Rush Health has formed a partnership with insurance giant Aetna to create a health insurance plan that will be available to Chicago-area employers starting next month, the two organizations said Thursday.

Called Aetna Whole Health Chicago, the plan will have cheaper premiums than the insurer's... Reported by ChicagoTribune 3 hours ago.

“Celebrando Su Salud” events will help Latino community members understand their healthcare options

Northridge, CA (PRWEB) October 15, 2015

Regal Medical Group and Lakeside Community Healthcare, Independent Physician Associations (IPAs) and part of the Heritage Provider Network family, have partnered with Azteca, a Mexican multimedia organization, and Applied General Agency (AGA), a life and health insurance organization, to host three large celebrations of health, called “Celebrando Su Salud,” for the Latino community. The events will be featuring Angélica María, a singer, songwriter, and actress dear to the Latino community, who will be interacting with attendees and signing autographs.

The goal of Celebrando Su Salud is to bring greater health awareness to the Latino community, including the importance of having health insurance, how to select doctors that are the best fit for their families, and the tools and knowledge they need to stay healthy. Enrollment agents will also be available onsite to advise and help interested attendees with insurance coverage questions and enrollment.

“We’re thrilled to provide these events to our local communities and have Angélica María as our spokesperson,” said Dan Frank, COO of Regal Medical Group. “Angélica understands the power of preventive care and the importance of having the right health coverage and physicians. She’s passionate about members of the community understanding their healthcare options and making informed decisions for their families.”

Event dates and times include:

October 24, 2015 from 12pm – 3pm
National Orange Show (NOS) Events Center
690 S. Arrowhead Ave., (Gate 9 Parking Entrance)
San Bernardino, CA 92408

November 7, 2015 from 11am – 3pm
California State University, Northridge (CSUN)
Zelzah Ave. between Nordhoff St. and Lassen St.
Northridge, CA 91330

November 15, 2015 from 12pm – 6pm
Olvera Street – Downtown LA
845 North Alameda St., Los Angeles, CA 90012

In addition to Angélica María’s live appearance, attendees at the events will also enjoy prizes and raffles, free flu shots and health screenings, healthy cooking and exercise demonstrations, family-friendly entertainment, music, activities and more.

For more information, please call 877.798.1974 or visit http://www.CelebrandoSuSalud.com.

About Regal Medical Group and Lakeside Community Healthcare
Regal Medical Group (RMG) and Lakeside Community Healthcare (LCH) are Independent Physician Associations (IPAs) that have a 35-year history of providing quality healthcare to Southern California. With a large network of thousands of healthcare providers and part of one of Southern California's largest managed healthcare networks, Heritage Provider Network (HPN), RMG and LCH are dedicated to quality, affordable healthcare. For more information, visit http://www.regalmed.com.

©2015 Lakeside Community Healthcare and Regal Medical Group are subsidiaries of Heritage Provider Network, Inc. All rights reserved. Reported by PRWeb 39 minutes ago.

UnitedHealth Group (UNH), the nation’s largest health insurance company, continues to add more customers across all of its business while offering hospitals and health systems more services to manage populations of patients through its fast-growing Optum business. Reported by Forbes.com 18 hours ago.

My last name is Iranian. I was born and raised Catholic in the USA to parents of northern European heritage. After I divorced my Iranian (now ex) husband, I kept my last name. Because I was married to an Iranian, I became an automatic citizen of Iran, formerly known as Persia, and for a time, I held dual passports. I lived in Tehran for a year during the period before, during, and after the Islamic Revolution in the late 1970s. If you are going to have dangerous adventures, I highly recommend you do it in your twenties, when you can run six minute miles.

I fled Iran after Khomeini returned and stripped citizens of their civil liberties in the name of the Islamic Revolution. He instituted a form of sharia law and executed former high ranking officials, businessmen, people of the "wrong" religion, homosexuals, intellectuals, and people who owned property coveted by greedy mullahs.

My ex-husband was more optimistic than I that the mullahs would soon step aside and Iran would have a democratic election. He stayed for a time. I returned to the USA and divorced him. He eventually came back to the USA--he is a U.S citizen--remarried, raised a family, and created hundreds of jobs for other U.S. citizens. He is a non-practicing secular Muslim (no one in his family ever prays, their main focus is entrepreneurship), and earned his Ph.D. in engineering (I met him at university) in the USA.

So I was more than a little surprised when Hillary Clinton, after being asked which enemy she was most proud of, declared: "Well, in addition to the NRA, the health insurance companies, the drug companies...the Iranians...probably the Republicans." Iranians. Not say, the so-called Supreme Leader. Iranian Americans are asking Hillary Clinton to clarify, if not apologize for, her comment.

I am no fan of the so-called Iran Deal, and I have written here, at the Huffington Post, that I believe our national narrative foolishly underplays the dark side of fundamentalist Islam. Yet now I find myself in the position of having to push back against the imbalance of Hillary Clinton's statement. Especially because Shayan Mazroei, an innocent Iranian student, was recently falsely accused of being a terrorist and slain in a hate-crime in California. Prosecutors called the perpetrator a "white supremacist gang member." Apparently he not only did not know that Iranians are Aryans--Hollywood doesn't know this either, or at least the makers of the 300 didn't seem to know it--he also believed Iranians seeking advanced education are his enemies.

Janet Tavakoli is the author of Unveiled Threat: A Personal Experience of Fundamentalist Islam and the Roots of Terrorism

-- 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.

The health insurance giant is still seeing substantial growth across its various business lines, but shareholders weren't satisfied. Reported by Motley Fool 17 hours ago.

WASHINGTON -- Fewer than 1 million new customers nationwide will have health insurance from the Obamacare exchanges next year, according to a federal report published Thursday.

