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CNN Huffington Post Urge Violence Against Republicans

noreply@blogger.com (Sohna Munda) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:53:00 +0000

Two of the most popular liberal news sites are calling for violence against Republicans for obstructing the radical agenda of President Barack Obama.
CNN and Huffington Post have each published op-eds this past week by regular contributors with headlines that explicitly call for Obama to use violent gangland tactics against his political opponents.

CNN published a column by Roland Martin on February 11 with the headline, Time for Obama to go ‘gangsta’ on GOP.

Martin concluded the article with a plea for Obama to emulate the violent tactics of the Prohibition-era Chicago mob boss Al Capone.

Obama’s critics keep blasting him for Chicago-style politics. So, fine. Channel your inner Al Capone and go gangsta against your foes. Let ‘em know that if they aren’t with you, they are against you, and will pay the price.

The Huffington Post followed-up with their own call for gangland violence against Republicans with the publication on February 14 of a column by David Bourgeois with the title, Obama Better Start Breaking Kneecaps.

Bourgeois concludes his article with this call for gangland violence.

You’ve given it your best shot, you’ve tried numerous times to talk with the Republicans, to negotiate, to meet them halfway on every single matter before the American people. But they hate you for many reasons. It’s time you break kneecaps (bold in original). It’s time to destroy the Republican Party. They don’t deserve a seat at the table when all they want to do is score political points by being the Party of No.

Huffington Post publisher Arianna Huffington recently excoriated Fox News chief Roger Ailes for allegedly provocative rhetoric by Fox host Glenn Beck.

HUFFINGTON: Well, Roger, it’s not a question of picking a fight. And aren’t you concerned about the language that Glenn Beck is using, which is, after all, inciting the American people? There is a lot of suffering out there, as you know, and when he talks about people being slaughtered, about who is going to be the next in the killing spree…

…It’s not about the word police. It’s about something deeper. It’s about the fact that there is a tradition as the historian Richard Hofstetter said, in American politics, of the paranoid style. And the paranoid style is dangerous when there is real pain out there.

Ailes defended Beck, saying he was accurately talking about the governments of Hitler and Stalin.

Violent rhetoric such as that espoused by CNN and the Huffington Post is usually found in the bowels of Internet discussion forums, not as sanctioned op-ed headlines on news sites with White House press passes.
CNN and Huffington Post would be well-advised to retract the calls to violence and issue apologies to Republicans before Obama supporters are incited by their violent rhetoric and start going gangsta and break kneecaps of Republicans.
If they won’t do that of their own volition, then White House press secretary Robert Gibbs should shame them into doing so. Surely the Obama administration does not countenance violence against their domestic political opponents.

3 world powers criticize Iranian enrichment

noreply@blogger.com (Sohna Munda) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:23:00 +0000

VIENNA – Russia joined the U.S. and France in urging Iran to stop enriching uranium to higher levels in a statement shared Tuesday with The Associated Press, suggesting the project reinforced suspicions that Tehran is seeking to make nuclear weapons.

Shrugging off international concerns, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced the country was moving ahead to expand its enrichment capacities by installing more advanced machinery at its main enrichment facility.
Ahmadinejad told reporters in Tehran the centrifuges are not yet operational but are five times more efficient than the model now in use at its Natanz enrichment plant.
Because enrichment can produce both nuclear weapons as well as reactor fuel, Iran is under three set of U.N. Security Council sanctions for refusing to stop its program. Its determination to expand such activities had been criticized worldwide even before an announcement earlier this month that Tehran would enrich to a higher level.
In a confidential letter to the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the three world powers questioned Tehran's assertion that it had started the higher enrichment project to provide fuel to a research reactor providing medical isotopes for cancer patients.
The one-page letter was significant in reflecting unified Russian and Western opposition to Iran's move. Russia in the past has often put the brakes on Western attempts to penalize Tehran for defying U.N. Security Council demands that it freeze its enrichment program, which can produce both nuclear fuel and the fissile core of warheads.
"If Iran goes ahead with this escalation, it would raise fresh concerns about Iran's nuclear intentions, in light of the fact that Iran cannot produced the needed nuclear fuel in time" to refuel the research reactor, said the letter.

