A majority say they are concerned that people will lose health insurance if Affordable Care Act is repealed Reported by CBS News 3 hours ago.

With the end of open enrollment just days away, the Trump administration pulled the plug on advertisements and outreach to encourage people to buy health insurance. Reported by NPR 2 hours ago.

The future of the Affordable Care Act is unclear, stirring up financial and medical concerns for many consumers. Special enrollment periods are still available after the deadline, which allows people to adjust coverage if they are going through life-changing circumstances such as marriage, divorce, loss of a job or the birth of a child. Though people may worry that their coverage may be yanked away, she notes that these health insurance policies are legal contracts that guarantee coverage for the year and are unlikely to be challenged. Be mindful to use services that are within your insurer's provider network to control costs while you're on the plan. [...] financial advisers say to brace for health care cost increases each year, regardless of where you get your insurance. While some have criticized ACA-related plans for being high in cost or offering bare-bones coverage, seeking treatment while you know the costs and coverage may be in your best financial interest. Seek advice from your doctor, financial planner, insurance broker or community organizer for your individual situation. Sara Stanich, a financial adviser in New York, has a client who is divorcing who opted to get COBRA coverage through her ex's insurance even though it was more expensive — because it provided three years of coverage she could count on right now. The 41-year-old film editor is fighting an aggressive form of breast cancer and just finished chemotherapy. Experts say to take comfort in the fact that you have coverage now and the indications — both from Congress and the president — that there will be health insurance options ahead for those who gained coverage under the ACA. Reported by SeattlePI.com 2 hours ago.

WASHINGTON ― Vice President Mike Pence told a gathering of anti-abortion protesters Friday that they can expect President Donald Trump to name a Supreme Court nominee next week ― and that it will be someone with a strong conservative record. 

“President Donald Trump will announce a Supreme Court nominee who will uphold the God-given liberties enshrined in our Constitution in the tradition of the late and great Justice Antonin Scalia,” Pence said at the annual March for Life rally. Pence is the first sitting vice president to address the event.

Pence did not explicitly say that the nominee will favor overturning the landmark abortion case Roe v. Wade, but the crowd still cheered his announcement.

There’s deep skepticism within factions of the conservative community about whether Trump will nominate a Supreme Court justice committed to anti-abortion values. Trump himself has held varying positions on abortion throughout his life, although he now says he is “pro-life” and will name a similarly minded Supreme Court justice.

Andrew Schlafly, son of the late conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly, recently sent a letter to Trump ― signed by other conservative leaders ― urging him to nominate someone who is explicitly committed to the anti-abortion cause. Schlafly has already expressed concerns about some of the names being floated as Trump’s choice, potentially setting up a conflict if the president goes with one of them.

Eugene Delgaudio, an anti-abortion activist who attended Friday’s march, told The Huffington Post that he has his reservations with some of the names on Trump’s short list ― especially William Pryor, a Georgia appeals court judge Delgaudio said is not fully supportive of their cause.

“Our focus is to stop Pryor ... and to help with the promotion of a family values judge,” Delgaudio said. On his organization’s website, social media and YouTube videos, Delgaudio has been sounding the alarm about Pryor.

An early frontrunner to replace Scalia, Pryor, 54, has strong backing from movement conservatives and Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Justice, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.). In recent days, his star has been fading in the face of two other contenders, federal appeals judges Neil Gorsuch and Thomas Hardiman.

Trump needs 60 votes in the Senate for his nominee to be confirmed, meaning he needs the backing of some Democrats. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) recently said he will fight any nominee who is “out of the mainstream” ― and a big test of that will be where he or she stands on Roe v. Wade.

“They have to follow the law,” Schumer said in an interview with The Huffington Post. “For instance, Roe v. Wade has been the law for a long time. If these people want to just repeal and rip out Roe v. Wade ― you have to look at the whole picture. I’m not going to have a litmus test. But that would be an indication.”

Trump has been solidly anti-abortion in his first week in office. One of his first acts was reinstating the Mexico City policy ― also known as the global gag rule ― that bans U.S. funding for international health organizations that counsel women on family planning options that include abortion. 

The House also passed a bill that would make permanent the Hyde Amendment, which denies abortion coverage in health insurance plans for women on Medicaid, military servicewomen, federal employees, residents of the District of Columbia, women in federal prisons, and women covered by the Indian Health Service.

On Friday, Pence told the March for Life attendees that the administration fully backed that push.

“That’s why this administration will work with the Congress to end taxpayer funding of abortion and abortion providers, and we will devote those resources to health care services for women across America,” Pence said.

The administration also wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which made it illegal for insurance companies to deny coverage to women because they are pregnant or may become pregnant.

Cristian Farias reported from New York. 

*Want more updates from Amanda Terkel? Sign up for her newsletter, Piping Hot Truth, **here**.*

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

Englishman Andy Martin has a special American friend, Sam – a bear hunter who lives out in the woods. The two have a 'health insurance plan' that perhaps Trump and May will approve of. It's called Montana-care, and when their time is done Andy and Sam will venture out into the wilderness – and blow each other's brains out Reported by Independent 5 hours ago.

A new poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that 56 percent of U.S. adults are "extremely" or "very" concerned that many will lose health insurance if the health overhaul is repealed. The gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of just 1.9 percent in the October-December period, a slowdown from 3.5 percent growth in the third quarter, the Commerce Department reported Friday. GDP, the broadest measure of economic health, was held back by a swing in trade with exports of soybeans plunging in the fourth quarter after having surged in the third quarter. MEXICO CITY (AP) — If President Donald Trump makes good on threats to gut NAFTA and impose stiff tariffs on Mexican goods, economists say he risks a trade war that could lead to the very thing he is hoping to avoid — a huge surge in Mexican migration to the United States. WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. businesses ramped up their investment in industrial machinery, semiconductors and other big-ticket items last month, boosting demand for factory goods. Orders for all durable goods, which are meant to last longer than three years, slipped 0.4 percent, mostly because of a sharp fall in demand for defense aircraft, a volatile category. FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — American Airlines' fourth-quarter profit fell but met Wall Street expectations, and a key measurement of revenue trends rose for the first time since late 2014, further evidence that airlines are finally starting to push average prices higher. LONDON (AP) — Tesco, Britain's biggest supermarket chain, has agreed to buy food wholesaler Booker Group for 3.7 billion pounds ($4.7 billion), as it seeks to boost growth by supplying products to rivals such as convenience stores and independent retailers. CEO Dave Lewis says the merger will "enhance Tesco's growth prospects by creating the U.K.'s leading food business with combined expertise in retail, wholesale, supply chain Reported by SeattlePI.com 22 hours ago.

Oregon is stepping up its outreach efforts in response to the Trump administration’s decision to scale back advertising that encourages people to sign up for health insurance before the close of open enrollment. The Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services plans to invest an additional $100,000 to expand its online marketing to reach people statewide ahead of the Jan. 31 deadline to enroll in plans. It also launched a new video of one Oregonian who got marketplace coverage (see below). About… Reported by bizjournals 22 hours ago.

The Trump administration announced Thursday evening that it was pulling the remaining $5 million in television advertising that had been booked for promoting enrollment under the Affordable Care Act.