The Department of Health and Human Services estimates that 10 million people will be covered by private health insurance policies obtained via the Affordable Care Act's exchange marketplaces in 2016, an increase of just 900,000 from the 9.1 million people the department estimates will have such plans by the end of this year.

This nearly flat estimate of growth on the exchanges reflects both the successes so far and the challenges ahead for the the new marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act. The nationwide uninsured rate has plummeted since 2013 as an estimated 15 million people gained coverage from the exchanges or the law's expansion of Medicaid eligibility. But Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell acknowledged last month that those uninsured most eager to enroll have already done so, and that the remaining millions would be difficult to reach.

“We believe 10 million is a strong and realistic goal,” Burwell said in conference call with reporters Thursday. “We’ve seen high levels of satisfaction with the marketplace and expect the vast majority of folks will re-enroll. And our target assumes something that is probably pretty challenging, which is that more than one out of every four of the eligible uninsured will select plans,” she said.Attrition on the health insurance exchange has been a factor. After the the 2015 sign-up period that ended in February, 11.7 million people had selected insurance plans from the marketplaces. That number declined throughout the course of the year, as consumers either failed to pay premiums or dropped coverage for reasons including affordability concerns and switching to health benefits provided by an employer. Nearly 1 million people dropped off the exchange because they failed to provide accurate documentation of their incomes to prove they qualified for subsidies, and more than 400,000 others lost their coverage because they did not verify they were legal U.S. residents. 

During the enrollment period for 2016 coverage that begins Nov. 1 and ends Jan. 31, HHS expects that as many as 8.8 million current enrollees will use the exchanges to obtain coverage for next year, up to 3.9 million currently uninsured will sign up and as many as 1.5 million people who today have plans purchased directly from an insurer will switch to the marketplaces, according to Thursday's report.

Federal authorities expect a similar pattern of enrollment and disenrollment during the upcoming sign-up period as they experienced in 2014 and 2015. Although HHS estimates between 11 million and 14.1 million people will use the exchanges to get health insurance for 2016, millions will go off those plans during the course of the year, the department projects.

While the health insurance exchanges have made significant strides since their rocky rollout two years ago, new challenges await during the upcoming sign-up period.

Premiums for coverage that begins next year appear to be rising faster than they did prior to the last round of enrollment. Other indicators suggest that the prices for the "benchmark" plans used to set the value of premium subsidies aren't going up as much, but consumers will have to shop around if they hope to find coverage at a cost comparable to what they're paying now. In a number of states, enrollees will be forced to find new plans because of the financial collapse of nonprofit "co-op" insurance companies funded by the Affordable Care Act.

One factor that could boost enrollment -- at the risk of public backlash -- is heftier fines for those who go without health insurance but aren't exempt from the law's individual mandate. The minimum penalty for the 2015 tax year is $325 per adult and $162.50 per child or 2 percent of household income above about $10,000, whichever is higher. That fine gets much bigger for 2016: $695 per adult plus $347.50 per child, or 2.5 percent of income above $10,000. This year, 6.6 million people paid this fine for being uninsured in 2014 and the average amount was $190, according to the Internal Revenue Service.

*Also on HuffPost:*
-- 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 16 hours ago.

Union Square Hospitality Group says it will eliminate tipping at 13 of its restaurants, starting in November.  -More- 

*Healthcare that's Resourceful*
Answering employees' healthcare questions takes up valuable time. RightOpt^®, a private health insurance exchange from Buck Consultants at Xerox, makes understanding benefits easier for employees. So HR can spend less time answering questions and more time focused on strategy. *>Discover more* Reported by SmartBrief 16 hours ago.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. health officials said they expect 10 million people to be enrolled in healthcare plans through insurance marketplaces by the end of 2016, with more than one-quarter of eligible uninsured Americans signing up during this fall's open enrollment period. Reported by Reuters 16 hours ago.

More than 25% of those who are uninsured and eligible to buy plans on the federal and state health insurance exchanges are expected to select plans during the open enrollment that starts November 1, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  Reported by USATODAY.com 16 hours ago.

STONY BROOK, N.Y., Oct. 15, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Softheon, Inc., a proven leader in health insurance marketplace integration and business operations, will be a major sponsor and exhibitor at America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) 2015 National Conferences on Medicare and Medicaid.... Reported by PR Newswire 15 hours ago.

UnitedHealth will jump into 11 more public insurance exchanges next year, as the nation's biggest health insurer grows more comfortable with one of the health care overhaul's main ways of expanding coverage to millions of people. State-based health insurance exchanges opened a couple years ago as a way for customers to buy individual health insurance, many with help from income-based tax credits. Insurers have been saying since spring that they expect to hike premiums, or the price of coverage, for exchange coverage well beyond 10 percent for 2016, due to higher-than-expected costs from prescription drugs and other expenses. Health insurance price hikes, which insurers largely blame on the soaring cost of care, have been the subject of growing scrutiny for several years. Reported by SeattlePI.com 16 hours ago.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Historic gains in health insurance coverage may be leveling off, with the Obama administration announcing Thursday that it expects only a slight overall increase in enrollment next year. With the 2016 sign-up season two weeks away, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell set a target of 10 million people enrolled […] Reported by Seattle Times 14 hours ago.

Sophia is a project to collect life lessons from fascinating people. Subscribe to get our updates directly via Facebook or email, or share your own wisdom. 

The launch of Sabaa Tahir's debut novel, "An Ember in the Ashes," is the stuff of literary legend.

The book "was greeted with such breathless accolades before its April release that it seemed unlikely it could live up to the hype," the New York Times reported, before concluding: "The hype appears justified."

Ahead of the book's debut, Paramount Pictures bought the film rights in a seven-figure deal and foreign publishing rights were sold in 24 countries; "Ember" hit #2 on the young adult best seller's list in its first week, and Tahir subsequently signed on to write a sequel (whose title was announced last month).

