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Data Recovery: The Rainbow at the End of a Computer Crash

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It continues to amaze me in this day and age that anyone would commit a murder. (Ok, ever, but particularly in this day and age.)

Yes, it's illegal and heinous, but it's also nearly impossible that your actions haven't been tracked, from government practices to the prevalence of cameras everywhere, to the fact that your phone and computer usually know your location before you can even say it aloud. You so much as think that you maybe might need some new sneakers, and all of a sudden your computer is suggesting where to shop for those desired sneakers every time you open your browser.

But what about the times you have data stored on your computer that you very much want to keep forever and ever? And what about that freak-ish time your computer crashes and your files are lost and you haven't backed up in a scary amount of time, in spite of all the warnings you were prompted with? For this, there is the panacea to end all panaceas: data recovery.

Intratec Data Recovery reports, "although, depending on the scale of the failure or damage to the storage medium, data recovery is not guaranteed, in most cases the recovery services are successful. In spite of not being a flawless solution recovery executed by industry experts can produce results in the range of between 80% to 100%..." On the other end of the spectrum, top-notch data recovery products can help you to actively delete the content you actually do want to delete, so you don't have to pile those laptops one on top of another in your storage unit every several years, fearing someone will swipe your identity and naked photos from vacation with the last boyfriend if you donate your laptop or leave it to other hands to destroy or recycle. Remo Software advises, "Formatting a hard drive, deleting a partition or simple deletion of data is not the safest way to get rid of critical data from your storage devices. If you are planning to sell or dispose off your PC, Laptop or the external drive, it is imperative to securely shred the data beyond recovery."

The best news of all is that you don't have to invest in data recovery services ahead of time, the way you do with health insurance, life insurance, or phone insurance. When things go kaput and all feels lost, your can research data recovery systems online and select the best one for you and your needs and then it can get to work for you immediately.

If only everything in life operated this way. Oh, and if anyone out there is thinking about committing crime after reading this, don't. Anything you've said or done that can be proven can be used against you in a court of law. It's also 2015, the digital age - someone or something out there is watching/recording/paying attention (yes, even when you think you've "permanently deleted" something) and will find you eventually.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 1 hour ago.

Crime and Espionage Becoming Tangled Online

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To say that 2015 has so far been seen new heights of corporate and government computer attacks, as well as an escalation in the sheer daring of those hacks, is to risk understatement.   The list grows daily: 80 million health insurance records stolen from Anthem Insurance; 27 million private personnel records swiped from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management; the breach of unclassified systems and the White House, State Department, and Joint Chiefs of Staff, and on and... Reported by VOA News 23 hours ago.

Health insurers seek double-digit rate hikes for 2016, report finds

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Some states have already approved hikes as high as 36% as firms seek increases for a third of the health insurance plans listed on the Obamacare exchange

US insurers have asked for double-digit increases for about third of the health insurance plans listed on the national healthcare exchange, a report has found.

The AgileHeathInsurance.com report found that 7% of plans sold on the exchange have proposed a rate increase of at least 30%, and 14% of the plans have proposed a rate increase of at least 20%.

Continue reading... Reported by guardian.co.uk 22 hours ago.

Report: Bengals make tough choice, cut Devon Still

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Report: Bengals make tough choice, cut Devon Still Howevever, Still and his daughter Leah -- who battled cancer -- will have NFL health insurance for the next five years. Reported by FOX Sports 23 hours ago.

Pearl Companies Announces the Purchase of Nelson Insurance Agency

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Pearl Companies is proud to announce that it has acquired Nelson Insurance Agency, a privately held insurance company based in Peoria, Illinois. Nelson Insurance Agency and Regional Director, Rick Nelson, have integrated into Pearl Insurance, effective March 13, 2015.

Peoria, IL (PRWEB) September 05, 2015

With over 20 years of experience in the insurance industry, Rick Nelson has joined the Pearl Insurance team as Regional Director of New Business Insurance Sales and Retention. In addition to his prominent local footprint, Rick brings a profound knowledge of Commercial Lines Insurance products.

“We are thrilled to welcome Rick and his business, Nelson Insurance Agency, to the Pearl family of businesses. We have always prided ourselves in being a nationwide industry-leading provider, and now with Rick’s expertise and local presence, we can take Pearl Insurance to new heights and greater serve the insurance needs of individuals within our very own community and beyond,” said Gary Pearl, Chief Executive Officer of Pearl Companies.

This partnership will provide customers with a number of benefits including the ability to leverage Pearl Insurance’s employee benefits expertise, access to additional Life and Health Insurance companies and relationships, and the opportunity to take advantage of additional resources including people and technology. “I am looking forward to giving my clients the backing of a world class organization from Peoria. The current talent, access to markets, and technology solutions that Pearl has built gives us a competitive edge in the marketplace,” said Rick Nelson.

Nelson Insurance Agency will operate under the name of Nelson Insurance Agency, a member of The Pearl Insurance Organization.

Pearl Companies was founded by John (Jack) Pearl in 1954 with Pearl Insurance. Pearl Companies is a privately held, multifaceted organization that, in addition to Pearl Insurance, includes Pearl Specialty Insurance Agency, Pearl Automotive, Pearl Technology, and Pearl Carroll & Associates LLC.

For more information, please contact Calen Foster at 309.679.0311 or calen(dot)foster(at)pearlinsurance(dot)com. Reported by PRWeb 18 hours ago.

Labor Day 2015: Stand Together and Fight Back

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Labor Day is a time for honoring the working people of this country. It is also a time to celebrate the accomplishments of the activists and organizers who fought for the 40-hour work week, occupational safety, minimum-wage law, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and affordable housing. These working people, and their unions, resisted the oligarchs of their day, fought for a more responsive democracy, and built the middle class.

