Who in their right mind would think that this massive healthcare takeover would cost what they said it’s going to cost??
6 minutes ago – 4 days left to answer.

Best answer:

Answer by Lkn4trouble
I’m sure the folks working at the CBO have families too….and nobody wants Rahm to pay a naked visit to one of your family members.

This bill has been nothing more than strong arm tactics, threats and payoffs.

The libs will follow 0bama of a cliff……it’s actually happening right before our eyes right now!

Add your own answer in the comments!

Texas and the Transformation of Medicaid


Image by thetexastribune
The "Texas and the Transformation of Medicaid" presentation by Texas Health and Human Services Commissioner Tom Suehs at The Texas Tribune Festival on Sept. 24, 2011.

Texas and the Transformation of Medicaid


Image by thetexastribune
Rep. Elliott Naishtat, D-Austin, introduces the "Texas and the Transformation of Medicaid" presentation by Texas Health and Human Services Commissioner Tom Suehs at The Texas Tribune Festival on Sept. 24, 2011.

Texas and the Transformation of Medicaid


Image by thetexastribune
Rep. Elliott Naishtat, D-Austin, introduces the "Texas and the Transformation of Medicaid" presentation by Texas Health and Human Services Commissioner Tom Suehs at The Texas Tribune Festival on Sept. 24, 2011.

1st MediCare @ BCS(new)


Image by EssexTech
8 of the 11 strong team (3 elsewhere) covering the Blackwater County Show. I am 3rd from the left.

Help us reach 1 million signatures telling Republican that ending the Medicare guarantee for seniors to pay for tax breaks for special interests and the wealthy is unacceptable at www.StandUpForMedicare.com

MED3OOO?s Fire/EMS division, a leading provider of billing services for the ambulance industry, today announced that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently recognized the County of Fairfax Virginia for its 100 percent accuracy rate in billing emergency medical services. The acknowledgement follows an audit conducted by CMS Medicare contractor Novitas Solutions, Inc.

The County of Fairfax contracts with MED3OOO for its EMS billing services. ?In February Novitas Solutions, Inc., a CMS contractor, informed us that Fairfax was selected for a prepayment audit due to the county?s high frequency of ambulance services,? says Glenn Goodpaster, Sr. Vice President, MED3OOO EMS . ?After reviewing copies of Explanation of Benefits (EOB?s), Patient Care Reports and claim forms, Novitas determined that 100% of the services were billed and paid properly.?

?We are thrilled with the outcome of the audit,? said Katie Mangione, EMS Billing Program Manager of Fairfax County. ?It?s refreshing for a local government entity to earn outstanding marks for their fiscal practices and record keeping. We appreciate the billing expertise provided by the MED3OOO team and value their diligence in observing all regulatory requirements.?

About MED3OOO?s EMS Revenue Cycle Management Services

MED3OOO?s Fire/EMS division offers government fire and EMS service organizations a cost-effective alternative to doing in-house ambulance billing and revenue recovery. MED3OOO?s EMS Revenue Cycle Management solutions are designed to meet agencies? specific reimbursement and collections needs, while ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements. MED3OOO?s staff is well-trained and certified by the American Academy of Procedural Coders and uses the most advanced technology to streamline the billing and collections process.

About MED3OOO

MED3OOO is a leading provider of healthcare management and technology services that improve outcomes for providers, health plans, and the patients and employees they serve. The Company provides a broad array of proprietary solutions for physician groups, hospitals, health systems, health risk organizations, and state and local municipalities, enabling them to reach their maximum potential with respect to operational, financial, and clinical results. Through the integrated application of systems, operations, analytics and domain expertise, MED3OOO serves as the premier strategic operations partner for the healthcare community. The Company?s depth of knowledge across its services, economies of scale, infrastructure, and ability to offer and manage disparate information systems provide MED3OOO with a distinct competitive advantage in the rapidly evolving healthcare industry. Each of the components of MED3OOO?s product and services suite is a critical competency for moving toward the delivery of accountable care.

For more information visit http://www.MED3000.com or Nicole_Contardo (at) MED3000 (dot) com

Uploaded by medicaremadeclear on Sep 23, 2010 www.MedicareMadeClear.com – Free video guide to understanding Medicare Advantage Plans and Options. Important Medicare Advantage, also called Part C, Plan eligibility, available benefits and options explainedDallas L Alford IV, CPA is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in the state of North Carolina and owner of Atlantic Financial Consulting, a consulting firm that provides comprehensive medical billing services, practice management consulting, coding audits, Medicare compliance, Medicare RAC support and other general medical practice consulting services. To learn more about Atlantic Financial Consulting you may visit their website at http or contact Dallas L Alford IV, CPA directly at 1 888-428-2555, Ext. 200.
Video Rating: 5 / 5

Learn the basics of Medicare with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida as we present to you a four part series of educational videos about Original Medicare, Medicare Supplements, Medicare Part D prescription drug plans and Medicare Advantage plans. The videos do not discuss details of products that are specific to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida. What is Medicare Advantage? – 0:29 What does Medicare Advantage cover? – 1:22 What are some important things I would want to know if I were considering a Medicare Advantage plan? – 2:17 Is Medicare Advantage a Medicare Supplement? – 3:34 When can Medicare Advantage be purchased or changed or even dropped? – 4:48 Can you explain the monthly plan premium cost? – 6:28
Video Rating: 5 / 5

When I’m 64


Image by Muffet
Little did I know that 64 would be the age when all sorts of health plans would start sending me information. At age 65, I become eligible for Medicare, which will drop my health insurance costs by two-thirds. Medicare does not cover all costs, so many companies offer insurance to cover what Medicare does not cover. The companies offer a bewildering assortment of plans, including HMOs, PPOs, and PFFS. I’m creating charts to compare them before I have to decide. This is only a small part of the pile of documents I have to wade through.

gutted bag


Image by jason.odonnell
I thought it would be a good idea to empty out the contents of my bag to work out why the hell it was SO HEAVY. This is what came out. Refer to the notes.

www.uhc.tv What’s the difference between a Medicare Advantage plan and a Medicare Supplement?
Video Rating: 0 / 5

This video in American Sign Language (ASL) provides an overview of Medicare, including Medicare Parts A, B, C & D. It also discusses Medicare-covered preventive services and the difference between the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

Congressman Ted Poe of District 2 and Congressman Brady are joined by physicians who have invested in the creation of a 50 bed community hospital in Poe’s district to address the possible stoppage of the project due to the new health care bill. Like the previous HR 3200 put forth in July, the new bill contains a provision that prevents doctor-owned/financed hospitals from operating if they did not obtain a Medicare number by January 1 of this year. The provision would close some 40 hospitals in Texas alone, resulting in the loss of up to 50000 jobs.
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Learn the steps you can take to prevent, detect and report Medicare fraud.

The NAPW Orange County Local Chapter gathered on March 30th for a professional networking meeting at Acapulco Restaurant. The meeting topic was Business Showcasing .

Rebekah started the meeting by thanking all in attendance and went over the winter schedule agenda. She discussed the Chapter?s plan of organizing an Italian 2012 December eight day tour.

?Many of us could use some amazing down time and rest before the holidays, if we start planning now,? said Rebekah. ?That way we could go on budget to Italy and with the money we save, we can bring some gifts for our loved ones.?

Next on the agenda was the introduction and showcasing of the members? businesses.

?I would like the members to one by one showcase their business and what it has to offer,? said Petra.

Petra Petry presented first. She is the Orange County Local Chapter President, PhD, and Long Term Care insurance Specialist of Long Term Care, based in Costa Mesa. Petra is licensed in California, Illinois, and Florida. She is also affiliated with the largest brokerage, ?LTC Financial Partners.? The company specializes in LTC insurance nationwide. She told the group that Long Term Care insurance is not just for the elderly. Anyone, at any age, may need assistance with day to day living as a result of an injury, accident or illness. She told the group that health insurance or Medicare pays for medical expense s and only Long Term Care insurance pays for extended care in or out of your home. Petra relayed that the insurance is available for Individual or group seminars, consultations, and webinars. She can be reached best at 949-351-0347.

Linda Kaplan is a Certified Coach, Educator, and Mentor with Kaplan Enterprises designs by S.I.L.K. Linda holds lecture series coaching on how to understand your co-workers, family, friends, students, and much more. Her coaching helps people use their talents and bring out their best qualities and expertise in all aspects of life. Linda can be contacted at 714-396-4428.

Donna Magner is the owner of XEROX a1Tonertech.com and active member of the Orange County Local Chapter. Donna helps people with any printer and copier needs, warranty renewals, service and repairs, and supplies for all major brands. She can be contacted at 866-507-8324.

Stephanie Correa is the owner, Health Coach, and Nutrition Counselor of Hope N? Wholeness . Her business focuses on helping people meet their goals and staying healthy, one step at a time. Stephanie relayed to the group both her contact information and website. She can be reached at 714-274-5393 and her work website can be visited at hopeNwholeness.com.

Susanne Frilot is the Quality Single Scout for Face 2Face Connections, the Premier Resource for Meeting Your Life Partner. She helps people find that special one. Susanne can be reached directly at 714-386-6805. Her work website can be visited at Face2FaceConnections.com.

Tiffany P. Scarborough, Attorney at Law, helps professionals with special attention to detail.

Tiffany relayed to the group her work website, murphycampbell.com and direct phone number, 714-372-2203 ext: 206.

Sheryl Jakofsky-Menes holds a Master of Science degree and is a Registered Dietitian and

Nutritionist. Her goal for her patients is to ensure they maintain a healthy lifestyle and follow proper nutritional guidelines. Sheryl?s office is located in Newport Beach and she can be contacted by phone at 949-612-7234 or via email at smenes(at)aol(dot)com. All visits are by appointment only.

Jennifer Righi is the President and Founder of Corporate Therapeutics Professional Massage Services for Your Business. She can be contacted via regular email at Jennifer(at)corporatetherapeutics(dot)com or by phone at 949-232-0843.

Linda Kamka is the Owner of Linda Kamka Designs. She is an expert in graphic design illustration, book layouts, full color digital printing, and promotional items. Linda can be reached by phone at 714-397-4696 or via regular email at info(at)lindakamkadesigns(dot)com. Her work website is at LindaKamkaDesigns.com

Susan Royce from Pure Expression with Unique Jewelry Creations works with custom unique jewelry. She can be reached via re susanroyce9at)sbcglobal(dot)net and her phone contact is 949-933-8210.

Kim Knoell is the Sales and Marketing Manager for Francoli S.P.A. Group CO. USA and the Brand Manager for Roberto Cavalli Vodka. Her work website is at francoliusa.com.

Members Lily Sibrian and Debbie Rose are both from KW Keller and Williams Realty Newport.

Debbie can be contacted via email at Estateskwnewportdebbie(at)gmail(dot)com and Lily can be contacted via regular email at lilys(at)kw(dot)com or by phone at 800-673-7319.

Sarah Shahryar is a Territory Account Manager for DTC/T3Point. The company facilitates business communication. She can be reached by phone at 214-453-1389 or via email at sshahryar(at)dtechcom(dot)net. Sarah?s work website is at dtechcom.net.

Susan Bock is a Personal Consultant and Professional Speaker. She works with her clients in a one-on-one setting and guides women through the halls of uncertainty toward the successful future they are destined to create. Susan also offered space for the upcoming meetings in Huntington Beach. She can be reached by phone at 714-847-1556 or by email at Susan(at)SusanBock(dot)com.

Judy Morgan is a California Licensed Electrologist. She told the group that electrolysis is the process of permanently removing unwanted hair. She discussed in detail how the hair is removed by a metal filament called a probe and is as thin as a hair, which is then slid into each unwanted hair follicle. Judy performs all procedures with the utmost care, so the probes do not puncture the skin. Upon insertion, a very low electric current is delivered to the follicle through the probe, which causes localized damage to the cell that produces the hair.

?Most patrons feel only a slight tingling sensation,? said Judy. ?Electrolysis has the best results in terms of longevity and is the only method of permanent hair removal recognized by the FDA.?

Judy can be contacted by phone at 949-230-1717 and her work website is at flashelectrology.com.

Angela M. Kaminsky is the Owner of AMK Consulting. Her company specializes in bookkeeping services, payroll, financial reporting, and bank reconciliation. Angela can be contacted by phone at 949-439-4986 or by email at amkbookkeeping(at)gmail(dot)com.

Christel Vilogron of Import Export Best Practices works with individuals to protect revenue through trade compliance. Christel?s direct number is 888-234-6862 or 949-633-0159. She can also be reached by email at christelv(at)cgvglobal(dot)com. Her work website is at cgvglobal.com.

Reyhan Bilici is the District Manager for Independent Capital Management, Inc. The company specializes in retirement, insurance, and real estate. She volunteered to be the Chapter?s speaker for April?s meeting and offered a conference room in her office as a place to hold the next meeting. Reyhan invited the Chapter to her new TEAM group network in Irvine. She can be contacted by phone at 949-453-7660 ext. 210 or via email at rbilici(at)sagepointadvisor(dot)com. Her work website is icmfinancial.com.

Donna Meyers is the Director of Business Development for Display Boys. The business specializes in environments and P.O.P. branding. She also volunteered as the transcriptionist for one of the meetings. Donna can be contacted by phone at 949-833-0100 ext:23 and by work email at donna(at)displayboys(dot)com. Her work website is displayboys.com.

Carol Cuoco is the Owner of Landscape Design by Carol, LLC. Her landscaping business works with residential landscape design and garden consultation services throughout Orange County, California. Her services include: detailed planting plans for single family dwellings, conceptual design for landscape elements such as patios, fireplaces, walkways, residential garden consultations, plant selections and nursery walks, vegetable beds, and container planting designs. Carol can be contacted by phone at 949-698-8447. Her work website is landscapedesignbycarol.com.

Lynn Taylor is an Author of ?Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant.?

The showcase ended with Tracey L. Clark who is an Information Technology Professional, Senior Programmer, Business Systems Analyst, and Project Leader. Tracey can be contacted at 714-863-9769 or via email at ttermath(at)sbcglobal(dot)net.

Petra thanked everyone in attendance for coming and to schedule the next upcoming meeting into their calendars. The next brown bag lunch meeting will be held on Friday April 27th at 11:45am in a conference room sponsored by ?NOEVIR.?

The National Association of Professional Women (NAPW) is the largest and most recognized network of female professionals. NAPW provides a forum where women can interact, exchange ideas, educate, network, and empower. NAPW Local Chapters allow members to maximize their experience through meetings, networking opportunities, and professional events.

For additional information regarding the NAPW Orange County Local Chapter and/or [NAPW please visit http://www.napw.com.

Follow NAPW on Facebook and Twitter.

###

Find More What Is Medicare Press Releases

With more than $ 9.3 million in non-equity incentive pay, Cigna Corp. CEO David Cordani had the highest total compensation package of any publicly traded health insurer CEO in 2011, according to Health Plan Week?s (HPW) annual analysis of proxy statements filed in March and April with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

According to Cigna?s proxy statement, Cordani raked in just over $ 19 million, a 25.4% increase from his 2010 compensation. That year, he ranked No. 2 in total compensation among publicly traded health plan operators. While his 2011 salary remained unchanged at $ 1 million, Cordani earned $ 5.8 million in stock awards, $ 2.6 million in option awards and $ 9.3 million in non-equity incentive compensation.

Cigna based 91% of Cordani?s 2011 target pay on performance, Cigna spokesperson Gloria Barone Rosanio tells HPW, adding that the compensation was within the competitive range of other large health insurers. The structure of Cordani?s pay package demonstrates how health plan executives are receiving a growing percentage of their compensation through incentive-based pay, a change that is leaving insurers open to criticism as premiums go up for members.

Go to http://aishealth.com/archive/nhpw041612-01 to read this article in its entirety, which also includes a table detailing the total compensation for 11 health plan CEOs in 2011. The table shows that most other health plan CEOs also saw their compensation rise in 2011.

Health Plan Week is the nation?s #1 source of timely, objective business, financial and regulatory news of the health insurance industry. Published since 1991, the 8-page weekly features valuable insights and strategies for health plan managers and others who must monitor the activities and performance of health insurers. Coverage includes new benefit designs and underwriting practices, new products and marketing strategies, mergers and alliances, financial performance and results, Medicare and Medicaid opportunities, disease management, and the flood of reform-driven regulatory initiatives including medical loss ratios, exchanges, ACOs and myriad benefit design changes that are mandated.

About AIS

AIS develops highly targeted news, data and strategies for managers in hospitals, health plans, medical group practices, pharmaceutical companies and other health care organizations. Learn more at http://www.AISHealth.com.

On 04-13-2012, a Texas Court dismissed Aetna?s landmark ?$ 99,750 Ear Wax Fraud? case against an out of network (OON) hospital and two surgeons, alleging that the hospital charged $ 99,750 for an ear wax removal and seeking temporary injunction to stop the hospital?s patient discount practice without collecting full deductible and co-insurance from all patients. The Court dismissed the entire Aetna lawsuit after Aetna voluntarily filed a Notice of ?Plaintiff?s non-suit without prejudice? as a result of the dramatic court proceedings for the defendant hospital and two surgeons. New Webinars were announced to examine this breaking development.

According to the Court document filed on 04-13-2012, Aetna ?announced to the Court that they no longer wish to pursue any of the claims asserted by them against Defendants Ifeolumipo O. Sofola, M.D., Navin Subramanian, M.D. and Humble Surgical Hospital, LLC. This non-suit terminates the case upon filing?.

The Court Case info: AETNA HEALTH INC vs. SOFOLA, IFEOLUMIPO O (MD) (Case #: 2011-73949 / Court 152)

ERISAclaim.com offers webinars to examine its impact of this 2012 healthcare landmark case on the patient?s rights to choose and payers? litigation explosions nationwide over the provider?s patient discount practice, because more than 77% of the insured Americans in private sectors have paid for the rights to receive care from the out of network hospitals and providers, and ?Harvard researchers say 62% of all personal bankruptcies in the U.S. in 2007 were caused by health problems?and 78% of those filers had insurance?.

(http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/jun2009/db2009064_666715.htm)

?This Court decision, along with all other pending Aetna cases across the nation, is very important for the 77% of the insured Americans in the private sectors with out-of-network coverage. Is it legal for hospitals and doctors to offer indigent discount to non-Medicare patients? Even it is perfectly legal to do so for all Medicare patients.? says Dr. Jin Zhou, President of ERISAclaim.com, a national expert on PPACA and ERISA appeals and compliance. (http://archive.hhs.gov/news/press/2004pres/20040219.html)

On Dec 7, 2011, Aetna filed this lawsuit in the District Court, Harris County, Texas. Aetna lawsuit seeks for temporary injunction to stop the hospital?s patient discount practice and PPO surgeon?s OON referrals, alleging breach of contract, conspiracy to overcharge, tortious interference, and common law fraud, including “a bill for $ 99,750 for the removal of ear wax?.

On Feb. 02, 2012, Aetna filed a ?$ 66,100 bunion surgery? lawsuit in California against seven California surgery centers, seeking to stop the alleged UCR billing without collecting full deductible and co-insurance from all patients. The court case info: Aetna Life Insurance Co. v. Bay Area Surgical Management LLC, File 02/02/2012, Case #: 112CV217943, The Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara.

According to the Crain’s New York Business on Feb. 07, 2012, Aetna also quietly filed similar lawsuits last year in the State of New Jersey and New York against several out-of-network doctors for allegedly aggressive collections from out of network patients.(http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20120207/HEALTH_CARE/120209916)

On March 7, 2012, NY State Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced that the Department of Financial Services (DFS) is investigating unexpected out-of-network medical costs affecting New Yorkers across the state, many of whom cannot afford to pay out-of-pocket expenses. In addition, DFS released a report finding that insurance companies are the first one to be responsible, and the healthcare providers are also responsible for unexpected out-of-pocket expenses driving so many patients into bankruptcy. The report finds an overwhelming need for increased transparency from insurers and medical service providers, and improved consumer protection measures to ensure that New Yorkers stop receiving unexpected bills. (http://www.dfs.ny.gov/about/press/pr1203071.htm)

According to the Press release on 03/07/2012 from NY State Governor Andrew M. Cuomo:

?Insurers are paying less of the cost of out-of-network care: The investigation found that insurers are moving to a system that greatly increases how much it costs consumers when they are treated out-of-network. To determine what they would pay for out-of-network care, most insurers used to use what is known as the usual and customary rate (UCR), which is supposed to be an average of actual bills for a procedure in that region. But now most are using the Medicare rate, which decreases how much insurers pay by as much as half or more in some cases. Insurers make this change hard for consumers to understand, because some are told they are going from 80% of the usual and customary rate to 140% of Medicare, which sounds like an improvement, but is not.?