"An Ember in the Ashes" is frequently described as an amalgam of three other wildly popular fantasy series. "It has the addictive quality of 'The Hunger Games' combined with the fantasy of 'Harry Potter' and the brutality of 'Game of Thrones,'" said one review for Public Radio International.

The author's life sometimes reads like fiction. Tahir grew up in her parents' far-flung 18-room motel in California's Mojave Desert, "hundreds of miles from anything worthwhile." The daughter of Pakistani immigrants, she was "the only brown kid in a not-brown town," an outsider who found solace in books and "thunderous indie rock".

A college summer internship at the Washington Post turned into a editing job on the foreign desk, where she was immersed in reporting about war zones and crimes against humanity. "Specific stories stuck with me," she said, "and had me asking myself about the oppressed and the oppressors, as well as about what I would do if I were stuck in some of the situations I read about. 'Ember' was born from those questions."

Tahir wrote the novel over six years, through a pregnancy and the infancy of her first son. In an interview with HuffPost earlier this year, Tahir explored her early influences, how she works and how she parents, the realities of sudden success, and how to go "booking" with someone you love.*Let's talk about your early influences. Was there anything your parents did for you that many parents don't do that left a lasting impact?*

My parents worked harder than anyone I have ever met. They had so many businesses. There was the motel, but throughout my childhood, they also had a drive-through Dairy Queen, a gas station, a clothing store, a computer reselling business. 

Anytime you own a small business, it's all you. There is nobody to fall back on. For my parents, it was everything. They live and breathe it. And they have to because that's how you survive, that's how you pay the bills. My mom also worked a retail job so that we'd have health insurance. I have just never seen two people work harder in my life in this country.

They never gave up, but it wasn't a sort of rah-rah, "Never give up!" thing. It was just that they got up, they did their work, they didn't complain. They made sure we were provided for. And they really, really encouraged hard work. 

My dad was very strict. He was absolutely the Tiger Dad. You know, "You got a 98% on this test? Why didn't you get 100?" That was normal life for my brothers and I. It was not considered weird; we didn't really start thinking that it sucked until we got older. We were like, "Hey! All our friends are getting B's or A-minuses and it's okay." But not in our family.

When I went to college, it was so easy. And I worked two jobs while I was in school all the way through, I put myself through school. But working and studying was easy for me because I had worked so hard in high school, studying all the time. Taking only three classes and then working was an easy life in comparison. A lot of my friends really struggled, even though they're super smart people, because they hadn't had that background.

My parents always kept us busy. The motel was right across from the school district offices and they had a big room of spare textbooks. Every summer, we would go in there and get the books for next year's classes. My brothers and I dreaded it. "Crap. We have to get our school books and we're going to have to study all summer." My parents weren't totally crazy about it; we'd study them, say, once a week. 

And it actually helped. Honestly, I'm totally going to do that with my kids. We don't have a school district office to go to where they can dread it, but I'm going to go to the bookstore and say, "Okay, we're getting first grade stuff for you now because you're going into first grade."


A moment I will remember forever, I hope. Meeting, as a fellow writer, my hero Terry Brooks, author of The Sword of Shannara. SWORD is the book that made me fall in love with the fantasy genre. Surreal. #sdcc2015 #AnEmberInTheAshes

A photo posted by Sabaa Tahir (@sabaatahir) on Jul 9, 2015 at 1:02pm PDT


*You immersed yourself in books, partly as an escape from the reality around you, but I assume you're grateful for it now. How are you approaching reading with your own kids?*

Books were my savior. It was like having a constant friend, especially as a kid when I didn't always feel like I connected to my friends. I had friends but I didn't, I still felt alone. So books were my friends. I understood them and they understood me and that's how I felt. 

Obviously I don't want my children to feel lonely, but I would love it if they could feel like they could open a book and disappear into it. There was this lovely gif that I posted on my Tumblr. Sorry, I have to mention this. It has this person running from reality, a reality monster is chasing her, and she jumps into a book and it slams shut. Reality's just like, "What?" You know, and can't do anything. That's the perfect gif from my childhood, that right there. http://sabaatahir.tumblr.com/post/121295927005
*It's such a paradox. If your parents weren't driving you to do more, would you have necessarily developed your work ethic?*

I would never have. If my parents hadn't taught me what it is to work really, really hard, I never would have been able to write my first book, or the second. Doing all of this with two young kids and a family is just a ton of work. But it is not even a question as to how much effort I'm going to put into it.

As far as my kids go, I would love it if they loved to read. At the same time, I don't want to be the parent who's cracking the whip, making them constantly read. If my sons really enjoy comic books, for instance, I'm going to let them follow that and explore that.

I was a really late reader. I started reading when I was six and a half. And I hated reading at first, I thought it was the worst thing because I couldn't do it. As I got a little bit older I started realizing that this was a great escape and then developing a real love for fantasy in particular. And then, even though it was still sometimes a struggle for me to read, the story grabbed me so tightly—actually, that's how I started reading really fast.

It's totally the product of my childhood. When I was a kid, my parents hated it when I read novels. They felt it was a waste of time. "You should be studying!" So I read really fast because I didn't want them to catch me. It was totally a flashlight-under-a-blanket kid. I would read until my eyes were like sore and I knew I had to get up in the morning. I didn't want to get caught and I didn't want the book to get taken away.

*You've mentioned that you and your husband would go "booking". What is that?*

Ugh, I'm going to establish our nerd-hood forever in print. We would go on dates, we'd get dinner, and then instead of going to a movie or, I don't know, mini-golfing or whatever, we would go to a bookstore. We would wander around the bookstore for two hours, just browsing. Then we'd each get a book and we'd go home and read. It was just the greatest thing.