Today we can - and we must - follow their example. It's time to rebuild the crumbling middle class of our country and make certain that every working person in the United States of America has a chance at a decent life.

Against overwhelming odds, the men and women of the labor movement changed society for the better. If you've ever enjoyed a paid vacation, a sick day or a pension, they are the people to thank. And if you don't have those benefits on your job today, they are the people who can help you get them.

The economic reality is that while our economy today is much stronger than when President George W. Bush left office 7 years ago, the middle class is continuing its 40 year decline.

Almost all new income and wealth is going to the people on top, while millions of Americans work longer hours for lower wages. In fact, wages actually fell for 90 percent of Americans between 2009 and 2012, even as they rose for the top 10 percent. While we have seen in recent years a proliferation of millionaires and billionaires, 51 percent of African American youth are now unemployed or underemployed, and we have the highest rate of childhood poverty of any major country on earth.

As a result of an explosion of technology, productivity has risen in this country. But working people are not sharing in the wealth. For three decades after the end of World War II, productivity and wages grew together. Business profits rose and the workers who made those profits possible did well along with their bosses. That's not happening today. Productivity has continued to soar, but workers have been cut out of the profits.

The time is long overdue for us to create an economy which works for the middle class and working families of this country, and not just the 1 percent. It is time for us to have a government which represents all Americans, not just wealthy campaign contributors.

At a time of massive income and wealth inequality, we need a tax system which demands that the wealthy and large corporations start paying their fair share of taxes.

With real unemployment at over 10 percent and youth unemployment off the charts, we need a massive federal jobs program to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure and create millions of decent paying jobs.

With many of our people working at starvation wages, we need to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next few years, and implement pay equity for women workers.

When hundreds of thousands of bright and qualified young people are unable to afford a higher education, we need to make public colleges and universities tuition free and lower student debt. And we can do that by a tax on Wall Street speculation.

At a time when 35 million Americans lack any health insurance and many more are under-insured, we need to move toward a Medicare-for-all, single-payer health insurance program which guarantees health care to all Americans.

We also need to join other wealthy counties by guaranteeing that all families have paid medical and family leave and paid sick time and vacation time.

Instead of cutting Social Security retirement or disability programs, as most Republicans want, we need to expand Social Security benefits so that every senior citizen in this country can enjoy their retirement years in dignity.

When many businesses are making it harder and harder for workers to enjoy their constitutional right to form a trade union, we need legislation which makes it possible for those workers want to join a union to be able to do so. We need to pass the Employee Free Choice Act.

In the wealthiest country in the history of the world, we can accomplish all these goals but we can't do it without a political revolution. We can't do it unless millions of Americans stand up and fight back to reclaim our country from the hands of a billionaire class whose greed is destroying our nation.

Here's the good news: we faced challenges like these before in our history. And we won. We won when working people across this country came together - in the workplace, in peaceful demonstrations and at the ballot box - and said, "No more." That victory is part of what we celebrate on Labor Day.

By all means, enjoy the holiday weekend. But this Labor Day let's also honor the men and women who fought for the rights of working people in this country ever since it was founded - by pledging to carry on with the work they've started.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 22 hours ago.

On Labor Day, Here Are 5 Ways To Help Labor

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Labor Day isn’t simply a time to fire up the grill and enjoy one last weekend of summer. It’s a day to think about the challenges facing American workers.  And, these days, that means there’s a lot to think about.

The economy is recovering, and unemployment, according to estimates that the federal government released on Friday, is falling. It’s now down to 5.1 percent, which is lower than at any time since 2008. But the employment-to-population ratio, the economic measure many economists prefer, still hasn’t returned to its pre-recession levels. Wages aren’t rising that quickly, either.

Put it all together and you have a workforce that is doing better than it was, but not as well as it could be -- particularly for those households struggling with child care, medical bills or other costly necessities.

It doesn’t have to be this way. If lawmakers want to help workers, they have options. Here's a quick rundown of five steps they could take -- each with drawbacks and trade-offs, for sure, but also strong merits:

*Raise the minimum wage*. The simplest case for a higher minimum wage is that its value has fallen, relative to productivity. You can see it in the graph below, from the Center on Economic Policy Research. The wage and productivity rise in tandem through the late 1960s. Then they diverge and, today, the minimum wage is actually lower in real terms than it was back then.The usual counter-argument to raising the minimum wage is that it would reduce employment. And it's surely possible to raise the wage high enough that it would truly mean a significant loss of jobs. Economists will be watching data from cities like Seattle, which recently raised its minimum wage to $15 per hour, to see if anything like that happens. 

But the case for more modest wage increases is less ambiguous. A large body of research has shown that raising the wage doesn’t have large effects on employment, for reasons that economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman explained a few weeks ago:

The market for labor isn’t like the market for, say, wheat, because workers are people. And because they’re people, there are important benefits, even to the employer, from paying them more: better morale, lower turnover, increased productivity. These benefits largely offset the direct effect of higher labor costs, so that raising the minimum wage needn’t cost jobs after all.

 

*Provide paid family leave.* In pretty much every developed country, every worker has the right for an extended paid leave in order to deal with a serious medical problem, to take care of a newborn, or to take care of a sick family member. The exception is the U.S. 

The only protection the federal government offers workers is up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave -- and not everybody has access to that. The protection applies only to firms with fewer than 50 employees. If two parents work for the same company, they must share the allotted time between them.

How big an outlier is the U.S.? Take a look:Large companies frequently offer the benefit, and the list of companies doing so is growing. But according to a recent White House report, just 39 percent of workers say they have access to paid leave for newborns. 

