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Can Democracy Survive Global Capitalism?

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In the naughts, British-born novelist and author Rana Dasgupta was thrilled to call Delhi his home -- a city still buzzing with possibility after India’s 1991 entry into the world of market-driven capitalism. Today, he raises concerns that India’s economic rise has come with massive inequality, environmental destruction, and potential social unrest.In Part 2 of an interview with the Institute for New Economic Thinking, Dasgupta shares his view of the contradictions and tensions of India’s economic and political scenes. What does it mean that pro-business Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi was elected prime minister in 2014, while Arvind Kejriwal, a firebrand social activist who speaks for the poor, easily won a second term to lead the nation’s capital in Delhi? How does India’s warlike capitalism co-exist with its deeply democratic spirit? What are the biggest challenges for India going forward?

*Lynn Parramore: As the American middle class grows increasingly insecure, how is India’s new middle class faring? How do you view its economic status and political presence?*

Rana Dasgupta: India plugs into the global system at a later stage, so the wealth, security, and confidence the American middle class gained through the 1950s and 60s is probably never going to happen.

A few decades ago, for instance, many college graduates in America and elsewhere worked in or even owned bookshops —small businesses that usually didn’t rise to big corporate levels. Then big chains came in and bought many of them up, and then Amazon replaced this entire system with new one in which there was a very highly paid, business-owning minority and lots of minimum wage work.

Is globalizing India going to start with all those little bookshops and then go through the entire same process? No, it’s going to go straight to the end—with the book packing and delivery labor and the people at headquarters doing the marketing and financing. The form of capitalism that’s coming in India will never have the kind of promise that it had in 1950s America, even from the outset. America had to make various concessions to its working majorities for many reasons. The economy was growing so fast over the Second World War it was just better to settle disputes: give the workers what they want and get them carrying on producing.

With the spread of global capitalism elsewhere, the business owners are more careful about giving way concessions because they’re starting off in a much less profitable kind of enterprise. They get the call center work and so on from the U.S. because of low costs, and have to be very careful about offering bargaining power to workers. They can’t start bargaining over the length of the working week or wages because the business will go under very quickly. They actually expect that India will become too expensive at some point and they’ll have to move to Bangladesh or wherever, but the costs of moving are high, so they want to put it off as long as possible.

In America, at the end of the 19^th century and the beginning of the 20^th century workers were campaigning for security, to be looked after when they were sick and in their old age and so on. In India, and I suspect in lots of other places in the world, all these kinds of securities were associated with socialism. In capitalism, it’s assumed that no one is going to take care of you — and even in the Singaporean version of capitalism, the Asian values take care of all that social stuff. So it’s pure business. You take care of your sick parents, not the state. People don’t expect these securities, and the system has been set up to make sure that that kind of thing doesn’t happen. Wages are very seductive — people say, look, I can earn like a thousand dollars a month when my father earned maybe 200 dollars. Amazing! But I don’t have health insurance or old age insurance. People can buy themselves a mobile phone and that helps win certain political battles because middle class people can function very well at the everyday level and travel and do lots of things their parents couldn’t do. But this masks the fact that they’re very insecure.

*LP: In what ways has globalization impacted notions of democracy in India?*

RD: One shouldn’t imply that there’s no argument about these things, even among elites. There’s a lot of debate, and to some extent the election of Modi as prime minister and the election of Kejriwal, who just won a second term as Chief Minister of Delhi, are signs of this.

What is democracy supposed to do for us? Is it just about making sure that big businesses continue making lots of money? The answer is not clear. Some people think that the best thing for India is lots of dynamic big business. It’s assumed that this creates lots of dynamism in the economy generally, and it also gives a sense of symbolic power to India, which is important to people who feel that the country has been historically marginalized and treated with contempt. We would like to have our Microsofts and so on.

Modi makes a lot of his masculine power, the width of his chest and things like that.  He’s an authoritarian figure who is clearly anti-democratic in a lot of his instincts, and also very charismatic. He presents himself as vegetarian, frugal, and uncorrupt. He’s got this contemporary slant on Hinduism that is all about being personally hygienic in his habits, working very hard, and being devoted to development in business. Modi is actually married, but he’s always claimed to be a single man, because sex is one of those appetites he wishes to disavow. It’s like he wishes to say I don’t eat meat, I don’t have sex, I’m not interested in pleasures, women, and so on. I’m just working for the people. I don’t take money, I’m not corrupt. I started as a tea boy. I’m Hindu and I’m going to make India great. That combination of things is very attractive to some people. It’s about big business and a masculine, pure figure leading it.

*LP: What segments of the population are uneasy with his brand of politics?*

RD: Modi has been conspicuously unsympathetic to lots of people who are very uneasy for various reasons. He is uninterested in the environment, and that makes people uneasy – in Delhi for instance no one can breathe. The water’s polluted and the ground is polluted. A lot of Muslims are very uneasy because there is a quiet subtext of a Hindu purification of the nation. There’s also this very fascist undercurrent that Modi is too intelligent to actually state, but there’s a widespread feeling that he gives assent to it to some extent. A lot of women are uneasy about this very masculinist talk of India, coming at a time when women’s security is conspicuously under threat. There’s also labor —he has withdrawn or declared his lack of interest in a lot of the safety nets that were extended by the Congress Party to the poor. He basically has a neoliberal, trickle-down idea of how the economy works.