With the deadline for signing up coming Tuesday, the motivation appears to be simple: administrative sabotage. The ads were already paid for. Customers, especially those in the crucial young and healthy demographic, tend to sign up for health care coverage as the deadline nears. And research shows that late reminders are highly effective in getting them to sign up. To remove those ads now takes away one of the main mechanisms for ensuring the law’s sustainability and success.

The Trump administration’s move is another chapter in a years-long battle surrounding the law. And it fundamentally shifts the role that the press now must play. In addition to following the contours of that fight and the White House’s efforts to undermine Obamacare, we now have an obligation to inform our readers, viewers and listeners about how to sign up for health insurance.

There shouldn’t be much debate.

This isn’t about weighing the merits of Obamacare or the insurance that one can purchase through the exchanges. The law has its flaws and successes. Rather, it is about bringing to light government data that have been proactively hidden from the public and giving information to citizens to allow them to make more informed decisions. In many respects, it is a textbook example of public service journalism.

Choosing a health insurance plan can be difficult because these policies are complicated financial products. The good news is that official sources, like the health insurance exchanges run by federal and state authorities, offer a lot of help in signing up for coverage and applying for financial assistance. There also are enrollment counselors across the country whose job is to help people pick a plan, and the counselors offer their services free. Insurance agents and brokers also are available.

Here is a rundown of what you need to know about the upcoming Obamacare deadline.

* HealthCare.gov is a good first stop for those researching their options, and it is where residents of 39 states go to buy policies and receive financial assistance if they’re eligible. CuidadoDeSalud.gov is the Spanish-language version of the website.

* The federal hotline for people seeking more information or help signing up is (800) 318-2596, and it has representatives who speak English, Spanish and other languages.

* Eleven states and the District of Columbia operate the health insurance exchanges for their residents. A list of the websites for those exchanges is available on HealthCare.gov.

* HealthCare.gov includes a searchable directory of enrollment counselors in the 39 states it serves, and CuidadoDeSalud.gov features a Spanish-language edition of that directory. The state-run exchange websites have their own directories.

* Health insurance companies also sell policies directly to consumers, and online brokers, such as eHealth.com and HealthInsurance.com, allow comparison shopping for health insurance plans that aren’t sold on the exchanges. Qualifying consumers cannot obtain subsidies without using a government exchange, however.

* The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation created a subsidy calculator people can use to estimate the tax credits they may receive to make their health insurance more affordable.

* ObamaCareFacts.com is a comprehensive and reliable source for basic information about the Affordable Care Act and the enrollment process.

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

The Doctor of Behavioral Health (DBH) degree is an innovative, applied doctorate that focuses exclusively on integrated healthcare. Cummings Graduate Institute is proud to announce the launch of their new website.

Phoenix, AZ (PRWEB) January 28, 2017

The leadership at Cummings Graduate Institute for Behavioral Health Studies is proud to announce the launch of their new, interactive website featuring fresh content, easy navigation and a simple online admissions process that will undoubtedly have a positive impact on new students. As they gear up for second semester enrollment, Melissa McGurgan, Director of Student Services stated, “Our vision, for integrated care to become the norm rather than the exception, is a critical one. We know that for our vision to be realized, we must prepare innovators who have a drive to disrupt the norms in health care delivery; to pioneer into unexplored territory and establish truly patient-centered care models. Our graduates will be expected to get results, and we give our students the skills to exceed marketplace expectations.”

At the Cummings Institute, the Biodyne model is the nucleus. The word Biodyne is composed of two classical Greek words; bio, meaning “life,” and dyne, meaning “change.” The goal of the Biodyne Model is life change. As an Institute, CGI strives for a “life change” – for their leadership and faculty, for their students, for their patients, for their providers, and for the health care system. Dr. Cara English, CEO for Cummings Institute also weighed in, stating, “One is never the same upon graduation. Through our Values, CGI demonstrates to our students, faculty, staff, partners, and larger community that we are a disruptive institution, aimed at making a difference for all those who interact with us.”

Visit their new website and learn more about how CGI is #disruptinghealthcare.

About the Founder
Dr. Cummings is a visionary who, for half a century not only was able to foresee the future of professional psychology, but also helped create it. A former president of the American Psychological Association (APA) as well as its Divisions 12 (Clinical Psychology) and 29 (Psychotherapy), he formed a number of national organizations in response to trends. Since organized psychology resisted these inevitable changes, Dr. Cummings blazed the way, expecting others would follow. He launched the professional school movement by founding the four campuses of the California School of Professional Psychology that established clinicians as full-fledged members of the faculty. As chief of mental health for the Kaiser Permanente health system in the 1950s, he wrote and implemented the first prepaid psychotherapy contract in the era when psychotherapy was an exclusion rather than a covered benefit in health insurance. Presently, Dr. Cummings resides in Reno, Nevada with the one love of his life, Dorothy Mills Cummings. Together in 2015 they celebrated their 67th wedding anniversary. They maintain a winter home in Scottsdale, Arizona. He continues as Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of Nevada, Reno, and active president of the Cummings Foundation for Behavioral Health. He serves as the Vice Chair for the Board of Directors of Cummings Graduate Institute for Behavioral Health Studies. Reported by PRWeb 13 hours ago.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican lawmakers are fearful about the potential political fallout if their eventual replacement of President Barack Obama's health law doesn't deliver, and they didn't hold back at their recent policy conference. Rep. Tom MacArthur, R-N.J., worried that Republican plans could strip health insurance from many of the 20 million people who gained covered through the Affordable Care Act, including through the expansion of Medicaid. Andrew Bremberg, who heads Trump's domestic policy council, attended the session but offered few details about what legislative proposals the president favors, the report said. Reported by SeattlePI.com 2 hours ago.

Presidents and Prime Ministers assuming office in mature democratic countries after an election start with a period of honeymoon with the public and the rest of the world. President Kennedy had a long honeymoon and President Hollande a briefer one. Trump has willfully chosen not to have any honeymoon by his pronouncements before the inaugural and the speech he made at the inaugural.

Hundreds of thousands of women marched against him in U.S. and other countries. More Americans marched against him than the number who attended his inauguration where he made a speech rather inappropriate for the occasion. He spoke of ‘carnage’, ‘God’s people’, and ‘righteous public’ and portrayed himself as the savior who will rectify in a jiffy all that has gone wrong with America for decades. He had no nice words for his fellow candidate Hillary Clinton who had scored almost 3 million votes more than him. His reference to the outgoing President Obama was miserly.

On day one, with unnecessary fanfare, Trump passed an executive order disabling the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obama Care, pending its repeal. This order will deprive 18 million Americans of health insurance in one year. Is this the way to make America great again?

In his first week in office Trump has managed to lose friends and make enemies at an alarming rate. The candidate Trump had abused Mexicans and declared his intention to build a wall to prevent their illegal entry into U.S. Many of us thought that as President he would not pursue such a perilous project. Instead, he has already signed an executive order to build the wall. This is ridiculous. The respectable Pew Research Centre has statistics to show that between 2009 and 2014, 870,000 Mexicans came in and 1 million went back. Net immigration from Mexico is negative. Therefore, there is no need for any wall, even assuming that it is the best way to stop or reduce illegal entry into U.S.