I still remember my mom asked me, when I'd first met my husband and we were seeing each other, she was like, "Why do you like him?" The first thing that popped into my head was, "Because he reads a ton." I'm like, "He reads as much as I do. I've never met anyone who reads as much as I do." And she just said, "You're right." So, yeah, books are big in the family.


My local indie, throwing down the gauntlet!

A photo posted by Sabaa Tahir (@sabaatahir) on Sep 29, 2015 at 10:49am PDT


Also, it's nice to read with my husband because he has a completely different perspective than me. Getting him to read "Harry Potter" was one of the biggest coups of my life. He does not read fantasy, he does not read Young Adult. He reads these giant, boring-ass books about World War II, and he loves them. They're delicious to him. 

So getting him to read "Harry Potter" was great, and what was interesting was that after we were finished, he saw it in a completely different light. He was seeing Winston Churchill and Neville Chamberlain. "Oh, this is totally like World War II Britain. It's so cool! And I can't believe she did X and --" And I'm reading it going, "Oh, I didn't see that at all."

*You've had a crazy wave of success with your first novel. Are there any downsides to that?*

The more success you have, the more you're aware of how far you have to fall. If I screw up, if I write a really bad second book, or if things don't go the way I was hoping, you know? Doubt and anxiety have become a bigger part of my life since I sold the book. You do sometimes wonder, "Are all these people crazy? Is this book terrible and they're all just delusional?" 

It's the Imposter Syndrome, where you tell yourself, "I shouldn't be here. I'm just that nerd who told stories. People are actually reading that story now? Why?" You find yourself sitting there thinking: your book is out there in the world, and people are reading, and judging it. And by extension, at times reading it and judging you.

And that can be scary, you know? Especially when you're kind of an introvert like I am.*So are you obsessive about reading reviews of your book on Amazon and Goodreads?*

Oh, god, no. No! I actually blocked my book's Goodreads page. I can still go on Goodreads but I can't see the page for "Ember". And it was really just to keep my sanity.

Early on, in particular, I could not help myself. I had to go online and see what people were thinking. I think now I could actually unblock it and I wouldn't be tempted, because I started to see it from my point of view as a reader. There are books I like and there are books I don't like. It has nothing to do with the author, it's not personal. It's just like, "Eh, I didn't love it."

Learning to not take it personally was a big part of being able to let go and not read the reviews and not really care about the reviews. I do read trade reviews still, and they're so public that sometimes it can be hard. But I'm really lucky. There hasn't really yet been anything where I've wanted to go crawl under a rock and live there for two years. And I'm very thankful for that.

I know that that happens in every writer's life, so I'm just like waiting for it. Maybe it will be with the next book, I don't know. But I feel pretty thankful that at least for this first one, it wasn't too rough.

*Do you have a routine for writing?*

I do, I write every day. I try to start writing around 8 o'clock. I have to work myself into it. I have these playlists, these massive playlists, and they're how I sink into my world, with whoever I'm writing that day.

"Ember" has two points of view. So if I'm writing Elias' point of view, I'll find like Julian Casablancas+The Voidz and listen to a really loud, angry song about running away and that helps me sort of get into his mindset. If I was doing Laia, I'd find a song for her.

Then I'll write in bursts. I'll stop and then I'll write and then I'll stop. It requires so much discipline to not get distracted. I started using Anti-Social which is one of the Freedom apps and it shuts off all your social apps. So no Tumblr, no Twitter, no Facebook, none of that stuff. It's really helpful, and it's funny how much I'll still go. I don't even know I'm doing it. It's like a disease. I just click and I'll be like, "Oh, I just clicked on Twitter even though I'm not supposed to be doing that. I'm supposed to be writing."

I write a lot at night too. I feel like I do my best writing at night and I get my best ideas at 2 AM. Which is not good for my morning writing. My husband calls them "writing benders." I think you need that as a creative person. You need the freedom to write when you want and how you want, and to know that no one's going to be judging you the next day. No one's going to say, "Hey, why aren't you awake yet?"

This is why it's really great to have somebody in your life, whether it's your husband or your mom or your roommate, who is telling you that it's okay to do that, so that those creative voices can speak. If I'm having one of those days where things are going really, really well, my husband's not like, "Dude, you should really go to bed. You've got to get up tomorrow. The kids." He's just like, "Ride the wave." And he'll handle stuff in the morning.

That's one of the joys of a creative life is those moments where you are really inspired, where the muses take you. It's something that people joke about but it's real. It happens. It happens to me maybe once or twice a month. But sometimes I'm up late writing just because I haven't made word count that day because I was screwing around on Twitter. So I'm like, "Okay Sabaa, you need to write now. And now you'll suffer in the morning." On those days I will make myself get up the next day as punishment, basically. "Don't do that again."

On the other hand, you also need to let yourself sit with ideas. Sometimes it's not about word count. I was at my parents house one day—my parents have been really wonderful in helping me with the book. When I really need free space to write all day long without worrying about picking up children or anything, they have said, "Come and stay with us for a week. We'll take care of the kids and you can literally just leave and go and write and do what you want." I'm very fortunate to have that.

So I was doing one of those types of parental retreat-type things. I was sitting at the table and just staring into space. My dad walked by and he says, "It doesn't look like you're doing any writing." Then he just sort of keeps walking. Then I hear my mom say to him, "Half of writing is dreaming. So she is writing." I loved that she said that, because she got it, you know? She was 100% right.

I was staring off into space. I don't even know where I was—I was not here. I was in the Empire, probably in the middle of a battle scene, you know, about to get my head lopped off. And I thought it was great that she could feel that.*With the popularity of "Ember," you've also had financial success. Has the prospect of a different financial future changed your life in any unexpected ways?*

I'm trying to think about how to answer this gracefully. When I had kids, I didn't want them to be as worried about putting themselves through school. It was something my brothers and I had to do. Our father was great in that he helped us apply for everything, he was always on top of it. But our parents could not pay for our education.