With Modi’s huge election victory, a lot of people felt that India was supporting most the authoritarian capitalist way. But there’s another idea held in reserve which calls into question all of that — an idea of a much more radical democracy that comes closer to the people and makes the poor visible in its language. Kejriwal is part of that. The broom is the symbol of his party, the sweepers, the poorest people. He’s also interested in fighting corruption and reinventing democracy. For him, democracy is not about very remote people surrounded by enormous security and the kind of accoutrements of the most imperial British power.

Kejriwal famously operated out of his tiny apartment in an unglamorous section of East Delhi. But he’s a guy who has been brought in to run Delhi just a few months after Modi’s victory, so this signals that both political currents are alive and well, that the jury is out on how politics and capitalism fit together in India. Modi can’t be too confident when in his own backyard in the capital, a tiny rival party won massively. He should be aware of putting up too many posters of himself and becoming too much of a one-party state kind of leader, because in the background there is this other, very different possibility.

I think it’s to some extent Kejriwal’s victory is a backlash or a warning. India does have a deeply democratic spirit. That is the deepest thing about Indian culture.

*LP: Sounds like people in India don’t really like political extremism, but how do they feel about economic extremism?*

RD: I think that one of the things that happens in these kinds of countries is that people are a bit naïve about economic extremism. They take a long time to recognize it for what it is. Economic extremism could lead to political extremism because in the worst kinds of scenarios in India we could have enormous class warfare. We might have just so many people whose lives become unsustainable in the countryside arriving in the cities and realizing that they have nothing to do there and that they don’t have water to drink, and stuff like that. We might have big turbulence in the cities and then there would have to be some kind of political solution.

*LP: What do you hope for India’s future? Can the democratic spirit survive the continuation of the kind of war-like capitalism you’ve described?*

RD: I think and hope for more moderate solutions.  After all, this is a democracy. Poor people have more votes than rich people. The poor in India have an immense resilience, so things can get very bad before it has any political effects. They are incredibly networked. When people in the cities don’t have anything, the people in the countryside take care of them. So there’s a lot of slack in the system even when people are in very dire situations. But ultimately if, say, 500 million people can’t feed themselves or survive, or they just don’t have anywhere to go because the countryside is just full of factories and real estate, then they convert. Hopefully there will be political ideas that have enough quality that these situations can be resolved.

There is the potential for immense wealth creation in India in the next 40 or 50 years, so there will be money and resources to redistribute and resources and as long as the tides of poverty and violence are not too catastrophic, then I think probably the system can readjust itself. Right now, within India, without anything else happening outside, there’s enough prospects for growth. In 40 to 50 years, economies of the West are going to be in dramatic decline, and in the longer term, I think the global system as a whole will face some sort of crisis and that will affect India, too. But in the medium term, India has pretty good growth prospects and hopefully there’s the quality of leadership and ideas that can redistribute some of that wealth and find livable solutions to some of these problems.

But inequality and the environment are going to be massive in Indian politics. Really, no one is talking about water, but giving 1.3 billion people clean water to drink is becoming very difficult. And you can’t survive for very long without it, so if a city of 25 million people — and there are at least two Indian cities that have that kind of number — has no water, the effects are immediate. When there’s no housing the effects could be years away, but when there’s no water, there are water riots immediately. People who don’t have it will steal it because they have to.

So water could be one of the triggering events in Indian cities for how a sort of mini-political revolution might happen and realization on the part of the middle classes that there is actually a wider world that is up against its limits.

  Reported by Huffington Post 9 hours ago.

Federal health insurance aid in doubt for nearly 8M

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly 8 million people could lose up to $24 billion a year in health insurance subsidies in a Supreme Court case threatening President Barack Obama's law, according to a government report released Tuesday. Reported by TwinCities.com 8 hours ago.

Inexpensive Auto Insurance Plans That Include Collision Coverage Now Quoted at Insurer Website Online

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Inexpensive auto insurance plans are now quoted at the Quotes Pros website that include collision coverage from new insurers at http://quotespros.com/auto-insurance.html.

Orlando, FL (PRWEB) March 10, 2015

American consumers can sometimes pay higher rates for vehicle insurance due to add-on coverage for collision protection. The Quotes Pros company has revised its partner insurers that are providing quotations this year to supply inexpensive auto insurance quotes including collision protection at http://quotespros.com/auto-insurance.html.

Adults who are more concerned with adding special coverage to ensure payouts for a collision can now sort through the new providers that are displayed at the Quotes Pros website. All data from agencies that is supplied to consumers is generated by known U.S. insurers quoting accurate plans of coverage.

"The auto insurers that appear for exploration inside of our system are able to generate a quote for coverage in most parts of the country," said one Quotes Pros company source.

Because collision coverage quotes are usually separate from a whole policy, some vehicle owners are used to paying for additional protection for a regular policy. The QuotesPros.com portal now displays companies that offer unique policies that include additional protection for each plan offered.