Iran's decision to enrich to the 20-percent level is "wholly unjustified, contrary to U.N. Security Council resolutions and represent(s) a further step toward a capability to produce highly enriched uranium," said the letter to IAEA chief Yukiya Amano.
The 20-percent mark represents the threshold between low-enriched and high-enriched uranium.
Although warhead material must be enriched to a level of 90 percent or more, just getting its present stockpile to the 20 percent mark would be a major step for Iran's nuclear program. While enriching to 20 percent would take about one year, using up to 2,000 centrifuges at Tehran's underground Natanz facility, any next step — moving from 20 to 90 percent — would take only half a year and between 500-1,000 centrifuges.
Since its clandestine enrichment program became known eight years ago, Iran has insisted it is meant only to generate nuclear fuel. But its secrecy and refusal to cooperate with an IAEA probe of allegations that it experimented with aspects of a weapons program had increased fears about its nuclear ambitions even before President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Feb.7 announcement that Iran will raise the enrichment bar.

Vancouver Olympics schedule, Vancouver Olympic medals & Vancouver Olympics results

noreply@blogger.com (Sohna Munda) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:56:00 +0000

Vancouver: Vancouver Olympics schedule, Vancouver Olympic medals & Vancouver Olympics results. Death of a Georgian luge racer during a practice run at Vancouver Winter Olympics, lights out to some concerns over soaring risk factors in the Games. In response to Olympic officials' explanation of Nodar Kumaritashvili's crash on the track that it was a fault from the athlete, voices were raised against high speed tracks, even from the president of Republic of Georgia.

The athletes turned up for the Games at Vancouver are the best, and well-trained in their respective sporting itmes. Anyway, it is sure that almost all items at the Games, which include luge, skeleton, aerial skiing or snowboarding, the race for faster, higher, more air have a touch of risk.

"The Winter Olympics has always had dangerous sports, but it's getting worse. A lot of it has to do with maybe you want the ratings, and danger is good for ratings. Perhaps not so good for the athletes", said Olympics historian David Wallechinsky.

According to statistics of past Games, there were thousands of accidents happened in the winter Olympics. 139,332 American athletes were injured while skiing in 2007 , and another 164,002, hurt during snowboarding in the same year. Almost all items at the games have recorded a similar kind accident cases.

The 2010 Winter Olympics has finally arrived. It was announced that there will be a total of 15 winter sports events that will be part of the 2010 Winter Olympics which include alpine skiing, Biathlon, bobsleigh, cross-country skiing, curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing, ice hockey, luge, nordic combined, short track speed skating, skeleton, ski jumping, snowboarding, and Speed skating. 82 participating countries will compete in these games. Peru, Pakistan, Montenegro, Serbia, Ghana, Colombia, and Cayman Islands, will make their winter Olympic debuts but other countries like Venezuela, Virgin Islands, Thailand, Madagascar, Luxembourg, Kenya, and Costa Rica, which competed at the previous Winter Games in Turin will not participate in Vancouver.

Paczki Day 2010: Facts, Traditions, And Recipes For Paczki Day, Fastnacht Day And Fat Tuesday

noreply@blogger.com (Sohna Munda) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:20:00 +0000

It is Paczki Day today, Feb. 16, 2010 - also known as Fastnacht Day and Fat Tuesday.
Paczki Day is a Polish tradition in which people use up lard, sugar and eggs in preparation for Lent, which begins the day after.
Paczki (pronounced POONCH-key), or pączek, is described by Dictionary.com as follows: "A round Polish pastry similar to a doughnut, usually filled with fruit and topped with sugar or icing."
Paczki Day is particularly popular in American cities with large Polish populations such as Chicago, Buffalo, and Detroit.
The Polish American Journal provides further information including recipes (small, large, old Warsaw, or old Polish) to prepare paczki yourself.
Celebrations are being held across the Midwest to honor the day and local bakeries are making extra paczki to accommodate Paczki Day.

