Quantcast
Channel: Health Insurance Headlines on One News Page [United States]
Viewing all 22794 articles
Browse latest View live

ZendyHealth And SelectAccount Offer Better Healthcare Options for HSA Account Holders

$
0
0
Premier “price shopping” platform for Healthcare, Partners With Top HSA Administrator To Offer Affordable Pricing Solutions for Patients

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) October 28, 2015

ZendyHealth, the online platform that brings healthcare consumers the ability to pick their price on medical, dental, and cosmetic procedures, is pleased to announce a partnership with SelectAccount. ZendyHealth will be offered as a shopping tool within WalletDoc, SelectAccount’s suite of consumer-driven solutions for better and more affordable healthcare. This partnership will make it easier and more convenient for consumers to use their HSA dollars on many popular procedures which are offered through ZendyHealth.

This partnership will provide more opportunities for consumers in high-deductible insurance plans and empowers them with more flexibility and cost-saving options than ever before.

Health savings accounts, or HSAs, are tax-advantaged accounts that are available to people enrolled in a qualified high-deductible health insurance plan as an alternative to paying out-of-pocket deductibles. By partnering with SelectAccount, one of the largest medical spending account administrators in the country, ZendyHealth will be able to offer savings on qualifying procedures to healthcare consumers enrolled in SelectAccount’s WalletDoc through a variety of account plans including HSA, FSA, HRA, and VEBA.

“We are pleased to have the opportunity to serve SelectAccount’s customers and to help put the power back into consumers’ hands,” says Dr Vish Banthia, Founder of ZendyHealth, “We offer more cost-effective solutions where account holders can maximize the value of each HSA dollar without having to sacrifice quality of care.”

ZendyHealth provides a platform that allows consumers to choose their procedure and then submit a cash offer on what they are willing to pay for the procedure. ZendyHealth then pairs the consumer’s offer with one of the pre-screened certified medical, dental, or chiropractic providers. This allows consumers to receive significant savings of up to 80% off on procedures like teeth cleaning, MRI scans, and allergy testing. Several of the medical and dental procedures offered by ZendyHealth are covered by most health savings accounts.

“Our goal at SelectAccount is to take a more active role in educating people on how to be smarter health care consumers by placing tools directly next to their account balances. The addition of ZendyHealth is another crucial step to put the buying power back into our account holders’ hands as they face medical expenses,” said David Cantu, SelectAccount Vice President of Marketing, Sales and Public Relations.

SelectAccount is one of the top rated HSA administrators in the country and currently serves almost half a million account holders across all of their platforms. Their powerful suite of tools, including WalletDoc, makes it easy for members to access their accounts, monitor contributions, and receive support.

About ZendyHealth:
Founded by a group of medical professionals to revolutionize health care access and to empower the patient, ZendyHealth makes it easy to find and book popular cosmetic, dental, and medical procedures, such as Botox, Dental Implants, and CT / MRI scans at affordable prices without sacrificing quality. The innovative digital health platform allows patients to pick their own price for standardized health and dental procedures, and then matches them to trusted, pre-screened Certified Providers.

About SelectAccount:
SelectAccount has been driving innovation in medical savings administration for over 25 years. They offer a full suite of tax-advantaged solutions – HSA, HRA, FSA, VEBA, transportation and dependent care accounts – as well as WalletDoc consumer tools to meet clients’ changing needs as they plan for their health care expenditures. They are one of the leading medical savings administrators in the country managing more than half a billion dollars in consumer medical account savings assets integrated with numerous partner data exchange connections, serving 7,000 employers with account holders in all 50 states. MII Life, Inc., d.b.a. SelectAccount has been approved by the U.S. Department of Treasury as a non-bank HSA Trustee. SelectAccount is headquartered in Eagan, Minnesota with an office located in Chicago, Illinois and Dallas, Texas. Visit http://www.SelectAccount.com to learn more. Reported by PRWeb 3 hours ago.

Overweight Americans with Private Insurance Most Likely to Talk to Physician About Weight Loss

$
0
0
New data from Kantar Health’s National Health and Wellness Survey shows adults with private health insurance are more likely to take steps to lose weight than those without insurance.

New York, NY (PRWEB) October 28, 2015

Overweight or obese Americans with private health insurance are more likely to take steps to lose weight and to speak with their physician about weight-loss strategies than patients without health insurance, according to new data from Kantar Health’s National Health and Wellness Survey, supported by Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc. Approximately 70 percent of overweight or obese adults who have private insurance are taking active steps to lose weight, compared with two in three without insurance. Of those, 51 percent of overweight or obese adults with insurance have spoken with their physician, compared with 32 percent of those without insurance.

“Obesity is associated with many weight-related comorbidities, most commonly type 2 diabetes, hypertension and dyslipidemia and has been associated with an increased risk of other conditions, such as stroke, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, respiratory problems and some cancers,” said Jonathan Chapnick, vice president, client consulting, Kantar Health. “Obesity is estimated to lead to medical care costs of $147 billion annually. For these reasons it’s important for physicians to work with their patients to improve their overall health.”

The majority of both insured and uninsured patients used lifestyle modification (e.g., diet and exercise), which is the foundational treatment recommendation for weight management. People with private insurance were more likely to consult a specialist or use a weight management program than the uninsured. Likewise, those with insurance were more likely to utilize prescription drugs or undergo a surgical procedure to control their weight.

“With obesity remaining a significant health issue not only in the United States but also around the world, payers need more information to make informed decisions based on the needs of their member populations, such as the impact of providing coverage of various obesity interventions,” Chapnick said.

About the National Health and Wellness Survey (NHWS)
The study’s results were drawn from the 2013 U.S. NHWS, a nationally representative, self-administered survey conducted annually. Respondents were provided with a list of conditions and asked which they had experienced and been diagnosed with. Topics covered include the health status, attitudes, behaviors and outcomes among adults 18 or older.

Kantar Health conducts the NHWS in the U.S., Europe, Asia and Latin America. The survey is the largest self-reported dataset in the healthcare industry.

About Kantar Health
Kantar Health is a leading global healthcare consulting firm and trusted advisor to many pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device and diagnostic companies worldwide. It combines evidence-based research capabilities with deep scientific, therapeutic and clinical knowledge, commercial development know-how, and brand and marketing expertise to help clients evaluate opportunities, launch products and maintain brand and market leadership.

Kantar Health deeply understands the influence of patients, payers and physicians, especially as they relate to the performance and payment of medicines and the delivery of healthcare services. Its 600+ healthcare industry specialists work across the product lifecycle, from preclinical development to launch, acting as catalysts to successful decision-making in life sciences and helping clients prioritize their product development and portfolio activities, differentiate their brands and drive product success post-launch. Kantar Health is part of Kantar, the data investment management division of WPP. For more information, please visit http://www.kantarhealth.com. Reported by PRWeb 2 hours ago.

Intuit, Stride Health Partnership Simplifies Health Insurance Coverage, Tax Planning for Freelance Workers

$
0
0
Intuit, Stride Health Partnership Simplifies Health Insurance Coverage, Tax Planning for Freelance Workers MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Intuit Inc. is partnering with Stride Health to provide self-employed workers a personalized approach to managing health insurance, healthcare and compliance within QuickBooks Self-Employed. Reported by Business Wire 2 hours ago.

Physicians Give UnitedHealthcare, Humana Least-Trusted Status in ReviveHealth Payor Trust Index

$
0
0
Health plans cited as a barrier to the delivery of high-quality patient care. Poll results further spotlight physician concerns about impact of consolidation among the nation’s big five health insurance plans

Nashville, TN (PRWEB) October 28, 2015

Physicians broadly mistrust health insurance companies and say they even interfere with physicians’ ability to provide high-quality patient care, according to new results from the ReviveHealth Payor Trust Index (SM), which polled more than 600 primary care and specialist physicians across the country.

Physicians said they have the least trust in UnitedHealthcare (United) and Humana and the most trust in local Blue Cross Blue Shield Plans. Likewise, physicians deemed local BlueCross BlueShield plans best at enabling the delivery of high-quality care, and indicated United was the worst.