"There are different ways that adults use to obtain quotations for a policy although our system now offers access to a better arrangement of companies offering affordable policies," said the source.

The Quotes Pros company is helping Americans who take interest in long-term health care coverage to find new policy rates in 2015. The company database that can be searched daily by consumers is now displaying companies that supply immediate quotations without medical examinations for health protection at http://quotespros.com/health-insurance.html.

About QuotesPros.com

The QuotesPros.com has opened its national database of American insurers that adults can review daily on the web. The company has improved the ways that consumers seek out coverage plans by adding zip code sorting to its system. The QuotesPros.com company website can be researched for insurance information through standard PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone devices daily. Reported by PRWeb 7 hours ago.

$390 million verdict against PNC Bank announced in pre-arranged funeral services case

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A St. Louis federal court jury awarded plaintiffs represented by Reilly Pozner, LLP in excess of $390 million, including $35.5 million in punitive damages, against PNC Bank following a five-week trial

St. Louis, MO (PRWEB) March 10, 2015

A U.S. District Court jury has reached a verdict of in excess of $390 million, including $35.5 million in punitive damages, against PNC Bank following a five-week trial in the case of Jo Ann Howard and Associates, P.C., special deputy receiver of Lincoln Memorial Life Insurance Company, Memorial Service Life Insurance Company, and National Prearranged Services, Inc., et al. versus J. Douglas Cassity; Randall K. Sutton; Brent D. Cassity; J. Tyler Cassity; Rhonda l. Cassity; et al. (Case No. 09-CV-1252-ERW, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, Eastern Division.)

Lead plaintiffs' counsel, Dan Reilly of the national litigation firm Reilly Pozner of Denver, Colorado, said "Our theme at trial was that the bank's conduct made a fraud possible."

According to court documents, the plaintiffs were the Special Deputy Receiver (SDR), Jo Ann Howard and Associates, who was appointed by the Commissioner of the Texas Department of Insurance; the National Organization of Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Associations (NOLHGA) on behalf of 28 state guaranty associations, and the state guaranty associations of Missouri, Texas, Illinois, Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Kentucky. The SDR and guaranty associations joined forces to pursue breach of fiduciary duty and negligence claims against PNC, which was the successor to Allegiant Bank and Trust Company, a St. Louis-based bank that had served as a trustee for multiple pre-need funeral trusts for the original defendants, Reilly said.

Court filings and trial testimony before U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber revealed that thousands of consumers and multiple funeral homes had entered into contracts with the company known as National Prearranged Services (NPS), which was run by a number of individuals who were indicted and convicted of fraud (USA v. Sutton et al., case number 4:09-cr-00509, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.) NPS sold pre-need funeral contracts initially in Missouri and used two affiliated Texas-based life insurance companies to back the pre-need funeral contracts according to court testimony, Reilly said. In 2008, NPS and the two insurance companies were placed in receivership in Austin, Texas. The SDR and state guaranty association system worked together to ensure that thousands of funerals were paid for according to trial testimony, Reilly said. Since 2008, the guaranty associations have paid more than $300 million for in excess of 50,000 funerals in 40 states, Reilly said adding that the guaranty associations will pay for all covered future funerals, which will be additional millions of dollars.

"This has been a superb team effort with the guaranty associations. We are very pleased with the jury's award," said David Mattax, the Commissioner of Insurance for the State of Texas. Peter Gallanis, president of NOLHGA, said, "We are proud that the guaranty associations have met their obligations to ensure that the consumer losses were covered. The jury's verdict was the next step in the process." Reported by PRWeb 7 hours ago.

Federal health insurance aid in doubt for nearly 8 million

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Nearly 8 million people could lose up to $24 billion a year in health insurance subsidies in a Supreme Court case threatening... Reported by Deseret News 7 hours ago.

Federal Health Insurance Aid in Doubt for Nearly 8M

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Gov't report indicates up to $24B in health insurance subsidies at stake in Supreme Court case Reported by ABCNews.com 6 hours ago.

Nearly 11.7 million signed up for Obamacare health insurance: HHS

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Nearly 11.7 million people have either signed up or re-enrolled for insurance coverage under the U.S. healthcare reform law, more than the 9.1 million predicted by the Obama administration,health officials said on Tuesday. Reported by Reuters 5 hours ago.

Over 400,000 take health insurance on state's exchange

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A total of 408,841 New Yorkers signed up or re-enrolled in health insurance on the state's exchange as of Feb. 22, a federal report said Tuesday. Reported by Newsday 4 hours ago.

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The Florida Senate is moving ahead with a bill that would use federal funds to offer health insurance to nearly 1 million low-income Floridians. Reported by WEAR ABC 3 4 hours ago.

Feds extend deadline for Affordable Care Act sign-ups

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Almost 11.7 million Americans nationwide have enrolled in family or individual health insurance through Affordable Care Act marketplaces, federal officials announced Tuesday. Reported by dailypress.com 1 hour ago.