7-Year-Old Samba Queen Cries at Rio's Carnival

noreply@blogger.com (Sohna Munda) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 20:33:00 +0000

She was cheered by legions of Carnival fans, but 7-year-old Julia Lira, the youngest drum corps queen in memory at Rio's lavish party, broke down crying after being surrounded by cameras early Monday.

Dressed in a sequined halter top and a miniskirt made of purple feathers, the youngster tentatively stepped through the first 50 yards of the parade. Her father -- the president of the parading Viradouro samba group -- then took her by the hand and presented her to the crowd. She smiled big for the photographers and adoring fans.

But 10 minutes into the group's parade and surrounded by dozens of photographers and television cameramen, the youngster broke down in tears and was immediately scooped up into the arms of her unofficial handler, the group's spokeswoman Joice Hurtado, and taken away from the attention.

After a five-minute cool down, Julia returned to her place in front of the group's massive drum line, but was quickly whisked through the parade grounds by her father and out of the media's eye.

"She just got scared after having all those cameras thrust in her face," Hurtado said after the parade. "After we got her into her mother's arms, she quickly calmed down and put on a great show."

While Julia bounced back and began to samba at the helm of the parade, television coverage broadcast to millions in Brazil steered clear of showing any more shots of her.

Before the parade began, Julia's father, Marco Lira, said that "she's happy, she is ready to

dance."

After the parade, however, both father and daughter looked tired and emotionally exhausted, though Julia managed a few furtive smiles but no words when asked how she liked the event.

Some in the audience thought she was not ready for the spotlight

"She is too young to be a drum corps queen," said Marister Deniz, 60, who was watching from the stands. "A girl that size shouldn't be thrust in such a role."

But Jorge Elias Souza, a member of the Viradouro drum corps, said he was proud of the girl regardless.

"She is the embodiment of all the love in our school. Normally a famous person is the drum corps queen, but her father is our president and she is the center of our family," he said. Putting Julia in the Carnival role drew the ire of child welfare advocates who were against a young girl taking on a role normally reserved for sultry models and actresses.

Carlos Nicodemos, director of the Rio de Janeiro state Council for the Defense of Children and Adolescents, two weeks ago asked a judge to keep the girl from dancing, arguing that "what we can't allow is putting a 7-year-old girl in a role that traditionally for Carnival has a very sexual focus."

A judge ruled last week that the girl could join the parade, and the overwhelming response in Brazil was a shrug and acceptance.

Before Julia took to the parade ground, the Rio's reigning Carnival Queen Shayene Cesario Vieira, 24, said she thought "it's cool" that the girl would participate.

"I don't remember hearing of a drum corps queen being so young," she said. "But her dad is the president of the group and if he thinks it's OK, it's OK.

In the two weeks leading up to the Carnival parade, Marco Lira said repeatedly that he and his wife would be with the girl at all times and they would carefully watch to make sure she doesn't get too tired during the parade. Both he and his wife were with the girl through the entire parade.

The Viradouro samba group has a history of controversial themes. A 2008 float portrayed Hitler amid a sea of naked mannequins representing Holocaust victims. A judge banned that float from being in the parade.

Nicodemos has also suggested that the samba group put Julia into her role to get extra attention -- a charge strongly denied by her father.

As 12 top-tier Rio samba schools compete fiercely in the parades that are broadcast to viewers nationwide, massive street parties continued to erupt across the city.

Tourism officials said almost 730,000 visitors arrived in Rio this year for the big party -- a 5 percent increase over last year.

It's the first Carnival since Rio was named as host to the 2016 Olympics, and officials have been working hard to show that the city, known for the drug-gang violence that pervades its slums, can safely host major events.

There have been few reports of violence during the party so far.

A 37-year-old Dutch tourist was shot by a robber as he tried to defend a Dutch woman he was with, police said. A spokesman for the Silvestre Hospital said Alexander Kors Johannes had been operated on and was in stable condition Sunday.

Kevin Smith Tossed from Plane for Being Too Fat

noreply@blogger.com (Sohna Munda) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 20:16:00 +0000

In the film world, Kevin Smith is larger than life. And in the real world, he's too big to fly on an airplane. The director, actor and comedian was escorted off an airplane Saturday because he could not fit comfortably in his seat.