The candidate Trump had come out with the absurd proposition that he would make Mexico pay for the cost of the wall. Predictably, Mexico refused and now Trump says that he would impose a tariff of 20% on imports from Mexico. This is even more absurd. Trump has to get out of the NAFTA before he does that. Furthermore, the tariff will be paid by the importer who will pass it on to the consumer. In short, American consumers will pay for the wall. When the absurdity was pointed out, the new line is that the tariff is only one of the options. Can Trump take decision after due deliberation?

It is pathetically clear and it is most distressing that the Trump White House is incompetent beyond words. It cannot even get U.K. Prime Minister’s name right and spelt it as Teresa May, a soft porn artist. The same White House referred to the ‘Foreign Prime Minister of Australia’. We note that the President who unprecedently wrote ‘unpresidently’ and the staff are in perfect sync.

Since only the Congress can give money to build the wall, shouldn’t Trump have asked for money from it rather than sign an executive order? An executive order, his counselors should have told Trump, is meant for emergencies. In any case, apart from the money for construction, as there are serious diplomatic issues with Mexico won’t it have made sense to consult and get the approval of the Congress? Obviously, Trump is innocent of or wants to defy the checks and balances in the U.S.Constitution. For how long can this absurd show go on?

Trump is deeply upset that his inauguration attracted less people than the 2009 one of Obama. He found fault with the media for ‘deliberately underestimating’ the size of the crowd. He could have and should have checked with the city’s metro system according to whom the number for Trump was much less than for Obama. Funnily enough Trump’s press secretary sharply told the press that more people attended the Trump inaugural than the Obama one and then disappeared without taking questions, an outrageous example of bad manners. In his defense, Trump’s adviser Conway said that the Press Secretary was giving ‘alternative facts’, the very phrase that sums up the contempt of Trump for objective facts. The Trump team should not be imitating the Nazi Goebbels without his savoir faire. Trump has entered the ‘post-truth’ society.

Trump suffers from acute Islamophobia. As candidate he had said that he would not let Muslims in without stringent checks. He has signed an executive order suspending issue of visa to Muslims from Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Libya, Iran, Somalia, and Yemen. While one can understand the need for strict checking before issuing visa, it is difficult to see the logic in a blanket ban. The Islamic State will get more recruits. Trump wants to reinstate torture and open secret sites outside U.S. to carry out torture.

Trump was excited about Brexit. He is allergic to trade liberalization pacts. He took U.S. out of the 12-nation TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) promoted by Obama. Trump has asked for re-negotiating NAFTA signed in 1994. Liberalized trade in the name of globalization has proved to be partly good and partly bad as the curate’s egg. Globalization needs correction, but Trump is not going about it the right way.

His philosophy of ‘America First’ and his counsel to other countries to imitate him is a sure recipe for disaster leading the world to a Hobbessian jungle with its state of nature and a war of all against all. To prevent international anarchy and to prevent states from going to war against each other, we have built up an international system based on rules and norms of behavior. Trump wants to destroy that system as for him it is all about ‘deal making’. He is wrong and should be stopped.

Trump is right in saying that NATO is ‘obsolete’. NATO was invented to keep the Soviets out of Western Europe and to keep Germany down. There is no Soviet Union and there is no risk of German re-armament and threatening its neighbors. Thanks to Jean Monnet and Robert Schuman a war between any two Western Europe states is unthinkable. When the Cold War and the Soviet Union collapsed U.S. should have taken the initiative to ask Russia to join NATO. Instead, the military-industrial complex worried that the merchants of death will get less money decided to expand NATO in a manner threatening and humiliating Russia. At the same time, when Russia resorted to aggression in Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014, NATO was unable to taken on Russia.

However, Trump should have pursued his goal with diplomatic finesse. He has upset the Europeans unnecessarily. Former Foreign Minister of Germany Joschka Fischer says  “‘America first, signals the renunciation, and possible destruction, of the US-led world order that Democratic and Republican presidents, starting with Franklin D. Roosevelt, have built up and maintained – albeit with varying degrees of success – for more than seven decades.” Ana Palacio, former Spanish Foreign Minister, says that Trump’s vision “ implies a reversion to a “nineteenth-century spheres of influence” model of world order, “with major players such as the US, Russia, China, and, yes, Germany, each dominating their respective domains within an increasingly balkanized international system.”

Prime Minister Theresa May in the joint press conference with Trump said that he had told her that he was 100 per cent with NATO. It needs some gullibility to believe that in one conversation she changed his mind on a matter of great importance. Can foreign interlocutors believe Trump if he said what she said he said?

Trump has upset China by abandoning the time honored One China policy by taking a phone call from President Tsai of Taiwan and saying that he would follow that policy only if he gets something in return. It is true that Obama had unnecessarily kowtowed to China and correction was called for. But, surely, there is a less abrasive way of doing it. Trump wants a trade war with China. The unintended consequences can cause serious damage to U.S., China, and the rest of the world.

Trump’s approach to‘re-set’ relations with Putin makes good sense as Obama in violation of the elementary principle of dealing with the incumbent had needlessly and unfairly demonized Putin who outwitted him on Ukraine and Syria. There might be a grand bargain between Trump and Putin on Syria+ Ukraine+ much more leading to the lifting of sanctions on Russia. Putin will go out of his way to get into a working relationship with U.S. Putin is nimble enough to dance with two partners, U.S. and China at the same time. China too has signaled that it will be glad to be in a G3 though its aim is to be in a G2 with U.S. with the ultimate aim of being the G1 in the fullness of time.

Trump’s style of behaving like a Chief Executive Officer is unsuited to the office he holds. In the corporate sector, the CEO listens to the managers and gives an order, though in better run companies there is a collegial approach that Trump is unfamiliar with. His inability to stop tweeting will cause serious problems. He needs to first assemble his team and then work out policies with the benefit of advice of the bureaucracy. Trump’s belief that he knows everything and that based on a news story he can tweet that he would send Federal agents to Chicago exposes his impetuosity and ignorance of how the system works.

It is important to recognize that Trump is not a Republican President. He is an outsider who came in and captured the party despite opposition from its establishment. What Trump wants to do is reasonably clear. But, what he will be permitted to do by America minus Trump and the world minus U.S. is a different matter. Applying the well- known law of the parallelogram of forces in dynamics the Trump agendas will be amended. The Republicans in the Congress are already embarrassed and soon they will have to stop their President from behaving like a bull in a china shop.

It is rather difficult for a man at 70 to change his habits, even more difficult if he is autocratic. President George Bush had the advantage that his father had arranged for Condoleezza Rice to tutor him on foreign policy. Trump did not have that advantage. But, it is not too late to get some tuition, without publicity, not only on foreign policy.

**Ambassador KP Fabian*, Indian Diplomat who served in the Indian Foreign Service and he was posted to Madagascar, Austria, Iran, Sri Lanka, Canada, Finland, Qatar and Italy, and Permanent Representative to UN Organizations including FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), WFP (World Food Programme), and IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development). He wrote several books recently on Middle East. Reported by Eurasia Review 15 hours ago.

*New York:* Aravinda Pillalamarri, the inspiration for "Swades", says she was stopped by police during her morning stroll in her hometown and questioned about her immigration status making her feel unequal because of her colour, according to media reports.

Pillalamari was stopped near her home in Bel Air in Maryland by a police officer after a neighbour had reported her as suspicious, she told the local Baltimore CBS television station on Friday. Pillalamarri said: "I had just come out for a walk, so I didn't have my ID. And he said, 'Why don't you have ID? Are you here illegally?'."