Leading Provider of Email Management Solutions, Netmail, Named One of Canada’s Top Small and Medium Employers for 2015

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Netmail, a Montreal-based Email Management Company, Recognized by the Editors of Canada’s Top Employers for a Second Consecutive Year

Montreal, Canada (PRWEB) March 11, 2015

Netmail, a leading provider of email archiving, security, and storage management solutions for Microsoft Exchange and Novell GroupWise, today announced that it has been named one of Canada’s Top 50 Small and Medium Employers for 2015 by the editors of Canada’s Top Employers.

Headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Netmail—formerly known as Messaging Architects—offers a fun and innovative place to work by providing competitive pay, a defined-contribution pension plan, profit-sharing, and a premium health insurance plan. Benefits also include a short-term disability, one paid volunteer day each year, and subsidies for public transit, gym memberships, and work-related courses. But it’s not all work and no play at Netmail where employees frequently socialize over monthly breakfasts, a weekly happy hour, cooking classes, and other company activities. The company is also employee-owned.

Netmail is not only the best provider of email and content management technology for small- to medium-size enterprises in Canada, it is also one of the best small- to medium-size companies to work for. With an ever-increasing amount of data generated, small- to medium-size companies can be overwhelmed with managing, storing, and securing that data. For only a few dollars for each employee per year, companies can avoid purchasing servers and storage by allowing Netmail to manage their documents and electronic data.

“Employee ownership at Netmail makes the company a very different kind of tech firm. For starters, the attrition rate is about a third of the technology industry average and there is a greater degree of job security,” says CEO Van Etten, adding, “but we’re always looking for strong software developers as well as customer support specialists. We look for employees with a high level of energy and aptitude first, and we look for competence and skill set second.”

The Top Small and Medium Employers for 2015 is an annual competition organized by Canada’s Top Employers. This special designation recognizes private sector small- and medium-size employers with up to 500 employees that lead their industries in offering exceptional places to work, based on criteria like physical workplace, work atmosphere, health, financial and family benefits, vacation and time off, and employee communications, training and skills development, among others.

About Netmail
Netmail provides the simplest way to manage your email, whether for 100 or 100,000 mailboxes. An integrated, award-winning platform that includes email security, archiving, encryption, eDiscovery, storage, monitoring & more--for only $1 per mailbox per month, everything included. You won't find better technology, better support, or better people, for less money. Anywhere.

###

Netmail is a registered trademark of Netmail Inc. All other company and product names mentioned are used only for identification purposes and may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Reported by PRWeb 18 hours ago.

These Charity Bracelets Are The Perfect Excuse To Shop

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Ever since the Livestrong bracelet, charity jewelry has been popping up all over the place. But over the years, the bracelets and necklaces we've been seeing have evolved from rubber bands to hand-crafted pieces that not only do good, but also look good.

Below are five companies that are donating proceeds to good causes and helping artisans in local communities, all the while creating stunning jewelry. The bracelets below are the perfect reason to pull out your credit card.

*Joye*Bracelet Black Leather (Incl The Smile Charm Plus One Charity Charm), $33Dr. Joerg Zobel, who previously served as PUMA's global strategy director, founded JOYE to offer customizable charm bracelets that support different charitable causes. For example, purchasing a wisdom charm pays for text books and stationery for one child for one school year, while buying the trust charm provides one meal for a family of four during an emergency. JOYE partnered with Friends-International, a charity that works primarily in communities in Southeast Asia. The bracelet above costs $33 for the bracelet, smile charm and one additional charm.
*Stella & Dot *

Enlighten Bracelet, $39California-based company Stella & Do donates 100% of net proceeds from sales of their "Enlighten Bracelet" to Every Mother Counts. The company, which aims to create flexible entrepreneurial opportunities for women, sells the gold-plated brass and leather bracelet for $39.

*The Brave Collection*

Orchid Bracelet, $38Following a trip to Cambodia, Jessica Hendricks created The Brave Collection to celebrate the unique community and the courageous women she met during her travels. All the jewelry she sells is handmade by Cambodian artisans who come from underprivileged backgrounds or suffer from disabilities. The artists, who are mostly mothers, all work in a fair and safe work environment where they earn above average wages and receive benefits like health insurance. In addition, The Brave Collection donates 10 percent of all proceeds to Free To Shine Cambodia, an organization which fights human trafficking.

*Bravelets*

Breast Cancer Awareness Bracelet, $37The best part of Bravelets is that you can pick a piece of jewelry based on the cause you want to support. Whether you'd like to donate to multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's research or breast cancer awareness, Bravelets has something for you. $10 from every sale goes to the charity associated with the bracelet's cause.

*Lokai*

Classic Lokai, $18Lokai's signature bracelet is all about finding balance. The bracelet's black bead holds mud from The Dead Sea, and the white beads hold water from Mount Everest. 10 percent of the net proceeds from each $18 bracelet goes to Lokai's variety of charitable alliances, which include Cure Alzheimer's Fund, Pencils of Promise and a host of other organizations. For a limited time, the company isselling a special blue bracelet, with some proceeds going towards helping to bring clean drinking water to 10,000 people in Ethiopia. Reported by Huffington Post 15 hours ago.