Trust was measured based on such things as physicians’ perspectives on a health plan’s efforts to honor its commitments, honestly and accurately represent itself and its intentions, and to not routinely take advantage of physicians. The No. 1 factor cited by physicians’ as influencing their opinions about whether health plans help or hurt the delivery of high-quality care: more coverage and fewer claims denials versus poor coverage and more claims denials.

"What these findings tell me, is that things will be more challenging for everyone, especially physicians, as plans flex their muscles in this new environment of health reform and consolidation of the nation’s largest players and payers,” said Paul H. Keckley, national health policy expert and managing director for the Navigant Center for Healthcare Research and Policy Analysis. Keckley also serves as a member of the ReviveHealth Sounding Board.

That opinion was seconded by fellow ReviveHealth Sounding Board member Nathan S. Kaufman, managing director of Kaufman Strategic Advisors and an expert in payor-provider relationships, who said the physician mistrust of health plans revealed in the latest Payor Trust Index will likely only get worse with the mega-merger deals of the nation’s largest health plans now under review by the Department of Justice (DOJ).

“The Affordable Care Act and other market forces have restricted growth in insurance premiums. Now more than ever, healthcare has become a zero sum game,” said Kaufman. “Market power continues to be the primary driver of how healthcare dollars are distributed. If physicians think health plans are difficult to deal with now, just imagine negotiating with a company comprised of two of the largest, least-trusted ones, which is what we’re looking at right now with the planned mergers involving Humana, Anthem and others.”

Physicians and politicians alike are speaking out against the $100 billion in blockbuster mergers being reviewed by the DOJ, citing harm to consumers, price-setting that forces physicians out of business, and the potential undermining of a central goal of the Affordable Care Act, increased competition.

Under review are Anthem’s proposed takeover of Cigna and Aetna’s acquisition of Humana, deals that would reduce the number of major, national health plans from five down to three. The American Medical Association has weighed in against the mergers as has the nation’s largest state physician group, the Texas Medical Association.

The Payor Trust Index was first established last year by ReviveHealth and research partner Catalyst Healthcare Research as part of the healthcare marketing communication firm’s nine-year annual survey of health system executives’ opinions of what it’s like to do business with the nation’s largest health plans. The agency this year extended the Trust Index to physicians to get a broader, more 360-degree view of the nation’s largest health plans through the eyes of those who are responsible for delivering health care to patients. The Index asks a series of questions examining various issues related to trust and assigns a numeric score from one to 100.

Overall, physician trust in the nation’s largest insurers is dismal – the average of all combined scores being 58.1 out of 100. This is slightly higher than the 51.8 that hospital leadership gave insurers when they took the survey earlier this year.

In the latest physician poll, independent Blue Cross Blue Shield plans came out ahead, followed closely by Cigna. United and Humana were consistently ranked lowest by physicians. United has for years struggled with trust issues among providers, consistently ranking among the least trusted in each of the last nine years that ReviveHealth has conducted national payor survey research among health system executives.

Key physician perspectives from the latest Payor Trust Index include:
Combined Trust Index Ratings:· BCBS – 60.5 (compared to health system rating of 59)
· Cigna – 58.6 (compared to health system rating of 62.7)
· Aetna – 58.2 (compared to health system rating of 54.8)
· Anthem/Wellpoint – 57.6 (compared to health system rating of 46.9)
· United – 57.1 (compared to health system rating of 40.5)
· Humana – 56.5 (compared to health system rating of 51.3)

Plans Best/Worst at Enabling Delivery of High-Quality Care· BCBS plans were identified as the best partner for enabling delivery of high-quality care (46%).
· United was most often mentioned as the worst at enabling delivery of high-quality care (26%), followed by Humana (16%), Aetna (15%), and Anthem/Wellpoint (14%).
· When considering the justifications for the “best” ratings, five of the top six criteria listed were relationship-driven – the best rankings were based on customer service, administration, and clear guidelines. Only one criterion was financially driven.
· Of the “worst” ratings, all of the top five criteria mentioned were relationship factors – payment rates were brought up as the sixth most important factor (9%).

The survey was administered online among 605 physicians (75 percent medical specialists and 25 percent primary care), representing 45 of 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

Download full results of the Payor Trust Index among physicians.

About ReviveHealth
ReviveHealth is the first purpose-built, integrated marketing communication firm for Health Systems, Health Services, Health Technology, and Healthy Living. The firm is the sixth largest healthcare agency in the country and its client roster includes some of the leading and largest brands in healthcare. It was named PRWeek’s 2014 Small Agency of the Year, 2015 Small Agency of the Year finalist, and 2013 Boutique PR Agency of the Year. The Agency also earned The Holmes Report’s 2014 Best Agency to Work For in America as well as Best Boutique Agency to Work For from 2011-2014. ReviveHealth has offices in Nashville, Minneapolis, and Santa Barbara, and can be found on the web at thinkrevivehealth.com and on Twitter @ThinkRevive.

### Reported by PRWeb 36 minutes ago.

Moda pulls out of Washington insurance market

$
0
0
Moda Health is pulling out of the Washington state health insurance market, where it has about 47,000 members. Portland-based Moda is instead concentrating on its core markets of Oregon and Alaska, where it’s a dominant player, the company announced. Moda said in a statement it notified the Washington Insurance Commissioner of its plan. "Effective immediately, Moda will cease all sales and renewals of health insurance plans in the indiviudal, small group and large group markets in Washington… Reported by bizjournals 1 day ago.

Moda pulls out of Washington state insurance market

$
0
0
Moda Health is pulling out of the Washington state health insurance market, where it has about 47,000 members. Portland-based Moda is instead concentrating on its core markets of Oregon and Alaska, where it’s a dominant player, the company announced. Moda said in a statement it notified the Washington Insurance Commissioner of its plan. "Effective immediately, Moda will cease all sales and renewals of health insurance plans in the individual, small group and large group markets in Washington… Reported by bizjournals 1 day ago.

Chinese hackers targeted an insurer to learn about US health care

$
0
0
When Anthem revealed a data breach that exposed the details of more than 80 million people, the incident raised a lot of questions: who would conduct such a hack against a health insurance firm? Why? And what happens to the data? Well, investiga... Reported by engadget 1 day ago.

Why Obamacare Co-Ops Are Failing At A Rate Of Nearly 50%

$
0
0
BY ED HAISLMAIER - The bottom line: Obamacare has made health insurance costlier and the business of offering it riskier. To survive in that new world, health insurers need to be cautious, or even pessimistic, and hope that their customers can continue to pay escalating premiums. It’s not a pretty picture. Reported by Forbes.com 12 hours ago.

America's Biggest Health Insurance Providers

$
0
0
Reported by Forbes.com 12 hours ago.

Fact-Checking The CNBC Republican Presidential Debate

$
0
0
The following post first appeared on FactCheck.org.

*Summary*

The Republican candidates met once again, and we found several claims worthy of fact-checking. Here are some of the highlights from the debate:
· Former CEO Carly Fiorina claimed that 92 percent of the job losses in President Obama’s first term belonged to women, but women — and men — gained jobs by the end of Obama’s first term.· Businessman Donald Trump disputed the idea that he had criticized Sen. Marco Rubio and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg for supporting H-1B visas. In fact, Trump’s immigration plan, posted on his website, is critical of both of them.· Trump also claimed his campaign was 100 percent self-funded, but more than half of the money his campaign has raised came from supporters’ contributions.· Fiorina blamed the Affordable Care Act for a large disparity in firm closings versus openings every year. But closings outnumbered firm births by the widest margin in 2009, a year before the law was enacted.· Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson said it was “total propaganda” to say he was involved with a controversial nutritional supplement company, but he appeared in promotional videos for the company, touting its products.· New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said that Social Security would be insolvent in seven to eight years. But even after the trust funds are exhausted — estimated to be in 14 to 19 years — the program can still pay out 73 percent of benefits for several decades.· Sen. Ted Cruz said women’s wages have declined under Obama, when in fact the latest figures show their wages have increased.· Rubio claimed CNBC’s John Harwood was wrong that a Tax Foundation analysis of his tax plan found those in the top 1 percent of earners would get nearly twice the gain as those in the middle. Harwood was right, and that’s on a percentage basis.·
In the undercard debate, former New York Gov. George Pataki claimed the Iranians, Russians and Chinese “hacked” the private server Hillary Clinton used as secretary of state and obtained “state secrets.” There’s no evidence of that.*Analysis*

Ten candidates vied in the main event of the Oct. 28 economy-focused third Republican debate, hosted by CNBC at the University of Colorado Boulder: former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Sen. Ted Cruz, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Sen. Rand Paul, Sen. Marco Rubio and entrepreneur Donald Trump.-*Fiorina On Job ‘Losses’ For Women Under Obama*-

Fiorina revived a dated, and now incorrect, talking point from Mitt Romney’s campaign in 2012 when she claimed that “92 percent of the jobs lost during Barack Obama’s first term belonged to women.” It’s true that in the early years of Obama’s presidency, job losses from the recession continued to mount, and women lost a higher percentage of those jobs. But that ignores the massive job losses by men in the recession prior to Obama taking office. And by the end of Obama’s first term, both men and women had gained jobs.