The ERISAclaim.com Webinars will cover Aetna?s legal logics of fraud allegations, and compliant patient discount practice as well as proper out of network referrals only as the patient informed choice, in order to avoid being accused of any healthcare fraud, and to ensure that all patients are protected from any unexpected bills.

To find out more about PPACA Claims and Appeals Compliance Services from ERISAclaim.com:

http://www.erisaclaim.com/products.htm

Located in a Chicago suburb in Illinois, for over 12 years, ERISAclaim.com is the only ERISA & PPACA consulting, publishing and website resource for healthcare providers in the country. ERISAclaim.com offers free webinars, basic and advanced educational seminars and on-site claims specialist certification programs for doctors, hospitals and commercial companies, as well as numerous pending national ERISA class action litigation support. Dr. Jin Zhou is regarded as the industry ?Godfather of ERISA claims? for healthcare providers.

For any questions, please contact Dr. Jin Zhou, president of ERISAclaim.com, at 630-808-7237.

More Medicare Provider Press Releases

Sen. Rand Paul, joined by Sens. DeMint, Lee, and Graham, unveil the Medicare Reform Plan at a press conference in the Capitol.
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Domiano Eye Care, a leading eye care provider in Northeast Pennsylvania, is now offering complete Dry Eye services, including advanced testing and a wide range of the treatment options. Now utilizing the TearLab? Osmolarity System, Dr. Michele L. Domiano provides patients with precise information about the quality of their tears and progression of “dry eye syndrome.” With this quantified information, Dr. Domiano and her ABOC and Tearlab certified staff are able to diagnose and prescribe the most effective treatment available. Additionally, “Dry Eye” treatment is covered by most health insurances.

Domiano Eye Care has been serving Northeast Pennsylvania communities for 18 years, and is regarded as one of the region?s most reputable eye care centers. Dr. Domiano also provides complete vision care including treatment of blepharitis, glaucoma, and dry eye. Dr. Domiano also co-manages in the treatment of cataracts, diabetic conditions, lasik, and refractive surgery. Her commitment to using the most advanced technology, has allowed her to offer some of the best care for ?dry eye,? one of the most under-diagnosed vision disorders.

The TearLab? Osmolarity System is considered one of the most advanced methods for the diagnosis of ?dry eye,? and has received widespread recognition, including the Medical Design Excellence Award. Dr. Domiano can prescribe a well-rounded approach to dry eye treatment, and offer solutions such as advanced artificial tears, Restasis?, punctal plugs, dietary and environmental modifications, and proven healthy supplements. Individuals who are interested in learning more about ?dry eye? disease, including its diagnosis and treatment, are encouraged to contact the vision professionals at Domiano Eye Care Center.

Domiano Eye Care Center serves communities throughout Northeast Pennsylvania, including Lackawanna, Luzerne, Wyoming, Wayne, Monroe, and Pike Counties. Domiano Eye Care Center has state of the art offices in Old Forge and Kingston, Pennsylvania and unmatched experience in the diagnosis and treatment of “dry eyes.”

Call (570) 451-2020 in Old Forge or (570) 288-2020 in Kingston to schedule an appointment and evaluation with one of the most experienced and trusted eye care professionals.

Insurance Plans: We accept Davis Vision, VSP, Geisinger Health Plan, EyeMed, Medicare, Vision Benefits of America [VBA], SVS, Aetna Vision, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, NVA, Federal Blue Cross, and more….. Please call one of our offices to verify participation in your plan.

For further information, visit http://www.domianoeyecare.com

http://www.yellowbook.com/profile/domiano-eye-care_1853147858.html

Find More Supplemental Insurance To Medicare Press Releases

Best answer:

Answer by mbrcatz17
If you’re healthy, and in your mid 50′s, about $ 900 per person per month.

Add your own answer in the comments!

Reality Bites (draft v001)


Image by juhansonin
First cut at the Reality bites section of Sex and Design Axioms.

Needs lots of work. Test run of this and Pixel perfect at Boston BarCamp this weekend. These are uber rough… the design aint close!

PDF:
dl.getdropbox.com/u/40223/reality_bites.pdf

I got my disenroll form from Social Security. The form asks for two witnesses and the reason why you want to terminate Medicare. I really should not give my reasons because they will just find propaganda to contradict them so they can make money. Money is more important to them than spending the rest of eternity being burned and tortured in hell. Here is my reasons. Any medical professional, who thinks industry or workers compensation should profit, off the suffering of human beings, is completely insane. The point of suing, is to guarantee no one is ever injured on the job again. The medical professionals knew, that if a automobile goes faster than 10 mph, that people would be injured and killed by them. They did nothing to stop them, because the more people that are injured, the more profit they can make. They don’t tell you of 100000 people year they killed by medical mistakes, they only tell you of the one person cured. Just like the lottery, who only tells you of the winners. Doctors make women sign papers, so that if they or their children die from C-section, they can’t sue them. They say nothing when moral Doctors perform natural child births and get sued, because the Hospital is not making money from the C-Section. Even thought they know, women and children are three times more likely to die during a c-section, then a natural child birth. Even if doctors could help you, everything they learned, is by using other human beings as guinea pigs and by digging up the …
Video Rating: 2 / 5

Ashley, with the Medicare Rights Center, gives an introduction to Medicare with this Medicare Fundamentals video. Learn the different parts of Medicare and ways to get your Medicare coverage.
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Health insurance quote provider SelfHealthInsurance.com released a new study titled ?Which Cities Spend The Most On Health Care And Which Ones Spend The Least?? The study, which gathered statistical information from Thomson Reuters’ repository of health care claims, in addition to other sources, looks at health insurance costs of metropolitan areas in the United States. It looks at the amount of money Americans spend on their employer-sponsored health care plans on a city-by-city basis.

The data shows that the nation’s capital, Washington, DC, spends the most for health care out of any city in the country. On the opposite side of the spectrum, the less-populated Ogden, UT has the lowest health insurance costs.

The study shows that larger, more populated cities tend to have higher health care costs. The three largest metropolitan areas of the United States: New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, are all on the top ten list for highest amount spent on health insurance. SelfHealthInsurance.com says that a major reason big cities spend a lot on health care is because of the first-rate medical care offered in these cities. Because the best hospitals are located in major metropolitan areas, people with serious illness and rare diseases flock to these medical centers for treatment.

Secondary reasons cited for high health care costs in major cities include pollution and stress. The study says that in big cities smog and pollutants tend to stay in the air longer and therefore wreck havoc on its residents. The stresses of big city life and also play a role in increasing the amount spent on health care. SelfHealthInsurance.com says, ?workplace related stress is not good for your health, and new studies are beginning to show it leads to increased health care costs.?

On the other hand, when looking at more relaxed, care-free cities, SelfHealthInsurance.com says, health care costs are much lower. The major city (of cities with metropolitan area populations greater than 500,000) with the lowest health care costs, the study shows, is Portland, Oregon. SelfHealthInsurance.com says that ?Portland is known for being an active town where many people enjoy bike riding and hiking. Because Portland has so many healthy residents, fewer citizens of the city require costly health care procedures.?

When looking at all Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) in the United States, Ogden, UT spends the lowest on healthcare. SelfHealthInsurance.com believes that the stress-free climate of cities like Ogden plays a huge role in determining insurance costs. Thomon Reuters’ also says that in these smaller communities, the low amount of hospitals may play a role in keeping health care costs to a minimum. Ray Fabius, chief medical officer for the health care business of Thomson Reuters, says that generally speaking, ?we know that the greater the competition in a community, the better the pricing is from a consumer standpoint. If there is a single dominant hospital in a community, they would not have pricing pressure; if there are more hospitals in a community, there is more pricing pressure.?

SelfHealthInsurance.com is a health insurance quote provider located in New York, NY. In addition to providing health insurance quotes to United States users, they also release studies and reports on the health insurance industry. Recent reports include, ?How smoking affects healthcare costs? and ?How Is Obamas Health Care Reform Going To Effect Health Insurance In America?? SelfHealthInsurance.com’s goal is to become the leading online health insurance provider in the United States.

Jessica Sundheim


Image by On Being
Repossessing Virtue: Humility Is the Basis of My New Faith (December 14, 2008)
(this essay originally appeared on SOF Observed as part of the Speaking of Faith series, "Repossessing Virtue" at speakingofaith.org/first-person/repossessing-virtue/)

Editor’s note: We asked our listeners and readers to tell us their stories about the moral and spiritual aspects of the economic downturn. In the coming months, we’ll be featuring some of these on SOF Observed an as part of our First Person project, "Repossessing Virtue."

Jessica Sundheim reminds us that personal transformation and understanding happens at any age. She kicks off this first person exploration, and continues our series of interviews with wise voices, including Martin Marty, Prabhu Guptara, Esther Sternberg, Rachel Naomi Remen, and others to come.

Since I was very young, like just about everyone I know, I had a strong mechanism deep within that could smell injustice, layer upon layer of it. I knew at age three that going to daycare sucked, and I knew that my peers were favored because we were cared for by their mother. However, the complexity of greater social injustices didn’t really begin to sink in until I turned 25. Before then I think of myself as a protestor/whiner. I saw the injustice at face value and whined about it. Growing up on poverty and years of watching PBS documentaries of war demonstrations, the liberation of concentration camps, civil rights marches, The Wonder Years, and listening to my parents old LP’s of The Beatles and Janice Joplin had left their mark.

The tragedy of 9/11 took place just weeks after my 23rd birthday. It was shaking, like someone had struck a chord that had resonated for years and then on 9/11 someone struck a new chord, a chord no one knew. I quit my job to stay home with my kids. I flew home to Tennessee with my toddler and eight-month-old baby to visit family. We bought a new car. We waited. I was ready to act, but no direction came. I also began to seek out spiritual renewal and joined a very fundamentalist Bible study. Soon, my car was tuned to a different station, one that focused on my family and my role in it instead of news and the world. My head was filled with directives to isolate, seclude my young, and become as perfect as possible. My goal was to be Jesus Christ and to get everyone else to be just like me.

The mechanism that smelled injustice began to be tweaked. "Could it really be injustice if the person isn’t a Christian? God works for the good of those who believe in him." Personal behavior and faith status became the stick with which I measured out those who suffered for no cause of their own and those who deserved it. No longer a sheep in the flock, I wasn’t even the shepherd; I was the butcher, me and about 5 million others. So when the war that I had been fated to protest for years came, I was blinded by a belief system that mandated an eye for an eye.

My belief system had little sympathy or compassion for people who could not control their sinful nature. I didn’t even believe in funding public schools, or that women should work outside the home. Our society was falling apart because of working women, sex, Godless public education, taxes, and fast food. I really, really believed in this.

Shortly after 9/11 my husband became the director of an environmental learning center. Two years later, when the funding was cut and the center folded my life changed. I started a cleaning business at seven months pregnant because no business would hire me, and I got a job as a coordinator for an after school program (in a public school). I also became vehemently opposed to any business that would have the audacity to discriminate against a pregnant woman.

My husband worked endlessly. He had three jobs. He went to tutor at the school at 3:00 p.m., from there he went to his overnight factory job at 6 p.m. He got home after working an 11-hour shift at 5 a.m. At 9 a.m., after four hours of sleep, he went on call as an EMT with the local ambulance service. He could still catch some sleep if he didn’t get a call. Without the paycheck that we had become accustomed to, public school began to look like a good deal, my dream of home schooling was fading. Something I had railed against for years (welfare) began to look like a social safety net. I’ll never forget the time I was at a Christian women’s meeting and the director of the food shelf leaned over and said, "You can go to the food shelf so many times per year. You should go." She squeezed the life out of my hand, as if to say if you don’t go I’ll hurt you. I went.

I’ll never forget that experience. I, a hard working, educated, sober, business woman was going to a food shelf! The people were so nice. The form was one page, about five questions. I thought we’d get enough food for one meal, but I had to pull my car around so that I could unload box after box into my car. We were given so much, I couldn’t fit it all in my cupboards. We ate every last can of tuna, box of instant potatoes, and even SPAM with relish.

Humility is the basis of my new faith.

I do not look at the state of our country’s economy as a crisis in the same way as most. The state of affairs is an opportunity, in many ways. I still have a sense of justice, and so I think that someone should pay for the frivolous, machismo, arrogant politics and policies of the last 15 years. But, I know that for the most part the powerless, not the propagator, will suffer most in this mess.

However, poverty for me is no longer a judgment handed down to the lazy, uneducated, drunken, egocentric sloth. I no longer define poverty by neighborhood, class, education, or even bank account. Poverty is to lack the ability to help others as one would want to help oneself. Poverty is the inability to forgive — the blind, misinformed faith that isolates and secludes a person from joy, self-forgiveness, compassion, and love for one’s neighbor.

Our family has gone through a financial crisis much like what the country is facing now. We have learned a lot and I feel that we are better off. The leadership I am looking for at this time is a leadership that believes in everyday people. Leadership that doesn’t look at the person’s bank account or position of status to find value, but instead a leadership that understands the inherent value of every citizen of this country. A leadership that doesn’t seclude or isolate, but reaches out to all of us and in turn gives some useful direction, a map.

What am I doing differently? I am no longer a secluded housewife. My kids go to school. We moved to a new community. I am grateful for welfare, food stamps, and Medicare even though we no longer use them. The food shelf still rocks. Involved in my local political party, I fought hard for a candidate with real vision as a delegate to the DFL state convention. (I am the former chairperson for the Big Stone County Republican Party). For the last year I worked two jobs, helped plan a fundraiser, door knocked for Barack, had a house party, marched in a lawn chair brigade in many parades for my local candidate for Minnesota House Seat 10A. As the volunteer coordinator for A Center for the Arts, I naturally voted "yes" on the constitutional amendment.

I find wisdom at a unique church. The church is actually two churches, United Church of Christ and a Presbyterian church, which came together to worship in the same house when a tornado blew through town almost a hundred years ago. The six of us live in a two-bedroom house on the tracks in the "ghetto" of Fergus Falls, and I let the kids play with the neighbors. I could not be more different, or any further from my old idea of "perfection."

I find leadership in my elders, veterans, the people who grew up during the Great Depression, and my grandmother. I also look for ways to be of use. I find spiritual renewal in many forms of art, but my favorite is dance. I enjoy other’s points of view and I don’t always know mine. I like collaborating.

I once called into an MPR pledge drive during SOF to protest the show and withdraw my membership. I am sorry. Now, I want to tell you thank you. This [essay] is humongous, but it’s been a journey and I wouldn’t be the person I am now without having listened to the different ideas and perspectives (especially an interview with an Evangelical fundamentalist a few years back). Your show makes a difference, so I look forward to tuning in.

Jessica Sundheim was born during the Carter administration and lives in Fergus Falls, Minnesota.

DAMN!! — I THINK WE’RE F*%KED


Image by SS&SS
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned Congress on Wednesday that it must act promptly to narrow the yawning federal budget deficit or risk losing the confidence of financial markets.
"In order to make lenders willing to continue to finance us at reasonable rates, we do have to persuade them that we are serious about returning to a more balanced fiscal situation going forward," Bernanke told the House Budget Committee.

"Unless we demonstrate a strong commitment to fiscal sustainability in the longer term, we will have neither financial stability nor healthy economic growth."

Separately, the Fed chief reiterated his forecast for a tepid start to economic recovery later this year, a view backed by mixed reports Wednesday on the service industry and business employment.

The deficit has swelled, largely as a result of the 7 billion stimulus package, the 0 billion Wall Street rescue plan and lower tax revenues during the recession. A rising federal debt spooks lenders and drives up interest rates. Bernanke partly blamed the red ink for recent increases in yields on long-term Treasury notes and fixed-rate mortgages.

Noting that tax increases can dampen a recovery by eroding consumer buying power, Bernanke suggested Congress must look closely at paring entitlement programs — a politically explosive idea. Social Security and Medicare, he said, will rise to 12.5% of the economy by 2030, up from 8.5% today.

"The fundamental question that Congress, the administration and the American people face is how large a share of the nation’s economic resources to devote to federal government programs, including entitlement programs," he said

———————————————————————————————————————————-
Friday, 20 Aug 2010 02:54 PM

Layoffs are back, and that’s bad news for the fragile economic recovery.

New applications for unemployment benefits hit a nine-month high last week — a spike that suggests private employers may shed jobs this month for the first time this year.

Workers are losing construction jobs in Georgia and manufacturing jobs in Indiana. Some of the layoffs are coming as stimulus money dries up and public works projects come to a halt. Government employees are being let go, too, as states and cities grapple with budget crises.

Without more jobs, consumers will not feel secure enough to spend much money, further slowing the economy. The grim outlook has economists lowering their estimates for growth in the second half of the year. And on Thursday it led to a sell-off on Wall Street led by investors worried that the United States could tumble back into recession.

"Today’s news on the economy has been nothing but awful," Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics, wrote in a note to clients. "The recovery is clearly slowing."

The Labor Department announced Thursday that initial claims for jobless benefits rose by 12,000 last week to 500,000 — the highest level since November and the third straight increase.

As the economy recovered from the worst downturn since the 1930s, jobless claims declined steadily from a peak of 651,000 in March 2009 to a low of 427,000 in July before rising steadily over the past six weeks. In a healthy economy, jobless claims usually drop below 400,000.

"This is obviously a disappointing number that shows ongoing weakness in the job market," said Robert Dye, senior economist at the PNC Financial Services Group.

In-house payroll software run on users’ own computers offers more efficiency, security and control than other payroll options for much greater cost savings. Payroll tax software developer Halfpricesoft.com (http://www.halfpricesoft.com) released the new 2012 ezPaycheck software, which is easy to use even for people with no accounting background.

The main updates of version 3.2.8 include:

????Updates on Form 941 for Employer?s QUARTERLY Federal Tax Return.
????Updates on user-interface which includes form level help buttons
????Updates on custom deductions which make it easy to handle local taxes

Small business owners love ezPaycheck payroll software because it is simple and flexible to use, handles all their payroll needs and is very affordable. ezPaycheck payroll tax application is designed for use by non-accountants with minimal computer skills. However, even accountants like it because it is so flexible and supports unlimited accounts with one flat rate.

“We believe payroll and tax software should be designed for the non-technical people who are actual end-users,” explains Dr. Ge, President and Founder of halfpricesoft.com. “We always keep in mind that our customers are small business owners, not computer whizzes or financial gurus. But that makes them the best possible people to listen to when designing payroll software, so we include them as members of our design team.”

ezPaycheck 2011?s interface is so intuitive and user-friendly that first time users can start calculating payroll and printing paychecks immediately. The long learning curve typically associated with financial software is non-existent with ezPaycheck, even if the user does not have an accounting background.

This update version is free for current 2012 ezPaycheck payroll software users. New customers considering ezPaycheck 2012 can download and sample the payroll software without charge or obligation for up to 30 days. The free download, which is available at http://www.halfpricesoft.com/payroll_software_download.asp, includes a sample database, to make it easier for customers to test drive all the features of ezPaycheck 2012 before purchasing a license key.

The main features include:

Up to date tax tables for all 50 U.S. states, Washington D.C. and federal taxes
Capability for adding local tax rates
Automatically calculate tips, commissions, federal withholding tax, Social Security, Medicare tax, employer unemployment taxes, and other pre-tax and post-tax deductions
Print paychecks using a standard laser printer on blank computer checks or preprinted checks
Use check-in-middle, check-on-top, or check-at-bottom check stock formats
Able to print MICR numbers on blank check stock to save on pre-printed checks
Print signature image on checks for a customized look
Built-in report functions users can customize
Calculate and print daily, weekly, biweekly, semimonthly and monthly payroll periods
Option for masking employees’ Social Security Numbers on check stubs
Compile and print federal tax forms w2, w3, 940 and 941
Unlimited free technical support

With license keys starting at only $ 89 per installation, ezPaycheck 2012 is an affordable accounting payroll and check printing software solution for any business – no matter how small the business is. ezPaycheck 2011 also supports payroll tracking for multiple businesses, making it perfect for accountants and entrepreneurs with multiple businesses.