One of the best arguments for paid family leave is public health. Studies have shown that when parents have more time at home with newborns, those newborns end up healthier. Paid family leave, properly structured, can also bolster gender equality (since the job of caregiving still falls disproportionately on women) and even boost productivity.  

“Paid leave allows more families to fully contribute to our nation’s economic growth and actually boosts household income by enabling parents, especially mothers, to sustain their careers while caring for their kids and elderly parents,” Heather Boushey, president at the Center for Equitable Growth, noted earlier this year.  

One argument against mandatory paid leave is that it’s expensive for the firms that don't provide it now. But advocates argue, plausibly, that the price isn’t that high, particularly since more generous leave policies can attract better workers and improve retention. Besides, firms don't have to bear the financial burden independently. California financed a paid leave law through a payroll tax. 

*Stop the assault on unions and start allowing “card check.”* Union membership in the U.S. is at historic lows. The wealthy are getting a disproportionate share of the nation’s income. There’s a reason these things have happened simultaneously. Unions, whatever their failings, give workers more leverage to demand higher wages. 

“There’s little point in even discussing how to solve the inequality problem if you won’t consider ways the government could help rebuild — really, stop suppressing — unions," Timothy Noah, author of The Great Divergence and now an editor at Politico, observed a few years ago. "If you graph a line charting the decline in union membership and then superimpose another line charting the decline in middle-class income share, the lines will be nearly identical. That is not a coincidence.”So how do you boost union membership? There’s no single, easy answer. But one big step would be to make organizing easier. U.S. firms are famously hostile to unions, and U.S. labor law famously lets them get away with it. Implementing a card-check system -- in effect, allowing workers to vote for a union by petition, before getting formal ratification through a vote -- is one way of addressing that. Canada has the same system and, not surprisingly, union membership there remains much higher than in the U.S.

The best argument against card check is that it would work -- that, if union organizing were easier, more people would belong to unions. Critics, particularly but not exclusively on the political right, say unions impede innovation, are prone to corruption and ultimately hurt workers more than they help. Labor supporters argue that unions can co-exist with a thriving economy, as they long have overseas, and that they are ultimately a net benefit to workers. 

*Bring the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion to the whole country. *Medicaid is the government health insurance program for low-income people. It’s been around since 1966, but most states restricted eligibility pretty narrowly until 2014, when the Affordable Care Act offered states a deal: Make the program available to all households where income is below or just above the poverty line, and the feds would pick up most of the cost. As of today, 30 states plus the District of Columbia have said yes.That means 20 states haven’t. Among them are Florida, Georgia and Texas. If just those three states embraced the expansion, more than 2 million people would become eligible for coverage. And while some of them would be unemployed, about half are in families with at least one part-time or full-time worker. The problem -- again, most acute in low-wage industries like fast-food -- is that these jobs frequently don’t provide health insurance.

Insuring these people through Medicaid costs money, even if it comes primarily from the federal government rather than the states. And Medicaid is an imperfect program: Beneficiaries can struggle to find specialists willing to see them, since the program pays doctors very little. But studies have shown unambiguously that people on Medicaid get critical economic protection. Research also suggests, albeit less conclusively, that people on Medicaid end up healthier than if they had no insurance at all.

*Expand the EITC to childless workers.* One of the most successful programs to fight poverty is the Earned Income Tax Credit, which basically acts as a wage booster. If you work, but your income is low, then the government will give you some extra money. In other words, it turns low-paying jobs into not-so-low paying jobs.

One of the program’s shortcomings is that it does very little for childless workers. The formula is complicated, but for a single childless adult with an annual income right around the poverty line, the value of the tax credit works out to a little more than $200 a year. A parent of one child with household income around the poverty line would get more than $3,000.

Reducing the credit's eligibility age to 21 and raising the maximum value of the credit could provide relief to millions of low wage workers -- in ways that could benefit the rest of society, too. For example, it could boost employment by making low-wage jobs more attractive. The main trade-off to a higher EITC is that the money comes out of the federal treasury. An increase would likely cost between $5 and $10 billion dollars a year, depending on the details of the proposal. But the EITC has a bipartisan pedigree, going back to the days of Ronald Reagan, and in recent years at least some Republicans have endorsed calls for its expansion -- in part, perhaps, because it's a tax cut. 

As Robert Greenstein, president of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, has noted, “When you look at these young workers or middle-aged workers who are single individuals, if they’re paid low wages, they’re the one group whom the federal government today literally taxes into poverty or deeper into poverty. That should be something that both parties can say, that’s not a good idea. And both parties want to encourage these people to work more, and the Earned Income Credit does that.”

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 17 hours ago.

Research and Markets: Overview of AHIP Institute 2015: Healthcare Payers Seek New Tools and Strategies to Navigate Industry Upheaval

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Research and Markets: Overview of AHIP Institute 2015: Healthcare Payers Seek New Tools and Strategies to Navigate Industry Upheaval DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/qjpgdd/frost_and) has announced the addition of the "Frost & Sullivan's Overview of AHIP Institute 2015: Healthcare Payers Seek New Tools and Strategies to Navigate Industry Upheaval " report to their offering. AHIP is the largest national trade association representing the US health insurance industry and focuses on advocacy, education, and information. Today, AHIP's membership is composed of about 1, Reported by Business Wire 9 hours ago.

United States: Most Health Insurance Co-ops Are Losing Money - Day Pitney LLP

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According to a recent audit by the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 22 of the 23 Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans created under the Affordable Care Act lost money in 2014. Reported by Mondaq 2 hours ago.