*Fiorina*: It is the height of hypocrisy for Mrs. Clinton to talk about being the first woman president, when every single policy she espouses, and every single policy of President Obama has been demonstrably bad for women. Ninety-two percent of the jobs lost during Barack Obama’s first term belonged to women.

Back in April 2012, we wrote about Romney’s frequent campaign line that “over 92 percent of the jobs lost under this president were lost by women,” which Romney cited as evidence that Obama’s policies amounted to a “war on women.” Romney was referring to Bureau of Labor Statistics data between January 2009, when Obama took office, and March 2012, the latest available at the time. We noted that statistic was accurate, but didn’t tell the whole story.

Looking back at the whole recession, we wrote, men had lost many more jobs than women. But the biggest job losses for men came earlier in the recession, and recovery for men came faster than it did for women.

Fiorina, however, referred to “Obama’s first term,” and, of course, we now have access to data from the entirety of that first term. And looking at the full four years of Obama’s first term, both men and women gained jobs. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women gained 416,000 jobs in Obama’s first term (about 32 percent of the overall job gains).

As for Obama’s second term, women have gained another roughly 3.5 million jobs between January 2013 and September 2015. That accounts for 49 percent of the overall job gains during Obama’s second term.

-*Trump’s Forgotten Criticism *-

Trump denied ever criticizing Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, as well as Marco Rubio, with regard to the H-1B visa program. But he actually did so — in his very own immigration plan on his own website.

During a question about the visa program that allows companies to bring foreign workers to the United States for “specialty occupations” in technology and other fields, CNBC moderator Becky Quick said that Trump had criticized Zuckerberg for his position on H-1B visas. He responded:

*Trump*: I was not at all critical of him. I was not at all. In fact, frankly, he’s complaining about the fact that we’re losing some of the most talented people. They go to Harvard. They go to Yale. They go to Princeton. They come from another country and they’re immediately sent out. I am all in favor of keeping these talented people here so they can go to work in Silicon Valley. …

So I have nothing at all critical of him.

*Quick*: Where did I read this and come up with this that you were …

*Trump*: Probably, I don’t know — you people write the stuff.


Quick also said that Trump has called Rubio Zuckerberg’s “own personal senator,” which Trump again denied, claiming “I never said that. … Somebody’s doing some really bad fact-checking. I never said that.” But Trump’s own immigration plan, posted on his website, appears to criticize both Zuckerberg and Rubio, and does contain the line Quick mentioned. His plan calls for raising wages paid to H-1B workers, which it says would convince companies to hire more Americans:

*Trump’s immigration plan:* This will improve the number of black, Hispanic and female workers in Silicon Valley who have been passed over in favor of the H-1B program. Mark Zuckerberg’s personal Senator, Marco Rubio, has a bill to triple H-1Bs that would decimate women and minorities.

After a commercial break, Quick pointed out that Trump had indeed criticized Rubio and Zuckerberg on his website. He did not address that point in his response, stressing the need for legal immigration and emphasizing his own job creation record.-*Trump Not Completely Self-Funded*-

Trump claimed that his campaign is 100 percent self-funded. That’s false.

*Trump:* I am the only person in either campaign that’s self-funding. I’m putting up 100 percent of my own money.

Trump has spent about $1.9 million of his own money running for president, according to hisOctober quarterly report to the Federal Election Commission. That includes a $1.8 million loan to his campaign, as well as in-kind contributions of nearly $104,000. But his campaign has spent more than $5.5 million to date, and the majority of that has come from campaign donors. In total, the Trump campaign has received more than $3.8 million from campaign supporters, which is more than half of the $5.8 million the campaign raised as of September 30.

And while Trump reportedly referred to the donations as “unsolicited,” his campaign website features a donate page telling supporters how to make contributions.

-*Fiorina on Business Deaths *-

Fiorina cited outdated figures on business openings and closings, saying that 400,000 small businesses form “every year” while 470,000 go out of business. “And why?” she asked. “They cite Obamacare.”

The most recent numbers, from 2012, show a disparity of about 15,000, and the gap between the creation of new firms and firm “deaths” has been narrowing. In 2009, a year before the Affordable Care Act was even signed into law, there were 409,133 firm births and 499,803 firm deaths.

That’s close to what Fiorina cited, and the figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau’s business dynamics statistics. The fact that those new firm births were outnumbered by deaths was highlighted in a Brookings Institution report from May 2014. That report said: “In fact, business deaths now exceed business births for the first time in the thirty-plus-year history of our data.”

That report said nothing about the Affordable Care Act, but rather that it didn’t determine the causes and the trend could reverse in the future.

*Brookings Institution, “Declining Business Dynamism in the United States,” May 2014:* Our findings stop short of demonstrating why these trends are occurring and perhaps more importantly, what can be done about it. Doing so requires a more complete knowledge about what drives dynamism, and especially entrepreneurship, than currently exists. But it is clear that these trends fit into a larger narrative of business consolidation occurring in the U.S. economy—whatever the reason, older and larger businesses are doing better relative to younger and smaller ones. …

To be sure, three years have passed since our latest data were collected in March 2011, so it’s entirely possible that some of these negative trends have reversed—or at least stabilized—since then.


We spoke with one of the authors of that report — Ian Hathaway — in May, and he sent us updated figures for 2012. Those showed new firm births were still outnumbered by deaths but the gap had continued to narrow since its peak in 2009. For 2012, deaths outnumbered births by nearly 15,000, not the 70,000 figure that Fiorina cited.

-*Carson’s Involvement with Mannatech*-

Carson claimed that he had no “involvement” with a controversial nutritional supplement company called Mannatech, and he called any claim to the contrary “propaganda.” But he actually has a long history with the company that goes beyond what he described, including giving paid speeches, participating in promotional videos and other activities.

*CNBC’s Carl Quintanilla*: One more question. This is a company called Mannatech, a maker of nutritional supplements, with which you had a 10-year relationship. They offered claims that they could cure autism, cancer, they paid $7 million to settle a deceptive marketing lawsuit in Texas, and yet your involvement continued. Why?

*Carson*: Well, that’s easy to answer. I didn’t have an involvement with them. That is total propaganda, and this is what happens in our society. Total propaganda.

I did a couple of speeches for them, I do speeches for other people. They were paid speeches. It is absolutely absurd to say that I had any kind of a relationship with them.

Do I take the product? Yes. I think it’s a good product.


Though one can debate the definition of “relationship” and “involvement,” there is ample evidence that Carson has at least some sort of history with Mannatech. He admits to giving paid speeches for the company, but reports by the Wall Street Journal and the National Review have pointed out other connections as well going back at least a decade. For example, he participated in shooting several videos with or about the company; though the Wall Street Journal reported that Mannatech has removed those videos from its website, at least one video remains on YouTube as of this writing in which Carson touts the company’s work and products.

The National Review also reported that Carson was paid to appear on a PBS special and endorse Mannatech’s products, though the company said it was “a group of Mannatech independent distributors, not Mannatech Incorporated,” that actually paid for Carson’s appearance. Carson also once gave a speech in which he said the company helped fund an endowed post in Carson’s name at Johns Hopkins University, but his campaign has since said that Carson was mistaken, blaming “confusion” for the error.