"I didn't expect this to happen in Bel Air. Walking while brown?" she told the official.

The official replied: "No, no, no, nothing like that."

According to the Baltimore Sun, the incident took place on December 21 and Pillalamarri, 47, spoke out about it at a town commissioners board meeting earlier this month in Bel Air, where she had lived for 30 years. When she asked if it was because of "walking while brown?" a police supervisor told her she "was under criminal investigation", the Sun quoted her as saying. After checking her name on their computer system, Pillalamarri was allowed to go. "Only when the supervisor asked 'are you here illegally' did my sense of colour, and of being unequal, come forth and interest in my civil rights take a back seat to get out of the situation safely," she told the town commissioners.

Bel Air Police chief Charles Moore defended the official. According to him, asking nationality is insensitive, but not racial profiling. "They were trying to figure out why there was some hesitation in providing identification, that's why he asked if she was illegal," he said.

Although the incident in Maryland -- which is considered a progressive state -- took place after President Donald Trump's election but before he took office. Such police behaviour after a racist neighbour complains about a non-white resident had been routine during former President Barack Obama's administration, as they have always been in the US.

In 2015, 58-year-old Sureshbhai Patel, who was visiting his son in Madison in Alabama state, was physically harassed by police. Patel was stopped by police near his son's house after a neighbour complained that a "black" person was prowling around the neighbourhood. He suffered serious injuries that left him partially paralysed.

Two prosecution attempts to convict the police officer on civil rights violation failed because juries in both cases could not agree on a verdict. The attack was captured by a camera mounted on the police car and officials tried to prosecute the officer because there was a public outcry. A case that received national attention involved the distinguished African American Harvard University Professor Henry Louis Gates in 2009.

A neighbour, who saw him trying enter his own house in Cambridge in Massachusetts, called police. They arrested the professor inside his home and charged him with disorderly conduct. The charges were dropped.

Obama, who is personal friend of Gates, called the police action stupid and said the incident showed "how race remains a factor in this society". Another case in 2015 involved African American senior corporate executive Fay Wells who has an Ivy League MBA.

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*Vatican City:* The Vatican will stop minting euro coins bearing Pope Francis' image beginning March, a news agency reported, saying the coins will now carry the Vatican's coat of arms and European Union stars.

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*Berlin:* Germany's population grew by some 6,00,000 last year to reach a record high of 82.8 million people due to the number of migrants who have arrived in the country, the Federal Statistics office said on Friday.

In a preliminary estimate for 2016, the statistics office said the population had eclipsed the previous record high of 82.5 million recorded at the end of 2002, even though the number of deaths in 2016 exceeded the number of births by 1,90,000.

Deaths have exceeded births in Germany since 1972, with a total of more than 5 million fewer births than deaths. However, countering that trend, more than a million people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and beyond flocked to Germany in 2015 and 2016, drawn by its strong economy, relatively liberal asylum laws and generous system of benefits.

Since the height of the euro zone debt crisis, Germany is also attracting many migrants from other European countries such as Greece and Spain. The figures used to calculate net migration were based on numbers signing up at registration offices. Asylum seekers are initially housed in reception centres and generally only registered later.

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*Berlin:* Germany on Friday marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day with a tribute to the 3,00,000 ill and disabled people killed under the Nazis' "euthanasia" programme who are often seen as forgotten victims of that era.

In a solemn ceremony at the German Bundestag, parliament speaker Norbert Lammert said the programme was the first to use gas to murder those considered "unworthy of living" and served as a "trial run for the Holocaust".

"It became the model for the mass murder that would follow in the Nazi extermination camps," he said in a speech attended by Chancellor Angela Merkel and relatives of victims.

Adolf Hitler's euthanasia programme, in which doctors and scientists actively participated, sought to exterminate the sick, the physically and mentally disabled, those with learning disabilities and those considered social "misfits".

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*Kabul:* Afghanistan has announced fresh initiatives to bring more women into the army, weeks after the country's first female pilot sparked a national debate on insecurity and women's rights by seeking asylum in the US.

The defence ministry wants to boost the proportion of women in the army to 10 per cent, deputy ministry spokesman Mohammad Radmanesh said, confirming a slew of incentives including a special salary scale for female recruits.

"At this stage, we have 1,575 Afghan women in our army ranks, it is mere three to four percent which is nothing," Radmanesh said. "We are aiming to raise this percentage to 10 percent."

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*United Nations:* The United Nations aid chief warned that Yemen was sliding deeper into humanitarian crisis and could face famine this year.

The poor Arab country has been engulfed in war since a Saudi-led coalition launched a bombing campaign in March 2015 to push back Iran-backed Huthi rebels who had seized the capital Sanaa and other cities.

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*Washington:* The US has warned it may impose a 20 per cent tax on imports from countries with a trade deficit with it to fund a wall President Donald Trump wants to build along America's southern border with Mexico, the White House has said.

The proposal, however, is currently only for Mexico, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said.

This is one of the ways to pay for the wall that the US is planning to construct along the US-Mexico border. But on a broader scale, such a statement from Trump administration indicates imports from other countries, like India and China, could also be hit by the tax proposal, given the trade deficit the US has with them.

"When you look at the plan that's taking shape now, using comprehensive tax reform as a means to tax imports from countries that we have a trade deficit with, like Mexico.*Though it is currently only for Mexico. Pic/AFP*

"If you tax that $50 billion at 20 per cent of imports, which is by the way a practice that 160 other countries do. By doing it we can do $10 billion a year and easily pay for the wall," Spicer said.

"The net positive that you have to realise is that through the wall, not only do we secure our border but I think we are going to save additional money that we would have had to spend on tracking down illegal immigrants and on immigration," Spicer said.*Trump aide tells media 'to keep its mouth shut'*
A top advisor of US President Donald Trump has told the mainstream media to "keep its mouth shut" as he called them the new administration's "opposition". Stephen K Bannon, Chief White House Strategist for Trump, said the media should now keep quiet after being "humiliated" by the outcome of the November presidential election won by Trump.

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*Miami:* A 14-year-old girl broadcast her death live from the bathroom of her Miami area foster home as she made a noose from her scarf and attached it to the shower door frame to hang herself, authorities said.

The Florida Department of Children and Families offered few details yesterday about the weekend death of Nakia Venant, whom police found hanging in the bathroom.

One of the girl's friends told the Miami Herald (http://hrld.us/2jpabPN ) she saw the livestream and called Miami-Dade police, who showed up at her house. She then gave them an address in Miami. When police showed up there, residents gave them the foster home address.

Officers found the girl hanging and tried to revive her. She was declared dead a short time later at a hospital.

"We are absolutely horrified and devastated by the news of this young girl's death," Mike Carroll, secretary of the Department of Children and Families, said in a statement. He promised a "comprehensive" review to examine the child's history.

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*Mexico City:* Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto on Thursday cancelled his trip to Washington, following US President Donald Trump's order to begin construction on the border wall.

"This morning we have informed the White House that I will not attend the meeting scheduled for next Tuesday with the (President of the United States)," Nieto announced via Twitter.

The announcement follows Trump's tweet earlier saying that "If Mexico is unwilling to pay for the badly needed wall, then it would be better to cancel the upcoming meeting."

On Wednesday, Trump signed executive orders to begin preparations for construction of the wall along the Mexican border - one of the new president's key promises from the electoral campaign.