Doctors, Hospitals Begin Assault On Health Insurers Before Congress

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It’s going to be a busy September in Washington for health insurance companies as the industry’s adversaries come before Congress in an effort to blunt the impact of unprecedented health plan consolidation. Beginning this week, American Medical Association and American Hospital Association representatives are expected to appear before a U.S. Senate antitrust panel, [...] Reported by Forbes.com 1 hour ago.

Can Your Boss Tell Your Spouse 'Tough Luck' on Healthcare?

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A small reminder on the ongoing need for equality outside the Provincetown HRC store.

Managed Care Magazine recently published an article on employer-sponsored health insurance and same-sex couples. The piece noted that in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide, insurers must recognize the same-sex spouses of beneficiaries. However, author Joseph Burns contends, this does not mean that employers must offer these benefits to employees in same-sex marriage at all.

In other words, a boss can tell employees in an opposite-sex marriage that their spouse is eligible for benefits, but deny those benefits to employees in same-sex marriages.

True? Probably. If the absurdity of the Kentucky court clerk denying same-sex couples marriages licenses teaches us anything, it's that even when something seems pretty obviously unconstitutional, there are always stubborn individuals who will try it anyway.

So an employer certainly could give opposite-sex spouses of employees benefits and not same-sex spouses. But the latter group of employees would probably sue, and they'd probably (eventually) win.

There is growing case law (the most recent from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) supporting the idea that existing laws banning sex discrimination at work should apply to instances of discrimination based on sexual orientation. And there are a number of theories that lead to this conclusion, such that even though not all will work in every court, the chances of winning these cases are growing.

Under some courts' reasoning, if an employer would give spousal benefits to a guy named Joe's partner Jane, but would not do so if Joe was a woman, that's straightforward discrimination on the basis of sex. Some courts are also recognizing that, since sex stereotyping is also illegal under Supreme Court precedent, discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is illegal on this theory, too. It's a centuries-old stereotype that men should be partnered with women, and women should be partnered with men, so employers who make policies based on this stereotype are thus breaking the law.

But until these cases make their way through the courts - or Congress just passes a direct law to ban discrimination against LGBT people -- there will still be uncertainty in these issues.

The Obama administration can do more to make sure same-sex couples get access to care. In the five years since Congress passed the Affordable Care Act, the administration has yet to get its act together and issue regulations to define what "sex-based discrimination" means in Section 1557 of the law.

I first broke the news back in April 2014 that the Department of Health and Human Services intended to deny gays, lesbians, and bisexuals equal protection under this regulation. Some in the "Big Gay" industry were quick to jump to their defense. Interviewed by the Huffington Post, a spokesperson for the National Center for Lesbian Rights who recently took a job with the administration said that this was "reflects our interpretation" of how the regulations would turn out. It certainly felt like a slap in the face (and a pandering to their friends at HHS) for those of us who were pushing for equality under a legal theory that has been increasingly embraced by the courts.

As the clock ticks down on the Obama administration and its mixed record of courage on LGBT issues, those in our community are left to wonder if some of these legal questions will be answered in our favor by the time a new administration takes office in January 2017. Then again, maybe we're better off waiting.

You can learn more about your rights with respect to healthcare with the Healthcare Bill of Rights project.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 19 hours ago.

5 Women Labor Leaders Speak Their Minds on the Future of Labor

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We all love the last holiday of the summer. It's one last chance to celebrate the season, spend a little extra quality time with family and friends and soak up that last little bit of Vitamin D before we all go back to school or back to work.

But as much as we love Labor Day, how much do we really know about it?

Labor Day was created as a celebration of the Labor Movement, which earned so much for working-class America. From workers' rights to free time -- (hello, weekends!) -- and the 9-to-5 work day, the Labor Movement changed much of the working environments that we know today. But these changes didn't come without hard work and persistence.

In honor of Labor Day, I decided to talk to an impressive group of women labor leaders -- Liz Shuler, Secretary- Treasurer of the AFL-CIO; Cindy Estrada, Vice President of United Automobile Workers; Karen Nussbaum, Executive Director of Working America; and Rachel Bryan, the Community Liaison at International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 595 -- to discuss what Labor Day means to them and where they see our future as a movement.

*"Why is Labor Day still important?"
*
Liz Shuler: America's working people make our country run. This year workers across the country are standing together and fighting to create a fair economy that protects their right to a better life. Hard work deserves notice and Labor Day is the only holiday where we recognize working people and the dignity of work as something that unites all of us.

Cindy Estrada: We need to take away that myth that labor was needed during the "bad old days" and not needed today. Labor is still vital today. It's important to have time off to take care of your family and to have safety in the workplace -- all those same issues that my grandmother had.

Karen Nussbaum: There's a strong echo from Labor Day in the 1880s: disruptive changes in the workforce; robber barons then, the billionaire class now. Why is it still important?

Rachel Bryan: It is a celebration of the accomplishments of the American Labor Movement. It commemorates the victories including safer conditions on the job, fair pay and the end of child labor. This day serves as a reminder that the protections and perks we enjoy today came at great cost. .
*
"Why is Labor Day important to you?"
*
Liz Shuler: It is the holiday each year where we truly have a moment to reflect on the important work that is done by men and women everyday, that is often invisible. If you think about all the work that goes into every aspect of your day -- whether it's the cashier at the bakery, the barista at the coffee shop; the bus driver who gets you to work on time; the security officer at the front desk who makes your building safe; or the power lineman delivering electricity to your home -- their work makes our work possible. Take the time to consciously say "thank you" to those people -- every day, but especially on Labor Day.