Though the extent of Carson’s involvement isn’t clear, it’s by no means “total propaganda” to say he had an involvement that went beyond “a couple of speeches.”-*Social Security Spin *-

Christie claimed that “Social Security is going to be insolvent in seven to eight years.” That’s an exaggeration. The Social Security trust funds can continue to pay full benefits for another 14 to 19 years, according to government projections.

*Christie*: All that’s in that trust fund is a pile of IOUs for money they spent on something else a long time ago. And they’ve stolen from you because now they know they cannot pay these benefits and Social Security is going to be insolvent in seven to eight years.

Social Security benefits are not in any imminent danger.

It is true that Social Security has been paying out more in benefits than it collects in revenues since 2010. But the Social Security trust funds hold Treasury bonds — or the “pile of IOUs,” as Christie calls them — for past years when Social Security collected more in revenues than it spent. The trust funds at the end of 2014 held nearly $2.8 trillion in Treasury bonds.

Those trust funds have enough to keep paying full benefits until 2034, according to theTrustees of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds’ most recent report.

“Interest income and redemption of trust fund assets from the General Fund of the Treasury, will provide the resources needed to offset Social Security’s annual aggregate cash-flow deficits until 2034,” the trustees report says.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the trust funds would be depleted by 2029 — which is earlier than the trustees project, but still longer than Christie claimed.

Once the trust funds are exhausted, Social Security can still pay benefits with payroll tax income — but not the full scheduled amount. The trustees say tax income would be able to cover 73 percent of the benefits through 2089.

-*Cruz on Women’s Wages*-

Cruz claimed women’s wages have declined under Obama, when in fact the latest figures show their wages have increased.

*Cruz:* [U]nder Barack Obama and the big government economy, the median wage for women has dropped $733.

Actually, the most recent breakdown from the Bureau of Labor Statistics of median usual weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers shows that for women the figure was $728 in the three months ending Sept. 30, up from $647 in the last three months of 2008, just before Obama first took office. That’s an increase of $81 per week.

Even adjusted for inflation, women workers’ median wages increased by more than 1 percent during the same period, in which inflation-adjusted wages for men remained flat.

Cruz meant to refer to total income, rather than just wages. It’s true that the latest Census Bureau figures show median annual income for women dropped by $705 (not $733) between 2008 and 2014 (expressed in inflation-adjusted 2014 dollars). That reflects changes in many factors besides full-time wages, including changes in business income, capital gains income, and increasing numbers of retirees drawing pensions rather than working for wages or salaries.

Cruz got his $733 figure from an outdated GOP talking point that relied on figures for 2013. Newer figures were released last month. Figures covering 2015 won’t be available until late next year.

-*Rubio’s Tax Plan*-

Rubio said CNBC’s John Harwood was “wrong” that the Tax Foundation analysis of his tax plan found “you give nearly twice as much of a gain in after-tax income to the top 1 percent as to people in the middle of the income scale.” But that is what the Tax Foundation found.

Rubio responded that the largest percentage gains would be for those with the lowest incomes, which is also true, according to the Tax Foundation’s analysis. But that doesn’t make Harwood’s statement wrong.

The Tax Foundation concluded that Rubio’s plan, when scored “dynamically” to account for expected economic growth, would result in an after-tax income increase of nearly 28 percent for those in the top 1 percent, while those in the middle income deciles — 40 percent to 50 percent and 50 percent to 60 percent — would see their after-tax income rise by 15.7 percent and 15.3 percent, respectively. People with incomes in the lowest 10 percent would see the greatest percentage gains, nearly 56 percent.

In other words, the greatest percentage income gains would be realized by those with low or high incomes, with smaller percentage gains for those in the middle.

Here’s how the exchange unfolded:

*Harwood*: The Tax Foundation, which was alluded to earlier, scored your tax plan and concluded that you give nearly twice as much of a gain in after-tax income to the top 1 percent as to people in the middle of the income scale. Since you’re the champion of Americans living paycheck-to-paycheck, don’t you have that backward?

*Rubio*: No, that’s — you’re wrong. In fact, the largest after-tax gains is for the people at the lower end of the tax spectrum under my plan. And there’s a bunch of things my tax plan does to help them. Number one, you have people in this country that …

*Harwood*: … Senator, the Tax Foundation said after-tax income for the top 1 percent under your plan would go up 27.9 percent. And people in the middle of the income spectrum, about 15 percent.

*Rubio*: … Yeah, but that — because the math is, if you — 5 percent of a million is a lot more than 5 percent of a thousand. So yeah, someone who makes more money, numerically, it’s gonna be higher. But the greatest gains, percentage-wise, for people, are gonna be at the lower end of our plan, and here’s why: because in addition to a general personal exemption, we are increasing the per-child tax credit for working families.


Rubio’s tax plan, which he coauthored with Sen. Mike Lee, includes a number of dramatic changes to the current tax code, including a reduction in the number of tax brackets to two (15 percent and 35 percent), the elimination of most itemized deductions (excluding charitable and mortgage interest deductions), and a new child tax credit of $2,500.

The Tax Foundation’s analysis of the plan, released in March, concluded it would increase incomes across all income levels. But some would do better than others.
Looking at the plan on a “static basis,” which does not assume that tax cuts in the plan would spur economic growth, the Tax Foundation said the average gain in after-tax income would be 3.9 percent. But the biggest winners — on a percentage basis — would be those at the bottom and top of the income scale. For example, the analysis stated, the gain would be 11.4 percent for the 10 percent to 20 percent decile, 11.5 percent for the highest 1 percent, but only 1.7 percent for the 50-60 percent decile.

Those disparities are not as dramatic when looking at the tax plan on a “dynamic” basis, which assumes the cuts would lead to significant economic growth. But the general pattern holds, with those at the upper and lower incomes faring the best, on a percentage basis.

So Harwood and Rubio were talking past each other a bit. Harwood was pointing out that those at the top income levels were seeing greater benefit — on a percentage basis — than those in the middle income levels. And that’s true. Rubio, meanwhile, insisted that those at the very lowest income levels would see the greatest percentage increase in income. That’s also true. Rubio further confused the issue with his explanation that “5 percent of a million is a lot more than 5 percent of a thousand.” As we noted earlier, it’s not just that those in the top 1 percent of tax filers would be seeing greater dollar savings in Rubio’s plan than those in the middle income brackets, it’s that those at the top would see a greater percentage gain as well.

-*Clinton’s Server*-

Four more candidates — Sen. Lindsey Graham, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former New York Gov. George Pataki and former Sen. Rick Santorum – debated separately earlier in the evening.

Pataki claimed that the private server Hillary Clinton used as secretary of state was “hacked” and, as a result, the Iranians, Russians and Chinese obtained “state secrets.” While the FBI is conducting a security review of Clinton’s server, there is no evidence so far of a security breach.

*Pataki:* Hillary Clinton put a server, an unsecure server, in her home as secretary of state. We have no doubt that that was hacked, and that state secrets are out there to the Iranians, the Russians, the Chinese and others. That alone should disqualify her from being president of the United States.

It is true that Clinton, the front-runner in the Democratic presidential field, had an unusual email arrangement when she was secretary of state. She had a personal email account on a private server, rather than using the government email system.

It is also true that the inspector general of the intelligence community said emails maintained on her private server contained unmarked classified information, and he made a “security referral” to the Justice Department. Clinton turned over her computer server to the FBI, which is now investigating.

But was Clinton’s server “hacked”? And did the Iranians, Russians and Chinese obtain “state secrets”? That’s all speculation.

Pataki is referring to reports of hacking attempts that may or may not have been successful.

Sen. Ron Johnson, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, sent an Oct. 5 letter to a firm that provided security on Clinton’s server. In his letter, Johnson wrote that the committee had evidence of hacking attempts that originated from China, South Korea and Germany, and that the security provided by the firm was not active for a three-month period.

It was also reported on Oct. 1 by the New York Times that Clinton received spam emails that may have originated from Russia. As the Times wrote, Clinton’s server could have been compromised if she clicked on links in those emails, but there is no evidence that she did.

President Obama said in an Oct. 11 “60 Minutes” interview that Clinton’s server did not compromise national security, but that has not been confirmed either. The New York Times, quoting unnamed sources, wrote on Oct. 16: “Investigators have not reached any conclusions about whether the information on the server was compromised or whether to recommend charges, according to the law enforcement officials.”