AIS Network Sponsors Virginia Higher Education IT Annual Conference

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AIS Network, a leading cloud security and regulatory compliance expert serving the higher education community, announces its sponsorship and participation in the 25th annual conference of the Association of Collegiate Computing Services of Virginia (ACCS).

Richmond, Va. (PRWEB) March 11, 2015

March 11, 2015 – AIS Network, a leading cloud security and regulatory compliance expert serving the higher education community, announces its sponsorship and participation in the 25th annual conference of the Association of Collegiate Computing Services of Virginia (ACCS). The conference will be held today through Friday at the DoubleTree hotel in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Public and private higher educational institutions in Virginia can purchase AISN’s FERPA-compliant High Security Cloud Services directly, using AISN’s contract with the Commonwealth of Virginia (VA-120416-AISN). The commonwealth depends on AISN to host the state portal, Virginia.gov, and to provide secure, compliant and highly reliable eGov hosting services to the executive branch agencies, educational institutions, counties, cities, towns, emergency responders and all other public entities.

In addition to sponsoring the ACCS conference, AISN will also lead an educational program tomorrow on “Disaster Recovery for Continuity” for universities, colleges and other institutions seeking to protect their data from the consequences of a natural or man-made disaster. AISN CEO Jay Atkinson will introduce Chairmand and CTO Kurt Baumann, who will outline the steps needed to establish a disaster recovery plan designed to prevent data loss and downtime in the event of a disaster scenario. The conference presentation is March 12 at 9 a.m.

“We want the higher ed community to have the most up-to-date information and governance protocols with regard to The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and other applicable federal and state data privacy laws,” said Atkinson.

“A large part of that is planning for a disaster, whether it is a storm or earthquake that damages infrastructure, a building flood, human error or an external data breach. AISN’s educational clients rest assured knowing their data will be kept compliant within AISN’s highly secure and disaster-resilient environment. We assist them regularly with auditing, penetration testing and business continuity planning.”

As a conference exhibitor, AISN will also have the opportunity to introduce AISN’s High Security Cloud Services, which are built on the Microsoft Cloud Platform and engineered to provide flexibility to control data, enforce stringent security measures, and maintain 100 percent compliance with 99.999 percent uptime availability. AISN’s “100 Percent Compliance Guarantee” comes standard.

As a conference incentive, educational institutions migrating to any AISN High Security Cloud will get one month of free hosting during their cloud migration month.

AISN is a SWaM-certified small business and the preeminent cloud hosting provider for numerous international commercial enterprises seeking the highest levels of compliance and responsiveness.

About AIS Network
AIS Network takes higher education to the cloud. AISN is the high compliance, secure cloud hosting expert serving large enterprises in the education, health care, pharmaceutical, government and financial industries, notably numerous international corporations and the Commonwealth of Virginia. When our clients’ highly regulated data, applications, payment portals and websites are simply too critical or complex to entrust to a commodity hosting provider, they call us for help. We engineer, customize and manage high-performance, secure cloud and disaster recovery solutions. Our clients never worry about whether their IT environment can pass a FERPA, HIPAA, PCI, FISMA, SOX or other compliance audit, because we pass ours 100% of the time. We value highly giving our clients all of the personalized attention that they deserve, while also helping them to audit their infrastructure, reduce their IT compliance risk, avoid costly regulatory mistakes and lower costs for their business and their customers. Visit http://www.aisn.net.

### Reported by PRWeb 14 hours ago.

EHealth Inc. to Cut 15% of Workforce

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EHealth Inc. said Wednesday that it will cut about 15% of its workforce as the health-insurance exchange operator experiences lower-than-expected membership for its family and individual plans. Reported by Wall Street Journal 13 hours ago.

St. Patrick’s Day Pet Names and Dog Breeds Revealed

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Veterinary Pet Insurance (VPI) Unleashes Top Breeds, Beers, and Monikers Linked to the Irish Holiday

Brea, California (PRWEB) March 11, 2015

In the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day, Veterinary Pet Insurance Co. (VPI), the nation’s first and largest provider of pet health insurance, analyzed its database of more than 525,000 insured pets to find the five most common Irish dog breeds, Irish beer-inspired pet names, and St. Patrick’s Day monikers. Below are the results (total number of pets enrolled/sharing name in parenthesis):

Irish Dog Breeds        
1. Wheaten terrier (1,048)
2. Irish setter (366)          
3. Irish wolfhound (257)     
4. Irish terrier (152)         
5. Irish water spaniel (25)    

St. Patrick's Day Inspired Pet Names
1. Lucky (1,571)
2. Seamus (228)
3. Clover (134)
4. Patrick (98)
5. Shamrock (52)

Irish Beer Inspired Pet Names
1. Murphy (1,443)
2. Guinness (96)
3. Harp (4)
4. Smithwick (3)
5. O'Hara (2)

"The Irish heritage is widely celebrated in the U.S., and the pet loving community is no exception,” said Curtis Steinhoff, Director of Corporate Communications at VPI. “While we may not have our own pet parade for St. Patrick’s day, we continue to see a trend of Irish-themed pet monikers year over year.”