Cindy Estrada: I'm a product of the labor movement -- my father, uncle and grandmother, a single mother who was able to raise her family and provide because of her union status. I believe that we cannot have free society without the ability to bargain. With a CEO to worker pay ratio of 300:1--the world should have the ability to bargain.
*
"What is the most important thing in 2015 for worker rights for women?"*

Liz Shuler: Raising wages and that doesn't just mean an increase in pay, it also means fair schedules so women know how many hours they will be working each week, earned sick and family leave so women don't have to worry about their job security while taking care of a loved one and expanding overtime protections so that every woman gets paid for the time she spends on the job. A recently released study by the Institute for Women's Policy Research revealed that millions of women workers stand to benefit from expanded overtime protections, especially single mothers and Black and Latina women.

Raising women's wages not only helps women and families, but helps our entire economy. There are a lot of campaigns happening right now focused on raising wages in industries that are dominated by women who are the majority of low wage workers. Campaigns like Fight for $15, OUR Walmart, homecare workers. Their fight to organize and countless others will help raise wages for working women and provide them with a better quality of life.

Cindy Estrada: A woman's rights affect everyone's rights. This is happening in sectors where people think it's not -- like manufacturing, where women might get only $11-12 an hour. Collaboration is important, and women need to come together. We also need men supporting this.

Karen Nussbaum: Collective power. Give a woman a right to have a say on the job and she'll have the power to bargain for a good job and an economy that finally realizes that there isn't a wife at home.

Rachel Bryan: Equal pay in ALL classifications, greater access to ALL occupations and ending institutional sexism are all important issues.

*"Millennials will be 50 percent of the workforce by 2020, what should they be fighting for?"*

Liz Shuler: Millennials could be the first generation in U.S. history to not do better than their parents. Millennials should fight for jobs with steady schedules and fair pay, and they should fight for the right to form a union in their workplace so they can bargain collectively with their employers about things like pay increases and benefits. Millennials have record amounts of student debt, which is making it increasingly difficult for them to reach certain milestones like homeownership, and even marriage, that previous generations did not struggle with.

Cindy Estrada: They should be fighting for a system that allows everyone to succeed. Policies are controlled by a handful of people with a lot of money, and showing that it's not ok to vilify a class of people is important.

Karen Nussbaum: Big corporations and big banks act with impunity -- they role over the rights of working people, shackle young people who go to college with lifelong debt and cut off communities of color from good jobs entirely -- and that's the only work environment young people know. Young working people need to band together, take the moral high ground and fight for their future in organizations they control through their dues and their vote.

Rachel Bryan: Social justice, the need to qualify people and not quantify people. Plus free education for all.
*
"What do you think of the sharing economy? How do you think it might impact the labor movement?"*

Liz Shuler: The on demand or "gig" economy likes to market itself as an employee's dream: no set schedule, no boss. In reality, working in the gig economy means constantly being subjected to last minute-scheduling, no benefits since you are considered your own boss and no substantial share in all of the profits the companies bring in.

Karen Nussbaum: The gig economy is the latest version of something very old -- those with their own companies and capital finding new ways to expand profits by taking more out of working people. In 1974, "Business Week" ran an editorial in which they said, "It will be a bitter pill for most Americans to swallow -- the idea of doing with less so that banks and business can have more." Automation and globalization were the structural changes which were exploited to lower labor standards then -- it's the gig economy now The labor movement failed to adequately adapt to the changes then -- we better now.

Rachel Bryan: The Sharing Economy is a misnomer like Right-to-Work, which is the right to get paid less. Yes, it creates greater access to goods and service but at what cost?

This further creates a race to the bottom. Does the Uber driver have health insurance? Are they making a living wage? Folks who use their dwelling for Air BNB, what protections do they have against a temporary tenant who trashes their place?

Cheap labor and goods creates wealth for the tech companies and does little to nothing for their temporary, low-wage workers. This impacts the labor movement because we already do many of the jobs that the "sharing economy" is watering down. But, we do these jobs at a living wage and with integrity so that our families can live and thrive.

*"Do you think that the labor movement and all of its principles are adequately represented and discussed in today's media and popular culture?"*

Liz Shuler: There have been a lot of good references and portrayals of unions in pop culture recently. Highly watched shows like Orange is the New Black, which showcased the prison guards' efforts to form a union last season, Blackish and Jane the Virgin all touched on the labor movement and unions in their most recent seasons. Natalie Portman thanked union members during her 2011 Oscars speech, expressing her gratitude for the hard work they did that made the movie Black Swan such a success.

Journalists at Gawker and Salon have organized and are redefining what a union means for young people in the online media environment. Unions are featured in pop culture and in the media in rare instances -- and we could be doing more to lift up the positive impact unions have on working people's lives.

Karen Nussbaum: When the best movie out there on women's work is "Mad Max: Fury Road" I think it's safe to say popular culture could be doing a lot more.
_____________

It's clear that there's a lot to celebrate -- Labor Day is a chance for us to reflect on the Labor Movement and how far we've come. However, there are still many issues that need advocating from a worker's rights perspective -- minimum wage, women's rights and the continuing importance of unions.

As a society we must continue to discuss and fight for the rights of all of us when it comes to work, and when we deserve a break.

*Leslie Tolf is the President of Union Plus.*

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 19 hours ago.

What Will It Take To Set Off Your Alarm Bells?

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What Will It Take To Set Off Your Alarm Bells? Submitted by Tom Chatham via Project Chesapeake,

*What does it take to make you sit up and take notice of the problems surrounding society today?* What will it take to make you respond to the many crises taking place today? You have eyes so you can see and ears so you can hear but for many people any negative news is a reason to tune out the world and only think good thoughts.

*The problems we face continue to pile up and doing nothing is not an option if you expect to survive the next few years in tact.* Prior planning and execution of a plan is now required to stay out of the flood zone when the dam breaks and everyone starts to drown. It does not matter what kind of person you are. You have to be able to save yourself before you have the ability to help others including your own family.