Smith boarded a flight from Oakland to Burbank, Ca, but was soon escorted off the flight because he was encroaching upon the comfort of his fellow passengers.

"If a customer cannot comfortably lower the armrest and infringes on a portion of another seat, a customer seated adjacent would be very uncomfortable and a timely exit from the aircraft in the event of an emergency might be compromised if we allow a cramped, restricted seating arrangement," Southwest said.

Of course, Smith was not happy about it. The Mallrats director took to Twitter soon after with a series of rants.

"I broke no regulation, offered no 'safety risk' (what, was I gonna roll on a fellow passenger?)" he wrote. "I saw someone bigger than me on THAT flight! But I wasn't about to throw a fellow Fatty under the plane as I'm being profiled. But he & I made eye contact, & he was like 'Please don't tell...'"

"Don't worry," he added. "[The] wall of the plane was opened & I was airlifted out while Richard Simmons supervised."

Southwest Airlines said they called Smith to offer their "heartfelt apologies," but reiterated that his removal was for the "safety and comfort of all customers."

Smith has now joked he wants to start a boycott of the airlines, and says that he will try to never fly Southwest again.

"The SouthwestAir Diet. How it works: you're publicly shamed into a slimmer figure. Crying the weight right off has never been easier!"

Iran is becoming a military dictatorship

noreply@blogger.com (Sohna Munda) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 19:59:00 +0000

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday Iran is sliding into a military dictatorship, a new assessment suggesting a rockier road ahead for U.S.-led efforts to stop Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

As the first high-level Obama administration official to make such an accusation, Clinton was reflecting an ever-dimming outlook for persuading Iran to negotiate limits on its nuclear program, which it has insisted is intended only for peaceful purposes. The U.S. and others — including the two Gulf countries Clinton visited Sunday and Monday — believe Iran is headed for a nuclear bomb capability.

Clinton also was revealing the logic of the administration's plan to target the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps with a new round of international sanctions intended to compel Iran to curb its nuclear ambitions before it increases the likelihood of a military clash.

Clinton flew to Riyadh, the Saudi capital, and then was driven in King Abdullah's private bus about 65 miles northeast to Rawdat Khurayim, a secluded royal hunting retreat where the vacationing king hosted her for lunch — and where a large-screen TV was on. Afterward they met privately in his elaborately appointed tent, which includes five crystal chandeliers in the reception room. Clinton also met with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal in Riyadh and later was flying to Jeddah on the Red Sea coast.

Earlier in the day, in Doha, Qatar, Clinton spoke bluntly about Iranian behavior and what she called the Obama administration's view of Iran as increasingly dominated by the Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Last week the U.S. Treasury Department announced that it was freezing the assets in U.S. jurisdictions of a Revolutionary Guard general and four subsidiaries of a previously penalized construction company he runs because of their alleged involvement in producing and spreading weapons of mass destruction.

The Revolutionary Guard has long been a pillar of Iran's regime as a force separate from the ordinary armed forces. The Guard now has a hand in every critical area, including missile development, oil resources, dam building, road construction, telecommunications and nuclear technology.

It also has absorbed the paramilitary Basij as a full-fledged part of its command structure — giving the militia greater funding and a stronger presence in Iran's internal politics.

"The evidence we've seen of this increasing decision-making (by the Revolutionary Guard) cuts across all areas of Iranian security policy, and certainly nuclear policy is at the core of it," Clinton told reporters flying with her from Doha to Saudi Arabia.

Asked if the U.S. was planning a military attack on Iran, Clinton said "no."

The United States is focused on gaining international support for sanctions "that will be particularly aimed at those enterprises controlled by the Revolutionary Guard, which we believe is in effect supplanting the government of Iran," she said.

Meanwhile, a semi-official news agency quoted the head of Iran's nuclear program as saying the country received a new proposal last week from the United States, Russia and France, three of the countries trying to rein in Tehran's uranium enrichment program.

Iran said that it was studying the joint proposal purportedly made after the country announced last week it had begun enriching uranium to a higher level than previously acknowledged. The ILNA news agency quoted Ali Akbar Salehi as saying various countries have also offered Iran proposals on a nuclear fuel swap, adding that Iran is reviewing all the proposals. He did not provide any more details.