The Irish wolfhound didn’t stray far from its Emerald Isle roots with the most common name amongst the breed being the traditional Irish surname, “Finnegan.” Other popular Irish themed monikers included 123 companions named “Jameson,” a world famous Irish whiskey, and 118 pets named “Dublin,” the capital and largest city of Ireland.

About Veterinary Pet Insurance
With more than 525,000 pets insured nationwide, Veterinary Pet Insurance Co./DVM Insurance Agency (VPI), a Nationwide company, is the first and largest pet health insurance provider in the United States. Since 1982, VPI has helped provide pet owners with peace of mind and is committed to being the trusted choice of America’s pet lovers.

VPI plans cover dogs, cats, birds and exotic pets for multiple medical problems and conditions relating to accidents, illnesses and injuries. Wellness coverage for routine care is available for an additional premium. Medical plans are available in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Additionally, one in three Fortune 500 companies offers VPI Pet Insurance as an employee benefit. Insurance plans are offered and administered by Veterinary Pet Insurance Company in California and DVM Insurance Agency in all other states. Underwritten by Veterinary Pet Insurance Company (CA), Brea, CA, an A.M. Best A rated company (2013); National Casualty Company (all other states), Madison, WI, an A.M. Best A+ rated company (2014). Veterinary Pet Insurance, VPI and the cat/dog logo are service marks of Veterinary Pet Insurance Company. ©2015 Veterinary Pet Insurance Company and Nationwide. Pet owners can find VPI on Facebook or follow @VPI on Twitter. For more information about VPI, call 800-USA-PETS (800-872-7387) or visit petinsurance.com. Reported by PRWeb 14 hours ago.

Considerable potential savings with generic medicines

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Substituting branded medications with drugs containing the same active ingredients (generics) can save considerable amounts of money. A study has calculated the potential savings from generic medications used in the treatment of common conditions such as hypertension, hyperlipidaemia and diabetes mellitus. The potential annual financial savings for health insurance companies stand at around 18 per cent. Reported by Science Daily 11 hours ago.

WellCare Offers Community Baby Showers for New and Expectant Moms in Kentucky

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WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (NYSE: WCG) is offering free community baby showers for new and expectant moms in Kentucky. The showers are open to moms during pregnancy or within six months of birth.

Tampa, FL (PRWEB) March 11, 2015

WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (NYSE: WCG), a leading provider of managed care services for government-sponsored health care programs, is offering free community baby showers for new and expectant moms in Kentucky. The showers are open to moms during pregnancy or within six months of birth.

The community baby showers focus on providing moms with critical heath care information for themselves and their babies, successful parenting techniques, a gift basket, an opportunity to participate in a raffle and refreshments. Attendees may bring one guest.

WellCare of Kentucky will offer baby showers in the following cities:· Florence (March 11)
· Owensboro (March 17)
· Harrodsburg (March 17)
· Hazard (March 17)
· Shelbyville (April 21)
· Richmond (April 22)
· Paducah (April 22)
· Harlan (April 24)
· Glasgow (May 7)
· Morehead (May 12)
· Madisonville (May 14)
· Newport (May 20)

“Child health is closely linked to good maternal care, as well as medical care, nutrition and a sense of safety and security during the first months of life,” said Dr. Howard Shaps, medical director for WellCare of Kentucky. “The community baby showers give WellCare a fun way to support healthy pregnancies and newborns by providing education about the importance of healthy habits, including eating right, staying active and working with a health care professional.”

The community baby showers also connect moms with organizations that can help to address the social issues that can impact a healthy pregnancy and healthy baby, including housing, nutrition, medical care and counseling. WellCare of Kentucky is currently planning additional showers to take place through the end of 2015. To find out more about the showers, their locations and times, and to RSVP call 270-793-7336.

As of Dec. 31, 2014, WellCare serves approximately 408,000 Medicaid members, 5,000 Medicare Advantage plan members and 21,000 Medicare Prescription Drug Plan members in Kentucky. To learn more about how we care for Kentuckians, watch Brandi’s story at http://youtu.be/YwOw5EgeSYo.

About WellCare Health Plans, Inc.
WellCare Health Plans, Inc. provides managed care services targeted to government-sponsored health care programs, including Medicaid, Medicare, Prescription Drug Plans and the Health Insurance Marketplace. Headquartered in Tampa, Fla., WellCare offers a variety of health plans for families, children, and the aged, blind and disabled. The company serves approximately 4.1 million members nationwide as of Dec. 31, 2014. For more information about WellCare, please visit the company's website at http://www.wellcare.com or view the company’s videos at https://www.youtube.com/user/WellCareHealthPlan. Reported by PRWeb 14 hours ago.

Array Health’s Lance Hood Appointed to Washington Health Benefit Exchange Advisory Committee

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Array Health's senior director of marketing joins Washington Health Benefit Exchange Advisory Committee to review issues related to the state’s online health insurance marketplace.

Seattle, WA (PRWEB) March 11, 2015

Array Health, the leading provider of private health insurance exchange technology, today announced the appointment of its senior director of marketing, Lance Hood, to the Washington Health Benefit Exchange Advisory Committee.