You cannot protect your family if you cannot protect yourself from dangerous situations or people. You cannot protect your family if you are too weak from lack of water or food to get others to safety. You cannot protect your family from the elements if you have no cover for them due to sudden loss of your shelter.

You have car insurance just in case you have an automobile accident. You have health insurance just in case you get sick. You have life insurance to help your family just in case you die. You have homeowners insurance just in case your home is destroyed. There is unemployment insurance just in case you lose your job.

*So where is your food insurance just in case you cannot find any food in the store? Where is your personal protection insurance just in case you are threatened and cannot depend on the police? Where is your water insurance just in case your water supply is shut off or becomes contaminated? Where is your communication insurance just in case the power is out and normal systems do not work? Where is your energy insurance just in case energy supplies are cut off and you need to drive to safety, cook your food or stay warm?*

People think that the types of insurance for cars, health, home and life are just fine to have but the other ones listed are crazy and paranoid to think about. Even in the first case, your insurance policies depend on other people to fulfill them and those people depend on a system that is still functioning such as the banks, communications and the insurance company itself. So what happens to all those other types of insurance when the insurers themselves are no longer functioning. Any crisis that takes down the stock market, power grid or the banks will also take down all of the insurance companies.

*The events of the past few weeks should have been a warning shot across the bow for many.* Our financial and distribution systems are in a delicate balancing act right now and any sudden shifts could send them tumbling off the cliff rendering the services they perform extinct in a matter of hours. *When that happens it will be too late to think about what you should have done when you still had the opportunity. *

You cannot get your money out of the bank after the doors are shut, the ATM is empty and the POS systems are no longer working. You cannot get the food you need after the stores have been cleaned out and the distribution system has stopped functioning. You cannot get fuel for your car after the gas stations are empty and deliveries have been suspended. You cannot get police help when everyone calls 911 at the same time and most of the police have gone home to protect their own families.

*If your alarm bells have not gone off already what will it take for you to realize you are in serious trouble? When that finally happens what do you plan to do to protect and care for your family?* Having no plan means having a plan to suffer and persist through unpleasant situations for no good reason. Not knowing something is excusable but you have been warned many times in the past few years and to have to suffer in the future because you did not know what was coming is no longer an excuse. Failure to prepare at this time will not only cost you but it will likely put an unnecessary burden on those that will have to help you in the future.

*The warnings continue to go out. The situation continues to deteriorate. The mass of humanity continues to go about its normal daily business. The Earth continues to rotate with no chance of going back from here. The early warning alarms have sounded advising people to take a defensive stance just in case.* Do you hear the alarms yet or have you hit the snooze button for a few more minutes of sleep? Reported by Zero Hedge 15 hours ago.

Iowa Employer Health Insurance Premiums Increase 7.7 Percent

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DES MOINES, Iowa, Sept. 8, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Due to rising health premiums, Iowa employers are asking employees with single (employee-only) coverage to contribute 22.4 percent more in 2015 compared to the previous year. Employees with family coverage must also pay more, with an... Reported by PR Newswire 7 hours ago.

RxEOB and SelectHealth Release Mobile Pharmacy Benefits App

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Technology provider and health care organization partner to launch pharmacy benefits app

RICHMOND, Va. (PRWEB) September 08, 2015

RxEOB, an industry leader in supporting member engagement applications for pharmacy benefit management, has partnered with nonprofit pharmacy benefits manager SelectHealth to create an all-new mobile pharmacy benefits application. Available now for download through Google Play and iTunes, the SelectHealth member app incorporates selected modules from RxEOB’s innovative personal mobile pharmacy benefits application, emWellics®.

“Mobile technology is now a major member engagement tool in the health care industry, and with our partnership with SelectHealth, we continue to make strides in advancing mobile access health to those who it benefits the most – health plan members,” said Robert S. Oscar, CEO of RxEOB. “Just like RxEOB’s pharmacy benefits app emWellics, SelectHealth’s new pharmacy benefits app provides members with the information they need about their pharmacy benefits faster and more effectively than ever before.”

Launched earlier this year, the SelectHealth app uses configurable mobile modules from RxEOB’s emWellics® app, designed to help members save on their medication purchases. Additionally, the app allows SelectHealth members to view their ID cards, find in-network doctors and pharmacies based on location, as well as look up claims and their most affordable drug options. These features are similar to those of RxEOB’s emWellics®, which grants users the ability to find drug pricing estimates and therapeutic medication options that allow the user to save money when purchasing their medications.

“Our mobile team benefits from RxEOB’s experience in mobile applications as we launched the SelectHealth app earlier this year, and to date, we’ve had a great response from users who have downloaded and used the mobile pharmacy benefits app,” said Eric Cannon, PharmD, Chief of Pharmacy, SelectHealth, “Their staff worked closely with our mobile design and technical teams to assist with the development, integration and implementation of selected emWellics® modules into the SelectHealth app, and judging from the positive reviews we’ve received already, we know the app will be a huge benefit to our members for the foreseeable future.”

The SelectHealth app is available for Android and Apple mobile devices now. To find out more, search SelectHealth on Google Play or iTunes, and to find out more about RxEOB, visit http://www.rxeob.com.

About RxEOB

For 15 years, RxEOB has been assisting health care professionals and patients improve the information needed to buy and adhere to prescriptions. Offering pharmacy benefit analytics, portals, mobile applications and reporting, RxEOB’s products help health plans and PBMs engage patients for better pharmacy utilization and adherence. For more information on how RxEOB can help reduce your overall health care costs, please visit http://www.rxeob.com, or call 888-648-0989, extension 226.