If there's one thing that I'm very grateful for, it's that all of this has created the possibility that I will be able to help my kids. I can set that aside for them and hopefully over the course of time I can help them through school. I'm still going to be like, "Go get a job." Because I think it's good for their character. But that would be nice.

I remember, we used to turn in the financial aid form every year, and then you would have to wait a few months to find out if you got aid for the next year or not. It was like so stressful to be wondering, "Is my GPA high enough for these grants? Did I get my scholarships? Did I get whatever work/study programs so that I can supplement?"

You lose sleep over it, and you lose opportunities. I really wanted to go abroad but I couldn't do it because it just wasn't something that was feasible. I would like it if my kids won't have to worry about that.
[CITE: https://www.facebook.com/SabaaTahirAuthor/posts/424261627759519]

EMBER chillin' with Vader, a Star Wars ship and hanging out in a sea of Legos. #AnEmberInTheAshes #SDCC2015

Posted by Sabaa Tahir on Thursday, July 9, 2015

*A lot of young people are reading your work. Looking back at your transition to adulthood, is there anything you wish you had done differently?*

I wish that I had written much more as a younger person. I didn't do it because I thought it wasn't practical. I thought, "These stories are never going to go anywhere so I should not waste my time telling them." I wish I had not made that decision.

I should have written whenever I wanted and for as long as I wanted. I would've learned about storytelling and how to tell a story much earlier, and then it might not have taken me six years to write my book. A lot of that was the learning curve, just figuring out how to write.

I also wish that I'd known about the writing community earlier, before I became a published author. I really wrote in a vacuum. My friends and family were all very supportive but they didn't really get it. I would go three or four days where I hadn't written and it would be completely frustrating for me.

The biggest thing that the publishing deal has changed for me is that I'm a full-time writer. That is the biggest gift in the world. That was the first thing that popped into my head when I got the deal: "Oh, I can do this full-time now." That's very rare and major luck so I'm just riding that wave like my husband tells me to.

I wasn't writing full-time when I first started this. When I had the opportunity to write more, like when I was in school and I could've written three or four hours a day, I didn't do it. I don't know what I did with those three or four hours, probably screwed around. I wish that I had taken that time and worked on the craft. Because I think it would've really helped later.

*Would you have approached your education any differently?*

My parents wanted me to become a doctor. I worked at a hospital in my senior year and was like, "Ew!" They were disappointed, but said, "Do something where you can get a job." That was their main concern. Journalism was something where I felt like I could get a job.

It ended up teaching me so much. First, about the world, and what a dark place it is. Plus, the great thing about journalism and a good newspaper like the New York Times or the Washington Post or the Wall Street Journal, the stories are wonderful examples of the building blocks of writing.

It's like classic like Strunk and White shit, basically. This is how you write a sentence. This is how you create a lede. This is how you generate interest. This is how you structure a story. I used to be a writing tutor at UCLA and when people would ask me, "What should I do to become a better writer?" I would always say, "Read the newspaper." It's one of the most engaging ways to really understand how to create good sentences.

That gave me a basic foundation that I needed to be able to write "Ember," to be able to write clearly. People often take that for granted. You need to know how to correctly form a sentence and to use punctuation and create a paragraph, because that then leads to: How do you build suspense? And how do you pace correctly? Then that leads to, how do you characterize? How do you make sure that characters are fully fleshed out? And that leads to plot. They're all related.

*Any advice for new parents who are trying to work on a passion project while they've got a newborn or young kid?*

I had to resign myself to piles of laundry, grilled cheese for dinner, a sometimes-grumpy husband, because writing had to matter more than everything else. When I was feeding him at night, I would hold the bottle with one hand and write with my other hand. I did that so many nights. Sometimes I'd turn on my iPhone and recorded what I was thinking about, then I would write it the next day.

Be inventive. Find any spare moment, because all of those moments will add up to a first draft or a first chapter or something. Staying connected to the writing every single day, even if that was like, "Okay, he's asleep. I really want to take a nap. I really should take a nap. But I'm not going to. I'm going to use this 45 minutes to write." You are sacrificing something, it's true. Like your own health. [laughter] And I know a lot of people don't agree with that.

And there's an extreme you probably shouldn't go to, but I think within reason it is really, really important to make sure that writing is number one. Even when, like I said, you have the pile of laundry that you really need to do. I also think asking for help if you can, whether it's from family, neighbors, people you trust. For me, in those early months, being able to have my mother-in-law come over and watch the baby for two hours while I wrote.


Spent yesterday evening with this charming little tubber. #YayBabies

A photo posted by Sabaa Tahir (@sabaatahir) on Jan 22, 2015 at 1:27pm PST


A lot of people don't realize how much it adds up. I wrote a draft, a bad draft but a draft nonetheless, by December 2009, almost entirely in those little spare pockets of time. It wasn't good, but it was something. It was a place to start from. So take what you can get, man. Especially in those early months. And if you have two kids, it's even harder and it's even more important that you sometimes prioritize your time to write.

Also, tell your partner or spouse, if you have one, "Sorry, no, you're not watching the game. You're watching the kids so that I can go write." You shouldn't have to be bossy, because hopefully that person will want to do that for you, but I was really lucky. There was a million times where my husband was like, "Go write, go write." He knew that it's something that needed to be done. 

*Any advice more generally about raising young kids that learned the hard way?*

It goes by really fast and you think that you will have the time and then you don't. So just enjoy it. My first got big really quick. He's six now and I'm like, "Where did you go? How did you become almost my height?" 