To start the free test-drive, visit http://www.halfpricesoft.com/index.asp

About Halfpricesoft.com and EzPaycheck Payroll Software

EzPaycheck is developed and distributed by Halfpricesoft.com, a Louisville, Ky.-based firm committed to creating affordable and easy-to-use financial software for small businesses. Additional small-business payroll software titles available from Halfpricesoft.com include w2 1099 software, check printing software, employee time tracking software and barcode printing software.

More Medicare Application Press Releases

How do I know which plan is good for him? Are there certain things to avoid? How do I sign him up? Thank you so much

Best answer:

Answer by Age of Reason
He is already a member of medicare if he is over 65. Check his wallet for his Medicare card.
Somewhere in the house is a medicare book explaining the program He must also have a supplementary plan. There should be a card for that or look for old medical bills. There are too many plans and the best are those that his doctor accepts. You must go through all the files and paperwork Grandma must have records of everything you need to know.

What do you think? Answer below!

20100406boswell_003


Image by Iowa Democratic Party – iowademocrats.org
Don, from the Alliance of Retired Americans, spoke about how the health insurance reform bill would help close the Medicare Part D "Donut Hole" that so many seniors fall into.

Stella Johnson On The Impact Of Health Insurance Reform


Image by Leader Nancy Pelosi
This afternoon at a press conference in the Capitol, Stella Johnson talked about how she will benefit from much-needed health insurance reform:

My name is Stella Johnson, and I am a retired school teacher for Washington, D.C. I am also a member of the Alliance for Retired Americans. Like many seniors, I must take prescriptions every day to manage my high blood pressure and high cholesterol. But unfortunately, along with over 3 million other seniors, I am in what is known as the Medicare “donut hole.”

For several months of the year, I have to pay full price for my prescriptions, even though I am still paying my Medicare premiums. In other words, I pay the money but get nothing in return. For an example, in 2008, I received a letter from my insurance company stating that I would not receive any money for my medicine during the month of December. No you know how that is, that is supposed to be a very joyful month. However, I found myself, during that time, quite desperate for I would not receive any money until the new year for my insurance began. I had to use my utility bill money in order to buy my medicine. And then, in order to catch up these bills, I had to even go to borrow money from my food money. I became quite desperate, and I didn’t know what to do. Because in times like this, it is very hard for me to make ends meet. I have to chose between taking the medicines I need and paying my monthly bills. Because my prescription costs so much, I fall behind on some of these bills. When I get hit with late penalties, things even get worse.

The health care bill will help seniors like me, who struggle every day to afford the prescriptions they must have. Retirees all across the country desperately need this bill to pass right away.

Best answer:

Answer by Disher5
….. It doesn’t. The reason Medicare was created is because insurance companies wouldn’t insure seniors. Vouchers would leave seniors destitute without insurance.

Give your answer to this question below!

great hed


Image by Esthr
the San Jose Mercury’s take on Medicare

Senate Dems Protest Medicare Cuts


Image by Talk Radio News Service
Health and Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, warns against the harsh Medicare cuts in the GOP budget plan.

Deputy Administrator and Director for the Center of Medicare at CMS Jonathan Blum visits Christiana Care to speak about accountable care organizations


Image by Christiana Care
Christiana Care hosted Jonathan Blum, deputy administrator and director for the Center of Medicare at the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), to speak about accountable care organizations on Monday, Jan. 30.

Blum is responsible for overseeing the regulation and payment of Medicare fee-for-service providers, privately-administrated Medicare health plans, and the Medicare prescription drug program. He was invited to speak at the John H. Ammon Medical Education Center by U.S. Sen. Tom Carper. Rita Landgraf, secretary of Delaware Health and Social Services, Delaware State Rep. Michael Barbieri and Bettina Riveros, Gov. Jack Markell’s policy adviser on health care, also were in attendance.

Blum also met with Christiana Care’s senior leaders for lunch and was given a tour of Christiana Hospital from the perspective of a patient with cardiac problems. Blum visited the trauma bays at the Emergency Department, followed by entry to the Heart & Vascular Interventional Services on the second floor, where cardiac catheterization would be performed.

“We wanted to show him how we would provide care for a patient during the tour, rather than simply just showing him the facilities,” said Janice Nevin, M.D., the chief medical officer for Christiana Care. “Mr. Blum was very interested in understanding what the providers are experiencing in this current environment.”

Upon completion of the tour, Blum gave an overview on accountable care organizations to about 40 Delaware health care stakeholders—comprised largely of leaders of several Delaware health systems and federally-qualified health centers.

An accountable care organization (ACO) is a type of payment and delivery reform model that links provider reimbursements to quality metrics and reductions in the total cost of care for an assigned population of patients. A group of coordinated health care providers—which can include doctors, hospitals, nursing homes—form an ACO, which then provides care to the group of patients. Thirty-two health systems have been selected by CMS to participate as pioneer accountable care organizations. Blum noted that these systems were able to qualify because they already have experience in population health, pay-for-performance and risk-based reimbursement.

“What we heard underscores the message that if we are going to be able to position ourselves for the future, we need to continue to design and experiment with projects built on the principles of an accountable care organization,” Nevin said.

Best answer:

Answer by paulcondo
1962,sorry i just it up july 30 1965

Give your answer to this question below!

Chefchauen, zapping


Image by bbbelo
Le sere in questo piccolo vilaggio rosso bianco e blu passano lente e divertenti, e quella che doveva essere una toccata e fuga si trasforma piano nella conclusione di questo viaggio, assorbiti tra i soliti the alla menta, due fratelli tedeschi, un’infermiere austriaco, due vecchi, anzi, antichi musicisti berberi e appassionati match di calcio con i ragazzi del posto, che a volte sembrano brasiliani da come giocano bene, e se gli dici che sei italiano ciao, devi fare una rovesciata o un takle di quelli epici. Che li ho fatti eh, però poi la Vero mi ha dovuto medicare.

Giri del mondo che finiscono inevitabilmente sulla terrazza di questo piccolo buco ben tenuto, tra chiacchiere e qualche goccia di pioggia fuori, e nel silenzio, il rumore dei canali cambiati nervosamente della televisione al piano terra.

Fatima e il suo pollice sul telecomando
sono ciò che di più veloce è presente in quest’edificio.

Project365.[143]_Ngo?i


Image by ND | Tom
Day 143: Ngo?i …

C?m ?n Anh Th? ?ã m?i mình tham gia vào bu?i ngày hôm nay.

Hôm nay mình ?ã theo chân ?oàn các Y Bác S? ng??i Philippines, hi?n ?ang làm vi?c t?i b?nh vi?n Medicare [k? bên Diamond Plaza] ??n th?m và t?ng quà cho các c? già neo ??n, cô ??c t?i Chùa Lâm Quang, Qu?n 8.

M?i l?n ?i t? thi?n là m?i c?m xúc khác. Xin gi? c?m xúc l?i cho riêng mình. Mình ?ã th?y các Y Bác S? ng??i Philippines b?t khóc khi th?y c?nh t??ng các c? già n?i ?ây …

M?c ?ích ph? chuy?n ?i ngày hôm nay c?ng là l?y ?nh cho Project Help Portrait: www.help-portrait.com/ . Mình c?ng m?i bi?t v? project này, và l?i th?y ?ây là 1 project tuy?t v?i !!!

Xin ???c share 1 t?m ?nh c?a 1 c? n?i ?ây. Mình ko up h?t ?nh vì nh?ng hình này s? ???c g?i qua cho Project Help Portrait, và ?ây c?ng là nh?ng v?n ?? nh?y c?m …

T? nhiên nh? t?i Care And Share nhà mình. Không bi?t C&S ?ã ??n n?i ?ây ch?a … (?)

Attorneys Andres Alonso and David Krangle, founding partners of Alonso Krangle LLP, a national law firm focused on protecting the rights of whistleblowers, are offering their assistance to anyone who wishes to take the first step and discuss their knowledge of fraud against the U.S. government by possibly pursuing a Qui Tam lawsuit under the federal False Claims Act. Whistleblowers who successfully pursue a False Claims Act lawsuit on behalf of the federal government are entitled to receive anywhere from 15 to 30 percent of any monetary damages the government recovers as a result of their Qui Tam lawsuit. The types of fraud eligible for Whistleblower compensation under the False Claims Act include:

???? Medicare and Medicaid Fraud
????Pharmaceutical Fraud
????Nursing Home Fraud
????Defense Contractor Fraud
????Contractor Fraud
????Federal Loan and Grant Fraud

If you believe you have evidence that the government is being defrauded, you should discuss coming forward as a whistleblower to attorneys who will take the time and listen to your story. Alonso Krangle LLP has extensive experience with whistleblower acts, whistleblower law, whistleblower rules, regulations, statutes and offers FREE, no obligation, and completely confidential legal consultations to potential False Claims Act whistleblowers. To discuss your potential False Claims Act lawsuit, please contact us today at 1-800-403-6191 or visit our website, http://www.FightForVictims.com

Whistleblower Protection Law And The False Claims Act

The federal False Claims Act provides U.S. taxpayers with a powerful tool to recover the billions lost every year to government fraud committed by unethical and unscrupulous contractors and businesses.?Under the Act, a private person can sue another private party, such as a government contractor, on behalf of the federal government in what is called a Qui Tam lawsuit. The federal False Claims Act provides for substantial rewards for successful whistleblowers, and also protects whistleblowers from retaliation for filing or investigating a potential Qui Tam claim. (justice.gov/civil/docs_forms/C-FRAUDS_FCA_Primer.pdf)

Many whistleblowers are employees or former employees of the companies that have defrauded the government, but anyone with evidence of fraud against the government is eligible to move forward with a Qui Tam lawsuit. If the government recovers damages in a Qui Tam lawsuit, the whistleblower is generally entitled to 15 to 30 percent of the amount the government obtains. Whistleblower rewards under the False Claims Act can be substantial, as defendants can be liable for three times the amount of damages they cause. The Act also authorizes penalties of $ 5,500 to $ 11,000 for each false or fraudulent claim by a defendant.

Qui Tam lawsuit

When a whistleblower files a Qui Tam lawsuit, the complaint remains under seal for at least 60 days. While the lawsuit is under seal, the U.S. Justice Department will investigate, and must ultimately decide whether or not to join ? or ?intervene? ? in the case. This investigation is conducted without informing the defendant that they have been named in a Qui Tam lawsuit, and without publically identifying the whistleblower. Should the government choose to join the case, the lawsuit is unsealed, and the government, together with the relator and their attorney, work to prosecute the case. If the government declines to intervene, the whistleblower may choose to prosecute the case on their own.

The False Claims Act provides that only the first person to file a Qui Tam lawsuit alleging fraud can proceed.????The Act also has other specific jurisdiction and procedural requirements that must be followed in order for a whistleblower to claim an award. For this reason, it?s vital to that anyone considering bringing a Qui Tam lawsuit under the False Claims Act first consult an experienced whistleblower lawyer with extensive experience in this area of law.

If you have evidence that the government is being defrauded, the experienced whistleblower lawyers at Alonso Krangle LLP can make sure your rights are protected, and take steps to maximize your recovery. Alonso Krangle LLP offers free, no obligation, and completely confidential legal consultations to potential False Claims Act whistleblowers. To discuss your potential whistleblower lawsuit, please contact us at 1-800-403-6191 or visit our website, http://www.FightForVictims.com.

About Alonso Krangle LLP Andres Alonso and David Krangle, attorneys with almost 40 years of collective legal experience, have focused their law practice on the handling of significant personal injury cases, defective drug and medical device litigation, construction site accidents, nursing home abuse, medical negligence, qui tam/whistleblower actions and consumer fraud cases. ?A national law firm representing injured victims throughout the U.S., Alonso Krangle LLP is headquartered in Long Island, New York, with offices in New York City, and plans to open additional locations in New Jersey.

For more information about Alonso Krangle or to join the fight and be a part of our team, please contact us at 1-800-403-6191 or visit our website, http://www.FightForVictims.com

Contact:

Alonso Krangle LLP

445 Broad Hollow Road

Suite 205

Melville, New York

11747

Toll-FREE 1-800-403-6191

Tel: 516-350-5555

###

United Security Life and Health Insurance Company (USL&H) recently named American Chartered Bank as its Health Savings Account (HSA) administrator. One of the affordable health care plans USL&H offers its customers is the HSA-qualified High Deductible Health Care Plan (HDHP). HDHP policyholders qualify for an HSA which offers several distinct advantages, one of which is tax savings.

Sandra J. Horn, President, USL&H remarked, ?There are many advantages of having an HSA-qualified health insurance plan. The first attractive benefit is a low premium. The concept of HSA-qualified plans was created in response to Consumer Driven Healthcare, which gives the individual more control over their healthcare costs. The HSA is offered as an HDHP, which helps to keep the premium low. The most distinct advantage of this type of health plan is the tax benefits, which are available to individuals and families, as long as their health plan is an HSA-qualified HDHP. USL&H has worked with American Chartered Bank to ensure the process is seamless and our customers are able to reap the tax benefits these policies afford.?

An HSA is a bank account where tax-free or tax-deductible deposits are made to pay for qualified medical expenses. Funds in an HDHP policyholder?s HSA can be used to pay for qualified medical expenses like doctor visits and prescription medication, not only for the policyholder, but for their spouse and tax dependents.

The maximum amount that can be deposited each year is defined by the IRS. For 2012, the maximum contribution limits are: $ 6,250 for family coverage and $ 3,100 for self-only coverage.

Any adult can contribute to an HSA if they meet the following requirements:

???????? Have coverage under an HSA-qualified ?high deductible health plan?
???????? Have no other first-dollar medical coverage (other types of insurance like specific injury
???????? or accident, disability, dental care, vision care, or long-term care insurance are permitted)

???????? Not enrolled in Medicare
???????? Cannot be claimed as a dependent on someone else?s tax return.

USL&H has made it easy and convenient for their customers to open their HSA with American Chartered Bank. Customers just need to visit the company?s website http://www.uslandh.com and click on the HSA information section.

About United Security Life and Health Insurance Company:

USL&H is a regional insurance carrier that offers cancer, accident hospital indemnity, critical illness, dental with vision and hearing, disability income, health and life insurance products to individuals and families. Founded in 1973, USL&H is licensed to sell its products in Arizona, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana and Missouri and Nebraska through a network of independent insurance agents. For more information on USL&H please visit the company?s website at http://www.uslandh.com.

###

MostMedicare.com has today announced they have added new Medicare insurance companies to their powerful, comprehensive quote engine. Medicare recipients can search for information on Medicare plans, receive quotes and compare rates for different Medicare insurance providers in order to find the best options for their needs.

Medicare provides essential help for many people in the United States. However, a significant number of elderly individuals and other Medicare recipients struggle to find the best Medicare insurance provider. MostMedicare.com was created to give those individuals the assistance they need.

MostMedicare.com does more than just connect users with a database of Medicare insurance companies. The website offers a powerful search engine that allows users to search for Medicare insurance companies by zip code and then compare rates specific to their geographic location without having to put in their contact information. In addition, MostMedicare.com provides a substantial amount of information to help Medicare recipients understand the program, as well as 2012 Medigap and other concerns, such as what supplements are necessary, information about Medicare advantage plans and what recipients should know prior to buying a Medicare supplement plan.

Medicare companies within MostMedicare.com?s database comprise some of the most respected insurance providers in the nation, including:

Secure Horizons Medicare

Humana Medicare

Gerber Medicare

BCBS Medicare

Aetna Medicare

Cigna Medicare

Kaiser Permanente

With more and more individuals in need of help with their medical insurance, and the growing complexity of Medicare with the additions of Part C and Part D, the need for this type of powerful resource is immense. In addition, because MostMedicare.com also provides direct access to Medicare insurance companies in addition to providing information and comparison options, the website stands as a truly powerful health resource for any Medicare recipient.

To find out more about Medicare insurance companies, what individuals should know about Medicare and its various parts, or to start comparing providers and plans, visit http://www.MostMedicare.com.

About MostMedicare.com: MostMedicare.com was founded for one reason only ? to provide Medicare recipients with the information needed to not only find a good Medicare insurance company, but also the information necessary to understand Medicare and the programs various plans, how those plans affect each person and more.

###

More Medigap Press Releases

J Center Medicare D Seminar 11-21-06


Image by Korean Resource Center ????

J Center Medicare D Seminar 11-21-06 (16)


Image by Korean Resource Center ????

J Center Medicare D Seminar 11-21-06 (15)


Image by Korean Resource Center ????

Question by : Does Medicare cover dialysis on a cruise ship ?
Need this 3 days per week.

Best answer:

Answer by George
I don’t think they can pay for your treatment, Also i believe that Medicare will not pay for dialysis treatment on any ship.
Some private insurance comapnies might pay up to around 80% of the treatments. Maybe look into other companies to cover the treatment.
Your best bet is to get it done in US ports while you can.

Add your own answer in the comments!

Best answer:

Answer by Wayne Z
HRBlock.com has a Tax Estimator.

Medicare is not refundable.

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!

www.MedicareAdvantageToday.com CLICK Here for more information or CALL now at 800-350-5358 Today we would like to talk to you about how to choose Medicare Supplement plans and how we will help you save money. As you know, Medicare consists of two parts, Medicare Part A which covers hospital services, and Medicare Part B which covers physician services. You might ask: “Is having basic Medicare not enough?” – The answer is “No”, because you would then have to pay deductibles and co-insurance: Medicare would pay 80% and you would have to pay the other 20%. Medicare Supplement plans will eliminate all the deductibles and the 20% co-insurance. Your next question might be: “How I can choose the best Medicare Supplement plan for my situation?” By law, ALL Medicare supplement plans must offer the same benefits: the ONLY difference will be the premium that you have to pay each month. Remember that premiums for Medicare Supplement plans change every year, so we will help compare your rates with other insurance companies to make sure you are paying the lowest possible rate for your plan. We understand that it is difficult and time consuming to a choose a Medicare Supplement plan so we look forward to solving all your Medicare problems. We will compare all the available plans and identify the plans that will save you the most money. At your request, we will even set up an in-home appointment to meet with you personally in the comfort of your own home. To find out more on how to make …
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Question by Brownie12866: Medicare coverage…?
The phone rings and the lady of the house answers, “Hello.”

“Mrs. Sanders, please.”

“Speaking.”

“Mrs. Sanders, this is Doctor Jones at Saint Agnes Laboratory. When your doctor sent your husband’s biopsy to the lab yesterday, a biopsy from another Mr. Sanders arrived as well, and we are now uncertain which one is your husband’s. Frankly the results are either bad or terrible.”

“What do you mean?” Mrs. Sanders asks nervously.

“Well, one of the specimens tested positive for Alzheimer’s and the other one tested positive for AIDS. We can’t tell which is your husband’s.”

“That’s dreadful! Can’t you do the test again?” questioned Mrs. Sanders.

“Normally we can, but Medicare will only pay for these expensive tests one time.”

“Well, what am I supposed to do now?”

“The people at Medicare recommend that you drop your husband off
somewhere in the middle of town. If he finds his way home, don’t sleep with him.”

Best answer:

Answer by Ali
i get it. cause he wouldnt be able to find his way home if he has alzheimers. so he if found his way home it would be the guy with aids.
good one

Add your own answer in the comments!

Best answer:

Answer by Flower
If you are a medical biller, cant you call Medicare or the doctor’s office

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Gatwick-based International Logistics Group (ILG) has appointed Exact Abacus to upgrade their back office and customer service systems with the leading-edge 3ex.net software platform. Replacing the incumbent Unix-based system, 3ex.net will provide scalability, superior functionality and a first class experience for customers across the UK.

ILG is one of the UK?s largest integrated fulfilment and courier providers, working with clients including: Trend, Denon, Bupa, Sunseekers, Dun & Bradstreet and Rolls-Royce. The business is rapidly expanding and with a culture geared to excellence in customer service, has won a host of awards for its endeavours.