Private U.S. experts on the Iranian regime said they agreed with Clinton's assessment of Iran's drift toward military dominance.

"When you rely on the power of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to remain in power it is only a matter of time before the regime becomes a paramilitary dictatorship — and it is about time we realize this," Iranian-born Fariborz Ghadar, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said in an e-mail to The AP. He said the current regime is "beholden to the Revolutionary Guard for its survival."

Ray Takeyh, a former administration adviser on Iran who now follows Iranian developments from the private Council on Foreign Relations, said by e-mail, "The Revolutionary Guards are increasingly represented in all aspects of governance."

Clinton told reporters it appears the Revolutionary Guard is in charge of Iran's controversial nuclear program and the country changing course "depends on whether the clerical and political leadership begin to reassert themselves."

She added: "I'm not predicting what will happen but I think the trend with this greater and greater military lock on leadership decisions should be disturbing to Iranians as well as those of us on the outside."

Clinton said the Iran that could emerge is "a far cry from the Islamic Republic that had elections and different points of view within the leadership circle. That is part of the reason that we are so concerned with what we are seeing going on there."

In her Doha appearance, Clinton also said she foresees a possible breakthrough soon in stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

"I'm hopeful that this year will see the commencement of serious negotiations that will cover every issue that is outstanding," she said, adding that "everyone is anticipating" progress after more than a year of impasse between the negotiating parties.

The peace talks broke down in late 2008 with Israel's incursion into Gaza, which had launched rocket attacks on Israeli targets.

Clinton spoke in an interview with the Al-Jazeera TV network before a live audience of mostly Arab students at the Carnegie Mellon campus.

Proven Non-insurance Strategies that Lower Risk and Can Lower Your Auto Insurance Costs

noreply@blogger.com (Sohna Munda) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:04:00 +0000

1. Obey traffic laws, including the speed limit — laws designed to reduce both the frequency and severity of automobile accidents.

2. Perform regular safety maintenance of your vehicle (brakes, tires, steering, lights).

3. Purchase a safer vehicle that is highly rated for low damageability and passenger safety.

4. Pay extra for added safety features like air bags or antilock brakes.

5. Always wear your seat belt and insist your passengers do too.

6. Buy the highest-rated child safety seats and always uses them. Take behind-the-wheel defensive driving classes.

7. Require your teenager to have at least 30 hours practice behind the wheel on his permit under all sorts of driving conditions before allowing him to get a driver’s license. No one can ever develop the skills needed to be a safe driver in just a few hours of mandatory driver’s education.

8. Allow your teenager to drive based upon your determination of his or her ability to responsibly operate a car — regardless of when your state says your teenager can drive. The teen who behaves immaturely and irresponsibly out of a vehicle usually behaves in similar fashion in a vehicle.

Make Sure You're Covered When You Retire

noreply@blogger.com (Sohna Munda) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 14:08:00 +0000

Articles from Umar Hafeez. All about Insurance.

If you’re looking to retire soon, it's good to look ahead and try to determine if your medical expenses will be adequately covered in retirement. Many Americans don't discover the gaps in their Medicare coverage until it's too late, and they are forced to pay out of their own pockets for medical expenses they assumed would be covered.

Medicare coverage requires that you meet certain deductibles before coverage begins, and you must pay significant co-payments for many types of medical treatment. In addition, traditional Medicare does not offer a prescription drug benefit.

Because of these deficiencies in Medicare coverage, you may wish to consider purchasing a supplemental medical insurance policy called Medigap. Medigap is specifically designed to fill the gaps in your Medicare coverage. Although Medigap policies are sold through private insurance companies, they are standardized and regulated by state and federal law.

Under federal law, there are ten standard Medigap plans, each of which must cover certain specified services. Medigap policies pay most, if not all, of your Medicare coinsurance amounts. Some also provide coverage for deductibles and services that are not covered by Medicare, such as prescription drugs and preventive care.

Because Medigap policies are standardized, there is no need to compare provisions of the policies offered by various insurance companies. However, you should still compare the insurance companies themselves, as an insurance policy is only as good as the company behind it. In addition, Medigap premiums will vary from one insurance company to another, so you may want to do some research to find the best rate.

