013 right as the Affordable Care Act began to allow consumers to pick and choose their own plans, and since then Oscar has enrolled thousands while raking in tens of millions of dollars in annualized revenue. They received a fresh $30 million round of funding in January, and are working toward their long-term goal of expanding out of the state of New York.

*Founders:*

Josh Kushner, Kevin Nazemi, Mario Schlosser

*Funding:*

Thrive Capital, Khosla Ventures, General Catalyst Partners, Founders Fund, Stanley Druckenmiller, Jim Breyer

*Website:*

http://hioscar.com-Niche is a talent agency for social media stars-

*What it is:*

Niche works with prominent creators on social media platforms like Vine, Instagram and Tumblr and connects them with brands and marketers looking to beef up their social presence. Though barely more than a year old, Niche has already raked in over $1 million revenue and shows no sign of slowing down.

*Founders:*

Rob Fishman, Darren Lachtman

*Funding:*

David Tisch, Slow Ventures, BoxGroup, Gary Vaynerchuk, Kevin Colleran, WME Advancit Capital, SV Angel, Lerer Hippeau Ventures

*Website:*

http://niche.co
See the rest of the story at Business Insider Reported by Business Insider 2 hours ago.

A new health insurance company is hoping the Misfit will turn out to be a great fit for its business, and get customers a bit healthier in the process. Reported by msnbc.com 3 hours ago.

SAN FRANCISCO -- As police broke up protests in Berkeley Saturday night, a local minister went to the hospital with a gaping head wound and a concussion -- allegedly the result of an officer striking her from behind with a baton.

Cindy Pincus, 29, told HuffPost she was among a group of ministers and seminary students near the front of the protest as police in riot gear began advancing to disperse the crowd of hundreds. Pincus said she was helping a woman who'd fallen when, from the corner of her eye, she saw an officer swing a nightstick. She said the blow sent her staggering.

"I had a brief blackout in my vision. I saw stars," Pincus said. "I would say it’s an indiscriminate and disproportionate reaction to peaceful protests. It was completely way out of line."

A gory photo that Pincus tweeted became widely seen in the aftermath of Saturday's demonstration.

*WARNING: Graphic photo below may not be appropriate for some audiences. Story continues below. *


Hit from behind with police baton while retreating peacefully. #berkeleyprotests #BlackLivesMatter @abc7newsBayArea pic.twitter.com/qbSnxRWNao

— Cindy Pincus (@CinPinMin) December 7, 2014The Berkeley demonstration began peacefully to oppose a Staten Island grand jury's decision on Dec. 3 not to indict NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo for killing Eric Garner, an unarmed black man, with a chokehold. Hours into the protests, however, stores were vandalized and some objects were thrown at police. Protests on Sunday also turned violent, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Pincus, the intern minister at the First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco and a student at the Pacific School of Religion, said that she was with people behaving peacefully when she was hit.

Police had just begun firing tear gas as Pincus stumbled for safety, she said. Two blocks away from the center of the chaos on Telegraph Avenue, Pincus met friends who took her to a hospital in nearby Richmond. She was discharged early Sunday morning.

Pincus getting examined at the Richmond Medical Center early on Sunday, Dec. 7.The gash to Pincus' head took three staples to close. Two days after getting hit, she said, she's not sleeping well and has "cloudy thinking." Health insurance covered some of the cost of the trip to the emergency room, but the copay amounted to a $250 bill. A fellow seminarian offered to help pay, she said.

The Berkeley Police Department didn't respond to multiple requests for comment.

At least 18 people were arrested in Berkeley during the two nights of altercations. The extent of protesters' injuries was unknown. Media reports said that several officers were injured.

Officials at the University of California, Berkeley, told HuffPost that they weren't sure how many students and faculty might have been injured. But one creative writing professor offered an extension on an assignment for any students harmed Saturday night.


If any of my #Berkeley students were teargassed, batoned or shot w/rubber bullets last night, you can have an extension on your essay.

— kaya oakes (@kayaoakes) December 7, 2014Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates said Monday to KCBS that the right to demonstrate has been abused by outsiders.

A "massive headache" stopped Pincus from joining Sunday's protests, but she said she'll be back on the street Monday night.

"Just because I got hit doesn't mean that nobody else will," she said. "I have to keep going back until police brutality is over for everybody."

A third night of demonstrations in Berkeley is scheduled to begin Monday at 5 p.m. PST. Reported by Huffington Post 1 hour ago.