The orders also beefed up the US Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and instructed the administration to cut federal funding for "sanctuary cities" that refused to hand over illegal immigrants to law enforcement.

Trump has insisted that "Mexico would pay for the wall," while the Mexican government has rejected any suggestion of doing so.

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*Amatrice (Italy):* Sixteen tremors jolted central Italy's mountainous spine on Thursday, Italy's national geophysics and vulcanology institute after the area was hit by a series of strong earthquakes, heavy snowfalls and an avalanche last week.

The strongest of Thursday's quakes struck at 2.35 a.m. local time in the Lazio province of Rieti at a depth of 10 kilometres, the institute said.

The quake-devastated Lazio town of Amatrice and the Abruzzo town of Campotosto in the province of L'Aquila were closest to the quake's epicentre, according to the institute.

Four strong quakes measuring between 4.1 and 5.7 magnitude struck snowbound central Italy on January 18 and a major avalanche the same day in Abruzzo's national park engulfed a ski hotel, killing 29 people.

The January 18 quakes came after a magnitude 6.2 earthquake on August 24 last year that killed 300 people, 238 of them in Amatrice.

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*Washington:* Stephen K. Bannon, US President Donald Trump's Chief White House strategist has said the media should "keep its mouth shut".

Bannon laced into the American press during an interview on Wednesday evening, arguing that news organisations had been "humiliated" by an election outcome few anticipated, and repeatedly describing the media as "the opposition party" of the current administration, The New York Times reported on Thursday.

"The media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for a while," Mr. Bannon said during a telephone call.

"I want you to quote this," Bannon added. "The media here is the opposition party. They don't understand this country. They still do not understand why Donald Trump is the president of the US."

The scathing assessment - delivered by one of Trump's most trusted and influential advisers, in the first days of his presidency - comes at a moment of high tension between the news media and the administration, with skirmishes over the size of Trump's inaugural crowd and the president's false claims that millions of illegal votes by undocumented immigrants swayed the popular vote against him.

Bannon, who rarely grants interviews to journalists outside of Breitbart News, the provocative right-wing website he ran until last August, was echoing comments by Trump this weekend, when the president said he was in "a running war" with the media and called journalists "among the most dishonest people on earth".

During a call to discuss Sean M. Spicer, the president's press secretary, Bannon ratcheted up the criticism, offering a broad indictment of the news media as biased against Trump and out of touch with the American public.

That's an argument familiar to readers of Breitbart and followers of Trump-friendly personalities like Sean Hannity.

"The elite media got it dead wrong, 100 per cent dead wrong," Bannon said of the election, calling it "a humiliating defeat that they will never wash away, that will always be there".

"The mainstream media has not fired or terminated anyone associated with following our campaign," Bannon said. "Look at the Twitter feeds of those people: they were outright activists of the Clinton campaign."

He did not name specific reporters or editors.

"That's why you have no power," Bannon said, adding: "You were humiliated."

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*Washington:* US President Trump wants 20% border tax on imports from Mexico wants a 20 per cent border tax on all imports from Mexico, White House spokesman Sean Spicer has said.

Spicer on Thursday said Trump wanted to use the new tax to fund the proposing wall between the US and Mexico, Xinhua news agency reported.

Spicer said this hours after Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto cancelled the work meeting with President Trump scheduled for next Tuesday in Washington.

Spicer didn't release any detail about how the new tax will work.

Building a wall at the US southern border with Mexico to be paid by Mexico was one of Trump's key election campaign pledges. Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday to build "a large physical barrier" between the two countries.

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*Washington:* President Donald Trump today met Nikki Haley in the White House soon after she was sworn in as America's next Ambassador to the UN, scripting history by becoming the first Indian-American to serve on a Cabinet rank position in any US presidential administration.

"This morning, he had the honour to greet now ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley in his office after the Vice President swore her in in his ceremonial office across the street," the new White House Press Secretary, Sean Spicer told reporters at his daily news conference.

"As one of the most respected governors in the country, Ambassador Haley has a proven track record of bringing people together, regardless of their background or differences, to great opportunities for bettering her state and now our nation," Spicer said.

"The President is pleased that Ambassador Haley, to the best of my knowledge at least, is our nation's first Indian-American Cabinet-level officer. That's a big deal for Indian-Americans throughout this country," Spicer said.

"And now, she is able to get to work representing our United States nation as its top diplomat at the UN," Spicer said.

The 45-year-old former South Carolina Governor Haley was sworn in by Vice President Mike Pence.

Haley, a rising Republican star, was approved overwhelmingly by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday with wide bipartisan support, 96-4. She has replaced Samantha Power.

She is the first woman to be confirmed to Trump's Cabinet.

Once a fierce critic of Trump, Haley in November was selected as the first woman and first minority to serve in the Trump Administration.

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*Washington*: US President Donald Trump has appointed Uttam Dhillon as his special assistant and associate counsel, making him the second Indian-American on his White House staff.

An expert on ethics and law, Dhillon will have an important role in ensuring that ethical problems do not arise from the businessman-turned-President's extensive businesses, Trump's spokesperson Sean Spicer said on Wednesday.

Trump's extensive empire of over 400 companies that span the globe has raised ethical issues because of the intersection of business and government.

Dhillon's appointment and the compliance team is an effort to ensure that ethics problems do not crop up or are doused as soon as they come up.

Spicer described the team members as "esteemed" lawyers of "high calibre".

Trump announced earlier this month that he was transferring all his businesses to a trust that he was setting up to distance himself from his companies.

The trust will be headed by his sons Donald Jr and Eric.

Although the New York billionaire has resigned from his companies, a cloud of potential ethics conflicts hang over Trump because of the continuing family control of the business through the trust.

Trump earlier appointed Raj Shah, an expert in strategic communications and political research, as his deputy assistant and research director on the White House staff.

*

Photo courtesy: Dhillon's Linkedin page
*

Apart from his personal White House staff, Trump has appointed three other Indian-origin persons to senior administration positions -- Nikki Haley as the cabinet rank ambassador to the UN, Ajit Pai to head the Federal Communications Commission that regulates all wireless and electronic communications, and Seema Verma as the head of the government health insurance programmes.

Dhillon was the chief oversight counsel for the House of Representative Committee on Financial Services.

He was responsible for Congressional investigations of the financial services industry and government regulators.

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*Kuwait City:* Kuwait hanged seven prisoners, including a royal family member and a woman convicted of killing more than 40 people, in a mass execution yesterday, the first death sentences carried out in several years in the oil-rich emirate.

Those executed included a Bangladeshi, a Filipina, an Ethiopian, two Kuwaitis and two Egyptians.

The royal was identified as Faisal Abdullah Al Jaber Al Sabah. He was convicted of premeditated murder and illegal possession of a firearm.The second Kuwaiti national executed was Nasra al-Enezi. She was convicted of charges including premeditated murder. Reported by Mid-Day 14 hours ago.

No signs were allowed and there was no shouting. Instead, the group prayed together quietly and told stories of how having health insurance had affected them. Reported by nola.com 7 hours ago.

With a relentless barrage of corporate executives taking veiled, and not so veiled, shots at Trump's immigration policies, moments ago Starbuck's outgoing CEO Howard Schultz went one better, and in a letter to employees, the CEO announced plans to hire some 10,000 refugees in the 75 countries in which Starbucks does business, and furthermore added that “our Partner Resources team has been in direct contact” with employees affected by President Trump’s immigration ban."