The 3ex.net platform will offer customers far more control over their stock, orders and international dispatches, with real-time ?track and trace? reporting through the ILG website. Integrated 3ex.net warehouse management systems modules handling multiple warehouses, order processing, job management and finance will deliver significant cost efficiencies and improved profitability within the business. Subsequent project phases are planned to accelerate return on investment in 3ex.net technology. In 2012 the 3ex.net mobile stock control software package will be introduced on handheld devices for ILG drivers to scan parcels on receipt and delivery to the depot, increasing throughput by over 40%.

Exact Abacus Sales & Marketing Director, Lee Thompson, comments on the contract win: ?The fulfilment and courier marketplace is poorly served by software vendors and few offer a comprehensive, web-based solution. 3ex.net software has been specifically developed with the flexibility and features to handle the requirements of companies like ILG. We fully expect them to realise instant cost-savings on installation. Furthermore, ILG customers can expect an even better and unrivalled level of service going forward.?

###

Best answer:

Answer by Insurance Biz CT
I don’t know what type of Medicare Supp plan you are looking at, but you can get coverage that will pay all of your Medicare deductibles and co-insurance. There are standard Medicare Supp plan designs, Plans A-J and are available in all states.

Contact a local agent that specializes in health and/or Med Supp and they will be able to guide you through this complicated issue.

Add your own answer in the comments!

What’s In My Bag…


Image by Amy Dianna
…everything! My bag is like Mary Poppin’s carpet bag, except I don’t have furniture in there…yet

It is a lot of stuff, but everything has a certain spot in my bag as I like to be organised. Not pictured (but always present) is my hard sunglasses case and my fold up reusable green bag (so I don’t need to use plastic bags).

My notes have a lot of detail, but I find it really interesting why people have certain things in their bags!

HERES YOUR TOP TEN


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Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released its 2009 list of Washington’s "Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians." The list, in alphabetical order, includes:

1. Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT): This marks two years in a row for Senator Dodd, who made the 2008 "Ten Most Corrupt" list for his corrupt relationship with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and for accepting preferential treatment and loan terms from Countrywide Financial, a scandal which still dogs him. In 2009, the scandals kept coming for the Connecticut Democrat. In 2009, Judicial Watch filed a Senate ethics complaint against Dodd for undervaluing a property he owns in Ireland on his Senate Financial Disclosure forms. Judicial Watch’s complaint forced Dodd to amend the forms. However, press reports suggest the property to this day remains undervalued. Judicial Watch also alleges in the complaint that Dodd obtained a sweetheart deal for the property in exchange for his assistance in obtaining a presidential pardon (during the Clinton administration) and other favors for a long-time friend and business associate. The false financial disclosure forms were part of the cover-up. Dodd remains the head the Senate Banking Committee.

2. Senator John Ensign (R-NV): A number of scandals popped up in 2009 involving public officials who conducted illicit affairs, and then attempted to cover them up with hush payments and favors, an obvious abuse of power. The year’s worst offender might just be Nevada Republican Senator John Ensign. Ensign admitted in June to an extramarital affair with the wife of one of his staff members, who then allegedly obtained special favors from the Nevada Republican in exchange for his silence. According to The New York Times: "The Justice Department and the Senate Ethics Committee are expected to conduct preliminary inquiries into whether Senator John Ensign violated federal law or ethics rules as part of an effort to conceal an affair with the wife of an aide…" The former staffer, Douglas Hampton, began to lobby Mr. Ensign’s office immediately upon leaving his congressional job, despite the fact that he was subject to a one-year lobbying ban. Ensign seems to have ignored the law and allowed Hampton lobbying access to his office as a payment for his silence about the affair. (These are potentially criminal offenses.) It looks as if Ensign misused his public office (and taxpayer resources) to cover up his sexual shenanigans.

3. Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA): Judicial Watch is investigating a million TARP cash injection provided to the Boston-based OneUnited Bank at the urging of Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank. As reported in the January 22, 2009, edition of the Wall Street Journal, the Treasury Department indicated it would only provide funds to healthy banks to jump-start lending. Not only was OneUnited Bank in massive financial turmoil, but it was also "under attack from its regulators for allegations of poor lending practices and executive-pay abuses, including owning a Porsche for its executives’ use." Rep. Frank admitted he spoke to a "federal regulator," and Treasury granted the funds. (The bank continues to flounder despite Frank’s intervention for federal dollars.) Moreover, Judicial Watch uncovered documents in 2009 that showed that members of Congress for years were aware that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were playing fast and loose with accounting issues, risk assessment issues and executive compensation issues, even as liberals led by Rep. Frank continued to block attempts to rein in the two Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs). For example, during a hearing on September 10, 2003, before the House Committee on Financial Services considering a Bush administration proposal to further regulate Fannie and Freddie, Rep. Frank stated: "I want to begin by saying that I am glad to consider the legislation, but I do not think we are facing any kind of a crisis. That is, in my view, the two Government Sponsored Enterprises we are talking about here, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are not in a crisis. We have recently had an accounting problem with Freddie Mac that has led to people being dismissed, as appears to be appropriate. I do not think at this point there is a problem with a threat to the Treasury." Frank received ,350 in campaign contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac between 1989 and 2008. Frank also engaged in a relationship with a Fannie Mae Executive while serving on the House Banking Committee, which has jurisdiction over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

4. Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner: In 2009, Obama Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner admitted that he failed to pay ,000 in Social Security and Medicare taxes from 2001-2004 on his lucrative salary at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), an organization with 185 member countries that oversees the global financial system. (Did we mention Geithner now runs the IRS?) It wasn’t until President Obama tapped Geithner to head the Treasury Department that he paid back most of the money, although the IRS kindly waived the hefty penalties. In March 2009, Geithner also came under fire for his handling of the AIG bonus scandal, where the company used 5 million of its bailout funds to pay out executive bonuses, resulting in a massive public backlash. Of course as head of the New York Federal Reserve, Geithner helped craft the AIG deal in September 2008. However, when the AIG scandal broke, Geithner claimed he knew nothing of the bonuses until March 10, 2009. The timing is important. According to CNN: "Although Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told congressional leaders on Tuesday that he learned of AIG’s impending 0 million bonus payments to members of its troubled financial-products unit on March 10, sources tell TIME that the New York Federal Reserve informed Treasury staff that the payments were imminent on Feb. 28. That is ten days before Treasury staffers say they first learned ‘full details’ of the bonus plan, and three days before the [Obama] Administration launched a new billion infusion of cash for AIG." Throw in another embarrassing disclosure in 2009 that Geithner employed "household help" ineligible to work in the United States, and it becomes clear why the Treasury Secretary has earned a spot on the "Ten Most Corrupt Politicians in Washington" list.

5. Attorney General Eric Holder: Tim Geithner can be sure he won’t be hounded about his tax-dodging by his colleague Eric Holder, US Attorney General. Judicial Watch strongly opposed Holder because of his terrible ethics record, which includes: obstructing an FBI investigation of the theft of nuclear secrets from Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory; rejecting multiple requests for an independent counsel to investigate alleged fundraising abuses by then-Vice President Al Gore in the Clinton White House; undermining the criminal investigation of President Clinton by Kenneth Starr in the midst of the Lewinsky investigation; and planning the violent raid to seize then-six-year-old Elian Gonzalez at gunpoint in order to return him to Castro’s Cuba. Moreover, there is his soft record on terrorism. Holder bypassed Justice Department procedures to push through Bill Clinton’s scandalous presidential pardons and commutations, including for 16 members of FALN, a violent Puerto Rican terrorist group that orchestrated approximately 120 bombings in the United States, killing at least six people and permanently maiming dozens of others, including law enforcement officers. His record in the current administration is no better. As he did during the Clinton administration, Holder continues to ignore serious incidents of corruption that could impact his political bosses at the White House. For example, Holder has refused to investigate charges that the Obama political machine traded VIP access to the White House in exchange for campaign contributions – a scheme eerily similar to one hatched by Holder’s former boss, Bill Clinton in the 1990s. The Holder Justice Department also came under fire for dropping a voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party. On Election Day 2008, Black Panthers dressed in paramilitary garb threatened voters as they approached polling stations. Holder has also failed to initiate a comprehensive Justice investigation of the notorious organization ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), which is closely tied to President Obama. There were allegedly more than 400,000 fraudulent ACORN voter registrations in the 2008 campaign. And then there were the journalist videos catching ACORN Housing workers advising undercover reporters on how to evade tax, immigration, and child prostitution laws. Holder’s controversial decisions on new rights for terrorists and his attacks on previous efforts to combat terrorism remind many of the fact that his former law firm has provided and continues to provide pro bono representation to terrorists at Guantanamo Bay. Holder’s politicization of the Justice Department makes one long for the days of Alberto Gonzales.

6. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL)/ Senator Roland Burris (D-IL): One of the most serious scandals of 2009 involved a scheme by former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich to sell President Obama’s then-vacant Senate seat to the highest bidder. Two men caught smack dab in the middle of the scandal: Senator Roland Burris, who ultimately got the job, and Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, emissaries for Jesse Jackson Jr., named "Senate Candidate A" in the Blagojevich indictment, reportedly offered .5 million to Blagojevich during a fundraiser if he named Jackson Jr. to Obama’s seat. Three days later federal authorities arrested Blagojevich. Burris, for his part, apparently lied about his contacts with Blagojevich, who was arrested in December 2008 for trying to sell Obama’s Senate seat. According to Reuters: "Roland Burris came under fresh scrutiny…after disclosing he tried to raise money for the disgraced former Illinois governor who named him to the U.S. Senate seat once held by President Barack Obama…In the latest of those admissions, Burris said he looked into mounting a fundraiser for Rod Blagojevich — later charged with trying to sell Obama’s Senate seat — at the same time he was expressing interest to the then-governor’s aides about his desire to be appointed." Burris changed his story five times regarding his contacts with Blagojevich prior to the Illinois governor appointing him to the U.S. Senate. Three of those changing explanations came under oath.

7. President Barack Obama: During his presidential campaign, President Obama promised to run an ethical and transparent administration. However, in his first year in office, the President has delivered corruption and secrecy, bringing Chicago-style political corruption to the White House. Consider just a few Obama administration "lowlights" from year one: Even before President Obama was sworn into office, he was interviewed by the FBI for a criminal investigation of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s scheme to sell the President’s former Senate seat to the highest bidder. (Obama’s Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and slumlord Valerie Jarrett, both from Chicago, are also tangled up in the Blagojevich scandal.) Moreover, the Obama administration made the startling claim that the Privacy Act does not apply to the White House. The Obama White House believes it can violate the privacy rights of American citizens without any legal consequences or accountability. President Obama boldly proclaimed that "transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency," but his administration is addicted to secrecy, stonewalling far too many of Judicial Watch’s Freedom of Information Act requests and is refusing to make public White House visitor logs as federal law requires. The Obama administration turned the National Endowment of the Arts (as well as the agency that runs the AmeriCorps program) into propaganda machines, using tax dollars to persuade "artists" to promote the Obama agenda. According to documents uncovered by Judicial Watch, the idea emerged as a direct result of the Obama campaign and enjoyed White House approval and participation. President Obama has installed a record number of "czars" in positions of power. Too many of these individuals are leftist radicals who answer to no one but the president. And too many of the czars are not subject to Senate confirmation (which raises serious constitutional questions). Under the President’s bailout schemes, the federal government continues to appropriate or control — through fiat and threats — large sectors of the private economy, prompting conservative columnist George Will to write: "The administration’s central activity — the political allocation of wealth and opportunity — is not merely susceptible to corruption, it is corruption." Government-run healthcare and car companies, White House coercion, uninvestigated ACORN corruption, debasing his office to help Chicago cronies, attacks on conservative media and the private sector, unprecedented and dangerous new rights for terrorists, perks for campaign donors — this is Obama’s "ethics" record — and we haven’t even gotten through the first year of his presidency.

8. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA): At the heart of the corruption problem in Washington is a sense of entitlement. Politicians believe laws and rules (even the U.S. Constitution) apply to the rest of us but not to them. Case in point: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her excessive and boorish demands for military travel. Judicial Watch obtained documents from the Pentagon in 2009 that suggest Pelosi has been treating the Air Force like her own personal airline. These documents, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, include internal Pentagon email correspondence detailing attempts by Pentagon staff to accommodate Pelosi’s numerous requests for military escorts and military aircraft as well as the speaker’s 11th hour cancellations and changes. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also came under fire in April 2009, when she claimed she was never briefed about the CIA’s use of the waterboarding technique during terrorism investigations. The CIA produced a report documenting a briefing with Pelosi on September 4, 2002, that suggests otherwise. Judicial Watch also obtained documents, including a CIA Inspector General report, which further confirmed that Congress was fully briefed on the enhanced interrogation techniques. Aside from her own personal transgressions, Nancy Pelosi has ignored serious incidents of corruption within her own party, including many of the individuals on this list. (See Rangel, Murtha, Jesse Jackson, Jr., etc.)

9. Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) and the rest of the PMA Seven: Rep. John Murtha made headlines in 2009 for all the wrong reasons. The Pennsylvania congressman is under federal investigation for his corrupt relationship with the now-defunct defense lobbyist PMA Group. PMA, founded by a former Murtha associate, has been the congressman’s largest campaign contributor. Since 2002, Murtha has raised .7 million from PMA and its clients. And what did PMA and its clients receive from Murtha in return for their generosity? Earmarks — tens of millions of dollars in earmarks. In fact, even with all of the attention surrounding his alleged influence peddling, Murtha kept at it. Following an FBI raid of PMA’s offices earlier in 2009, Murtha continued to seek congressional earmarks for PMA clients, while also hitting them up for campaign contributions. According to The Hill, in April, "Murtha reported receiving contributions from three former PMA clients for whom he requested earmarks in the pending appropriations bills." When it comes to the PMA scandal, Murtha is not alone. As many as six other Members of Congress are currently under scrutiny according to The Washington Post. They include: Peter J. Visclosky (D-IN.), James P. Moran Jr. (D-VA), Norm Dicks (D-WA.), Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), C.W. Bill Young (R-FL.) and Todd Tiahrt (R-KS.). Of course rather than investigate this serious scandal, according to Roll Call House Democrats circled the wagons, "cobbling together a defense to offer political cover to their rank and file." The Washington Post also reported in 2009 that Murtha’s nephew received million in Defense Department no-bid contracts: "Newly obtained documents…show Robert Murtha mentioning his influential family connection as leverage in his business dealings and holding unusual power with the military."

10. Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY): Rangel, the man in charge of writing tax policy for the entire country, has yet to adequately explain how he could possibly "forget" to pay taxes on ,000 in rental income he earned from his off-shore rental property. He also faces allegations that he improperly used his influence to maintain ownership of highly coveted rent-controlled apartments in Harlem, and misused his congressional office to fundraise for his private Rangel Center by preserving a tax loophole for an oil drilling company in exchange for funding. On top of all that, Rangel recently amended his financial disclosure reports, which doubled his reported wealth. (He somehow "forgot" about million in assets.) And what did he do when the House Ethics Committee started looking into all of this? He apparently resorted to making "campaign contributions" to dig his way out of trouble. According to WCBS TV, a New York CBS affiliate: "The reigning member of Congress’ top tax committee is apparently ‘wrangling’ other politicos to get him out of his own financial and tax troubles…Since ethics probes began last year the 79-year-old congressman has given campaign donations to 119 members of Congress, including three of the five Democrats on the House Ethics Committee who are charged with investigating him." Charlie Rangel should not be allowed to remain in Congress, let alone serve as Chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, and he knows it. That’s why he felt the need to disburse campaign contributions to Ethics Committee members and other congressional colleagues.

MAKE YOURSELF AWARE ——— THEY’RE SUPPOSED TO BE WORKING FOR YOU, IT’S YOUR GOVERNMENT AND GOVERNMENT IS TOO IMPORTANT TO BE TRUSTED TO LIFELONG POLITICIANS ——-

www.judicialwatch.org/

OBAMAS DEATH PANEL—— GUESS WHAT FOLKS IT’S ALIVE AND WELL—”CRAZY PALIN” NOT SO CRAZY NOW


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Berwick Sets Up Death Panels By Fiat
By Jeffrey Lord on 12.28.10 @ 6:09AM

"If they would rather die they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population." — Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol

Sarah Palin was right.

John Boehner — make that Speaker-elect of the House John Boehner — was right.

While Americans were busy celebrating with family and friends and presumably not paying attention to the news, the New York Times, in a story ironically dated Christmas Day — a holiday celebrating the birth of the Prince of Peace — reported the following:

Obama Returns to End-of-Life Plan That Caused Stir

WASHINGTON — When a proposal to encourage end-of-life planning touched off a political storm over "death panels," Democrats dropped it from legislation to overhaul the health care system. But the Obama administration will achieve the same goal by regulation, starting Jan. 1.

In other words, the 2009 charge leveled by former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and the then-House Minority Leader Boehner that Obama fully intended to set up what Palin termed government "death panels" — panels that Boehner said would set the government on the road to euthanasia — is no longer a charge.

It’s reality. By executive fiat — in this case a new Medicare rule issued by Obama Medicare chief Dr. Donald Berwick.

Palin, who made the charge on her Facebook page on August 7, 2009 during the health care debates, came under a fusillade of scornful and demeaning political attacks from political opponents after pointedly saying this about the prospect of death panels:

And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s "death panel" so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their "level of productivity in society," whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.

Her famous sharp criticism was enough for the plan to be quickly dropped by Congress.

Now, with Americans absorbed in a festive holiday and ignoring Washington momentarily, the Obama administration has found a way to achieve its death panel goal anyway, as the Times now admits. Says the paper of the new Christmas death panel regulation that replaces medical science and voluntary private judgment with the inevitable pressure of politicized health care :

Congressional supporters of the new policy, though pleased, have kept quiet. They fear provoking another furor like the one in 2009 when Republicans seized on the idea of end-of-life counseling to argue that the Democrats’ bill would allow the government to cut off care for the critically ill.

Which is another way of saying something else:

Governor Palin has been vindicated. Speaker Boehner has been vindicated.
And Palin’s critics in particular now have more than holiday eggnog all over their faces. Obama’s Dr. Berwick has re-ignited one of the most hotly controversial issues of the entire health care debate just as a conservative ascendancy prepares to take power in the next Congress. With no less than Boehner himself taking the gavel from Nancy Pelosi as the new Speaker of the House.

What does this new rule say and do, exactly?

It inserts the federal government in end-of-life planning, precisely as Palin said was Obama’s intention. Not, as was true of its original legislative formulation, every five years. But annually. No one of any sense objects to an individual and doctor having end-of-life discussions about living wills and such whenever they wish. Only the Obama administration and its obsession for control wants the government to incentivize the issue so that doctors must raise it annually, a system that on its face pressures the most deeply vulnerable of Americans in the most Orwellian of terms to end their lives.

Control and pressure. Pressure and control. This is the only two-step philosophical/political dance liberals know. It is, as it were, primal. And the Berwick Medicare rule, constructed in secret and released on Christmas Day when it no one is looking, is a perfect example — if hardly the only example — of how the Obama Administration views its role. Control and pressure. Pressure… and control.

Versus the conservative concept (shorthand version) of liberty and freedom.

Says the Times of the Obama Administration’s justification for its secretive move to mandate death panels by regulatory fiat:

In this case, the administration said research had shown the value of end-of-life planning.

Research? What research could possibly justify a government-sponsored annual attempt to pressure a poor, disabled, or elderly American into believing that they would be better off dead because they’re costing society too much money?

British research. Says the Times:

"Advance care planning improves end-of-life care and patient and family satisfaction and reduces stress, anxiety and depression in surviving relatives," the administration said in the preamble to the Medicare regulation, quoting research published this year in the British Medical Journal."

You read that right.

British research is being cited in the preamble of this Medicare death panel rule as a justification for the new rule — a stunning turn of events that will surely launch a firestorm over trying to remodel the American health care system after the hotly criticized British health care system. A system that makes no pretense of politically rationed health care.

Part of the furor launched over Palin’s remarks was the discovery by millions of frightened Americans that Obama health care bureaucrats admired the British health care system — where the government in fact rations health care on a political basis and decides who should live or die based on what is called the "QALY" — Quality-Adjusted Life Year. This has been discussed previously in this space — in fact just over a week before Governor Palin wrote her Facebook statement. It has also been discussed by health care consultant David Catron here where he explained how the QALY system worked.