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A Study on Health and Retirement Benefits

noreply@blogger.com (Sohna Munda) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 14:06:00 +0000

Articles from Umar Hafeez. All about Insurance.

In this uncertain economy, the need for—and importance of—better employee benefits is greater than ever.

Harris Interactive, on behalf of the Principal Financial Group, conducted the Principal Financial Well-Being Index℠ - Second Quarter 2008 survey online between April 30 and May 7, 2008. This quarterly survey polls employees over 18 working at a small or mid-sized business, and retirees, to identify concerns about finances, health and retirement benefits, as well as to examine workplace trends. The results are then compared to the same quarter from previous years.

Notable results

Health insurance has been rated as the most important benefit for the past five years
Health insurance is also the benefit that employees most want improved
Health Savings Accounts are less well-known than before
Respondents are concerned about the economy, rising prices, and job security
Most respondents think the country is in a recession
Fewer employees than previously believe that good benefits will result in harder work and better performance
More employees than previously said that good benefits keep them at their current employer
Females rated dental insurance and life insurance as important more often than males did
Stock options are rated as more important than before, but still rank last

Benefit importance
As seen in the table below, health insurance and defined contribution plans are rated as the most important benefits to employees, while stock options are rated as the least important. This is an interesting statistic because many companies tend to offer stock options as a type of benefit, especially to those working in upper management.

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College Student Health Plans

noreply@blogger.com (Sohna Munda) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 14:04:00 +0000

Articles from Umar Hafeez. All about Insurance.

By the time your children toss their high school graduation caps into the air, they'll probably have a good idea about their intended college and course of study, but is their health insurance something you've thought about?

Many times, a parent's medical plan will cover their children until they're 24 years old. If your health insurance plan does not cover college students, it would be beneficial to look into what college health plans are offered at your child's university.

College health insurance basics
College health insurance plans may be subsidized by tuition at some schools, and may ultimately save parents money. College health insurance plans are not free, and the benefits may vary from college to college. Health insurance companies meet with committees from different schools to design a plan, specifically tailored to that school's students. Free services may be offered at the health center.

If you choose to purchase the college health insurance plan for your student, office visits will usually be fully covered, but students may be charged a co-pay for lab work, x-rays, physical therapy, prescriptions, and procedures such as treatment for a wound. Other services that may be covered include mental health, newborn and infant care, routine pap and pelvic exams, routine AIDS/STD testing, as well as cholesterol screenings. Premiums and benefits vary from college to college, sometimes due to state laws.

Out-of-network problems
A key question-if you're considering keeping your student on your family plan-is whether doctors from your network will be easily available if your student is out-of-state. All HMO-only plans require referrals for visits to out-of-network providers and to specialists. And, PPO plans will reimburse less for visits to out-of-network physicians. If your child chooses a college out of state, and you want them to get prompt medical care without having to call home for a physician's referral, it would be a good idea to consider the college health plan offered by their school. What are health insurance networks, and what are the different types of plans? Learn more about HMO, PPO, and POS plans.

Things to consider when evaluating a college health insurance policy
Several factors can make a crucial difference in timely care. Be sure to find out:

Are there restrictions on the providers a student can use?
If the student is on vacation, what kind of coverage do they have?
If the student is not enrolled in classes (during summer or winter break) do they still have health insurance coverage?
Are the most efficient treatment facilities at the college easily accessible?
What are the low-cost or free services that are offered through the campus health clinic?

Don't let your child's coverage lapse
If your child has a pre-existing medical condition, a lapse in health insurance coverage could cause problems later. Under HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), pre-existing conditions can only be subject to coverage exclusions for 12 months (or 18 months in the case of late plan enrollment). However, if qualifying coverage is maintained without a lapse of 63 days, the health insurance company must subtract the length of coverage from the exclusion period. For example, 8 months of prior coverage would result in a 4-month exclusion period, whereas 18 years of coverage would result in no exclusion period. Therefore, it's important to maintain continuous coverage of all conditions, even if it means buying new health insurance or enrolling in a high-priced plan for a short period.