He outlined different plans to not only hire refugees, but also on how the company will support “Dreamers” in the country, “building bridges, not walls” with Mexico and providing healthcare for his employees as Congress prepares to repeal ObamaCare.

Schultz focused on future ties with Mexico and said that "coffee is what unites our common heritage, and as I told Alberto Torrado, the leader of our partnership with Alsea in Mexico, *we stand ready to help and support our Mexican customers, partners and their families as they navigate what impact proposed trade sanctions, immigration restrictions and taxes might have on their business and their trust of Americans.  *But we will continue to invest in this critically important market all the same."

Schultz also vowed to support “Dreamers” saying that "there are nearly three quarters of a million hardworking people contributing to our communities and our economy because of this program.  At Starbucks, we are proud to call them partners and to help them realize their own American Dream.  We want them to feel welcome and included in our success, which is why we reimburse them for the biennial fee they must pay to stay in the program and why we have offered DACA-related services at our Opportunity Youth hiring fairs."

Also, having been criticized in the past of curtailing total worker hours in order to accommodate higher minimum wages and health benefits, Schultz wrote that "our commitment remains that if you are benefits eligible, you will always have access to health insurance through Starbucks." He added that "many have expressed concerns that recent government actions may jeopardize your ability to participate in the Affordable Care Act. If the recent Executive Order related to health care remains in place and the Affordable Care Act is repealed causing you to lose your healthcare coverage, you will always have the ability to return and can do so within 30 days of losing that coverage rather than having to wait for an open enrollment period."

It is unclear how big of a hit to the SBUX bottom line these generous proposals will end up costing, and whether the company's shareholders will be as delighted in sharing the CEO's noble vision.

His full letter below.

*Message from Howard Schultz to Starbucks Partners: Living Our Values in Uncertain Times*

Dear partners,

I write to you today with deep concern, a heavy heart and a resolute promise. Let me begin with the news that is immediately in front of us: we have all been witness to the confusion, surprise and opposition to the Executive Order that President Trump issued on Friday, effectively banning people from several predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States, including refugees fleeing wars. I can assure you that our Partner Resources team has been in direct contact with the partners who are impacted by this immigration ban, and we are doing everything possible to support and help them to navigate through this confusing period.

We are living in an unprecedented time, one in which we are witness to the conscience of our country, and the promise of the American Dream, being called into question. *These uncertain times call for different measures and communication tools than we have used in the past. *Kevin and I are going to accelerate our commitment to communicating with you more frequently, including leveraging new technology platforms moving forward.  I am hearing the alarm you all are sounding that the civility and human rights we have all taken for granted for so long are under attack, and want to use a faster, more immediate form of communication to engage with you on matters that concern us all as partners.

I also want to take this opportunity to announce specific actions we are taking to reinforce our belief in our partners around the world and to ensure you are clear that we will neither stand by, nor stand silent, as the uncertainty around the new Administration’s actions grows with each passing day:

· *Support for DACA*: As I wrote to Senators Graham and Durbin this week, we are enthusiastically behind their work to support “Dreamers” across our country – including those young men and women who are part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. There are nearly three quarters of a million hardworking people contributing to our communities and our economy because of this program.  At Starbucks, we are proud to call them partners and to help them realize their own American Dream.  We want them to feel welcome and included in our success, which is why we reimburse them for the biennial fee they must pay to stay in the program and why we have offered DACA-related services at our Opportunity Youth hiring fairs.
· *Hiring Refugees*: We have a long history of hiring young people looking for opportunities and a pathway to a new life around the world. This is why we are doubling down on this commitment by working with our equity market employees as well as joint venture and licensed market partners in a concerted effort to welcome and seek opportunities for those fleeing war, violence, persecution and discrimination.  *There are more than 65 million citizens of the world recognized as refugees by the United Nations, and we are developing plans to hire 10,000 of them over five years in the 75 countries around the world where Starbucks does business*.  And we will start this effort here in the U.S. by making the initial focus of our hiring efforts on those individuals who have served with U.S. troops as interpreters and support personnel in the various countries where our military has asked for such support.   
· *Building Bridges, Not Walls, With Mexico*: We have been open for business in Mexico since 2002, and have since opened 600 stores in 60 cities across the country, which together employ over 7,000 Mexican partners who proudly wear the green apron. We have sourced coffee from Mexico’s producers and their families for three decades and last fall, we also announced the creation of a farmer support center in Chiapas to help accelerate our collective ability to grow and export some of the world’s finest coffees from this important growing region, while donating more than $2 million to support the livelihood, food security and water quality of coffee producing communities in Oaxaca.  With the support of thousands of Starbucks partners and millions of customers, we have also donated half a million coffee trees to support 70,000 families, and we will be expanding the initiative this year to generate another 4 million tree donations. Coffee is what unites our common heritage, and as I told Alberto Torrado, the leader of our partnership with Alsea in Mexico, we stand ready to help and support our Mexican customers, partners and their families as they navigate what impact proposed trade sanctions, immigration restrictions and taxes might have on their business and their trust of Americans.  But we will continue to invest in this critically important market all the same.
· *Our Healthcare Commitment to You: *Finally, let me restate what we have recently communicated with you about the Affordable Care Act – our commitment remains that if you are benefits eligible, you will always have access to health insurance through Starbucks.  Many of you have expressed concerns that recent government actions may jeopardize your ability to participate in the Affordable Care Act. If the recent Executive Order related to health care remains in place and the Affordable Care Act is repealed causing you to lose your healthcare coverage, you will always have the ability to return and can do so within 30 days of losing that coverage rather than having to wait for an open enrollment period. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Benefits Center at 877-728-9236.

In the face of recent events around the world, let me assure you that we will stay true to our values and do everything we can possibly do to support and invest in every partner’s well-being while taking the actions that are squarely within our ability to control. This is our focus: providing a Third Place of respite for those around the world who seek it, daily.

Starbucks has and will always stand for opportunity – opportunity for our young people who are working to land their first job in the 75 countries where we do business, opportunity for our farmers who care so deeply for the highest of quality coffee we offer to customers all around the globe, and yes, opportunity for those who come to America in search of their own fresh start – whether that is with Starbucks directly, or through our suppliers or our partner companies.

If there is any lesson to be learned over the last year, it’s that your voice and your vote matter more than ever. We are all obligated to ensure our elected officials hear from us individually and collectively. Starbucks is doing its part; we need you to use the collective power of your voices to do the same while respecting the diverse viewpoints of the 90 million customers who visit our stores in more than 25,000 locations around the world.

So, while we seek to understand what the new Administration’s policies mean for us and our business both domestically and around the world, I can assure you that we will do whatever it takes to support you, our partners, to realize your own dreams and achieve your own opportunities. We are in business to inspire and nurture the human spirit, one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time – whether that neighborhood is in a Red State or a Blue State; a Christian country or a Muslim country; a divided nation or a united nation. That will not change.  You have my word on that.

Onward,

Howard Reported by Zero Hedge 21 hours ago.