In Catron’s words: "A year of perfect health, for example, is given a value of 1.0 while a year of sub-optimum health is rated between 0 and 1. If you are confined to a wheelchair, a year of your life might be valued at half that of your ambulatory neighbor. If you are blind or deaf, you also score low. All that remains is to assign a specific dollar value to the QALY and, voilà, your life has a price tag."

Princeton’s controversial Dr. Peter Singer, a liberal and big believer in the British health care system, happily related the British politicization of medical decisions in a New York Times Magazine article during all of this, an instance in which "Britain’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence gave a preliminary recommendation that the National Health Service should not offer Sutent for advanced kidney cancer." Why? The government said it was too expensive and therefore simply denied the drug. This in turn led to a furious reaction even from stiff-upper-lip Brits with charges their government was "immoral" and willing to let patients die. Grudgingly, the drug was eventually approved. But not before one angry British woman, whose husband’s life was at stake, angrily asked: "What price is life?"
As this is written the Obama Food and Drug Administration is now taking Americans down this same path, rejecting the breast cancer drug Avastin with what many are citing as unbelievable science — but very believable political concerns that the drug is, in the bureaucrats’ view, too expensive. Thereby inserting the judgment of political bureaucrats for medical science — and the freedom of patients to order the drug. Here’s this from the Heartland Institute:

According to Sally Pipes, president of the Pacific Research Institute, the FDA’s decision is not based on the best outcome for patients but instead on the expense of Avastin, produced by Genentech, which can run as high as ,000 per year for a single patient.

The FDA claims its decision had nothing to do with Avastin’s cost and was based solely on the drug’s medical effectiveness," Pipes said. "This isn’t believable. Every year about 40,000 American women die from breast cancer. Avastin is the last hope for many not to meet that fate. While the drug is costly, it often provides immense benefits to patients.

Somewhere an American woman with breast cancer is surely saying the same thing as her British counterpart: "What price is life?"

Singer had an answer. Really. Said the famous Bioethics professor: "Life as a whole has no meaning. Life began, as the best available theories tell us, in a chance combination of gasses; it then evolved through random mutation and natural selection. All this just happened; it did not happen to any overall purpose."

Thus, since life really has no overall purpose, the government should be in the business of using Medicare to pressure the poor, the disabled and the elderly that — nudge, nudge — isn’t it time to bid the planet hasta la vista?

WHICH BRINGS US TO DR. DONALD BERWICK himself, the Obama administration’s Medicare recess-appointed head of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Dr. Berwick personally issued the Christmas Death Panel Rule, confirming in spades why he received a recess appointment from Obama. It was clear to Senate Democrats that Berwick’s chances of surviving a Senate confirmation battle were iffy at best. Why? Precisely because Berwick was well on record as expressing his deep admiration — make that lust — for the British government run system, saying: "I am romantic about the National Health Service; I love it. … The NHS is one of the astounding human endeavors of modern times."

So Obama waited until he could skip a Senate debate and vote entirely and just recess-appoint Berwick — who in turn is doing exactly what his record suggested he would do.

Sure enough, the philosophy used by the British is precisely what Berwick used to describe the new Berwick Rule. Reported the Times of Berwick:

"Using unwanted procedures in terminal illness is a form of assault," Dr. Berwick has said. "In economic terms, it is waste. Several techniques, including advance directives and involvement of patients and families in decision-making, have been shown to reduce inappropriate care at the end of life, leading to both lower cost and more humane care."

So.

What do we have here?

• The death panels were written into the original version of ObamaCare.

• Governor Palin, speaking out in her famous Facebook post, pulled back the shroud surrounding this horrifying idea. Less noticed at the time — but undoubtedly a headline grabber now — Minority Leader Boehner agreed, citing alarm over government sponsored euthanasia. Said Boehner:

Section 1233 of the House-drafted legislation encourages health care providers to provide their Medicare patients with counseling on "the use of artificially administered nutrition and hydration" and other end of life treatments, and may place seniors in situations where they feel pressured to sign end of life directives they would not otherwise sign. This provision may start us down a treacherous path toward government-encouraged euthanasia if enacted into law.

Obama protested he had no intention of "pulling the plug on Grandma" — but the idea, embodied in Section 1233 of the House version of the bill, was pulled from the final bill in part because of Palin’s — and Boehner’s — focused attention.

• Obama installs Dr. Donald Berwick to head the Medicare program as a recess appointment because Berwick’s controversial enthusiastic embrace of the British health care system and its death panel procedures would have prevented his confirmation.

• On Christmas day 2010, the Times reports the death panel idea will become a Medicare rule on January 1, 2011 — that would be four days from today. How? By fiat. As a government Medicare "rule" or "regulation" as put forth by the government agency now run by Dr. Berwick. The rule is justified because Berwick believes the government must "reduce inappropriate care at the end of life" A Berwick spokesman says the government should be saying to elderly patients, vulnerable patients, disabled patients — patients like Sarah Palin’s famous Down’s syndrome son: "When the time comes, do you want us to use technology to try and delay your death?" Nudge.

• Elizabeth D. Wickham, executive director of LifeTree, a pro-life educational organization, says of the new rule: "The infamous Section 1233 is still alive and kicking. Patients will lose the ability to control treatments at the end of life."

Oh yes. Did we mention no one was supposed to know about all of this?

Congressman Earl Blumenauer, the Oregon Democrat who wrote the original provision in the House version of ObamaCare that was unmasked by Sarah Palin, has put the word out to his allies. Says the Congressman’s office in an e-mail to his allies:

While we are very happy with the result, we won’t be shouting it from the rooftops because we aren’t out of the woods yet. This regulation could be modified or reversed, especially if Republican leaders try to use this small provision to perpetuate the "death panel" myth.

We would ask that you not broadcast this accomplishment out to any of your lists, even if they are "supporters" — e-mails can too easily be forwarded…Thus far, it seems that no press or blogs have discovered it, but we will be keeping a close watch and may be calling on you if we need a rapid, targeted response. The longer this goes unnoticed, the better our chances of keeping it.

No wonder Blumenauer wants to keep this quiet.

Did you catch that word "us" in the sentence from Dr. Berwick’s spokesperson?

Here’s the sentence again:

When the time comes, do you want us to use technology to try and delay your death?

The word "us" refers not to a doctor and his patient. It refers to the government..

When Obama health care adviser Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel was cited by longtime health care expert Betsy McCaughey as discussing the idea that patients with dementia should be denied treatment, Emanuel’s defenders (he is also the brother of ex-Obama White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel) floated a Time magazine story saying Emanuel "only mentioned dementia in a discussion of theoretical approaches, not an endorsement of a particular policy." Oblivious to the fact that that no less than the President himself expressed a version of the same sentiment (as has Berwick) when he went on national television to answer a woman’s observation that at over a hundred her mother was very vital with a lot of spirit, and shouldn’t that be taken into account in any government health care decision? Said Obama: "I don’t think that we can make judgments based on peoples’ spirit. That would be a pretty subjective decision to be making. I think we have to have rules…."

Government rules. Like the rule just issued by Dr. Berwick.
A rule that effectively is now going to bully individuals — doubtless many of them poor, disabled or elderly. Ironically creating a system where you will only escape Obama’s government sponsored Big Chill if you are, say, a rich liberal.

In effect the administration is trying to bully Congress by making an end-run with a regulation because Congress said no to Section 1233.

The Heritage Foundation has accurately noted yesterday that, quite aside from the substance here — the new Berwick death panel rule or the FCC’s new net neutrality rules and so on — the real issue is the Obama administration’s clear intent to govern by executive fiat now that it has lost control of the House and, effectively, the Senate as well. Government-by-Obama fiat will be the subject of a furious struggle in the new Congress.

Says Heritage by way of focusing on a return to government by elected officials rather than a central government of rule-making un-elected bureaucrats:

"There is also the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to review and overrule regulations issued by government agencies."

Which is to say, the Berwick rule can be undone — if the Congress orders it undone.

This episode is a reminder that Governor Palin took a lot of heat for bringing attention to this issue. No one expects her critics — now proven wrong by Berwick — to give her any credit for being right. Or for that matter to the new Speaker Boehner.

But the fact remains that Palin has shown leadership here — one might call it presidential-style leadership — in persisting with an issue that is now coming back to bite the American people in the form of a new Medicare rule on death panels — reported of all days on Christmas day.

No wonder John Boehner will be Speaker of the House.

spectator.org/

Best answer:

Answer by David
medicare actually works well . everyone who uses it that i know say it,s effective. you pay a flat monthly fee when you turn 65, and are enrolled. it doesn,t pay for everything. to avoid paying out of pocket, you have to have supplemental insurance.

Add your own answer in the comments!

Best answer:

Answer by Jeffrey G
No so-called “Medi-Gap” policies come cheaply…you simply have to make enough inquiries..shop around…assess your budget vs. your need to ensure you’ll get access to virtually any Doc (no question, medi-gap/supplementary health insurance policies get you noticed more than without them, rightly or wrongly), and make an intelligent and cost effective decision! You might try on-line, as well as AARP, as well as your local insurance brokerage!

GOOD LUCK!!!

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!

This is an update on my friend, Rich, who was discharged to home with osteomyelitis and MRSA. He’s Anemic and had profuse bleeding from the huge and deep pressure sore finding a 2 inch bone fragment from his pelvic area. He is on Medicare which is a Federal Government Health Care Plan. This is an outrage! Is this the new standard of care?

www.medicarefraudcenter.org Are you a healthcare professional and have information about Medicare fraud? You may receive significant financial compensation for reporting it. Visit www.medicarefraudcenter.org for more information. Attorney Advertising

There are many ways for the government to get the money it needs. Many large corporations do not pay their fair share of taxes. Also the money we pay in our taxes goes back to these large corporations in subsidies. We end up paying for BP and Exxon’s oil spills. We taxpayers pay for the clean-up of Superfund sites, not the polluters.

If we could get these large corporations to pay their fair share of taxes, and stop giving them our tax money, we would be able to balance our budget without having to cut important health services for the injured, the disabled, the working class, and the elderly.

The only thing I’ve been able to come up with is to have people sign this petition:

http://sanders.senate.gov/petition/?uid=c1fd7f9b-abd8-4e7a-a370-1867881259d8

If you have other suggestions, please let me know!
Entropy, why are you defending the special interests of the certain greedy corporations who dodge their taxes? I’m not asking us to tax them more. I’m asking them to pay their fair share like the other corporations are doing. You will only benefit from your point of view if you happen to own a major corporation. If you think the wealth will “trickle down” it will not. We’ve tried that already and it doesn’t work. The majority of people in this country will be hurt by these cuts because unfortunately some of us will become disabled, those of us that live long enough will retire, and in the near future some of us will lose our jobs and end up on medicaid. The economy is harsh. There are many hardworking people who are trying their best to make ends meet and feed their families and have to choose between taking their child to the doctor versus getting that child food versus heating/cooling their apartment. Do you know that charity care is bankrupting hospitals around the country?
If medicaid goes under, which it will if it loses any more money, all those people will flood the emergency rooms and apply for charity care. Hospitals can’t afford this. States can’t afford this. And it clogs the emergency rooms up which slows down their reaction to true emergencies. Have you ever been on medicaid? Most doctors don’t accept it because they only reimburse doctors 30 percent of their entire bill! So people are force to travel far distances to go to clinics – and many times they don’t even go because they can’t afford the gas or bus fare to get there. Medicaid needs MORE money not less money and a whole restructuring.

Best answer:

Answer by Ed Jasie
Vote for the democrat next election.

Give your answer to this question below!

Concerned by Democratic claims that the Ryan budget will destroy Medicare, Dick Morris proposes a compromise to keep Ryan’s program but counter the Democratic charges.
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Fox News host Neil Cavuto expressed deep disappointment that Republicans in Congress have temporarily given up the fight to destroy Medicare after public backlash. Cenk Uygur breaks it down. Subscribe: bit.ly TYT Mobile: bit.ly On Facebook: www.facebook.com On Twitter: twitter.com www.theyoungturks.com FREE Movies(!): www.netflix.com Read Ana’s blog and subscribe at: www.examiner.com Read Cenk’s Blog: www.huffingtonpost.com
Video Rating: 4 / 5

President Craig Ritter reviews features and functionality of our free Medicare Quote Engine webtool. Medicare Quote Engine is for agent use only.
Video Rating: 5 / 5

What has been your experience with Medicare with taking care of hospital/medical bills?

Best answer:

Answer by dustoff
Medicare will pay what it covers – not necessarily 100% of the bills. The deceased’s estate would be responsible for the rest.

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!

Cassandra Q. Butts


Image by Center for American Progress
Medicare policy has risen to the top of the congressional agenda this year. Health care reform is gaining support in Washington, D.C. and in many places around the country. Given the size of Medicare, changes made in that program can not only affect beneficiaries but also have a very large impact on health care policy across the board. Key elements in getting Medicare right include eliminating the overpayments to Medicare Advantage plans and reforming Medicare fee-for-service.

Following the welcome and introduction from Cassandra Butts, Senior Vice President for Domestic Policy at the Center for American Progress, Bill Novelli, CEO of AARP gave remarks regarding Medicare Advantage plans and Medicare fee-for-service. The discussion closed with questions from the audience.

William D. Novelli


Image by Center for American Progress
Medicare policy has risen to the top of the congressional agenda this year. Health care reform is gaining support in Washington, D.C. and in many places around the country. Given the size of Medicare, changes made in that program can not only affect beneficiaries but also have a very large impact on health care policy across the board. Key elements in getting Medicare right include eliminating the overpayments to Medicare Advantage plans and reforming Medicare fee-for-service.

Following the welcome and introduction from Cassandra Butts, Senior Vice President for Domestic Policy at the Center for American Progress, Bill Novelli, CEO of AARP gave remarks regarding Medicare Advantage plans and Medicare fee-for-service. The discussion closed with questions from the audience.

What would you do if you met a healthier version of yourself?

findhealthy.bupa.co.uk – Healthy is different things to different people. That’s why we do lots of things to help you be as healthy as possible, whether you’re well or ill, young or old.

When trying to get fit, lose weight, quit smoking, or manage stress, a good plan is key for achieving personal health and wellness goals. That?s why WPS Health Insurance, Wisconsin?s leading not-for-profit health insurer and provider of affordable group and individual health insurance, has teamed up with certified wellness coaches to learn about the challenges people encounter most often, and find out what can be done to overcome those obstacles.

The result is our new article, ?How to Meet Your Health Goals: Tips from a Wellness Coach,? which offers specific tips that individuals and families can use to set effective goals, stay motivated for the long haul, and make time for wellness in the face of competing priorities.

?Healthy living is happy living,? said Jeff Hlavacka, senior coordinator of preventive health services at WPS Health Insurance. ?When people live healthily, they feel better, they?re more active, they?re more positive about themselves and the world around them. They also reduce their risk for illness, which means they may spend less on medical bills. But sometimes, it?s difficult to stick to our plans for good health. That?s where we want to help.?

So we asked Emily Moenck and Sarah Both, two wellness coaches who work with members of WPS group health plans, about the questions they hear most often?and what advice they offer to help people achieve their goals.

For example, many find it difficult to stay motivated day in and day out, and after a few days or weeks, they abandon their efforts altogether. To these people, Sarah suggests staying positive and celebrating each day?s successes, however small.

?Instead of feeling disheartened on a day when it?s a challenge to stay on track, make a point to celebrate the success and sense of accomplishment that comes from making an effort to stick with your plan. See the day as a victory rather than a burden or a setback. In time, you will develop a sense of optimism and resilience that will help sustain and propel your efforts until the behaviors no longer seem so difficult, and they become a welcome and integral part of your new, healthier lifestyle.?

More great suggestions can be found in the full article, which is available for free from the WPS Health Insurance website.

?We hope health care consumers find our latest wellness article to be valuable in helping them start smart and stay motivated to achieve their health and wellness goals,? said Hlavacka.

WPS encourages health care consumers looking for more wellness tips and strategies to check out the WPS Health Center for free, fun, and educational resources such as our wellness blog, health encyclopedia, an interactive symptom checker, our Alive & Well newsletter, and more.

About WPS Health Insurance

Founded in 1946, WPS Health Insurance is Wisconsin?s leading not-for-profit health insurer, offering affordable individual health insurance, family health insurance, high-deductible health plans, and short-term health insurance, as well as flexible and affordable group plans and cost-effective benefit plan administration for businesses. In addition, the WPS Medicare division administers Part A and B benefits for millions of seniors in multiple states, and the WPS TRICARE division serves millions more members of the U.S. military and their families. For more information about WPS Health Insurance, visit http://www.wpsic.com.

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Find More Benefits Of Medicare Press Releases

National insurance trainer, Sylvia Gordon explains the basics each retiree should understand, Medicare Supplement Insurance, Medicare Advantage Plans. Understanding Medicare supplements, medicare part D, medicare part D donut hole, medicare AARP, medicare supplement insurance, medicare advantage, medicare advantage plans.
Video Rating: 0 / 5

MORE DIRTY TRICKS FROM YOUR SOCIALIST/MARXIST PRESIDENT AND HIS NASTY LITTLE ADMINISTRATION HACKS


Image by SS&SS
Obamacare’s Dirty Tricks

By Peter Ferrara on 1.5.11 @ 6:08AM

Most commentators have focused on the revelation just before Christmas that Obamacare’s end of life death panel consultations rejected by Congress were resurrected by the Obama Administration by regulatory requirement. There is no truth to the rumor that President Obama has agreed, after his term of office ends, to head up a new organization called Democrats Against Democracy.

But while this regulatory authoritarianism is, indeed, yet another dirty trick of Obamacare, it is small potatoes compared to the real dirty tricks of Obamacare. A dirty trick is defined here as burying in vague language in the abusive, several thousand page Obamacare legislation socially repulsive policies that the public overwhelmingly opposed and that Congress denied it was adopting. Like the end of life death panel consultations.

Phasing Out Private Insurance

But as indicated above, the emerging abuses of Obamacare are much graver than that. Also just before Christmas, on December 21, HHS Commissar Kathleen Sebelius claimed authority buried deep within the Obamacare abomination to impose federal price controls on health insurance companies, which members of Congress again denied they were adopting when they passed Obamacare. In fact, she issued a 136 page "regulation" providing precisely for such federal rate regulation.

Most states have long regulated health insurance premiums. The state regulators know from long experience that in this regulation they have to make sure that the insurance company has the money to pay the promised benefits. If the regulators don’t allow sufficient premiums to pay benefits, in the states they know that it is the sickest people covered by the insurance company who lose out. Because then the insurance company goes out of business and the sick people it was covering don’t have the money to pay their medical bills.

State insurance regulation is consequently simply a matter of mathematics. The regulators analyze the cost data, and the actuarial probabilities, and they set premiums based on that data sufficient to allow the insurance company only a modest, reasonable, market rate of return on its operations. As a result, the hard numbers unquestionably show that health insurance companies only make modest if not below average profits at best. That is why in many states there are so few health insurance companies left, and so many of those that remain are actually non-profits.

The resulting bottom line is that health insurance company profits are not a significant factor in overall health costs. And those politicians who rant and rave about them, calculating that they can take political advantage of the clueless and gullible, are shameless demagogues who dishonor our democracy by their participation in it.

Under the new federal power that Sebelius has seized, the supposed smarter, wiser bureaucrats in Washington will review the state regulation, and Washington will decide if the state approved rate increases are "reasonable." If the Washington wise guys decide the increases are not, they will deem the state regulation not "effective," and substitute Washington’s rate regulation.

Sebelius has already decreed, not based on a review of the actual data, that increases over 10% are probably not reasonable, even though many increases across the country are coming in over 20%, based on the analysis described above, as predicted. Indeed, the Red Queen has intimated that even lesser premium increases may be deemed too much.

But there is socialist method behind the madness. Obamacare raises health insurance costs by mandating that health insurers provide expensive new benefits. That is why it was so obvious that Obamacare will raise health insurance costs. But now come the federal regulators who plan to dictate to the insurers that they cannot reflect those costs in higher premiums.