About SelectHealth

SelectHealth is a not-for-profit health insurance organization serving members in Utah and Idaho and is committed to health improvement, superior service, and providing access to high-quality care. As a subsidiary of Intermountain Healthcare, SelectHealth is part of one of the nation's top-ranked integrated health systems. SelectHealth is also recognized as Utah’s top-ranked health plan, according to NCQA's Private Health Insurance Plan Rankings, 2014–2015.
To find out more, visit selecthealth.org.

### Reported by PRWeb 6 hours ago.

In the Face of Complexity

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*SME Competitiveness and Healthcare Reform*

The central tenant of the insurance industry is that the law of large numbers drives down the average price of risk. This principle of diversification has broadly withstood the test of time in an industry that has weathered man-made and natural calamities over many centuries. Despite the resilience of the global insurance industry and its ability to equip customers with the capacity to cope with uncertainty, healthcare continues to be the domain where the industry broadly falls short. With a raft of changes afoot due to the adoption of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), combined with mega-mergers in the U.S. health insurance market, employers of all sizes can thank complexity for eroding their benefits plans while inflating operating costs.

Like most periods of market turmoil, small and mid-sized firms are particularly vulnerable. One of the risks they face is a flight of talent to upmarket jobs that can provide better benefit plans or reduced employer-employee cost sharing percentages. Small employers are also disproportionately shouldering medical price inflation. Directionally that the U.S. is entering a period of broad healthcare price inflation is counterintuitive, especially since healthcare reform brings millions of historically under-insured and uninsured groups into the risk pool. Similarly, the wave of health insurer consolidation creates greater economies of scale, which when combined with advances in healthcare should help keep premium inflation in check. Instead forecasters such as Wells Fargo Insurance Services is projecting average medical insurance price inflation in 2016 to range from 8.6% to 10.1% depending on plan selection. Premium inflation continues to outpace expected wage increases in 2016, which SHRM estimates will average 3.1% across major employee categories.

One small business owner in the talent management and search industries opined that they were expecting a 40% price increase for their medical insurance in 2016. The justification given for this exorbitant rate hike is that their average age skewed high and healthcare reform has saddled the industry with losses due to adverse selection. Any business owner facing such a high price increase for one of their largest operating costs will clearly have to make some stark choices. Not seeing an offset in revenue growth, left unchecked healthcare price inflation will begin to erode business confidence nationwide. Hiring freezes and reductions in force are possible in anticipation of regulatory changes and hefty price hikes. Similarly, healthcare reform is having the unintended consequence of changing the nature of employment altogether. Many firms are gaming the system by changing the employment status of their staff, opting for seasonal and part time workers to lower the number of full time equivalents (FTEs) on their payroll. Many firms, with Burger King being a recent example, are relocating their headquarters and moving functions offshore or near-shore. Additionally, the dueling forces of reducing benefits while increasing the share of premiums borne by employees are moving in opposite directions - with downward pressure on the levels of coverage and upward pressure on risk-sharing. Only in healthcare are customers to be satisfied with paying more for less.

Left unchecked healthcare complexity and the attendant costs will begin to spill over affecting broader business confidence potentially stalling the U.S. job engine - namely, small to mid-sized companies, which account for 64% of net new jobs, according to the SBA. Additionally, there is a risk that companies will continue to hang on to their scarcest resource after talent - cash - limiting the amount of capital investments they make. Underscoring the scope of the challenge, The Baltimore Sun recently reported that the state's CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield filed for rate increases up to 26% with Maryland's insurance commissioner for 2016. Sadly for employers and individual consumers these rate increases were approved by the insurance commissioner and the impact will weigh heavily on the least prepared households and businesses. Maryland's CareFirst accounts for 94% of the state's individual healthcare market and 66% of the small business market according to the The Baltimore Sun.

In order to weather this storm, employers need to take a hard view on the total cost of employee benefits, understanding the direct and indirect cost drivers. This task can be more readily completed by larger firms with a deeper financial, insurance and HR bench. However, small to mid-sized firms have a greater level of urgency to contain costs and combat complexity through a holistic approach. If there ever was a time to break the annual "take it or leave it" policy renewal ritual it is now. Small to mid-sized employers need to take an activist view on their entire employee benefits offering. Clearly reducing coverage will have the adverse effect of alienating talent, potentially triggering their flight to greener pastures. At the same time, passively accepting profit-eroding price increases in the name of complexity is not an option. History may yet cast a favorable vote on healthcare reform, which has lowered the bar of access and improved many areas of coverage. In the short run, however, the industry is moving towards high costs and opacity in an already troubled market. Employers of all sizes would be wise to lean on their insurance providers and brokers to help navigate through the storm.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 3 hours ago.

Before Looking at Developing World's Gender-Equality Gap, U.S. Needs to Look at Own Backyard