A key provision of the Affordable Care Act, the Washington Health Benefit Exchange was created in 2011 and is responsible for the creation of the Washington Healthplanfinder, the state’s online health insurance marketplace for individuals, families and small businesses. It was designed to help people find, compare and enroll in qualified health insurance plans. The Advisory Committee is composed of up to 20 community professionals who are appointed by the Exchange Board to review issues related to the shopping and enrollment process, including policy topics referred to them by the Board.

With deep expertise in healthcare information technology, Hood’s industry and marketing experience will complement other Advisory Committee members’ backgrounds in consulting, insurance and brokerage functions.

“Washington Health Benefits Exchange is playing a critical role in helping ensure all Washingtonians have access to health insurance that best meets their needs,” said Hood. “Insights from my role with Array Health and the complementary private exchange marketplace will help me provide counsel on key issues, including improving consumer engagement through web-based platforms and new digital channels.”

Hood has more than 20 years of experience in healthcare information technology. At Array Health, he oversees branding, product positioning, demand generation and marketing communications. Prior to joining the company, Hood was assistant vice president at Edifecs, a healthcare electronic data interchange and compliance solution software vendor. He has also held executive positions at security vendor Epok, social network provider OneName and managed care software provider Health Systems Technologies.

About Array Health
Array Health brings consumers and insurers closer together by powering a personalized health insurance experience. Its cloud-based e-commerce software platform enables health insurers to deliver their own branded online exchange— including e-commerce support throughout the value chain of brokers, employers and consumers, across all lines of business. The company’s technology gives employers a new way to control costs and personalizes the health insurance experience for consumers, enabling them to make more informed decisions and to more deeply engage in their health. Array Health is a privately held company based in Seattle. To learn more, visit arrayhealth.com. Reported by PRWeb 13 hours ago.

Physiotherapy Services in Australia Industry Market Research Report Now Updated by IBISWorld

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Baby boomers are increasingly reaching retirement age and are becoming more susceptible to injuries requiring a physiotherapist's attention. For this reason, industry research firm IBISWorld has updated its report on Physiotherapy Services industry in Australia.

Melbourne, Australia (PRWEB) March 11, 2015

The Physiotherapy Services industry in Australia is a picture of health, benefiting primarily from Australia's ageing population and rising private health insurance membership coverage over the past five years. The industry has rebounded strongly following a slight slowdown in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, further boosted by growth in disposable income. According to IBISWorld industry analyst David Whytcross, “baby boomers are increasingly reaching retirement age and are becoming more susceptible to injuries requiring a physiotherapist's attention.” Private health insurance coverage growth has ensured that a wider pool of potential clients have greater access to the industry. Industry revenue is forecast to rise at a compound annual rate of 2.9% over the five years through 2014-15, to reach $1.5 billion. Stable revenue growth of 1.7% is forecast for the current year.

Older generations are more likely to require physiotherapy services to prevent or rehabilitate injuries and maintain their musculoskeletal structures as they age. Population ageing has meant that people with these health traits make up a greater share of the population. Older generations also demonstrate traits that are common with higher physiotherapy participation, including greater acquired wealth, increased health consciousness and a larger percentage of individuals with private health insurance cover. While physiotherapy services receive minimal government subsidisation, private health insurers largely cover the service. “Growing private health insurance coverage has ensured that there is a large pool of clients that can receive such services at little out-of-pocket cost, contributing to industry growth”, says Whytcross. Private health insurance numbers are expected to continue growing over the next five years despite changes to Federal Government rebates on private health insurance premiums, as individuals and families in higher income brackets receive lesser rebates. Coverage growth will benefit the industry. Australia's population will continue to age, further assisting industry revenue growth. Physiotherapists are expected to increasingly move into specialisations, including geriatric services and sports therapy. Specialising in certain fields will allow practitioners to differentiate themselves from the rest of the price-competitive industry, enabling them to charge higher prices and contribute to revenue growth.

The Physiotherapy Services industry is characterised by a low level of concentration and a high degree of fragmentation. Firms within the industry tend to be small, with almost half of physiotherapy practices operating as sole proprietorships. The high number of small businesses and low number of bigger businesses, coupled with the industry's strong profit margins, demonstrate that physiotherapy services businesses have little need to increase economies of scale through consolidation. While physiotherapists often expand their operations across two or even three practices, there are few occurrences of practitioners forming a group or company.

For more information, visit IBISWorld’s Physiotherapy Services industry in Australia report page.

This industry is made up of companies and practitioners that primarily provide physiotherapy services.