Mr. Trump's executive order to bar entry into the U.S. by citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days and suspend entry of all refugees for 120 days immediately disrupted the lives of numerous people. It also created chaos in airports, prompted protests and offers of legal and other assistance by US citizens, brought criticisms from both Republican and Democratic leaders and aggrieved several US allies. The action signals to the world that the new U.S. administration is unwilling to shoulder its responsibilities for addressing the refugee crisis, is irrationally fearful, and is seemingly not guided by a moral compass. The benefits? Trivially small, if there are any at all. It's plausible that the action will harm rather than improve U.S. security.

That raises a question: what should we be doing to increase our security? While concerns about terrorism are legitimate and counter-terrorism efforts are appropriate, we should put the risk in perspective. The death toll of Americans from acts of terrorism was 2,990 in 2001 and has ranged between 18 and 74 per year since that year (CNN). While any deaths from terrorism are unacceptable, and the danger of a future mass-casualty event is real, we should not lose sight of other risks to our security. Highlighted below are some risks that warrant attention and resources from federal, state and local government.

*Health risks*: In 2014, 614,348 people died in the U.S. from heart disease; 591,699 died from cancer; and 147,101 died from chronic lower respiratory diseases (Centers of Disease Control). A variety of behaviors can reduce or amplify personal risks from these and other maladies, including activity levels, diet and smoking. Investments in public health programs can bring down these risks, as can investments to make our cities and communities more walkable and bikable. Assuring that everyone who has health insurance under the Affordable Care Act continues to be insured, and expanding coverage to the roughly 20 million Americans who still lack health insurance, would do a tremendous amount to help secure the Homeland.

*Air pollution*: An estimated 210,000 people die prematurely in the U.S. each year due to breathing dirty air (Caiazzo et al). Roughly 58,000 of the deaths are attributable to pollution from road transportation, 54,000 to pollution from electric power generation and 43,000 to pollution from industrial emissions. The health of many others is aggravated by the effects of exposure to air pollution on asthma, other respiratory diseases and cardiovascular disease. Cutting regulations by 75 percent, as Trump has promised, would move us in exactly the opposite direction from where we need to be going if applied to environmental rules that control air pollution. In contrast, implementing the Clean Power Plan would avoid an estimated 2,700 to 6,600 premature deaths and 140,000 to 150,000 asthma attacks in children each year (USEPA). That would be a good start, but even more needs to be done to reduce the number of Americans who die and are made sick each year from exposure to polluted air.

*Car crashes*: 35,092 people died in car crashes in the U.S. in 2015, up from 32,744 in 2014 (NHTSA). The percentage increase from 2014 to 2015 was the largest in 50 years and ended a multi-year trend of declining car crash fatalities. Death rates per capita and per vehicle mile traveled are significantly higher in the U.S. than in other developed countries. If we reduced our death rate to the average of other countries through programs that, for example, increase seat belt use, reduce alcohol-impaired driving and and reduce speeding, we could save an estimated 18,000 lives per year (CDC). Thinking longer term, investments in public transit, increasing the densities of urban development and making communities more walkable and bikable can drive car accident deaths even lower.

*Gun violence*: 33,736 Americans lost their lives in gun violence in 2014, including homicides, suicides and accidental shootings (CDC). The overwhelming majority of the 10,945 homicides that year were committed by U.S. born citizens - we have more to fear from those born in the U.S. than from immigrants to our country. This extreme carnage can be reduced through sensible measures that keep firearms out of the hands of those who have demonstrated themselves to be unfit for this right, provide for waiting periods and limit certain classes of weapons, magazines and ammunition. We also need to look to root causes and make investments in our urban areas to provide a quality public education, child care support, drug addiction treatment and resources for community development that provides jobs with family supporting wages.

*Climate change*: We can't be secure within our borders if the planet is unsafe. Action to cut greenhouse gas emissions, make our communities climate resilient and support vulnerable developing countries to do the same are critical to the security of our homeland. It's important to note that some of the same strategies can be employed to yield climate, health, community development and other benefits.

Mr. Trump and Congress should know that the majority of Americans are not afraid to welcome refugees into our communities and do not want to shirk our responsibilities. With careful vetting we can safely resettle refugees among us and assist them in making a home and new life in the U.S. If we are to be serious about improving our security, we should focus our efforts and resources not on poorly conceived entry and immigration bans, but on providing expanded access to quality health care, promoting healthy behaviors, reducing air pollution, investing in our communities, improving public education, making transportation safer, reducing gun violence and combatting climate change.

-- 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 18 hours ago.

The National Women’s Law Center filed complaints against Gonzaga and three other institutions that receive federal funding in June 2013, claiming they violated the Affordable Care Act by refusing to provide prenatal care to some women. Reported by Seattle Times 18 hours ago.

In 2006, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as Chief Minister of Gujarat had introduced the Chiranjeev Yojna that focused on providing skill healthcare to pregnant women in the state. Taking a cue from its success, in2009 the then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, the late YS Rajasekhara Reddy introduced the Rajiv Aarogyasri Community Health Insurance Scheme for poor families. While this scheme ensured that they won consecutive terms during the assembly elections, other chief ministerial candidates haven’t focused on healthcare during the current assembly elections, as suggests a report by IANS.

The report highlighted a 2015 Lancet paper that addressed how healthcare was important to a political and economic debate because “inadequate public healthcare and healthcare expenses push an additional 55 million people back into poverty in India every year.”

Currently, more than half of India’s rural population uses private healthcare, which is four times as costly as public healthcare, and can cost the poorest 20 per cent of Indians more than 15 times their average monthly expenditure.

The five states going into polls have indicated the good, the bad and the ugly of India’s public health scenario, according to the report.  Goa, for example, still has 9.8 per cent of women (currently aged 20-24) who were married before they turned 18. Similarly, in Manipur the sex ratio has dropped from 1,024 to 962 between 2005 and 2015.

The Uttar Pradesh government's Sample Registration System (SRS) reports show that between 2011 and 2014, there was a decline in Uttar Pradesh's sex ratio at birth, from 875 to 869.

Uttarakhand has shown the slowest improvement in infant mortality rate (IMR) -- deaths per 1,000 live births -- although NFHS data for Uttar Pradesh are yet to be released. Still, as SRS data show, Uttar Pradesh's IMR has come down from 57 to 48 between 2011 and 2014, suggesting that NFHS data will show improvement between 2005 and 2015.

Malnourishment is a major issue that has affected all the states going to polls. According to data, the proportion of stunted children under the age of five are similar: 29 per cent in Manipur, 20 per cent in Goa, 26 per cent in Punjab and 34 per cent in Uttarakhand for the year 2015-16. The latest data for Uttar Pradesh are awaited.

Some states have obesity issues such as Punjab’s Fatehgarh Sahib district. According to data provided by the National Family Health Survey, 36.5 per cent of men surveyed in 2015-16 proved to be obese or overweight, as were 41 per cent of all the women surveyed. In Uttarakhand districts such as Dehradun, Nainital and Udham Singh Nagar, one in every four women surveyed was obese or overweight.

With these factors in mind, maybe it’s time the chief ministerial candidates, take a cue from Modi and YSR Reddy and make health a part of their manifesto.

 

ReportIndiaDNA Web TeamDNA Web DeskMumbai

· Assembly Elections 2017
· Goa Election 2017
· UP Election 2017
· Uttarakhand Election 2017
· Manipur Election 2017
· Punjab Election 2017
· Narendra Modi
· YS Rajasekhar Reddy
· Public Healthcare
· Malnourishment
· Obesity
· Birth Rates
· sex ratio

Mon, 30 Jan 2017-11:42am
Date updated: 
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From Print Edition:  Reported by DNA 15 hours ago.