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End extreme poverty. Fight inequality and injustice. Fix climate change. That's the vision behind the 17 global goals for sustainable development that world leaders will commit to later this month at the UN. The fifth of those 17 goals, to "achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls," is absolutely essential. You cannot solve the world's problems while keeping half the population out of leadership and subordinated to the other half.There are many paths toward gender equality for all women and girls. But before we in the U.S. presume that's only a problem in the developing world, let's take a closer look at our own backyard. I want to focus on just two things we need to do to achieve equality for women here at home: *Guarantee every woman affordable access to the full range of reproductive-health-care services;* and *increase the minimum wage to a livable wage, indexed to inflation*.There's no doubt that these solutions work. But there's plenty of opposition from Congressional Republicans and far-right extremists who consider "fair" a four-letter word.Let's start with the appalling scale of maternal mortality in the U.S. The rate of maternal mortality is higher here than in any other developed country -- and the rate has more than doubled since the late 1980s. What's more, African-American women are bearing the brunt of this crisis.According to a report released this year by the Black Women's Roundtable:The rise in America's maternal-mortality rate can be attributed almost
entirely to increases in maternal mortality among Black women. The most
recent publicly available data on the matter shows a rise in Black
maternal mortality from a rate of 36 deaths to 42.8 deaths per 100,000 live
births between 2009 and 2011. Maternal mortality for white women
remained virtually unchanged during that time period (12 to 12.5 per 100,000)."2015 Black Women in the United States," Black Women's Roundtable
The problem is a lack of health insurance. As Washington Post columnist T.R. Reid wrote, "In all the other industrialized democracies, every woman has access to free or low-cost medical treatment." But in the U.S., low-wage jobs -- where women of color are dramatically over-represented -- don't come with health benefits. To make matters worse, 22 states have rejected Medicaid expansion, depriving more than two million women of basic reproductive-health-care coverage.The National Women's Law Center (NWLC) issued a state-by-state Report Card on Women's Health. How did your state fare?Even for those women who have insurance, the Affordable Care Act allows states to block abortion care from all or most health policies, and numerous states have done so. But access to abortion care, like access to contraception, means fewer maternal deaths each year. The EACH Woman Act would require abortion care to be covered by all insurance policies. Find out if your member of Congress is a co-sponsor and if not, urge them to sign on.We know that government action can bring down the rate of maternal deaths because we see it happening everywhere around the world. Everywhere, that is, but here. We have a lot of catching up to do.Another measure of global citizenship for the U.S. is how we fare in providing economic opportunity for women.The fact that two-thirds of minimum-wage workers are women accounts for a significant part of the gender and gender-race wage gaps. By one estimate, raising the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour and indexing it to inflation would reduce the gender-wage gap by five percentage points -- more than the pay gap has shrunk in over a decade!NOW has long advocated for a livable minimum wage for all workers, no matter what job category they occupy. Many people are unaware, for example, how low the minimum wage for tipped workers is. Economist Jared Bernstein wrote in the Washington Post,In many states, tipped workers (for example, waiters and waitresses) currently have a minimum base wage of only $2.13 an hour. These workers are still supposed to make the regular minimum -- employers are required to make up the difference if adding tips to the base wage doesn't get a tipped worker all the way there -- but this requirement is difficult to enforce in practice."Raising the Minimum Wage to $12 by 2020 Would Life Wages for 35 Million American Workers" by David Cooper from the Economic Policy Institute
The Raise the Minimum Wage Act would help advance gender equality in economic justice. The bill would raise the minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2020 -- not a livable wage in most parts of the country, but a significant improvement over what exists today. The bill would also index the minimum wage to inflation and would gradually eliminate the lower minimum wage for tipped workers.A report from the National Women's Law Center explores how raising the minimum wage would dramatically improve the lives of women. The report found that:· 30 percent of working women -- and 37 percent of working women of color -- would get a raise if the minimum wage increased to12.00 per hour by 2020.· Two-thirds of all workers who would get a raise under the Raise the Wage Act are at least 25 years old.· 27 percent of working mothers -- and 40 percent of working single mothers -- would get a raise under the Raise the Wage Act.In the U.S., we like to think we are the leaders of all progress. But it doesn't hurt to pay attention to other countries' successes. According to the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report, Sweden consistently ranks in the top 10 for gender equality (the U.S. is 20th!). Universal health care, including birth control, abortion and pre-natal care, has been in place in Sweden for decades, and the maternal mortality rate there is less than one-third the U.S. rate. And wages? The lowest-paid workers in Sweden make about $19 per hour, while here the minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 -- a poverty wage -- since 2009.There is a lot we can do to achieve the global goal of meaningful, sustainable gender equality. But reducing maternal mortality and increasing the minimum wage would be a good place to start.This post is part of a series produced by The Huffington Post, *"What's Working: Sustainable Development Goals,"* in conjunction with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The proposed set of milestones will be the subject of discussion at the UN General Assembly meeting on Sept. 25-27, 2015 in New York. The goals, which will replace the UN's Millennium Development Goals (2000-2015), cover 17 key areas of development -- including poverty, hunger, health, education, and gender equality, among many others. As part of The Huffington Post's commitment to solutions-oriented journalism, this What's Working SDG blog series will focus on one goal every weekday in September. This post addresses Goal 5.To find out what you can do, visit here and here.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 3 hours ago.

AMA: Health insurance mergers would hurt competition

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The American Medical Association, a politically powerful group that represents physicians, says proposed mergers in the health insurance industry would be anti-competitive in many markets. Two major insurance industry mergers have been proposed and are awaiting federal approval. Hartford, Conn.-based Aetna Inc. announced it would purchase Louisville-based Humana Inc. for $37 billion on July 3. A few weeks later Indianapolis-based Anthem Inc. announced it had agreed to purchase Bloomfield, Conn.-based… Reported by bizjournals 2 hours ago.

Census Bureau Announces Schedule for Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Statistics and American Community Survey Results

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WASHINGTON, Sept. 8, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Census Bureau announced the schedule for the 2014 income, poverty and health insurance coverage statistics from the Annual Social and Economic Supplement to the Current Population Survey, as well as the 2014 American... Reported by PR Newswire 23 hours ago.

Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Announces Public Hearing on Surprise Balance Billing of Health Insurance Consumers

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HARRISBURG, Pa., Sept. 8, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Insurance Commissioner Teresa Miller today announced that her department will hold a public hearing on the issue of balance billing. Balance billing occurs when a patient receives a bill for health care from a provider who is not... Reported by PR Newswire 22 hours ago.
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