Follow IBISWorld on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/ibisworldau

IBISWorld industry Report Key Topics

Industry Performance
Executive Summary
Key External Drivers
Current Performance
Industry Outlook
Industry Life Cycle
Products & Markets
Supply Chain
Products & Services
Major Markets
International Trade
Business Locations
Competitive Landscape
Market Share Concentration
Key Success Factors
Cost Structure Benchmarks
Basis of Competition
Barriers to Entry
Industry Globalisation
Major Companies
Operating Conditions
Capital Intensity
Technology & Systems
Revenue Volatility
Regulation & Policy
Industry Assistance
Key Statistics
Industry Data
Annual Change
Key Ratios

About IBISWorld Inc.
Recognised as the nation’s most trusted independent source of industry and market research, IBISWorld offers a comprehensive database of unique information and analysis on every Australian industry. With an extensive online portfolio, valued for its depth and scope, the company equips clients with the insight necessary to make better business decisions. Headquartered in Melbourne, IBISWorld serves a range of business, professional service and government organisations through more than 10 locations worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.ibisworld.com.au or call (03) 9655 3886. Reported by PRWeb 13 hours ago.

Beware: 'Wellness' May Be Hazardous to Your Health

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Could promotion of "wellness" be hazardous to your health? Sadly, the answer is yes -- if it leads to discrimination in employment. Corporate wellness industry advocates have turned up the heat on the Obama administration -- and on the independent EEOC -- to allow employers to force their workers to disclose sensitive personal information under the guise of "voluntary" wellness programs.For years employers have offered worksite wellness programs, ranging from newsletters or gym memberships to high stakes incentive programs that change your insurance premiums by thousands of dollars if you lose weight, reduce your blood pressure or blood sugar levels, quit smoking or achieve some other health outcome. Although no scientific evidence has yet shown that such programs actually improve, health -- and a number of recent studies in fact suggest that high-stakes incentives merely shift, and do not reduce, health care costs -- the Affordable Care Act makes an exception to its basic ban on varying premiums based on health status for outcomes-based wellness programs.Some employers ask workers to complete a Health Risk Assessment or HRA -- a questionnaire to gather information on their activities outside the office. Often accompanied by physical exams or blood tests, HRAs typically include questions about a wide range of personal matters, such as· Are you (or do you plan to get) pregnant?· Are you divorced?· How much do you drink outside of work?· Have you been depressed lately? and· Have you ever been diagnosed with... (long list of health conditions)?Not surprisingly, people don't always feel comfortable about answering such questions from their bosses. Participation has been low. So about half of large employers with HRAs offer employees an incentive to participate. Most times it's something small, like a gift card. But about a third of employers use a penalty or reward of $500 or more. And a few (3 percent) won't let workers have health insurance at all unless they complete the HRA.That's where the trouble lies. First, there are the privacy concerns: many Americans believe, with good reason, that these matters are none of their employer's business. Beyond privacy, however, there's the question of how the boss plans to use this information. Once disclosed, sensitive health information too often has been used to discriminate against workers who have diabetes, heart disease, mental illness, and other conditions despite their ability to perform their job.Fortunately, there are protections, for now. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) actually prohibits employers from asking employees to disclose personal medical information--except when the information is directly job-related or when it is part of a voluntary wellness program. Since 2000, enforcement guidance issued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has said "voluntary" means just what the dictionary says - that workers can't be required to participate in wellness programs or penalized if they don't.To enforce these protections, last year the EEOC brought three actions against employers for allegedly coercing workers into completing an HRA: one in which an employee allegedly was fired for refusing the HRA; another in which an employee allegedly lost health benefits for refusing; and third in which employees who refused faced a series of financial penalties that could be as high as $4,000 per year for some workers.No reasonable person would consider these arrangements "voluntary." But the enforcement actions have driven employers ballistic. They may even be trying to bully the administration into undermining the ADA's protections. It was employers who got exceptions from insurance discrimination rules for wellness programs into the Affordable Care Act; now they want wellness programs to have exceptions from ADA employment discrimination rules too. The Business Roundtable has urged the Secretaries of Labor, HHS, and Treasury to thwart the EEOC's enforcement efforts. They assert that if the ACA has an exception for those wellness programs, so should the ADA. And corporate leaders have appealed to the president to rein in the EEOC.But there's a serious slip in the employers' argument. The ACA insurance discrimination exception applies only to outcomes-based wellness programs that meet certain standards. Most employers that use HRAs don't offer programs that meet those standards. And even when they do, neither the ACA nor its wellness regulation amended the ADA's fundamental protection against workplace discrimination -- that is, the broad prohibition on asking medical questions that aren't voluntary.The wellness industry and major employers are demanding that the ADA exception for "voluntary" wellness programs be re-defined to give them free rein. A wellness industry blog takes credit for the EEOC's announcement that it is re-considering what voluntary might mean. And press accounts suggest that employers are threatening to support the repeal of Obamacare -- or its gutting in the pending King v. Burwell suit -- unless the EEOC backs off enforcement of current rules. Meanwhile, a bill to weaken ADA's protections has just been introduced in Congress.The concept of wellness, surely, is something we all can applaud. People should have every opportunity -- at home and at work -- to choose to eat better, exercise more, and reduce stress. Wellness programs that actually help people improve their health are a good thing. But privacy and protecting workers from job-based discrimination are good things too. Corporations and politicians should take care not to invoke 'wellness' in ways that weaken important civil rights protections and give employers license to snoop around in our medical records and our private lives. That would most definitely be bad for our health. Reported by Huffington Post 13 hours ago.
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