-*Manufacturing Jobs*-

Santorum claimed that the U.S. has lost 2 million manufacturing jobs under the Obama administration. It’s actually a net job loss of 243,000.

Santorum made his statement while touting his economic plan, which he says will increase manufacturing jobs.

*Santorum*: We’ve lost 2 million jobs — 2 million jobs — under this administration in manufacturing — 15,000 manufacturers have left this country. Why? Because of bad tax policy, bad regulatory policy and, yes, bad trade policy.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. had 12,561,000 manufacturing jobs in January 2009 when President Obama assumed office. The number of manufacturing jobs hit a low in February 2010 at 11,453,000 after 14 straight months of job losses — a loss of a little more than 1.1 million manufacturing jobs during that time.

Since then, however, the U.S. has added manufacturing jobs, and as of September, it had 12,318,000 such jobs. That’s still 243,000 manufacturing jobs fewer than the U.S. had in January 2009, but not nearly the 2 million fewer that Santorum claimed.

Here is a chart from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that shows the drop and recovery in manufacturing jobs under Obama:

We asked the Santorum campaign where the former senator got his data. We will update this item when we get a response.

However, Santorum may be referring to a January 2015 report by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation. In that report, the ITIF said that “there are still two million fewer jobs and 15,000 fewer manufacturing establishments than there were in 2007.” But that, of course, includes job losses under President Bush.-*Wage Growth*-

Santorum made a misleading statistical claim about wage stagnation.

*Santorum:* In fact, the last quarter [had] the lowest wage growth ever recorded.

In fact, as we’ve written before, real weekly wages for rank-and-file workers have been rising nicely. Using the most recent figures, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, “real” (inflation-adjusted) average weekly earnings of rank-and-file, nonsupervisory workers were 2.3 percent higher in September than they were a year earlier, and 8.7 percent higher than they were a decade earlier.

Santorum may have been referring to a recent headline stating “Wage growth hits a record low,” which turns out to be misleading. The report refers to the BLS Employment Cost Index, which put the gain in wages and salaries of civilian workers for the April-June quarter of this year at 0.2 percent, the smallest three-month gain since the series began.

But Santorum failed to mention that this statistical series only began in 1982, a relatively brief historical record. Furthermore, the same index jumped up 0.7 percent in the first quarter of the year — and for the full 12 months ending in June the gain was a full 2 percent.

-*Food Stamps*-

Jindal suggested a record number of Americans are getting food stamps, which is no longer true.

*Jindal:* Let’s be honest, $18 trillion dollars of debt. Record low participation rate in the workforce, record number of Americans on food stamps. We are going the way of Europe.

Actually, the number getting benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as food stamps) has been declining for nearly three years as the economy has improved. It peaked in December 2012 at nearly 47.8 million, but had declined by 4.8 percent to fewer than 45.5 million as of July, according to the most recent figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

-*CO2 Emissions*-

Pataki said that the U.S. is the only country to have reduced its CO2 emissions since 1995. That’s not true — other countries, particularly in Europe, have reduced their emissions over the same time period, some by a greater margin than the U.S.

*Pataki:* There’s one country in the world that has fewer greenhouse gas emissions than the rest of the world. You know what that is? The United States. Our emissions are lower than they were in 1995.

A spokesman for Pataki clarified in an email that he meant that “the U.S. is the only country in the world that actually emits less carbon than it did in 1995.”

The U.S. has reduced its CO2 emissions since 1995; according to the Energy Information Administration, U.S. emissions were about 5.32 billion metric tons in 1995, and 5.27 billion metric tons in 2012, the latest year with available data. But other countries have also seen CO2 emissions drop over that period.

For example, France’s emissions were about 373 million metric tons in 1995, and that fell to 365 million in 2012. Germany’s emissions fell from 891 million metric tons in 1995 to 788 million in 2012, a greater drop than the 50 million seen in the U.S. Italy, the United Kingdom, Nigeria and several other countries also saw emissions drop.

-*Immigration*-

Santorum said that “we’ve brought in 35 million — 35 million legal and illegal immigrants over the last 20 years, more than any period in American history.” The number of the foreign born now in the U.S. is the largest in sheer numbers, but several decades around the turn of the century saw higher percentages of the foreign born among the total U.S. population.

Santorum said that 35 million immigrants had been “brought in” over the last 20 years. But we get a lower figure than that, using Census numbers, which show that 11,242,300 immigrants entered the country from 1990 to 1999, and 12,124,053 entered from 2000 to 2009. That’s a total of 23 million entering the country over 20 years.

The U.S. does have the highest number of foreign-born now — 42 million immigrants, 48 percent of whom are U.S. citizens. Santorum has made that claim before about the sheer number of the foreign-born.

But as we pointed out then, immigrants made up a larger share of the population in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The latest figures from Census show the foreign-born make up 13.3 percent of the total U.S. population. The share was higher or the same from 1870 through 1910. The peak was 14.8 percent in 1890.

— by Eugene Kiely, Brooks Jackson, Lori Robertson, Robert Farley, Dave Levitan and D’Angelo Gore, with Rebecca Heilweil

*Sources*

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Table 1. Median usual weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers by sex, quarterly averages, seasonally adjusted.” Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers, Third Quarter 2015. 20 Oct 2015.

U.S. Census Bureau. “Table P-2. Race and Hispanic Origin of People by Median Income and Sex: 1947 to 2014.” Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2014. 13 Sep 2015.

Republican National Committee. “Five Years Later, Little Progress For Women In The Obama Economy/” 8 April 2014.

Press release. “Statement from the Inspectors General of the Intelligence Community
and the Department of State Regarding the Review of Former Secretary Clinton’s Emails.” Office of Inspector General of Department of State. 24 Jul 2015.

Leonnig, Carol D. and Rosalind S. Helderman. “Clinton’s attorney hands over private e-mail server, thumb drive to FBI.” Washington Post. 11 Aug 2015.

Johnson, Ron. U.S. Senator. Letter to SECNAP Network Security Corp. 5 Oct 2015.

Sanger, David E. and Michael S. Schmidt. “Spam Sent to Hillary Clinton Server Prompts Look at Suspected Russian Hacking.” New York Times. 1 Oct 2015.

Transcript: President Obama. CBS “60 Minutes.” 11 Oct 2015.

Apuzzo, Matt and Michael S. Schmidt. “Obama’s Comments About Clinton’s Emails Rankle Some in the F.B.I.” New York Times. 16 Oct 2015.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Employment, Hours, and Earnings from the Current Employment Statistics survey (National); Manufacturing, Seasonally Adjusted.” Data extracted 28 Oct 2015.

“The Myth of America’s Manufacturing Renaissance: The Real State of U.S. Manufacturing.” Information Technology & Innovation Foundation. 12 Jan 2015.

Social Security Administration. “Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance Trust Funds, 1957-2014.” Undated, accessed 28 Oct 2015.

Social Security Administration. “A summary of the 2015 annual reports.” Undated, accessed 28 Oct 2015.

Congressional Budget Office. “The 2015 Long-Term Budget Outlook.” Jun 2015.

Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Employment, Hours, and Earnings from the Current Employment Statistics survey (National); Average Weekly Earnings of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees, 1982-1984 Dollars.” Data extracted 28 Oct 2015.

Udland, Myles “Wage Growth Hits a Record Low” Business Insider. 31 Jul 2015.

Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Employment Cost Index – June 2015.” 31 Jul 2015.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service. “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Data as of Oct. 9, 2015).” Data extracted 28 Oct 2015.

Farley, Robert. “Obama’s ‘War on Women’?” FactCheck.org. 12 Apr 2012.

Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Employment, Hours, and Earnings from the Current Employment Statistics survey (National), All Employees.”

Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Employment, Hours, and Earnings from the Current Employment Statistics survey (National), Women Employees.”

Rubio, Marco and Lee, Mike. “Economic Growth and Family Fairness Tax Reform Plan.” Rubio Senate website.

Schuyler, Michael and McBride, William. “The Economic Effects of the Rubio-Lee Tax Reform Plan.” Tax Foundation. 09 Mar 2015.

Maremont, Mark. “Ben Carson Has Had Ties to Dietary Supplement Firm That Faced Legal Challenge.” 5 Oct 2015. Wall Street Journal.