My second, I've enjoyed his babyhood much more because I know now. I get it. It's just going to fly by. So enjoy those quiet moments. You'll be waiting for your baby to walk, encouraging her, sometimes getting impatient. And then she'll start doing it and you'll be like, "Oh, I miss when she crawled." Then you'll be waiting for her to speak, and it's wonderful when they start to speak, but at the same time you miss the looks, where you're starting to interpret what they want by the little sounds or looks they use.

Every age is really precious, so yeah. Take lots of iPhone videos.

*Anything that you want to pass on to your readers?*

There's a piece of advice that I read in Steven Pressfield's "The War of Art." You really should read that book, it's wonderful. But it's really mean.

It's like, "Write your book!" The entire time the author is telling you, "Why are you reading this? Go write." Go do! Create! Whatever it is that you want to do, go and do it. I made a lot of excuses for myself in the six years that I was writing where I said, "I'm not writing because of blah. And because I don't have time. And because I have to do X. And because I suck at it." 

The most damaging thing you can do is to make those excuses. I always tell young writers, "If you find yourself making excuses for why you are not writing, reconsider your priorities. Those excuses are probably BS and you shouldn't make them if you want to be a writer."

I really wish somebody had told me that 10 years ago. I spent a long time making excuses for why I wasn't writing. Now I can't.

*Is there some next chapter in your life that you envision? Some other passion of yours outside of writing that—*

Oh, no man. This is it. This is my true love, right here. Writing is all I want to do. My friend Adam Sylvera, he wrote a book called, "More Happy Than Not." Wonderful book by the way. I sent him a congratulatory note when it came out, and he wrote back and said, "This job... god, we're so lucky."

That's the perfect encapsulation of how I feel about it. I would not want to do anything else. Writing is, it's my home. It's really all I want to do. I'm just glad I get to do it. As long as I can, I'm just going to hold on to that. Sink my claws in and never let go. 

*  *  *

Transcription services by Tigerfish; now offering transcripts in two-hours guaranteed. Interview text has been edited and condensed. [CITE: https://www.facebook.com/sophialifelessons]Sophia

-- 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 13 hours ago.

Amid employer jitters over readiness to handle new IRS forms for Affordable Care Act compliance, a software firm discovers its pioneering step in e-filing.

LINCOLN, Ill. (PRWEB) October 15, 2015

Integrity Data, a software firm specializing in payroll and human resources technology, announces it is the first software company to pass all IRS check points for the upcoming electronic filing of employers’ Affordable Care Act returns.

This discovery of early success with a new IRS system – which recently opened to employers, insurers, and any IT department and software company planning to file on behalf of an employer or insurer – was made over a week’s worth of emails and calls with the ACA Information Returns (AIR) help desk, according to Patrick Doolin, CEO of Integrity Data.

“Initially, we learned that we were only the third organization to get this approval,” Doolin said, referring to a phone call that Ernie Redfern, Integrity Data’s ACA Compliance Director, had with the IRS on Friday morning, October 2, 2015. A post to the company blog on October 5 details that news.

“We since learned that the organizations ahead of us are an insurance company and a software company. When we cross-referenced transmission records, we learned we are that software company, too,” Doolin said, referring to error-free submissions Redfern previously sent under Sypnio Software, the ACA reporting startup that Integrity Data acquired in June 2015.

The wow factor in discovery of such a first resonates as anxious U.S. employers and insurers prepare to comply with the intricate IRS reporting requirements of the far-reaching new health law.

“We compete with over 300 software vendors who also claim they can help employers fill out the most cumbersome forms the IRS has ever required,” says Tim Strudeman, Integrity Data’s business development manager and the company’s point of contact for insurance and benefits brokerages seeking an ACA reporting solution for their clients.

“This achievement underscores Integrity Data’s credibility and the thoroughness of our ACA offering,” Strudeman said. “In successfully navigating the AIR system so soon, we stand by our word – and above the crowd.”

The Affordable Care Act Information Returns Assurance Testing System (AATS) opened July 29, 2015. Registering for login credentials to this system is a process that can take weeks and which, in itself, requires close attention, according to Redfern.

At the center of the ACA compliance concern is the new 1095 series of year-end forms: the 1095-C for employers and the 1095-B for insurers. Both must be produced for individual recipients by February 1, 2016.·     All ACA-affected employers must give every full-time employee a 1095-C. This form will breakdown – in meticulous monthly detail – whether health insurance was offered and, if so, its attributes. Insurers must give a 1095-B to everyone who has one of their health plans.
·     Copies of these forms must then be filed with their transmittals, Form 1094-C and Form 1094-B, to the IRS, which is encouraging electronic filing. Any organization with 250 or more submissions must e-file. The e-filing deadline is March 31, 2016. Penalties for disregarding this filing are steep.

“Employers we talk to worry enough about filling out these forms. Uploading their files to a brand-new IRS system should not be a concern,” Doolin said. “Our perseverance in navigating evolving processes demonstrates our leadership in being proactive. We want our customers to have a fuss-free filing experience, trusting we will handle what needs to be taken care of in this new compliance burden.”

In the exacting format that the AIR system accepts – XML, not Excel-based nor PDF – Integrity Data’s ACA form-generation software has been approved both for the returns that employers must submit and also for those that insurers must submit. As a transmitter, Integrity Data is approved for 1095-C/1094-C returns and for 1095-B/1094-B returns.

When the AIR system opens in November for voluntary testing of Tax Year 2014 data, Integrity Data will be uploading the files of customers who want to double-check their forms for proper formatting.

Learn more about Integrity Data’s ACA Compliance Solution.

ABOUT INTEGRITY DATA

Integrity Data is a longstanding leader in development of software that improves businesses processed centered on payroll and human resources data. Headquartered in Lincoln, Ill., and founded in 1996, Integrity Data serves over 7,500 organizations worldwide. Integrity Data’s ACA affiliates include McGladrey LLP, one of the nation’s largest tax and accounting firms, and Hub International, a leading insurance brokerage that lists Integrity Data as an ACA Toolkit partner.