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Skyrocketing health care costs make U.S. employers non-competitive in the global marketplace

noreply@blogger.com (Sohna Munda) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 14:02:00 +0000

Articles from Umar Hafeez. All about Insurance.
Skyrocketing health insurance costs are heavily impacting employers in the United States. Now, for the first time, medical benefits to employees has become the most expensive benefit paid by employers, according to a new report issued by the Employment Policy Foundation. The cost of health care for employers has jumped 12.4% between 2002 and 2003. That's about 5 times higher than inflation, and it is threatening the competitiveness of American corporations and the private sector. The Foundation also reported that employers spent $331 billion last year for health insurance for employees. That's a 50% increase since 1998. This comes out to an average of $3.80 per hour for each worker who participated in health insurance coverage.

If these numbers aren't alarming to you, they should be. In America today, we're seeing a huge number of jobs moving offshore to countries like India, China, Russia and Mexico. Part of the reason there is so much offshoring going on is because U.S. businesses can no longer remain cost-competitive in the global marketplace due to these burdensome health care costs. To a person who lives in the United States, it often seems like the kind of money we pay for health insurance in this country must be similar to what's paid in other countries around the world, but in fact, this is a myth. Other countries around the world pay far less than we pay for health care, and they are able to deliver health care to their citizens even though they are spending only a fraction of what we are spending here in the United States.

Let me put some real figures to this so you can see an example of how it works. In the United States, and individual could easily pay $400-$500 a month for health insurance coverage. Even if they aren't paying it out of their pocket, their employer is picking up the tab and effectively paying that amount for them. If you look at a country like Taiwan, however, which has a national health care system, each individual pays an average of around $20 per month for full health care coverage. That $20 a month includes maternity, dental, vision, and all medical visits. It even helps cover prescription drug costs, which are dramatically lower in Taiwan than they are in the United States. Taiwan citizens receive care that's nearly as good as the care we receive in the United States, and yet they are paying 1/20th of the costs that we are paying here in the United States.

The myth that the United States has the best health care system in the world has long been shattered. We don't have the best health care in the world -- we have the most overpriced health care system in the world. And frankly, it's not even a health care system -- it's a disease care system. But the bigger question in all of this is: how can people in Taiwan receive full health care coverage for $20 a month, while in the United States, we are being charged $500 a month for similar coverage? The answer is rather complex, but here are the primary reasons why:

Number one, in the United States we are paying outrageous costs for prescription drugs due to the monopoly drug market. The pharmaceutical industry and the FDA are both working hard to limit Americans' access to prescription drugs from Canada and other countries that would be available at far lower cost. They want to make sure that Americans buy their prescription drugs from monopoly-controlled sources in the United States, where prices can be hiked up to practically any level in order to enrich the pockets and the profits of pharmaceutical companies. This is one of the biggest cons ever perpetrated on the American people, and it is fully supported by the Bush administration and federal regulators at the FDA. Many drugs are marked up 10,000% or more over the cost of their raw ingredients, and that's why people can buy such drugs at far lower prices by going to Canada or visiting online pharmacies where the very same drugs can be purchased at a fraction of the cost you might be charged at U.S. pharmacies like Walgreens.

The second reason health care costs are so high in the United States is because our system of health care is extremely inefficient. It has multiple levels of bureaucracy. There are mountains of paperwork that must be filled out by doctors in order to get paid for the work they've performed on patients. Likewise, patients have to fill out reams of paperwork to apply for programs like the Medicare discount drug cards or even private health insurance. Employers also have a tremendous burden here: they are filling out an endless stream of paperwork to apply for health insurance for their employees and then to maintain that health insurance each year.