Maremont, Mark. “A Mystery in Ben Carson’s Ties With Supplement Maker Mannatech.” 8 Oct 2015.

Geraghty, Jim. “Ben Carson’s Troubling Connection.” 12 Jan 2015. National Review.

YouTube. “Dr. Ben Carson on Glyconutrients.” 18 March 2014. Posted by user TheMiracles777.

Donald Trump campaign. “Immigration Reform That Will Make America Great Again.” Donaldjtrump.com.

Energy Information Administration. “International Energy Statistics: Total Carbon Dioxide Emissions From the Consumption of Energy.”

Center for Responsive Politics. Donald Trump: Candidate Summary, 2016 Cycle. Accessed 28 Oct 2015.

Federal Election Commission. Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. October Quarterly. Accessed 28 Oct 2015.

Schreckinger, Ben. “Trump not exactly self-funding his campaign.” Politico. 15 Oct 2015.


-- 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 11 hours ago.

ACAExpress.com is Poised to Help Health Insurance Agents with Obamacare Health Insurance during Open Enrollment 2016

$
0
0
ACAExpress.com helped health insurance agents enrolled more than 140,000 customers into Obamacare health insurance plans during the 2015 Open Enrollment Period and are poised to do even more this year.

Irving, Texas (PRWEB) October 29, 2015

ACAExpress.com enrolled more than 140,000 customers into Obamacare health insurance plans during the 2015 Open Enrollment Period and are poised to do even more this year.

Since the advent of the Affordable Care Act, customers have struggled to understand what insurance agents can offer them in the new marketplace exchange. Meanwhile, insurance agents understand they have a great deal to offer clients in terms of knowledge, experience, and familiarity with health insurance terms and paperwork. Current struggles health insurance agents are experiencing are the length of time it takes to complete an application, and customer frustration when the system doesn't work the way it's supposed to.

As 2016 Open Enrollment gets under way, health insurance agents have access to ACAExpress.com, the top ACA Enrollment Solution on the market. Unlike other enrollment solutions that were just as cumbersome and frustrating as healthcare.gov itself, through ACAExpress.com agents are able to enroll their clients in under two minutes, complete with the subsidy application. With its Turn-Key solution, insurance agents won't just survive the post-ACA era, they'll thrive in it.

By making sure that Americans have licensed and knowledgeable health insurance agents at their disposal, the American people are more likely to get enrolled in the right healthcare plan with the full subsidies to which they are entitled. By providing an ACA enrollment solution that is simple for agents to use, ACAExpress.com puts the power of health insurance back into the hands of agents.

For more information about pricing, or to see a demo video, customers can visit the ACAExpress.com website and see a variety of information about the product as well as the company's past experiences in the industry.
_________________________________________

ACAExpress.com, a certified Web-Broker Entity (WBE), has to date enrolled in excess of 150,000 individuals for health insurance coverage in less than one year. While still young in its corporate life, the company has quickly risen to be the leader within the aca agent enrollment technology space. Originally founded in early 2014 as a bootstrapped venture, ACAExpress.com has recently taken significant angel investment through a Series A round. For more information contact ACAExpress.com press relations at press(at)acaexpress.com or 888-668-3909. Reported by PRWeb 12 hours ago.

Aetna To Stop Selling Obamacare Plans In Two States And D.C. In 2016

$
0
0
Aetna (AET) said it will no longer offer subsidized health insurance benefits in two states and Washington, D.C. where it currently sells products on government-run exchanges under the Affordable Care Act. For 2016, Aetna said it will no longer offer individual exchange plans in Washington, D.C., Utah and Kansas. It added [...] Reported by Forbes.com 12 hours ago.

Do hospitals tell patients about charity care options? Study finds room for improvement

$
0
0
If you don't have health insurance, or your insurance coverage still leaves you with big bills, hospitals are supposed to let you know if you qualify for free or reduced-price care, and to charge you fairly even if you don't. (That is, if they want to keep their tax-free nonprofit status.) But a new study finds many nonprofit hospitals have room to improve. Reported by Science Daily 8 hours ago.

Protect Pets From Halloween Horrors: Get Affordable Pet Health Insurance

$
0
0
Nations Insurance Solutions new plans with Healthy Paws affordable pet health insurance unearthed the facts: 140% more pets are likely to suffer chocolate toxicity during Halloween and 22 million people will dress up their pets. What about the indian halloween costumes Roxy ate.

Miami, Florida (PRWEB) October 29, 2015

"Healthy Paws affordable pet insurance claims data revealed that pets are 32% more likely to suffer food poisoning during Halloween week versus any other time of the year," says Marc Zimmerman, Managing Director of Nations Insurance Solutions. Among the top toxins? Chocolate.Chocolate poses a threat to pets because it contains toxic theobromine.Different types of chocolate affect pets differently because they have varying levels of theobromine. Baking chocolate has the highest concentration, and is therefore the most toxic – followed by dark, milk and then white chocolate. The type of chocolate and the size of the dog will determine how severe the symptoms will be.

How much is too much? So Roxy raided the Halloween haul after eating her indian halloween costumes. How’s a pet parent to know if she’s in danger of food poisoning? To tell if candy-gobbling canines are at risk, pet parents need to know three things: how much theobromine the chocolate contains, how much the dog ate and how much she weighs. If a dog ingests close to 20 mg of theobromine per pound of body weight, she’s in the danger zone for food poisoning.

Milligrams of theobromine per ounce:
Baking chocolate – 450mg/oz
Dark chocolate – 160mg/oz
Milk chocolate – 64mg/oz
White chocolate – 1mg/oz

Here’s how to do the math: Multiply the ounces of chocolate ingested by the milligrams of theobromine per ounce and divide that by the weight of the dog in pounds. The closer the resulting number is to 20, the worse the toxic effects will haunt her.
For example:
A 25-lb. dog who eats 3 ounces of milk chocolate:
3oz x 64mg/oz = 192/25lbs = 7.7mg/lb (non-toxic level of theobromine)
A 25-lb. dog who eats 3 ounces of dark chocolate:
3oz x 160mg/oz = 480/25lbs = 19.2mg/lb (dangerous level of theobromine)

What to do next
A number close to 20 indicates a toxic level of theobromine that can terrorize a pet’s health. Get to the vet or an emergency clinic immediately. If the number is well below 20, the pet’s tummy may turn on him, but don’t be spooked.
Call the Pet Poison Helpline 800.213.6680

Top Halloween related claims/average cost:
Ingestion of Costume Parts = $1,627
Raisin Toxicity = $565
Chocolate Toxicity = $356
Chewing Gum and Candy (Containing Xylitol) Toxicity = $330
Upset Stomach / Diarrhea = $203

For more information on how to have a yappy Halloween (plus how to protect pets year-round), visit http://marketing.nationsinsurance.solutions/acton/media/14685/healthy-paws-affordable-pet-health-insurance

About Nations Insurance Solutions:
Nations Insurance Solutions is a Multi-Line Full Service Insurance Agency in all 50 states. The Agency offers Health, Medicare Supplements/Advantage, Dental, Life, Accident,Cancer, Home, Renters, Auto, Motorcycle and Commercial. Contact Us at 1.888.468.7017. "The Choice is Yours." Reported by PRWeb 10 hours ago.

Let Us Foster Understanding and Healing

$
0
0
I often reflect upon George Santayana's admonition, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." I have been thinking a lot lately about our history as I watch events in our country unfurl one by one. Many of these events were tragic and familiar but provided Americans with a wider lens to understand the trauma, danger, and fear that is experienced by many in our communities.

Whether it has been the happenings at Virginia Tech, Columbine, and Sandy Hook, or events in Ferguson, Baltimore, and New York -- or my beloved Charleston and Columbia, South Carolina -- we have seen firsthand how chancy life can be when permissive laws go unchallenged and consequential omissions are not addressed.

We can also see how difficult the daily machinations of life are when you happen to be a minority, particularly African-American. Sitting in your school classroom, standing in front of your hotel, walking home from a convenience store, driving your own automobile or even attending Bible study at your local church can become actions fraught with fear and danger.