It will work just like the Democrats’ "affordable housing" policies worked in causing the financial crisis. First the regulators forced banks to lend mortgage money to so many who were not financially qualified under traditional lending standards. Bill Clinton bragged in 1995 that through this scheme he had found a way of spreading housing prosperity to so many "without costing the taxpayers a dime."

But now we know how all that turned out. When so many proved unable or unwilling to pay the mortgages, as the displaced traditional lending standards suggested they might, the mortgage backed securities that had been spread so widely throughout the financial system began their downward spiral that froze credit markets, and the whole financial system began to unravel, costing taxpayers a fortune in bailouts and lost jobs.

Left-wing sophisticates know from experience that their grassroots troops can’t follow that logic. Your average grassroots Democrat supporter can’t understand that if the law forces health insurance costs up with required new benefits, but the insurance company can’t raise premiums to cover those higher costs, the company goes out of business.

But this is exactly what the Reds who now run today’s modern Democrat party want. They are planning precisely to use this new federal rate regulation power to drive private insurers out of business, so the only option left will be the outright socialized medicine public option that first the public and then the Congress rejected in the health care "debate" last year. Hence the foundation for the new organization, Democrats Against Democracy.

This plot against the people is already underway in the more Left states that the Democrats still control. On December 22, the Wall Street Journal editorialized regarding the ongoing "political thuggery" in Connecticut regarding former state insurance commissioner Tom Sullivan. The Journal explained, "In September, following a thorough actuarial analysis, Mr. Sullivan approved some rate increases reaching 20% for Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, the largest insurer in the state by membership."

Even though the higher rates applied only to new customers, to cover the new costs of Obamacare, "Attorney General Richard Blumenthal made the approval a centerpiece of his Senate bid, while Mr. Sullivan was demonized by local labor unions." In a letter to Blumenthal explaining his resignation, Sullivan explained that he could not sensibly operate in an environment where "we are required by Congress to approve richer benefit packages, while simultaneously being called upon by you to reduce rates." To complete the travesty, his successor, under federal pressure from the same bureaucrats who have now seized new federal ratemaking power, overturned the increase, and Blumenthal rode his shameless demagoguery to election. Similar travesties are now playing out in Massachusetts as well.

But once the private insurers have been driven out, patients will have nowhere to turn but the friendly Obama national political machine. The leading lights in that operation, such as the recess-appointed, unconfirmed head of Medicare and Medicaid, "Dr. Doom" Donald Berwick, have already made the determination that more votes can be bought redirecting all the money that is now spent saving the sickest and most vulnerable to other causes.

Health Coverage, Not Health Care

President Obama barnstormed the nation promising health care for all, to achieve passage of Obamacare. But the legislation he delivered is already on course to decimate the ability of the health care system to deliver critical health care to the sickest and most vulnerable. Most Democrats and liberals have no idea what they have done. This assault on the most essential health care of the American people, achieved flying under false pretenses, should be recognized as a national scandal.

The assault begins with Medicare. I have previously reported that my analysis of last summer’s annual Medicare Trustees Report concluded that the President’s Obamacare policies involve cutting trillion in payments to doctors and hospitals for services and treatment to seniors under Medicare, over the first 20 years of full implementation of Obamacare.

Confirmation of this and more now comes from the recently released 2010 Financial Statement of the United States, from the U.S. Treasury Department. That report openly brags, repeatedly, about the Medicare cost savings resulting from Obamacare. The accompanying data reveals, in fact, that the total future Medicare cuts in payments to doctors and hospitals under Medicare accumulate to trillion! The Obama Administration is apparently convinced that its supporters cannot understand that if the government does not pay the doctors and hospitals for medical care and treatment under Medicare, seniors are not going to get medical care and treatment under Medicare.

This is why Medicare’s Chief Actuary has already reported that ultimately under these Obamacare policies Medicare payment rates will be only half of what is paid by Medicaid, where the poor often can’t find access to essential care. The Chief Actuary also reports that even before these cuts already two-thirds of hospitals were losing money on Medicare patients. Cuts of this magnitude will consequently wreak havoc and create chaos in health care for the elderly. Health providers will either have to withdraw from serving Medicare patients, or eventually go into bankruptcy.

Too many conservatives have been reticent to criticize Obamacare for these draconian cuts, out of recognition that Medicare is hopelessly bankrupt over the long run, and will have to be sharply cut in any event. But this view is far too simple minded, for refusing to pay the doctors and hospitals for the health care they provide under Medicare is no way to reform the program.

That would not only suddenly leave seniors without the health care they have been promised, and have come to rely on as a result. It would suddenly leave doctors, clinics, specialists, and hospitals with uneconomic practices for seniors that they entered in good faith on the promise of payment from the government. This is like trying to achieve budget savings in national defense by not paying the manufacturers of the Air Force’s planes, the Navy’s ships, the Army’s tanks and artillery, and the bullets, bombs and guns. How long do you think our national defense would last under that policy? The same goes for health care for America’s seniors.

Think of it this way. You wouldn’t try to balance your own family budget by just refusing to pay your bills, particularly for goods and services you planned to continue to consume. You would recognize that is really just impractical stealing. Yet that is the Obamacare policy for Medicare. Except that what they are really thinking was explained above. They have decided, as every government running socialized medicine programs has, that more votes can be bought with all the money spent on saving the sickest and most vulnerable by spending it elsewhere. That is the dirty little scandal of Obamacare.

Conservatives should assail this socialist assault on the most important of all medical care for the American people, an essential and fundamental component of their rapidly receding highest standard of living in the world, and advance more fundamental, more carefully structured Medicare reforms, that can achieve far more in savings over the long run.

One example of that is the Medicare reforms in the Ryan Roadmap. Seniors would receive vouchers they could use to buy their choice of coverage in the private sector, including Health Savings Accounts. The growth of the voucher amounts would be restrained over time, so seniors would have to pay more out of pocket for such coverage over time than they would otherwise. But at least they would be able to get the essential health care they want and need. The lowest income seniors would be protected by supplemental payments. The Ryan Roadmap has been scored as achieving full solvency for Medicare, and permanently balancing the federal budget over the long run.

But the most long run budget savings by far would be achieved by allowing younger workers to save and invest their Medicare payroll taxes in personal accounts. In retirement, those accounts would finance their health insurance vouchers, and would be able to finance far more because of the accumulation of all the market returns over the years. This would shift huge amounts of spending out of the federal budget altogether, and to the private sector. The general revenues currently used to finance so much of Medicare would be used for means tested supplements for lower income seniors to ensure that they could afford essential coverage and care. But these general revenues devoted to Medicare would be limited to grow no faster than the rate of growth of GDP, providing further huge savings over the long run.

These more basic, more fundamental reforms would be far more politically salable that than the wholesale slaughter of health care for seniors that is going to result from the current Obamacare policies. Seniors showed in the last election that they understand this. Why not conservative political strategists?

Already we see on our current course the beginnings of the disappearance not only of private health insurance, but also of private, independent medical practices as well. Sally Pipes of the Pacific Research Institute reports that while in 2005 at least two thirds of doctors practices were private, independent operations, less than half are today, and that is expected to fall below 40% by the end of this year.

Instead they are fleeing to salaried positions at large hospitals, where they are safe from Obamacare’s draconian cuts in their compensation, and they can sharply reduce the patient load they take on when their personal economic survival is at stake. This trend is strongly supported by President Obama’s top health care aide Nancy-Ann DeParle, who openly cheerleads the consolidation of America’s health care system into modern HMOs, called now Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). Such a system will be far more able to enforce the health care rationing and denial policies of the Obama political machine.

spectator.org/

Bill Messett, President and Owner of GetOnlineQuotes.com, added this new Medicare Section to support the growing number of Florida residents who will be enrolling in Medicare as the first wave of baby boomers turns 65.

Bill Messett set up GetOnlineQuotes.com to provide Floridians with a fast and easy way to get health and life insurance quotes. Recognizing that an historic number of Florida residents will need to choose their Medicare benefits, Bill added a Medicare section to the website. Choosing the right type of coverage and providers can be a daunting task for baby boomers looking for Florida Medicare coverage. Bill added the Medicare section to GetOnlineQuotes.com to help Florida residents navigate these choices. After using his website to get Florida Medicare insurance quotes they can work directly with Bill to make sure they have made the right selections.

Choosing Medicare coverage means deciding on which parts to enroll in as well as understanding which providers you can work with. Bill has included a brief description of Medicare Parts A, B, C and D as well Medicare supplements and Medigap plans. By helping Florida resident understand the basics of Medicare coverage, Bill believes Florida?s baby boomer population can make a more informed choice. ?I always enjoy working with an educated consumer,? says Bill.

Bill also provides some good news for Florida?s Medicare population: Rates will rise less than expected next year. Bill noted that ?The government?s announcement on Thursday will help Florida?s senior population given that we are living in a tough economy.? Rates for Medicare Part B will only rise by $ 3.50 per month. A much higher jump had been predicted as recently as May. Premiums were frozen for the last two years because there was no increase in many people?s Social Security benefits. But benefits are increasing to cover inflation. The premiums for Medicare Advantage will actually decrease by 4%. That is the second consecutive decrease for those who opt for Medicare Advantage plans.

Both parties were quick to comment on the news. Representative Pete Stark, D-California, said that ?these reductions are a direct result of the Medicare reforms included in the Affordable Care Act.? On the other hand a spokeswoman for Representative Dave Camp, R-Michigan, insisted that the savings were because ?seniors aren?t going to the doctor as frequently, largely because they can?t afford it.? Senior advocate AARP welcomed the news but continued to monitor proposals to change Medicare as part of financial reform.

Regardless of where the savings come from Bill Messett reminds Florida?s seniors that open enrollment ends on December 7th. He encourages all Florida residents who are 65 and older to visit GetOnlineQuotes.com and get a Florida Medicare insurance quote. Afterwards they can follow up with Bill to finalize their choices.

About GetOnlineQuotes.com

GetOnlineQuotes.com is a licensed independent insurance agency based out of Miami, Florida. They are focused on providing high-quality life and health insurance plans for families and individuals. This family-run business provides personalized service for customers living in Florida and continuously strives to provide the most relevant and cost-effective insurance available.

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More Medigap Press Releases

(Dec. 14, 2011) ? A highly-emotional debate over freedom of choice versus obligations under a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling is dividing the disability community regarding proposed changes to a key Medicaid waiver that is the primary funding safety net for persons with disabilities including autism, according to a new report by LTO Ventures and the Community Living Subcommittee of the Nevada Autism Commission.

The ?choice? versus ?Olmstead? debate also has huge implications when it comes to who gets to determine what qualifies as Medicaid-eligible settings, according to report author Mark L. Olson, president and CEO of LTO Ventures and Subcommittee chairperson.

?At stake is nothing less than the future of essential residential and supportive services for hundreds of thousands of adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder as well as adults with intellectual, developmental and other disabilities,? Olson said.

The report, released on the LTO Ventures website (http://www.ltoventures.org), examined the public comments submitted in response to the publication of the proposed new rules in the Federal Register.

At the heart of the debate is the 1999 Supreme Court ruling in Olmstead v. L.C. [527 U.S. 581] that held that unnecessary segregation and institutionalization of persons with disabilities is a form of discrimination and prohibited under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The ruling was a giant step forward in the advancement of choices in housing and services for millions of people with disabilities.

Efforts by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) since 2009 to redefine under the Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Waiver what constitutes ?community living? and ?home and community-based? settings threaten to severely constrain choice and access to funding that could result in disastrous public policy that reverberates for decades. An estimated 25 percent of existing eligible residential settings would not meet the new CMS criteria, and tens of thousands of disabled individuals could be forced out of their residences.

The report found the choice side is comprised primarily of the disabled individuals served by the waiver, their parents, caregivers, providers and many state Medicaid agencies and administrators. They contend that narrowing the definition of an eligible setting would have a chilling effect on innovation in housing models and financing mechanisms, public and private, would unfairly impact the development of residences suitable for the tens of thousands of disabled adults who need them, and would balloon already bloated waiting lists nationwide.

The report found the Olmstead side comprised primarily of CMS itself, and affiliated disability advocacy organizations, including the Protection & Advocacy/Client Assistance Programs (P&A/CAP) Network created by Congress with special federal and state authorities to advocate for people with disabilities.

CMS Administrator Donald M. Berwick and these disability advocates contend they are only following their obligations under Olmstead. They maintain that only living situations that closely or exactly mirror those of nondisabled persons fulfill the intention of the Supreme Court and the Americans with Disabilities Act, and that federal and state funding under HCBS waivers should only be used for such settings.

CMS itself is not unified in its opinion, however. Agencies and officials responsible for administering the Medicaid program in 14 states filed a joint public comment opposing the changes proposed by Berwick.

The community at risk includes almost 123,000 disabled people on waiting lists for Medicaid-eligible residential services, an increase of almost 71% over the same waiting lists in 2000, the first year after the Supreme Court Olmstead decision. In many states, the length of time eligible individuals have languished on waiting lists exceeds ten years. And it is projected to get much worse. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Autism Speaks estimate that more than 500,000 individuals under 22 years of age with an Autism Spectrum Disorder will reach adulthood by 2024 and join the market for housing and services.

The report concludes that the objective of the CMS rule-making process and this debate ideally should be to produce an outcome that expands inventory and choices and removes barriers to innovation and investment in residential settings desired by adults with autism and intellectual, developmental and other disabilities. At the very least CMS must ?do no new harm? and choose not to include proposed new paragraphs to the Medicaid HCBS Waiver regulation.

Read the Full Text of the Report

The complete report is available and downloadable at: http://wp.me/P1ZYZ5-1D.

About LTO Ventures

LTO Ventures is a 501(c)(3) non-profit company that develops live/work/play communities for adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) and related developmental disabilities. For more information, visit: http://www.ltoventures.org. Our public comment can be found at: http://www.regulations.gov, keyword CMS-2296-P; document ID: CMS-2009-0071-1662.

About Community Living Subcommittee, Nevada Commission on Autism Spectrum Disorders

The mission of the Subcommittee is to assess and advise the Commission on a modern approach to a variety of residential living situations for the Autism Spectrum Disorders (?ASD?) population in Nevada. For more information, visit: http://www.facebook.com/NVAutismCommission.CommunityLivingSubcommittee. Our public comment can be found at: http://www.regulations.gov, keyword CMS-2296-P; document ID: CMS-2009-0071-1595.

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Find More Medicare D Press Releases

Best answer:

Answer by Davie
As much as a band-aid.

Add your own answer in the comments!

Joppel is a complete website resource for Medicare beneficiaries nationwide for both those aging-in as well as those already eligible. Joppel helps beneficiaries and their caregivers research and select health plans that best suit their personal needs. Joppel provides these services through an innovative website (www.joppel.com) that contains comprehensive, accurate and unbiased information and simplified tools to analyze and compare medicare health plan information. The Joppel website is supported by a fifty-state call center staffed by licensed benefit agents who are available for questions and can help to complete the application process.
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Rogue Magazine – October 1964 – Volume 9 Number 5 – Water Balloons …..item 1..routinely use devious devices — wears us down like rabid trial lawyers until we give in (August 15, 2011 / 15 Av 5771) …


Image by marsmet542
As these “kids” continued on the path of subverting long term goals through opportunistic, deceptive behavior, they remained stunted; locked in infantile patterns that destroyed esteem and ethics, making true friendship and commitment to anything or anyone almost impossible.

…..item 1)….aish.com….The Manipulative Child….Red flags and how to break the cycle.

by Marnie Winston-Macauley

August 15, 2011 / 15 Av 5771

www.aish.com/f/p/The_Manipulative_Child.html

Ten-year-old Becca could play “Annie” with her bright red hair and freckles. But Becca’s too busy running the household. Whether it’s bedtime or a visit to bubbe, Becca makes the rules. “I’m not going and you can’t make me!” Her parents, afraid to upset her, fail to see this for what it is … manipulation by “drama.”

“If you make me go to school today, I’ll throw up!” says David, eight. His “nervous stomach” is perfectly tuned to his “don’t want-to-do” list. His parents let him “time off” watching Spongebob and learning to pronounce “gastroenteritis.” They fail to see this for what it is … manipulation by “blackmail.”

“If you don’t talk to Abby, I’ll let you have my very best glitter. BUT if you do, I’ll TELL EVERYONE THAT YOU ………” threatens Debby, 11. Abby was exiled, and her “friends” came to Debby’s pajama party – in glitter. Mom thinks she’s “popular,” failing to see this for what it is … manipulation by “bribery.”

The goal of manipulation is more often the attempt to gain control over anxiety through avoidance.

Most of us think of manipulation as a method of getting something that’s denied us, whether it’s that vacation we want, or, the “upper-hand.” Yet, the goal of manipulation is more often the attempt to gain control over anxiety through avoidance, especially in new or stressful situations. Even as ethical adults, who among us hasn’t cancelled that root canal due to “flu” or begged off an unpleasant hospital visit?

With young children, every experience holds new anxiety-triggers. I’ve yet to meet a child who hasn’t tried some of the tricks above to avoid fear of failure, loss of face, or challenges – at least once or twice.

But, when I use the term “manipulative child,” I’m referring to those who routinely use devious devices. Tragically, while they may “win” through lying, whining, guilting, bullying or bribing in the short run, they’ll inevitably face failure, frustration, a lack of esteem, confidence – and ethics in the long run.

After all, they’ve learned early that these avoidance tricks worked. As they head toward adulthood and find that life doesn’t always suit them, these “skills” get shakier. Unable to exercise honest, ethical, straightforward strategies to manage anxiety, they flail powerless, and fail time and time again, sometimes dropping out, or turning to other risky behaviors,

bothered, bewildered, blaming – and remaining dependent “kids” until they’re on Medicare. Listen …

“My son’s 42 and he still lives with me, rent-free, while I do his laundry and cook his meals.”

“My daughter, 32, can’t keep a husband or a job, and keeps demanding money. When I tell her I’m living on Social Security, she whines, begs, or argues!”

“We’re sick of bailing our 25-year-old out! While other parents are worried about being ‘empty-nesters,’ we’re praying to join them!”

As these “kids” continued on the path of subverting long term goals through opportunistic, deceptive behavior, they remained stunted; locked in infantile patterns that destroyed esteem and ethics, making true friendship and commitment to anything or anyone almost impossible.

Related Article: Discipline 911

—— Red Flags in Our Children

We know we’re dealing with a manipulative child when he or she routinely:

1. argues or whine incessantly over everything from rules to responsibilities.

2. distorts or edits reality. Most popular is the circular “why” tactic. They’ll come up with endless reasons why they can’t/shouldn’t/needn’t do it, and why “it’s stupid, unfair, or “unnecessary.”

3. wears us down like rabid trial lawyers until we give in.

4. deceives us through promising, lying, making excuses, procrastinating or “negotiating” (like rabid trial lawyers).

—— Parents as Manipulative Partners

For these tricks to work, the child must have a willing partner – us! In a home where a child’s manipulation rules, we’ve abdicated our parental role to that of “appeasers” and “fixers.” Despite rationalizations, giving in is “easier” in the short-term, even if we’re setting up disaster. The recipe for the care and feeding of little manipulators include parents who:

1. Try to appease their children and avoid any unpleasantness. When we fail to teach them how to manage reality or “change the rules” to accommodate them, we create wormholes for them to creep through.

2. Confuse boundaries between parent and child. When no one’s in charge, our little ones “step up.”

3. Foster dependence. When children expect others to “make them feel good,” or solve their problems, failures becomes everyone else’s fault.

4. Use manipulative discipline. False promises and bribing teach children how to play the game.

5. Place material things over deeper, ethical core values.

—— Breaking the Manipulation Cycle

It starts by not letting it start or continue.

1. We parents need to recognize our own “partnership.” It’s uncomfortable admitting we’re afraid of not being “loved” by our children, of setting limits, but owning up is essential in stopping the cycle. More, we need to ask ourselves, “Do we whine, kvetch, avoid, blame, bully?” If so, we’re teaching Manipulation 101.

2. Close wormholes! With new principles in place, get family rules and expectations in place. Post them. Consequences must be predictable and don’t change with the decibel level of our child – or our inconvenience. At first, the child will become ever more “creative.” Any exception is a set-back. The message: “It won’t work!” will only work with absolute consistency.