Corporate Headquarters

Integrity Data
125 N. Kickapoo
Lincoln, IL 62656
http://www.integrity-data.com
info(at)integrity-data(dot)com
888.786.6162 Reported by PRWeb 14 hours ago.

You'd be hard-pressed to find a member of Congress more vocal about the threat of identity theft and cyber-attacks than Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas.

Smith's record reveals a public servant staunchly on the side of protecting Americans' privacy -- unless you're a victim of asbestos-related disease. In that case, he believes you should be required to make public large chunks of your sensitive personal information on the Internet.

He is one of 19 members of the House Judiciary Committee who voted to advance the Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency (FACT) Act, which could delay or deny fair compensation to asbestos victims or their families.

Before I explain how the FACT Act -- House Resolution 526, introduced by Smith's fellow Texan, Rep. Blake Farenthold -- would expose asbestos victims to identity theft, let's review Smith's record.

Earlier this year Smith signed on as the original co-sponsor of the STOP Identity Theft Act of 2015. The bill calls for the U.S. attorney general to:

(1) make use of all existing resources of the Department of Justice... to bring more perpetrators of tax return identity theft to justice; and (2) take into account the need to concentrate efforts in areas of the country where the crime is most frequently reported, to coordinate with state and local authorities to prosecute and prevent such crime and to protect vulnerable groups from becoming victims or otherwise being used in the offense.

In January 2014, with snafus in the rollout of the federal health insurance website dominating the news, Smith and fellow Judiciary Committee member Rep. Darryl Issa, R-Calif., wrote an op-ed for The Hill newspaper, "Obamacare invites identity theft." They wrote:

We believe that threats to people's security and privacy remain the responsibility of the highest level of government. Unfortunately, in their haste to launch the website, the Obama administration intentionally cut corners, leaving the site wide open to hackers and other online criminals.

On Smith's website, there are no fewer than three columns addressing identity theft. In July 2005, he listed tips his constituents should take to protect themselves. Most important, he wrote, is to "give out your Social Security number only when necessary," noting that "implications on your financial security and personal privacy can be disastrous" if personal information falls into the hands of identity thieves. In May 2004, he warned, "Once an identity thief has the personal information of another, the possibilities for abuse are endless."

But cybersecurity "champion" Smith has been revealed as a hypocrite by his May 2015 vote for Farenthold's so-called FACT Act.

If it becomes law, it will place thousands of Americans at serious risk of identity theft, including veterans, firefighters and other first responders, teachers and others who are suffering from asbestos-related disease. For everyone seeking compensation from an asbestos trust--which were designed to pay victims of asbestos disease--the bill would require online disclosure of such personal information as their name, birth year, medical condition, work history and even a portion of their Social Security number.

This information is among the data identity thieves and online scammers scour the Internet in search of, explained a noted authority in the area of privacy and privacy law in an analysis of the legislation on behalf of EWG Action Fund. If the bill becomes law, identity thieves will no longer need to search very hard.

The personally identifiable information for hundreds of thousands of asbestos victims would be accessible online at the federal court's website, where accounts are free and can be set up by anyone. Each page, at a cost of only10 cents, would contain personally identifiable information for dozens of individuals.

Compensation for dying asbestos victims and their families could also be at risk. The Asbestos trusts predict it will require at least 20,000 additional hours per trust, per year in order to comply with the new legal roadblocks required under H.R. 526, which will steer scarce funds toward administrative costs and away from individuals.

The bill is a cynical ploy to give big asbestos corporations an unfair advantage in civil litigation by handing them sensitive information about asbestos claimants with a click of a mouse while leaving victims vulnerable to the trolls who lurk in the online underworld. Perhaps not coincidentally, since 2010 Smith has received at least $382,150 in campaign contributions from political action committees affiliated with companies backing the bill or known to have significant asbestos liability.

So here's a proposal for Smith, Farenthold and the other 17 members of the Judiciary Committee who voted for the bill, and for other members of Congress who may support it: Put your own financial, work and medical data on your website for anyone to see or steal. If you think the likes of the Koch brothers or big defense contractors should have access to asbestos victims' private personal information, you shouldn't mind disclosing your own.

Note: This piece originally appeared in TribTalk, a publication of The Texas Tribune.

-- 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 13 hours ago.

Back in 2013, the business model for Medela, a Swiss company that makes human milk pumps and accessories changed in the United States, when health insurers were required to pay for breast pumps for customers who choose to pump milk. However, the process has been more complicated than just latching on and extracting money from health insurers. Medela is the … Reported by The Consumerist 13 hours ago.

The number of Americans covered through exchanges is expected to grow by only one million by the end of 2016, for a total of 10 million, a much smaller number than earlier projections. Reported by NYTimes.com 11 hours ago.

Equal pay is an issue for all women in this country, but unlike the 79 cents to every dollar statistic that most of us are familiar with, Latinas only make 55 cents for every $1 dollar paid to white men. 55 cents.

That means that Latinas have to work 22 months to make as much as white, non Hispanic men did last year alone. This amounts to a loss of $25,177 a year.

How do you pay for rent, electricity, child care, food and health care, all things individuals and families need as basic security, at the same quality and level of those who make double what you do? In most cases, the answer is, you don't. If you've ever had to do the dangerous dance of paying the bills you can't afford, the hope to not get sick is probably a real and constant one.

Despite how lawmakers approach policy, the fact is, equal pay and health care access are directly linked.

Cost is already a barrier to accessing reproductive health care. If you then tack on the costs to take off from work and pay for transportation, public or otherwise, or childcare, it makes health care that much more expensive, for many to the point that health care, even basic preventive services, is considered a luxury, no matter the pain or illness.