In his book Why We Can't Wait, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote, "Three hundred years of humiliation, abuse, and deprivation cannot be expected to find voice in a whisper." My unlettered and unfettered late mother-in-law, who I loved dearly, could not abide procrastination and like Dr. King had little patience for gradualism. She often admonished, in her Gullah/Geechee dialect, "Wait breaks the wagon down."

In other words, addressing the stress and trauma of enduring the pinpricks and pinches, brick-backs and chokeholds of injustice should be a priority and may require that we speak above a whisper. Sometimes we need to shout loudly and act forcefully. That is what we did when I was a young man in South Carolina. Our full-throated demands for dignity and equality were not always popular in some quarters.

It is this way I view today's "Black Lives Matter" movement. As uncomfortable as some of their rhetoric and tactics are for some of us, it is imperative to speak as forcefully as one can, in as many venues as one finds, about the emotional consequences that often flow from the injustices and indignities that are too often tolerated when living while Black in America.

These historical and current contexts explain why African Americans are 20 percent more likely to report having serious psychological distress than Non-Hispanic Whites. A U.S. Surgeon General's report found that from 1980-1995, the suicide rate among African Americans ages 10 to 14 increased 233%, compared to 120% of Non-Hispanic Whites.‎ These are troubling statistics that underscore the importance of raising awareness and speaking out about mental health in our community.

Faith and community leaders can play a powerful and sorely-needed role in reducing stigma about mental health issues and mobilizing people and resources to confront those issues. There are many vehicles and resources that can be utilized. One such vehicle and resource is the Affordable Care Act (ACA). November begins the third open enrollment for the ACA. Plans purchased through the health insurance marketplace include coverage for substance abuse and mental health.

You can find additional information at www.healthcare.gov, or you can call 1-800-318-2596, 24 hours a day/7 days a week. Let us raise our voices against injustices and increase our actions to foster understanding and healing throughout our communities.


-- 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 7 hours ago.

America's Unions Have Been Consigned to Hell

$
0
0
All things considered, we are a forgiving people. While that may be less the result of compassion than a short attention span, we're willing to forgive almost everything. We've forgiven Japan for Pearl Harbor, the Russians for Communism, the Republicans for Watergate, Bill Clinton for Monica, Pete Rose for gambling, and Motor Trend magazine for naming the 1971 Chevrolet Vega its "Car of the Year."

We've even found it in our hearts to forgive Corporate America for millions of deceptive advertisements, thousands of fraudulent business practices, and hundreds of industrial shortcuts that resulted in serious workplace injury or death. Union Carbide, Johns Manville, and Massey Energy instantly come to mind. Indeed, we've pretty much forgiven everyone. Everyone but the Teamsters.

Consider: Although the IBT (International Brotherhood of Teamsters) has been a respectable, pristinely "clean," and democratic organization for decades now, the public remains locked in a hostile time-warp--trapped in the belief that (1) the Teamsters are still the thuggish union it used to be, and far worse, that (2) the majority of America's unions resemble what the Teamsters once were--autocratic, greedy and corrupt.

Alas, none of that bears the faintest relevance today. While it's true that James R. Hoffa's Teamsters were notoriously (almost ludicrously) crooked and rapacious, none of their sordid, long ago history has anything remotely to do with the current Teamsters or, more importantly, with today's labor movement.

For one thing, if our beef is with Jimmy Hoffa, then let's get real. He left union office in 1967. And even though his hand-picked successor, the rancid Frank Fitzsimmons, did all he could to perpetuate the Teamsters' practice of kickbacks, deceit, intimidation and violence, the Justice Department continued to chip away--continued to win battle after battle--until the feds eventually won the war.

Even the Mob itself played an unwitting role in breaking the Teamsters' chokehold on its membership. It's been all of 40 years since Hoffa "disappeared" (he vanished on July 30, 1975), believed to have been murdered and his body placed in a wood chipper on orders of Anthony ("Tony Pro") Provenzano, a New Jersey Teamster official. No one was ever charged.

The key part of the Teamsters' legacy to remember is that virtually everyone involved in the treachery--from looting the Central States Pension Fund, to giving lucrative no-show jobs to relatives, to signing "sweetheart" contracts with management in return for kickbacks, to using racketeering tactics to coerce both management and recalcitrant members--either went to prison or died, or both.

Yet, to this day, people can't think of labor unions without recalling the Teamsters of yesteryear--visualizing beefy union bosses (always "bosses," never "leaders") wearing silk suits, smirking, doing the perp walk. It's absurd really. And of course, the beneficiary of this irrational fear of worker collectivism is America's businesses.

The more that unions are mistrusted or despised, the less of a threat they pose to employers. Which is one reason private sector union membership has plummeted, profits have soared (they reached an all-time high in the third-quarter of 2011), and the vaunted American middle-class--once the envy of the world--has shrunk.

The VP of a west coast International shared this loathsome story with me. Whenever he attends social events, and people ask what he does for a living, he tells them he "represents working people." When they ask him to elaborate, he says he helps with pensions, health insurance, pay raises, overtime, workers compensation, bullying and harassment on the job, etc.

Their typical response is one of "Wow, that's really cool. I had no idea there were people out there who did that. We need more of those jobs." But when he says he works for a labor union, these same people recoil in horror. He said it's funny to see how quickly their show of respect turns to one of contempt and fear. Yeah, hilarious.

I have my own loathsome story. Barely two months after being elected union president, I was told there was a man in the lobby who wanted to see me. Because I was so new to the job, anytime I heard that someone--particularly a stranger in the lobby--needed to see me, I became extremely uptight.

This guy turned out to be the son of a journeyman mechanic who had retired a year earlier. He said he had come to "recover his dad's union pension." His father had already received his company pension and Social Security, but hadn't put in for his union pension. The son was there to claim it.

His request would've have made eminent sense except for one problem. There were no union pensions. Unlike the Teamsters, we didn't get pensions from the union. The only pensions we received were those we had hammered out at contract negotiations, which were fully funded by the company.

But when I tried explaining, I could instantly see he thought I was lying. It was all too obvious that he saw me as a "union boss" who was attempting to screw over his old man, and that realization--that I was this sleazeball looking to steal money from working people--almost made me ill. But the more I explained, the less he believed.

The conversation ended badly. The man angrily promised that he'd be "contacting his lawyer," and marched away. Thank you, Teamsters of old. You not only did irreparable damage to your own union, you messed it up for the rest of us.

-- 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 7 hours ago.

DuPage County Law Firm Expands Healthcare Law Practice with the Hiring of Two Attorneys

$
0
0
DuPage County law firm Momkus McCluskey, LLC announces the hiring of Healthcare Law Attorneys Adrienne J. Hersh and Mamta A. Mujumdar.

Lisle, IL (PRWEB) October 29, 2015

The DuPage County law firm of Momkus McCluskey, LLC located in Lisle, Illinois, is pleased to announce the hiring of Healthcare Law Attorneys Adrienne J. Hersh and Mamta A. Mujumdar.

Adrienne J. Hersh will serve as of counsel to Momkus McCluskey, LLC’s healthcare law practice. Her background includes extensive experience in providing legal counsel to licensed physicians and health care professionals in Illinois. She obtained her J.D. from DePaul University College of Law and obtained her B.S. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Hersh serves as general counsel to the largest professional trade association in Illinois for chiropractic physicians. She also spent eight years serving as general counsel to the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation. She primarily handles health care legal matters including applications for license, license investigations and disciplinary actions, license restoration, physician advertising and other compliance matters pertaining to the Illinois Medical Practice Act, and defense of health insurance audits.

Hersh is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association (Health Care Section), the Illinois Association of Healthcare Attorneys, the National Association of Chiropractic Attorneys, and the American Society of Association Executives.

Associate Attorney Mamta A. Mujumdar will concentrate her legal practice on Illinois healthcare law matters including fraud, abuse, and compliance issues. Mujumdar graduated from The Ohio State University with a B.S. in pharmaceutical sciences and went on to obtain her J.D. from Capital University Law School, also located in Columbus, Ohio. Her background includes legal guidance pertaining to employer wellness programs and confirming their compliance with state and federal regulations. She has advised on numerous areas of healthcare law including HIPAA, The Affordable Care Act, and the Anti-Kickback Statute.