3. Empathize and support without “fixing.” Instead of doing that report for your child, or letting her stay home, the new response? “I know it’s hard. I also know you can do it. Calm down and work.” When we let them know we have expectations and trust their ability, instead of “I can’t,” they’ll learn, “I can, and I must.”

4. Reward truth, ethics, and yes, even failure. A successful adult owns it all honestly, then evaluates and persists.

It’s our job to create successful adults. Adults who get what they want through straight-shooting, taking on challenges they fear, and accepting responsibility for themselves.

More, the non-manipulator will also be manipulation proof! A child who is sure-footed is unlikely to be bullied, conned, or controlled. All it requires is getting them off the manipulative merry-go-round, by standing our ground. And that means that we, as parents, must stand on firm ground.
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Congressman Kendrick B. Meek


Image by cliff1066™
Congressman Kendrick B. Meek, who is serving in his fourth term in the U.S. House of Representatives, was first elected to public office at the age of 27. Congressman Meek is a member of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, the committee in Congress that has jurisdiction over virtually every aspect of federal government activity.

Mr. Meek is one of two Floridians who serve on the Ways and Means Committee and the only Floridian Ways and Means Member of the Democratic Majority. He sits on the Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures, and the Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support.

In January 2007, Congressman Meek was appointed to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, an inter-parliamentary organization of legislators representing NATO Members and associate countries. He is one of only twelve members of Congress to represent the U.S. on the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.

Congressman Meek was appointed to the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee. Members include Speaker Pelosi, the Democratic leadership and several powerful committee chairmen. The Democratic Steering Committee assigns Democratic House members to committees and sets the overall policy agenda for the House Democratic Caucus.

Recognizing his accomplishments in Congress, The Miami Herald wrote in a September 2006 editorial that, “Mr. Meek has grown in influence and effectiveness in Congress, working across the aisle to promote issues and funding for his district.” The Miami Herald wrote in an October 2006 editorial that Congressman Meek “is tireless, creative and willing to work across party lines.”

The South Florida Sun Sentinel wrote in an August 2006 editorial that, “For the district, Meek has helped obtain federal funding for several projects in the district, including buses in Broward County and Metrorail in Miami-Dade County. Affordable housing, job creation and education remain Meek’s top priorities. He also plans to continue working to provide federal support, economic development and aid to Haiti.”

Speaker Nancy Pelosi has described Congressman Meek as “a rising leader in the House who is respected throughout our Caucus and throughout the Congress.” He is the Co-Chair of Speaker Pelosi’s “30-Something” Working Group, which articulates Democratic positions to the public on critical issues before the U.S. Congress.

Congressman Meek has sponsored legislation that provides preferential trade status for Haiti, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere; expands the number of Medicare-supported physician residency training positions in states with a shortage of residents, which includes Florida; requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop an emergency telephone alert system in the event of terrorist acts or natural disasters; and restores federal aid for the repair, restoration, and replacement of private nonprofit educational facilities damaged or destroyed by a major disaster.

Meek is the current Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, a non-partisan, non-profit, public policy, research and educational institute founded by members of the Congressional Black Caucus in 1976.

An experienced legislator who served eight years in the Florida House and Senate, Meek was elected to Congress in 2002 from Florida’s 17th Congressional District, which includes Miami-Dade and Broward Counties.

In 2002, Congressman Meek launched an initiative to reduce class sizes in Florida’s overcrowded public schools. As Chairman of Florida’s Coalition to Reduce Class Size, Congressman Meek spearheaded a petition drive that collected more than 500,000 signatures. He guided the amendment through two opposition efforts in the Florida Supreme Court, as well as a well-funded campaign of scare tactics designed to kill it at the ballot box. In the end, the 2.5 million Florida citizens voted for the measure and it was approved.

Before his service in elected office, Congressman Meek was a captain in the Florida Highway Patrol and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Criminology from Florida A&M University.

Congressman Meek is a native of Miami, Florida. He is married to the former Leslie Dixon of Brooklyn, New York, and they have two children, Lauren and Kendrick Jr. Congressman Meek is the son of former Congresswoman Carrie P. Meek.

www.insuranceinfopedia.com Video explanation of Medicare Prescription Drug Plans for 2010.

Sylvia Gordon, General Manager at Gordon Marketing explains the benefits and pains of Medicare Part D program. Understanding Mdeicare supplements, medicare supplement insurance, medicare advantage, medicare advantage plans, medicare part D, medicare part D donut hole, medicare AARP. Gordon Marketing has fantastic management opportunities. If you’ve always wanted to be a manager, or presently have a downline of insurance agents – we want to work with you! GA, MGA, SGA contracts available. We don’t set the requirements, each company does, but we allow you to grow your contract as your downline of agents grows. Please contact us at 1-800-388-8342 for more information or visit www.gordonmarketing.com
Video Rating: 4 / 5

House Republican Press Conference on Health Care Reform


Image by House GOP Leader
House GOP Offers Better Health Care Solutions: healthcare.gop.gov

The American people have spoken. Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats have ignored them. Through the month of August, the American people let Members of Congress from both parties know that they didn’t want a government takeover of health care. That hasn’t changed.

But instead of listening to the American people, Democrats hid behind closed doors and came back with a bill designed to appease the liberal special interests. Three things about Speaker Pelosi’s health care bill are already clear: it will raise the cost of Americans’ health insurance premiums; it will kill jobs with tax hikes and new mandates; and it will cut seniors’ Medicare benefits. The fact that it weighs in at nearly 2,000 pages – more than 620 pages longer than the government takeover of health care Hillary Clinton proposed in 1993 – is as good an indication as any of just how costly and unsustainable Speaker Pelosi’s proposal is.

House Republican Press Conference on Health Care Reform


Image by House GOP Leader
House GOP Offers Better Health Care Solutions: healthcare.gop.gov

The American people have spoken. Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats have ignored them. Through the month of August, the American people let Members of Congress from both parties know that they didn’t want a government takeover of health care. That hasn’t changed.

But instead of listening to the American people, Democrats hid behind closed doors and came back with a bill designed to appease the liberal special interests. Three things about Speaker Pelosi’s health care bill are already clear: it will raise the cost of Americans’ health insurance premiums; it will kill jobs with tax hikes and new mandates; and it will cut seniors’ Medicare benefits. The fact that it weighs in at nearly 2,000 pages – more than 620 pages longer than the government takeover of health care Hillary Clinton proposed in 1993 – is as good an indication as any of just how costly and unsustainable Speaker Pelosi’s proposal is.

House Republican Press Conference on Health Care Reform


Image by House GOP Leader
House GOP Offers Better Health Care Solutions: healthcare.gop.gov

The American people have spoken. Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats have ignored them. Through the month of August, the American people let Members of Congress from both parties know that they didn’t want a government takeover of health care. That hasn’t changed.

But instead of listening to the American people, Democrats hid behind closed doors and came back with a bill designed to appease the liberal special interests. Three things about Speaker Pelosi’s health care bill are already clear: it will raise the cost of Americans’ health insurance premiums; it will kill jobs with tax hikes and new mandates; and it will cut seniors’ Medicare benefits. The fact that it weighs in at nearly 2,000 pages – more than 620 pages longer than the government takeover of health care Hillary Clinton proposed in 1993 – is as good an indication as any of just how costly and unsustainable Speaker Pelosi’s proposal is.

Best answer:

Answer by HNY
The rates vary because of income and for late buy-in for Medicare Part B.
If your income is above $ 85,000 (single) or $ 170,000 (married couple), then your Medicare Part B premium may be higher than $ 96.40 per month.
Your monthly premium for Part B may go up 10% for each full 12-month period that you could have had Part B, but didn’t sign up for it.

Give your answer to this question below!

Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian discuss how potential medicare cuts cost Republicans a congressional seat in New York’s 26th district. Kathy Hochul has defeated Jane Corwin. Subscribe: bit.ly TYT Mobile: bit.ly On Facebook: www.facebook.com On Twitter: twitter.com www.theyoungturks.com FREE Movies(!): www.netflix.com Read Ana’s blog and subscribe at: www.examiner.com Read Cenk’s Blog: www.huffingtonpost.com
Video Rating: 4 / 5

www.staysmartstayhealthy.com There are some set costs for Medicare, but also some variations. Medicare Part A is free, but youll need to pay a deductible for hospital stays. Youll also need to pay monthly premiums for Parts B and D coverage. And there are exceptions for all the various Medicare plans, so make sure you do your research or talk to someone who can help.

www.staysmartstayhealthy.com There are some set costs for Medicare, but also some variations. Medicare Part A is free, but you’ll need to pay a deductible for hospital stays. You’ll also need to pay monthly premiums for Parts B and D coverage. And there are exceptions for all the various Medicare plans, so make sure you do your research or talk to someone who can help.Stay Smart Stay Healthy was created by Edward Batchelor at Humana Inc. as a new-media venture designed to deliver guidance, and to support awareness and understanding of the healthcare industry. His goal was simple to educate consumers on the healthcare system by removing the usual complexities and replacing them with an informative and engaging series of videos.
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Black Friday marks the busiest shopping day of the year, and the kick-off of the Christmas retailing season, and retailers both brick-and-mortar and online will be rolling out massive sales and promotions to entice consumers. What none of these deals will address are the spiraling costs of medication for American consumers, who already face the highest prescription drug costs in the world and saw in 2011 a price increase of an additional 7.2% on over a hundred of the top selling brand medications. In response to these high drugs costs, CanadaDrugs.com, the largest international mail order pharmacy provider is launching a weeklong Black Friday campaign where every single American will be eligible for free generic prescription medication.

The http://www.blackfridaydrugs.com campaign is designed give instant price relief in the form of free generic prescription medication, up to a $ 250 U.S value. CanadaDrugs.com, has been offering Americans an affordable alternative to their prescription costs for over a decade, and has filled over 6 million prescriptions. This Black Friday offer will introduce more Americans, who struggle with their prescription bill, to the opportunity and savings that online pharmacies offer their customers. Access to safe and affordable pharmaceuticals should be a natural right for all Americans, but it?s clear that too many Americans are being failed by a combination of government inaction and big pharmaceutical greed.

?The fact is that Americans are paying too much for their prescription medication. The rest of the world has access to more affordable drugs, and it?s unfair to U.S consumers that they?re forced to pay such high costs in comparison. I know that this free drug offer will appeal to hundreds of thousands of Americans and will help them stretch a budget that is being pushed to the brink by record high drug costs,? said Brock Gunter-Smith, Chief Business Development Officer for Canada Drugs. ?We hope that this offer will bring the people that take advantage back as regular customers because we?re confident our service, quality and dedication to patient health will convince them of our benefits, but even if it?s just a one time order, we?ll be happy to help someone save and spread the word that there are options out there to high U.S costs.?

Canada Drugs believes access to essential prescription drugs should be safe, convenient, and affordable for all. An extremely rigorous standard of patient safety and security is maintained. All orders, whether placed during this Black Friday offer, or over the rest of the year require a valid U.S prescription and the Canada Drugs staff of licensed, accredited pharmacists and technicians provide the same review and oversight as a local pharmacy. Canada Drugs is a certified member of the Canadian International Pharmacy Association (CIPA) the Better Business Bureau and is a 5 star rated pharmacy from PharmacyChecker.com.

The free Black Friday Drug offer will run from November 25th to December 1st and will provide up to $ 250 U.S worth of generic prescription medication to all new Canada Drugs patients. ?This offer has the potential to save Americans millions of dollars. I know that people are worried about how to stretch budgets, how to get by without adequate prescription coverage, or what to do when falling into the Medicare Part-D doughnut hole, and I know that $ 250 worth of free prescription medication will help anyone struggling to cope with the reality of too high U.S drug costs,? said Gunter-Smith.

Brock Gunter-Smith

Chief Business Development Officer

CanadaDrugs.com Group of Companies

16 Terracon Place

Winnipeg, MB, Canada

R2J 4G7

Office: (204) 654-7950

Mobile: (204) 291-3494

Fax:????(204) 258-7010

brock(at)canadadrugs(dot)com

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www.MedicareMadeClear.com – Are your prescription drug costs covered? For Medicare recipients, this is where Part D plans can help. Whether by itself or part of a Medicare Advantage plan most Medicare recipients need Part D plans to help reduce out-of-pocket drug expenses.
Video Rating: 5 / 5

God has been described in many ways and has been labeled with many names. In Star Wars, the great series of science fiction movies, George Lucas called God ?the Force,? an impersonal but good God which Jedi knights could learn to use for the good of all creatures, human or alien. But however God is portrayed, author Michael Alex McDonald assures everyone that God is very real and that God Is More Than a Good Idea.

McDonald?s book points out a few crucial points that everyone needs to know about the Bible, the all-time best-selling book:

????First of all, it was written by people inspired by God.
????Second, this inspired book describes God as a perfectly loving parent who wants nothing more than to have an intimate relationship with the people God created.
????Third, the Bible describes God as Father, Son and Mother, one true God who is manifested in three persons as the holy trinity.
????And finally, this God was willing to become God with us through Jesus Christ

In God Is More Than a Good Idea, McDonald describes how to allow God to be more than a rational belief in your life. ?I?m excited about the book,? he says, ?because Jesus proved by his every word and action that he was God in the flesh. He simply did everything right. What was his reward for loving us? We tortured and killed him. What was his response to our hatred? He prayed from the cross, ?Father, forgive them because they don?t know what they are doing?.?

This book covers a lot of ground with the author sharing many of his own personal experiences as he talks about how one can become God?s friend. He believes that there is no point if God is only a good idea. A God who isn’t there and doesn’t care is like an absent parent, not only worthless, but cruel as well. God’s story is much more than another good story, and God is definitely more than an indefinable force, which people can learn ?to use for good.? The good news is that God came to our world to help people find love and peace.????????

For more information on this book, interested parties may log on to http://www.Xlibris.com.

About the Author

In addition to being an author, Michael McDonald is an ordained minister and a licensed professional counselor in private practice with his wife and partner Rebecca. Besides counseling people who have both mental health and substance abuse problems, they present creative Christian programs using magical illusions, clowning, and ventriloquism.

God Is More Than A Good Idea * by Michael Alex McDonald

Publication Date: September 29, 2011

Trade Paperback; $ 19.99; 185 pages; 978-1-4628-8547-3

Trade Hardback; $ 29.99; 185 pages; 978-1-4628-8548-0

eBook; $ 9.99; 978-1-4628-8549-7

Members of the media who wish to review this book may request a complimentary paperback copy by contacting the publisher at (888) 795-4274 x. 7879. To purchase copies of the book for resale, please fax Xlibris at (610) 915-0294 or call (888) 795-4274 x. 7879.

For more information on self-publishing or marketing with Xlibris, visit http://www.Xlibris.com. To receive a free publishing guide, please call (888) 795-4274.

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More Information For Health Press Releases

NEW REPORT HIGHLIGHTS MEDICARE ADVANTAGE INSURERS’ HIGHER ADMINISTRATIVE SPENDING


Image by Leader Nancy Pelosi
Today Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Bart Stupak released a new report which found that 34 Medicare Advantage insurers expend significant sums on profits, marketing, and other corporate expenses. Last year, the insurers spent an average of ,450 per beneficiary on profits, marketing, and other corporate expenses, nearly ten times as much as traditional Medicare spent on administrative expenses per beneficiary.

Read the report at: energycommerce.house.gov/Press_111/20091209/MedicareAdvan…

Medicare For All


Image by Infrogmation
Demonstration for health care in front of the Hale Boggs Federal Building, Poydras Street, New Orleans

Thank you!

Best answer:

Answer by mbrcatz
To be eligible for Medicare, you must have paid into the system, and you must be either 65 or over, Disabled on SSDI, or in end stage renal failure.

Even if you’ve paid in during the years you’ve been in the USA, it’s likely not enough.

Add your own answer in the comments!

Question by esch789: How do I find out what was billed under my medicare number?
I am a physician working for a group. The head of the group does not let me see what was billed to or paid by medicare for my services. How do I find out what was billed under my medicare number last year?

Best answer:

Answer by kayjoe25
Medicare should have been sending you statements of what went where. All you have to do is call Medicare and they can tell you or they can send you a copy. The copy comes from someone else, the actual company that pays their portion.

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!

Experts from IHS and CMS discuss Medicare Part D and recent Medicare program changes. Topics include: creditable coverage letters, plan changes for 2011, LIS; redeeming and reassignment, Medicare Plan Enrollment, Medicare program updates, and a demonstration of the new Medicare Plan Finder on www.medicare.gov. We would like to hear from you. Please send all comments to TribalAffairs@cms.hhs.gov. Thank you.
Video Rating: 5 / 5

Experts from IHS and CMS discuss Medicare Part D and recent Medicare program changes. Topics include: new dates for Open Enrollment; creditable coverage letters; plan changes for 2012; LIS, redeeming and reassignment; Medicare Plan Enrollment; Medicare program updates and a demonstration of the updated Medicare Plan Finder on www.medicare.gov. Presenters: Indian Health Service — Pamela Schweitzer; CMS — Kay Pokrzywa, Roslyn Thomas, Stacey Platte, David Nolley, Kitty Marx
Video Rating: 0 / 5

Over the five years to 2016, the Chiropractors industry is forecast to grow to reach $ 14.8 billion, according to IBISWorld, the nation?s largest publisher of industry information. This includes growth of 2.2% in 2012. A lack of evidence supporting chiropractic as a primary form of healthcare will restrain industry growth. As a result, employment is projected to increase marginally at 0.6% on average per year to reach 142,719 in 2016. Despite slow growth, chiropractic is positioned to take advantage of newfound interest in complementary and alternative care by providing more integrative care and gaining more consistent referrals from other healthcare professionals. The aging population will also continue to benefit from chiropractic care, and healthcare reform will bolster demand.

Often regarded as a fringe or vague science, chiropractic care is slowly gaining greater legitimacy among other healthcare providers, insurance providers and consumers. Studies concerning the effectiveness of chiropractic treatments, however, have produced conflicting results. Consequently, revenue is expected to grow slowly at an average annualized rate of 1.8% to $ 13.0 billion in the five years since 2006. In 2011, revenue is expected to increase 1.4% after strong growth in 2010 that marked a rebound in the economic environment. In an effort to further integrate with other healthcare professionals, chiropractors have been joining multidisciplinary groups. This has contributed to a falling number of industry operators during the past five years, which is expected to decline an average 1.6% per year to total 56,524 in 2011.

According to IBISWorld analyst, Sophia Snyder, demographic trends are favoring the Chiropractors industry, as chiropractic care has been shown to be beneficial for seniors. ?Also, a more diverse range of ethnicities is visiting chiropractors,? says Snyder. ?While sales are on the rise, downward pressure from shrinking reimbursement rates has hindered industry profitability.? Private insurance companies and public programs, such as Medicare, are struggling with budgetary issues and rising healthcare costs, so they provide clients with less financial coverage for the medical services they obtain. Accordingly, the amount of money chiropractors have been receiving for treating patients covered by such policies has been decreasing.

The passage of the Patient Protection and Affordability Care Act (PPACA) in 2010 is forecast to improve the health insurance situation. The PPACA-initiated national healthcare reform brings with it a historic first for the chiropractic profession. The act’s “provider nondiscrimination” provision aims to ensure that a group health plan and a health-insurance issuer will not discriminate with respect to participation under the plan or coverage against any healthcare provider that is acting within the scope of that provider’s license or certification under applicable state law. In short, this federal law will make it illegal for insurance companies to discriminate against chiropractors and other providers relative to their participation and coverage in health plans. As the PPACA takes effect in the coming years and more individuals gain access to healthcare coverage, industry revenue is expected to grow at an average annualized rate of 2.7% over the five years to 2016 to total $ 14.8 billion.

For more information, download the full report from IBISWorld on the Chiropractors industry

IBISWorld Industry Market Research Reports Contain:

About this Industry

Industry Definition

Main Activities

Similar Industries

Additional Resources

Industry at a Glance

Industry Performance

Executive Summary

Key External Drivers

Current Performance

Industry Outlook

Industry Life Cycle

Products & Markets

Supply Chain

Products & Services

Major Markets

Globalisation & Trade

Business Locations

Competitive Landscape

Market Share Concentration

Key Success Factors

Cost Structure Benchmarks

Barriers to Entry

Major Companies

Operating Conditions

Capital Intensity

Key Statistics

Industry Data

Annual Change

Key Ratios

Jargon & Glossary

Follow IBISWorld on Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/IBISWorld

Friend IBISWorld on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/IBISWorld/121347533189

About IBISWorld Inc.