When women have access to reproductive health care, they are able to better plan their families; they are more likely to continue and complete higher levels of education; and they are more likely to be economically stable and successful, benefiting themselves, their homes and families, and their communities.

That's why Planned Parenthood is committed to providing affordable high-quality access to health care for all women -- including the 575,000 Latinas we serve each year, regardless of immigration or health insurance status.

No one should have to decide between paying their bills or accessing health care. The wage gap is much wider for most women of color, but it's widest for Latinas.

Too many Latinas are struggling to make ends meet. Congress needs to combat the wage gap and prioritize fair pay. Hispanic Heritage Month may end today but there's still time to speak up.

Check out the #LatinaEqualPay Twitter Storm to have your voice heard and keep this conversation going today.

-- 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 12 hours ago.

Administration forecasts slight gains for health insurance markets; uninsured harder to sway Reported by ABCNews.com 11 hours ago.

Allsup outlines key financial considerations for individuals receiving SSDI benefits and VA disability compensation after Social Security reports there will not be a COLA increase in 2016

Belleville, Illinois (PRWEB) October 15, 2015

About 10.8 million people with disabilities and their dependents who rely on Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and about 3.7 million veterans receiving disability compensation won’t see a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in 2016. The Social Security Administration’s announcement that there won’t be a COLA may be distressing news for people with disabilities and their families, according to Allsup, a nationwide provider of SSDI representation, veterans disability appeal, and Medicare plan selection services.

“No increase in benefits may seem to contradict reality for many people with disabilities, seniors and veterans who see their costs for healthcare, food and other needs going up on a regular basis,” said Tricia Blazier, personal health and financial planning director for Allsup.

The federal COLA typically is applied to Social Security retirement, SSDI, veterans disability compensation and pension benefits, as well as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits.

“Most people who must quit work due to a life-changing disability already experience financial devastation,” Blazier said. “SSDI benefits typically replace only a fraction of the income people earned when they were working.”

The COLA is based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). It factors in the rate of inflation for goods and services that individuals buy. Typically, the COLA is calculated with a comparison of third-quarter results from data for the current year compared to the same quarter of the previous year. There was no increase in 2015.

“One advantage this year, however, is the ‘hold harmless’ protection that will help Social Security beneficiaries who use Medicare and whose premiums are deducted from their monthly benefits,” Blazier said. “This group makes up about 70 percent of Medicare beneficiaries, and they will not see their Part B premiums increase because there is no COLA.”

Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) forecast an increase in Medicare Part B premiums. However, with no COLA, those Medicare premium increases would affect a smaller portion of beneficiaries, about 30 percent. HHS has not yet announced Medicare Part B premiums for 2016.

There also was no COLA in 2010 and 2011 after consumer prices did not experience typical increases in 2009 and 2010. This is the third time in 40 years there has not been a COLA. All have been since 2010.

Managing Financial, Healthcare Costs In 2016

As SSDI and other beneficiaries review their expenses for next year, it may be important to revisit options in light of no COLA for next year.

Consider evaluating the following:

1. Examine the household budget and changes in cash flow. “Setting up a realistic budget by examining expenses this year and anticipated income next year can get you started on the right track,” Blazier said. “It may be important to cut certain expenses if you know that other costs are likely to go up, for example, groceries or healthcare.”

2. Review healthcare expenses. Health insurance can be a sizable cost for individuals with disabilities, and this time of year provides important opportunities to review choices.

Health Insurance Marketplace. “If you’re waiting for Medicare eligibility and are spending a lot on health insurance, you may want to review your options during the Health Insurance Marketplace open enrollment,” Blazier said. “You may have better, more affordable options to provide healthcare coverage for you and your family.” Marketplace open enrollment runs from Nov. 1 through Jan. 31, 2016.

Medicare. Seniors and people with disabilities who participate in Medicare also have the opportunity to make plan changes during annual open enrollment Oct. 15 to Dec. 7. “It may be possible to reduce your Medicare costs through a new choice in Medicare plans,” Blazier said.

3. Seek mortgage help or consider refinancing. Individuals experiencing difficulty with their mortgage may have alternatives for reducing their payments or finding relief by reaching out to the U.S. Department for Housing and Urban Development (HUD). “It’s important to start dealing with mortgage problems earlier, rather than later, because you are likely to have more options,” Blazier explained. Go to http://www.hud.gov for more information, or click here to locate a HUD-approved housing counseling agency. HUD also provides a phone line (888) 995-4673 for help in more than 170 languages, 24/7 and 365 days of the year.

SSDI is a payroll tax-funded, federal insurance program. A portion of FICA taxes that workers pay is set aside for SSDI, as well as Social Security retirement and Medicare. SSDI benefits provide monthly income and access to Medicare after a 24-month waiting period.

Help With SSDI Benefits, Veterans Disability, Medicare Plans

Medicare recipients have until Dec. 7 to make Medicare plan changes for their 2016 healthcare coverage. To speak to an Allsup Medicare Advisor specialist, call (866) 521-7655 or visit Medicare.Allsup.com.

Veterans who are planning a VA disability appeal can receive assistance by calling (888) 372-1190.

Click here for more information about appealing or applying for Social Security disability benefits. Or, contact an Allsup professional for a free SSDI evaluation at (800) 678-3276.

ABOUT ALLSUP
Allsup and its subsidiaries provide nationwide Social Security disability, veterans disability appeal, re-employment, exchange plan and Medicare services for individuals, their employers and insurance carriers. Allsup professionals deliver specialized services supporting people with disabilities and seniors so they may lead lives that are as financially secure and as healthy as possible. Founded in 1984, the company is based in Belleville, Illinois, near St. Louis. For more information, go to Allsup.com or visit Allsup on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/Allsupinc.

# # # Reported by PRWeb 11 hours ago.