Mujumdar is a member of the Chicago Bar Association, the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois, and the Indian American Bar Association. She also serves on the board of the non-profit organization, Alternatives, Inc., which provides youth services and programs in Chicago.

About Momkus McCluskey, LLC:

Momkus McCluskey, LLC is a full service law firm located in Lisle, Illinois. The knowledgeable attorneys at Momkus McCluskey, LLC provide high quality legal services in a wide range of practice areas including: healthcare law, family law, business law, insurance litigation, commercial and civil litigation, estate planning, and appeals.

In addition to its Lisle office, the firm also represents individuals and businesses from its conveniently located Downtown Chicago office. Contact the experienced DuPage County attorneys at Momkus McCluskey, LLC to schedule an initial consultation. Call 630-434-0400 or fill out the online contact form today. Reported by PRWeb 7 hours ago.

Optimizing Outcomes for Women's Health Care: A Conversation With NOW President Terry O'Neill

$
0
0
Women have always stood at the forefront of advocating for their health. By understanding how women's health care issues affect the working world, we can begin to address the coverage inequalities that persist. I sat down with my colleague NOW President Terry O'Neill to discuss the challenges facing women today when it comes to healthcare, and the options for doing better in 2016.

We agreed that it's a lot easier this year. Provisions of the Affordable Care Act now give you access to knowledgeable insurance agents and personal health advocates such as those made available through the Working America Health Care program. Today women have access to more resources than ever before -- ones that will allow them to make better healthcare decisions. However, it's still important to ask the right questions and dive into the issues.

*Gaps in Coverage*

By and large, women make most of the health care decisions in family households. They are also 40% more likely than men to seek medical attention. That is mostly due to their need for reproductive health care during their childbearing years. Even after menopause, women are more likely than men to experience "co-occurring" conditions - such as high blood pressure and diabetes; or both heart disease and emphysema.

With 57 percent of women participating in the workforce, you would think their employers would provide insurance, right? Not necessarily.

Two-thirds of minimum wage jobs -- which almost never provide health benefits -- are held by women, disproportionately women of color. Just over one-third of women, compared with nearly half of men, receive insurance coverage through their employer. This situation is made especially dire when you consider that, according to the Medical Expenditures Panel Survey, women's out of pocket healthcare expenses are 69% higher than men's.
*
Coverage, Access and Affordability
*
With the passage of the Affordable Care Act, millions of previously uninsured women now have access to health insurance. O'Neill noted that the ACA requires insurers to make their policies fairer than they have been in the past. "No longer can you be denied coverage due to 'pre-existing conditions,' which for women included C-sections and even domestic violence," O'Neill said. "Gone are the days when insurers engaged in "gender-rating" -- charging higher premiums to women for exactly the same coverage." In addition, parents can now keep children covered on their policies up to age 26.

From a woman's perspective, perhaps the most important achievement of the ACA is its requirement that all insurance plans cover a range of preventive reproductive health services without any co-pay's or deductibles. These services include contraception, mammograms, cancer screenings, lactation assistance for new mothers, domestic violence screenings, and more.

Just as no two women or families are exactly the same, no two health care plans are identical, and you need to do your homework before picking the plan that's best for your household. No one wants to overpay for health care services, but weighing the coverage you get for the price can be challenging.

If you are getting your insurance through a state-based marketplace, agents and brokers can help you enroll and choose the plan that best fits your family's particular circumstances. They will determine whether you are eligible for a premium subsidy and help you get premium tax credits and savings on out-of-pocket costs.

Additionally, the Working America Health Care program gives its members access to a complimentary personal health advocate who can answer questions about coverage, recommend the right providers and hospitals, and help untangle medical bills and claims.

As women, we need to value our health to ensure that we're taking care of ourselves as well as our families. Whether that's going for a walk for daily exercise, taking ourselves to a physician when we can't quite kick that cold, or being proactive and getting yearly cancer screenings, we owe it to ourselves to seek out optimal chances for health, happiness and longevity.

For more information about Working America Health Care program assistance visit WorkingAmericaHealthCare.org or call a representative at 855-698-2479.

-- 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 5 hours ago.

Big insurers remain upbeat on fledgling ACA exchanges

$
0
0
Slipping enrollment and struggling competitors have done little to shake the faith that the nation's biggest health insurers have placed in the Affordable Care Act's public insurance exchanges. Aetna executives said Thursday that the exchanges, a key tenant in the overhaul's push to cover millions of uninsured people, remain a good market, even though the insurer's enrollment in them fell 11 percent to about 814,000 people in the third quarter. Non-profit health insurance cooperatives in South Carolina, Tennessee and several other states have announced recently that they will fold for 2016, leaving many consumers with fewer choices when open enrollment begins Nov. 1. Indianapolis-based Anthem's exchange enrollment shrank by 69,000 people to 824,000 customers in the third quarter, but the insurer will still sell coverage for 2016 on exchanges in 14 states. Aetna's Guertin said the exchange business also will benefit from the addition of customers who were allowed by the Obama administration to temporarily keep older coverage that did not comply with the overhaul. Reported by SeattlePI.com 6 hours ago.

Voting Rights Groups Say Obamacare Should Be Helping Americans Register To Vote

$
0
0
WASHINGTON -- Voting rights groups are calling on President Barack Obama’s administration to provide better voter registration opportunities to Americans signing up for health insurance in the more than 30 states where the federal government runs exchanges.

The National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which is often referred to as the "motor voter" law, requires that states offer Americans the chance to apply to register to vote in federal elections when they apply for a driver's license or visit public offices that provide public assistance or services to people with disabilities. The law says the public assistance agency must assist applicants in completing their voter registration application form, unless they say they don’t need help registering.

The three voting rights groups -- Demos, the League of Women Voters and Project Vote -- sent a letter to the administration on Wednesday arguing that the sign-up process for health insurance benefits under the ACA wasn’t complying with this voter registration law. They wrote that they were prepared to seek legal recourse if the government didn’t come under compliance with the legislation.

The letter points out that the number of voter registration applications submitted from Medicaid transactions in Mississippi was averaging about 900 per month before the ACA was implemented. After the state’s Medicaid enrollment process was taken over by the federal government, the average number of voter registrations dropped to roughly 150 per month.

"The Administration’s failure to provide voter registration services to persons who apply for health care through the [federally facilitated exchanges] is not merely a lost opportunity to increase the numbers of eligible persons who register and vote," the groups wrote. "It is actually decreasing the numbers of voter registration applications submitted in states that rely on FFEs for ACA enrollment."

The groups claim that as many as 1.7 million voter registrations have already been lost "because of the Administration’s refusal to act," and that more may lose the opportunity to register as another open enrollment period begins Nov. 1.

The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, which manages the exchanges in states that refused to set up their own, has suggested that it complies with the legislation. It asks health insurance applicants if they want to register to vote at the bottom of the online form that states whether the applicant is eligible to receive tax credits for their insurance. (See a screenshot of the form at the bottom of this story.) The form links to voter registration resources at the Election Assistance Commission’s website.

"The Administration strongly supports the goals of the NVRA and is committed to enforcing its requirements, as applicable," the agency said in a statement.

Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, senior counsel at Demos, called this an "almost hidden voter registration question" that does not satisfy the NVRA.

To comply with the NVRA, she said, the exchange would need to directly ask applicants if they want to register to vote because applicants are less likely to see registration information if they aren't forced to answer a question about it. 

"The NVRA also requires explanatory language so that people understand their rights regarding registration," Rolnick Borchetta told The Huffington Post. "And even if the Administration fixes the question in the portal, the NVRA requires that navigators and assisters be trained to offer voter registration assistance. Section 7 of the NVRA requires all of these -- and other -- specific protocols to ensure eligible voters receive a meaningful chance to register."

In comparison, California's state exchange offers more information about the voter registration process.   

Voting rights advocates bring NVRA lawsuits against states relatively frequently to boost registration rates. North Carolina, California, Georgia and New Mexico are just some of the states that have either been put on notice or settled lawsuits in the last few years. And the Department of Justice has threatened to sue Alabama over its closure of driver’s license offices in rural, low-income parts of the state.

This form for federal health insurance benefits, used in more than 30 states, offers enrollees the opportunity to register to vote at the very bottom:

 *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 4 hours ago.
Viewing all 22794 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images