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More Employees Unable To Receive Health Insurance Coverage Through Their Employers; Prevention, Not Disease Treatment, Is The Answer

noreply@blogger.com (Sohna Munda) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 14:01:00 +0000

Articles from Umar Hafeez. All about Insurance.
A new study from the Washington, D.C. based Center for Studying Health System Change has revealed that 9 million Americans no longer have health insurance coverage through their employers compared to those who received coverage in 2001. In other words, employers' ability to provide health insurance coverage for their employees is in a rapid decline, leaving employees either without health insurance or needing to look elsewhere. It's a growing trend, and this is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

The problem, by the way, is not that employers don't want to provide health insurance to employees, nor that employers are just skimming profits in order to lower their costs. The problem is that health insurance is unaffordable to both employees and their employers, and the root cause behind that is that insurance costs are being driven up by several things: outrageous profits in prescription drugs, the widespread pursuit of unnecessary surgical procedures that are extremely expensive, and the fact that even though western medicine is the most expensive form of medicine in the world, it is one of the least effective at actually preventing chronic disease.

In other words, as a nation, we are not investing in prevention, and as a result, health care costs are sharply rising and health insurance costs are following suit. The result of all of this is that if the trends don't change, we will soon be a nation without readily available health care coverage, but with skyrocketing rates of chronic disease and unaffordable health care costs.

The pharmaceutical companies, for their part, aren't helping the situation. They are continuing their attempts to work together with the FDA to monopolize the U.S. drug market by prohibiting drugs from Canada and other countries. They continue to sharply increase the prices of their drugs and promote them with distorted scientific studies, outright bribery to physicians, and highly misleading marketing and advertising that inevitably results in higher drug sales.

Health insurance companies aren't helping the situation either, but they can only do so much. When health care costs go up, health insurance companies must raise their rates accordingly. Over the last five years, we've seen alarming increases in health insurance rates, and employers can only absorb so much cost before they have to start cutting these benefits. The situation has gotten so bad that today, as the president of Arial Software, I've received resumes from people who said they would work for practically any pay whatsoever, as long as they could get guaranteed health insurance coverage. I view this as a sad situation, and an indication that our health care system is utterly broken. Western medicine is a complete failure in terms of enhancing the health of our nation and preventing chronic disease.

The only way out of all this is to invest in prevention and move to a national health care system that follows free market principles, and allows health care providers to purchase prescription drugs from around the world rather than limiting them to monopolized U.S. sources.

But prescription drugs are never the answer, anyway. The real answer to all this is prevention, and as a nation, we don't invest in prevention. We need a system that teaches people how to be healthy from the time they are a young child all the way through adulthood. We need a system that rewards and incentivizes healthy eating habits, healthy exercise, and healthy choices in daily life. We need a system that teaches and preaches self-care rather than care through chemicals and prescription drugs. We need to teach people how to regain strength and flexibility and cardiovascular fitness. We also need a system that supports the patient's own immune system rather than trying to destroy it through barbaric therapies like chemotherapy.

Obviously, we need a lot of changes in our health care system in order to make health care insurance affordable to both employees and employers. Until that happens, the situation is only going to get worse. You can expect more and more Americans to go without health insurance in the years ahead until this issue is addressed and we ultimately see a true revolution in modern medicine.
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Health insurance costs continue to spiral out of control

noreply@blogger.com (Sohna Munda) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 13:54:00 +0000

Articles from Umar Hafeez. All about Insurance.
Health insurance costs for employers continue to climb at an outrageous pace. We all know that. But what's the cause? Although almost nobody will admit it, there are really three primary causes of spiraling health care costs.

1. Drug company profiteering. They're doing everything they can to squeeze profits out of U.S. consumers, including banning drugs from Canada, delaying the approval of generics and trying to monopolize the markets.

2. Paper pushers. Around 70% of all costs in a typical clinic or hospital is due to paper pushing. Armies of people sit around filing papers with various insurance companies and government agencies, trying to get paid. It's a huge waste, and doctors could deliver health care for pennies on the dollar if they didn't have to deal with health insurance companies.

3. Patients don't take care of themselves. Health care costs are high because patients refuse to exercise. They won't get off the couch and exercise even 5 minutes a day. They won't stop eating ice cream and chugging soft drinks. They won't follow the basic rules of good nutrition. They don't get much sunlight. The list goes on and on.

Put all this together and you have a health care crisis that's only going to get worse. But of course, nobody wants to admit these are the real problems. Patients, in particular, are quick to blame the government for not giving them enough free prescription drugs when the real problem is that patients have abused their own bodies from the very beginning.
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