Health Benefits Company Recognized for Continued Commitment to Customer Service

Hunt Valley, Maryland (PRWEB) January 30, 2017

For the second year in a row, ArmadaCare has received a “best-in-class” Net Promoter Score (NPS), solidifying their standing as a frontrunner in the health insurance industry. Their score has risen 10 points from the previous year to reach +68, ranking the company among other leading brands in customer satisfactions, such as Amazon (+69), Southwest (+62) and Zappos (+57) according to NPSbenchmarks.com and CustomerGauge. ArmadaCare’s NPS is also a full 56 points higher than the health insurance industry average (+12).

“We were thrilled with our score from last year. The acknowledgment only fueled our commitment to continued service excellence and improvement, so it’s great to see that score rise,” says Jamie Spriggs, ArmadaCare’s Chief Operating Officer. “It’s a measurable indication that our focus on member experience is resulting in happy clients, which is the ultimate goal.”

Net Promoter Score, or NPS, is a metric that calculates how likely is it that a client would recommend a company or product to a friend or colleague by using a simple 0-10 scale. Respondents are classified as promoters, passives or detractors. The percentage of detractors is then subtracted from the percentage of promoters, and the passives are not factored into the calculation. Scores range from -100 to +100, with scores of +50 and higher considered “best-in-class” in customer loyalty.

In addition to this best-in-class NPS score, ArmadaCare has just been named a finalist for the Stevie Awards, the world's premier business awards, for Front-Line Customer Service.

About ArmadaCare
ArmadaCare develops, manages and distributes proprietary specialty insurance products that create powerful solutions for employers of all sizes. ArmadaCare’s signature product is Ultimate Health, a market-leading benefit program that combines robust healthcare reimbursement with a strategic health and wellness program to keep top performers healthy, productive and focused on their job. ArmadaCare is a division of ArmadaGlobal, a supplemental insurance and digital healthcare company located in Hunt Valley, Maryland. ArmadaCare serves as the MGU for Ultimate Health. Visit http://www.ArmadaGlobal.com for more information. Reported by PRWeb 14 hours ago.

(Photo: AP/Elaine Thompson)

Emtisal Bazara and Ahmad Bazara look on at a rally in Seattle on January 29, 2017. The couple arrived in the Seattle area with two of their four children in December, four years after leaving Aleppo as refugees. They said that their two adult children have been denied entry because of Trump's order.

During a presidential campaign, we often act as if our job is to uncover the secret selves the candidates are trying to hide from us, to decode their words and actions in order to discern the truth of who they'll be as president. But it's almost always the case that the future president is more than evident in the candidate. Think about the presidents in your lifetime, both those you admired and those you despised. Did they take office and surprise everyone, becoming someone completely different from who you thought they'd be?

They did not. And there may never have been a candidate more clear about who he really was than Donald Trump.

We didn't need to see his tax returns to understand him, even if they would surely reveal a great deal. We didn't need to subject him to more questioning or more investigations, though that would have given us even more evidence of what was apparent. But when it comes to the "real" Trump, we knew it all, down to his poisoned core. Because he told us.

After the first week of the Trump presidency, a week that was alternately ridiculous and horrifying, there's one thing we can say for sure: This is just what we liberals warned you about.

It was quite a week. Here's just some of what Trump did:

· Gave a dark, mean inauguration speech in which he spoke of ending "American carnage" and didn't bother offering a friendly word to the majority of voters who selected someone else.
· Went to the CIA and, standing in front of a memorial to agents who had given their lives in the line of duty, gave a rambling speech about how the media are lying about how big his inaugural crowd was.
· Called the head of the National Park Service and ordered him to produce photographs of the inaugural crowd in the hopes they would prove its massive size, when in fact such photos only show how much bigger Barack Obama's inaugural was.
· Sent out his press secretary to insist that his inaugural crowd was indeed the largest in history.
· Not only reinstated the "global gag rule" which forbids U.S. overseas family planning aid from going to any organization that even mentions abortion to women (like referring sex trafficking victims to doctors who will perform abortions), but expanded it to include all recipients of U.S. health aid, no matter what that aid is going for.
· In a meeting with congressional leaders, went on at some length about how enormous his election victory was, claiming that he only lost the popular vote because of millions of imaginary fraudulent votes. He then repeated this lie in media interviews.
· Got in a squabble with the president of Mexico over his border wall, which he now says Mexico will pay for in some form, eventually, maybe. Then his administration suggested the payment could come in the form of a 20 percent tariff on Mexican-made goods, which would not only be paid by American consumers, but would probably touch off a trade war.
· Withdrew funding for already-booked ads to encourage the uninsured to sign up for health insurance before the end of open enrollment on January 31.
· Announced a federal hiring freeze, which is not only inefficient but has actually cost more money when it has been tried in the past.
· To top it off, issued an executive order barring refugees from coming to America and forbidding anyone from seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the United States at all.

A brief word about the refugee ban. This may not be the first time we have let our darkest and most cowardly impulses dictate our treatment of immigrants, or slammed our doors in the faces of the world's most desperate people. But this particular order is almost the entirety of Trumpism in a nutshell: based on bigotry, built on lies, offensive to core American values, meant to address a problem that barely exists, and almost guaranteed to be counterproductive.

And of course, there was the lying, not only from the president himself but from those who work for him—or as Kellyanne Conway said, ignoring actual facts when you can just spread "alternative facts."

The Trump White House managed this frenzy of malevolence with all the overconfident bumbling you'd expect from a group of people with no government experience—infighting, announcements made and then walked back, executive orders written without even consulting the departments responsible for implementing them—much of it leaked to reporters by Trump staffers in ways that portray their boss as an infantile fool.

So what did we learn of Trump in his first chaotic, absurd, comical, frightening, ghastly week? We learned that he's insecure and petty, that he's cruel and shallow, that his contempt for people he sees as beneath him is bottomless, that his power is built on hate and fear. In other words: We learned nothing new. He is now who he always was. Becoming president has not changed him yet, and it never will.

Yet somehow we keep expecting that it might. In one of the most absurd moments of a completely bonkers interview he conducted with ABC News, David Muir asked Trump, "Has it changed you?" Trump responded by saying, "I can be the most presidential person ever, other than possibly the great Abe Lincoln, all right? But I can be the most presidential person, but I may not be able to do the job nearly as well if I do that." Whatever Donald Trump thinks it means to be "presidential," even he admits it's not what he's doing.

And that too was something we knew before the election ended—every now and again he'd threaten to start acting "presidential" yet could never bring himself to do so. He is who he is, and we knew it. Now we have to live with it for four years. Reported by The American Prospect 12 hours ago.

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--FINEOS Corporation, a market leading provider of core systems for Life, Accident and Health insurance, today announced it will be a diamond sponsor of the 2017 LIMRA Enrollment Technology Strategy Seminar in Orlando, Florida from 1-2 February. The seminar provides a forum for LIMRA member insurance companies and technology service providers to participate in open discussion on how to cohesively work together and define better outcomes. The theme for this year’s conferen Reported by Business Wire 11 hours ago.