Recognized as the nation?s most trusted independent source of industry and market research, IBISWorld offers a comprehensive database of unique information and analysis on every US industry. With an extensive online portfolio, valued for its depth and scope, the company equips clients with the insight necessary to make better business decisions. Headquartered in Los Angeles, IBISWorld serves a range of business, professional service and government organizations through more than 10 locations worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.ibisworld.com or call 1-800-330-3772.

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Related Medicare Cover Press Releases

The leaders in healthcare of GCC and Middle East were saluted by their peers for their considerable achievements and contributions towards innovation and development, at the annual Arab Health Achievement and Innovation Awards 2011 where more than 800 international and regional leading healthcare professionals gathered at a gala dinner on 25th January 2011at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Dubai. A panel of expert judges was assembled, to provide a shortlist out of the 200 nominations received, consisting of Fadi El-Jardali, Accreditation Canada International; Dr. Joel J. Nobel, Founder and President Emeritus ECRI; Ashraf Ismail, Managing Director ME, Joint Commission International; Malek El Husseini, Business Development Director, GE Healthcare ME and Brian Johnston, Chief Executive of The Australian Council on Healthcare Standards. Commenting on the awards, Johnston, said, “The quality of all nominations reflects the increasing importance of the awards programme to the development of high quality health services across the region. Most notable has been the number of nominations that have focused on the benefits to patients, in terms of quality and safety, as the major outcome from the quality initiatives undertaken.” Padmashree Dr. Azad Moopen — Chairman, DM Healthcare and Medcare Hospital said this achievement is definitely a another stepping stone to a better and brighter healthcare in UAE and GCC and this will surely boost the healthcare operators to raise the bar to achieve …

Medcare Hospital, part of DM Healthcare officially launched its Medical Centre to support the medical needs of the Dubai community and adjoining Emirates. The first of its kind Medical Centre was inaugurated today 10/10/2010 at Mirdiff City Centre

MiniCo Insurance Agency, LLC, has signed an agreement with AXA Art Insurance Corporation to offer a specialty program to insure private collections including collectibles valued up to one million dollars in a home or storage facility. MiniCo will begin underwriting coverage nationwide effective September 1, 2011.

The MiniCo Collectibles Insurance program provides all-risk coverage, on an unscheduled basis, and with no appraisal required at application.

MiniCo President and CEO Mike Schofield commented, ?The MiniCo Collectibles Insurance program provides a unique coverage opportunity for private collectors. Our program enables collectors and their insurance agents to avoid the limitations and requirements of insuring valuables through a homeowner policy and offers an option for specialized broad-spectrum coverage tailored to these risks.?

Jim Henry, Chief Underwriting Officer, added, ?AXA Art Insurance Corporation is the gold standard for art insurance all over the world. MiniCo is excited to partner with AXA Art to offer the highest level of coverage for smaller private collectors who will benefit from this expertise.?

AXA Art Insurance Corporation is the only globally operating specialty art and collectibles insurance company offering tailor-made coverage solutions for private and corporate collections, museums, galleries and artists. The company has been assigned a rating of ?A? (Excellent) by A.M. Best.

About MiniCo Insurance Agency, LLC

Since 1974, Phoenix-based MiniCo Insurance Agency, LLC, has been a self-storage leader providing superior specialty insurance programs, informative publications and valuable products and services created expressly for the self storage industry. MiniCo Insurance Agency, LLC, is a member of the Aran Insurance Services Group.

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Related Insurance Program Press Releases

Question by Help Me!: Signing up for Medicare but lsot application?
My mother recieved a medicare application to fill out to receive medicare and prescription coverage but she lost the form who should we contact to get another copy of the application?

Best answer:

Answer by Flower
http://www.ssa.gov/medicareonly/

http://www.medicare.gov/medicareonlineforms/

Give your answer to this question below!

“For Health…eat some food from each group…every day!”, 1941 – 1945


Image by The U.S. National Archives
Original Caption: "For Health…eat some food from each group…every day!", 1941 – 1945

U.S. National Archives’ Local Identifier: 44-PA-798B

From:: Series: World War II Posters, compiled 1942 – 1945

Created By:: Office for Emergency Management. Office of War Information. Domestic Operations Branch. Bureau of Special Services. (03/09/1943 – 09/15/1945)

Persistent URL: arcweb.archives.gov/arc/action/ExternalIdSearch?id=514288

Repository: Still Picture Records Section, National Archives at College Park,MD

For information about ordering reproductions of photographs held by the Still Picture Unit, visit: www.archives.gov/research/order/still-pictures.html

Reproductions may be ordered via an independent vendor. NARA maintains a list of vendors at www.archives.gov/research/order/vendors-photos-maps-dc.html

Buy copies of selected National Archives photographs and documents at the National Archives Print Shop online: gallery.pictopia.com/natf/photo/

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Information Picket for Canadian Health Care at Ogden Point


Image by Tony Sprackett
Once they became aware of us, the security team for the Vic Harbour Authority(?) told us we couldn’t come on there because it was private property. James Cavalluzo, our organizer advised them that, um, it wasn’t, because the federal government had "turned it over to the authority for the use of the people". (A rough quote from Denise Savoie, MP, who was there with us but had to leave before the boat finally docked.)

This is him having advised us that he’s off to call the police, pretty quickly once the camera came out.

Question by lana s: Where can I find a medicare health insurance supplement in OK for prexisiting conditions and for under age 65?
Oklahoma is hard to find this type of health supplement.

Best answer:

Answer by Zarnev
You will want to contact an independent agent that works with Medicare Advantage plans in OK. Pre-existing conditions are not an issue unless you have ESRD (kidney failure). Each plan is county specific but there are 23 plans available in Oklahoma City and range in price from $ 0 to $ 218 per month. Many of these plans include prescription drug coverage. You can get on a plan that doesn’t include the drug coverage and get a separate stand alone Part D plan, of which there are 56 plans available state-wide.

You must have both medicare parts A and B to get on a Medicare Advantage plan or either medicare parts A or B to get on a stand alone Part D plan.

What do you think? Answer below!

Every year, millions of dollars are taken from the Medicare program through deceptive practices. Medicare fraud hurts not only the program as a whole, but everyone who receives Medicare benefits. The quick guide below reveals how Medicare fraud takes place, why it affects you as an end beneficiary, and what you can do to help prevent it.

What is Medicare Fraud?

Medicare fraud occurs when false claims are made on behalf of a real beneficiary. For example, you visit a particular physician or medical clinic. They ask for your Medicare card and give you a certain amount that is due, but then bill Medicare for more than that amount. They pocket the difference. Another type of Medicare fraud is when someone bills Medicare for services or equipment that you never received or for items different from what you received. A dishonest individual might also use the Medicare card of another to receive medical services or to buy equipment. Or, someone may return home medical equipment, but continue to bill Medicare for the equipment. There are other variations of Medicare fraud, but these are the most common.

Why Should You Care?

You may ask, “Why should I care if someone else commits Medicare fraud?” There are two main reasons you should join the battle against Medicare fraud. One, your Medicare co-pay costs will increase little by little because of money lost through fraud. Just as a retail store might increase prices to cover the losses of theft, Medicare costs will increase for everyone when fraud occurs. Two, you or your loved one could be the next victim. If you frequent the emergency room, pharmacy, or doctor’s office, then you are susceptible to becoming a victim of Medicare fraud. Someone may steal your Medicare card, or you might encounter a dishonest person working at a doctor’s office or pharmacy. Either way, the burden of proof will fall upon you because the Medicare card and billing information will be in your name.

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Detecting Medicare Fraud

Detecting Medicare fraud is easy if you keep an eye out for suspicious activities. Beware of providers that offer services for “free” when you have already given them your Medicare card. Also, if a provider offers to waive your co-payments on services routinely without checking to see if your financial situation has improved, you should be leery of this practice. Other “red flags” to watch for include pressure selling for higher-priced services, receiving Medicare bills for services you have not received, so-called “free” consultations for Medicare patients, marketing tactics being used by a provider such as telemarketing, and charges for co-payments on services that are supposed to be covered 100 percent by Medicare.

Do Not Falsely Accuse

If you suspect that a provider has committed Medicare fraud, double check with the provider to be sure it is not a simple mistake first. Sometimes human and computer errors do occur, so give your provider the benefit of the doubt from the start. If so-called “errors” seem to be happening often, then it’s time to investigate! The last thing you want is to wrongly accuse your health provider, so be sure to approach suspected Medicare fraud with caution.

Before Reporting a Provider

Before you report a provider for Medicare fraud, be sure you have all the facts. You’ll need all vital information about the provider including name, phone number, address, type of practice, etc. Also, you’ll need to gather all the facts about the incident so you can clearly present your case. Write or type a detailed timeline of events, the item(s) or service(s) that were billed incorrectly, the date when this occurred, and any other pertinent information.

Take Preventative Measures

If you encounter a situation where you believe you or a loved one have fallen victim to Medicare fraud, report it to your local and state Medicare representatives. Also, take the following steps to help prevent this from happening to you:

1. Never give anyone your Medicare card or claim number who is not your caregiver or physician.

2. Beware of those who wish to review your medical records when they are not providing medical services to you.

3. Beware of “free” consultations and Medicare services being offered by a clinic or physician.

4. Never request medical services that you do not actually need.

5. Beware of providers that offer to get Medicare to pay for services or items that are usually not covered by Medicare.

Most of all follow your instincts. If a situation doesn’t seem right, investigate to find the answers. You or your loved one can be safe from Medicare fraud if you use precaution during every medical situation. Keep in mind that criminals do not always come in dark clothing with masks on their faces. Those who commit Medicare fraud can appear to be normal caregivers or physicians, so keep your guard up any time you give out personal information such as your Medicare card.

Use this knowledge to join the fight against Medicare fraud, and help America to stay healthy!

Find More Medicare Fraud Articles

If you live in San Antonio, Texas, or anywhere in Texas for that matter, and have a child or children who are without adequate health insurance, you want May to examine Medicaid for Texas Children. Texas Medicaid for children is both a state and federal aid program for children with excellent comprehensive health insurance at affordable prices or at no charge at all. To be eligible for Medicaid for Texas Children, a child must be a resident of the United States and Texas, less than 19 years. The family of the child applying for Medicaid for Texas Children must meet the Medicaid of Texas Children income requirements.

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There are people who May not qualify for special programs for low income and at the same time, it is very difficult to pay for traditional health insurance. If you’re one of those people, you will receive a discount medical card. So what are they?

A discount medical card is eligible to receive a network of physicians who have agreed to card carriers for medical services at a lower rate. They are generally not affiliated with any insurance company. They are much in May for those who have pre-existing health conditions that excluding more plan or make it very difficult for them to get affordable prices. There is no exclusion for any reason. All you have to do is pay a monthly subscription and you can enjoy the services of a network of health care providers at a reduced rate.

For those who have pre-existing conditions that make it difficult or too costly for them to get private health care, the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA) insurance should also provide more affordable individual coverage.

Finally, everyone can get more affordable rates for health insurance for Texas or the state in which they live, if they shop right for her. Here’s how …

Take the time to visit at least three sites online. This will take you about 15 minutes (Some people have information that is not quite true about them. It is not wise. Giving false information will produce misleading results). You can easily get more affordable rates for health insurance only by choosing the lowest price for many awards back.

If a child belongs to a family that receives temporary assistance to needy families, also called TANF, the child will be immediately eligible for Medicaid for Texas Children. Otherwise, the child’s eligibility is determined by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, also known as HHSC. If a child is found to be eligible for Medicaid for Texas Children, family, the financial situation of May to be evaluated every six months or so as to ensure that the child is still eligible.

For more information on Texas Medicaid for children in the program, visit the Texas Department of Insurance Web site, or give them a call. You can also visit the website of the Texas Health and Human Services System.

Find More Texas Medicaid Articles

Health is the most important asset that you need to take care well. There are many things in life that you need to make efforts to preserve them. Your health too is one of them. You cannot lead a contended life without having great health. In life, you will encounter a wide range of medical problems and dealing with them will surely be quite an expensive affair. In this scenario, you will need an excellent option that will help you to pay off your medical expenses. This is exactly what you will get with Medicare supplemental insurance.

Going through a medical complication is a painful task. You will face physical, mental and psychological exhaustion. In this scenario, you will also have to deal with massive expenses if you don’t have a medical insurance. With the help of Medicare supplemental insurance, you will be able to pay off all your medical expenses comfortably. This insurance option will be a really profitable option for you as you will be able to pay off a wide range of medical expenses from it. You can use the advantages offered by Medicare supplement companies to pay for hospitalization charges, medical consulting fees, surgical procedure charges, drug purchase expenses, and lots more.

Though there are many medical insurance companies out there, you will have to be careful in choosing the right option for your needs. Depending on your exact needs, you can go through the various Medicare supplement plans to know what all is there on offer and what can be chosen. Since there are many medical insurance solutions out there, you might be confused on how to make the decision. This is where you can check out different Medicare supplemental insurance quotes and assess the right solution for you.

Once you have gone through various quotes, you will be able to understand what is ideal for you and make an informed decision. One of the most important things that you will have to consider before making a choice is the pricing offered. You are bound to have a particular budget and you can adhere to it by choosing the plan considering the Medicare supplement rates offered. Dealing with insurance could be a difficult task and so you should go through all the necessary terms and conditions to be assured that you are getting a good deal. Your medical woes will surely dissipate away once you have Medicare supplemental insurance at your side.

When you face a medical complication, you will have to endure many challenges. From physical and mental to psychological and financial, all of it will haunt you. However, you will be able to relieve yourself of any financial stress with the help of a Medicare supplemental insurance. These fantastic insurance solutions will prove to be the perfect options to consider and utilize during a medical emergency. They will take care of all possible expenses related to your medical affairs and make sure that you are capable to face your medical nightmares.

Prepare your practice for the impending CMS Medicare RAC (Recovery Audit Contract) Base Line Audit Every medical provider that files Medicare claims is going to be audited. Medicare RAC Auditors are coming to your area. Will your practice be ready? Our team will provide a base-line audit on your documentation and billing practices. Our report will allow you time to make any needed changes in your current practices billing and coding procedures. www.PaymentAutomation.net
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Here in Asheville North Carolina, health insurance reform is a huge issue as our local population consists largely of retirees, many of whom are becoming increasingly concerned about the cost sustainability of their Medicare and their North Carolina health plans. As health care costs continue to rise, reform is something the Obama Administration earnestly hopes to include in the 2010 Fiscal Budget. President Obama has identified savings which could constitute a reserve fund for the proposed health care reform plan. Approximately half of the funding would come from proposals to generate revenue, while the rest would come from Medicare and Medicaid savings.

Based on White House projections, the Medicare savings proposals would reduce beneficiary premiums for physician and outpatient services by about billion over the next decade. As a result of these proposals, beneficiaries would also see an improvement in the quality of their Medicare services. The reserve fund includes a host of Medicare/Medicaid savings proposals, some of which include:

- Improving the accuracy of Medicare and Medicaid payments. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) would have to strengthen their integrity efforts in order to address flaws that have led to billions in overpayments and fraud each year.

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- Reducing Medicare overpayments to private insurers would save taxpayers roughly 7 billion over 10 years, as well as reduce Part B premiums. This would be accomplished through the establishment of a competitive system in which payments are based on an average of plans’ bids submitted to Medicare.

- Reducing hospital readmission rates and improving post-hospital care. The idea here is that a combination of incentive payments and penalties would lead to better care and fewer readmissions, which would save approximately billion over 10 years.

- Expanding the Hospital Quality Improvement Program to improve quality of care for beneficiaries. This would be done by tying a portion of Medicare payments for acute in-patient hospital services to hospital performance on certain measures of quality. As a result of this effort, Medicare would save around billion over 10 years.

- Cutting waste, abuse and fraud. When it comes to care, patients need quality, not quantity. Unnecessary treatments are not only expensive, but can also pose risks to patient health. To prevent physicians from ordering unnecessary treatment, the Administration proposes increasing scrutiny (through a pre-payment review process) in high-risk areas or for those physicians who order an excessive amount of high-risk services.

For residents of North Carolina, health insurance, Medicare and health care reform are no doubt important topics. As citizens directly affected by these potential changes in policy, it’s important that you stay abreast of the facts, beware of misinformation surrounding health care reform, and show your support for legislation that speaks to your needs (which are probably not unlike those of many other Americans). If you are satisfied with your Asheville North Carolina health plans, rest assured in knowing that under Obama’s plan, you would be able to keep your private insurance and continue seeing the doctors you trust.

DestinationRx? is encouraging seniors and their families and caretakers to educate themselves and shop around before selecting a Medicare Part D health plan this enrollment season (November 15 ? December 31). Their new site offers an easy to use, senior-friendly online comparison tool to help consumers understand their options, compare Medicare plans, and find the right plan for themselves or their loved ones.

Comfort, Control, Continuity and Cost Savings

Consumers will be able to use the online tool beginning November 15th. Seniors will simply enter their zip code and prescription drug requirements, and the program will provide a list of Part D plans in their area. Seniors will also be able to conduct side-by-side comparisons based on monthly and annual premiums, deductible amounts, coverage gap or ?donut hole? coverage and estimated annual cost for their prescription drugs, and ultimately apply to the Part D plan of their choice.

By using advanced technology behind a simple, senior-friendly online tool, DestinationRx is able to give seniors important information about their options and the means to choose a plan ? and ultimately save money. ?Seniors can save money by comparing plans to find the most cost-efficient plan in their area. They can take control by being informed about their options and making educated decisions to avoid the surprises of changing premiums and drug costs,? said Michael Cho, CEO of DestinationRx.

The potential benefits go beyond cost savings. Changes in many aspects of drug plans are a certainty this year, and consumers that take the time to understand their current plan and the changes taking effect will have a clearer picture of whether they should stay in their current plan or switch plans. For seniors who want to switch, this new online comparison tool can help inform them of their options and make the switch to a plan that better suits their needs.

Expanding the Comfort Zone

As many as 91% of Medicare beneficiaries could see significant cost savings by switching plans ? those who don?t can expect an average 21% increase in their plan premiums. Comfort and convenience are two reasons consumers tend not to change their health plans year to year ? but this could prevent seniors from making necessary changes to minimize their healthcare spending. And with the possibility of Medicare members having up to 50 different Part D plans to choose from in their zip code, making decisions about changing plans can be a very complex and daunting task.

?Research shows the majority of seniors will make a choice about their health plan based on isolated decision-making and without consulting additional sources. Hence, most seniors will not switch plans although they have the opportunity to do so once each year. We are trying to turn that fact around,? added Cho. ?We want to raise awareness among seniors and other eligibles already enrolled in Medicare Part D plans, as well as caretakers of these seniors, and simplify the process of choosing a plan, with the potential for real cost savings.?

Giving Seniors Tools They Can Use

Today?s technology is encouraging better use of resources for plan comparisons and purchasing options for a variety of prescription drug and other healthcare transactions. An increasing number of consumers over 50 ? who are often the caretakers or family members of Medicare beneficiaries ? are Internet-savvy and are using technology to manage health spending. These consumers often influence the health decisions made by elderly family members, and the new online comparison tool can be a resource for family members in addition to seniors.

As the cost of prescription drugs continues to soar, seniors also need to empower themselves as consumers. Tools that offer advanced technology, but take into account seniors? specific needs, can help them make informed decisions and save on healthcare costs. ?In the past, the savings we?ve seen seniors achieve has been pretty amazing,? Cho said.

?A key weapon for consumers in all industries is independent research. For example, few people would walk into a car lot and buy the first vehicle they laid eyes on. They would do some research on their own and weigh the pros and cons of various models,? said Cho. ?This same principle applies to prescription drug insurance. Patients who want to save money need to become savvy consumers.?

The online Medicare Part D comparison tool will be live on November 15, but seniors can currently sign up on the site to be reminded as the Open Enrollment period draws closer.

About DestinationRx

Founded in 1999, DestinationRx, Inc. is a leader in consumer drug comparison and purchasing technology. The company provides government and commercial plan providers with the resources to create fully integrated and comprehensive decision-support capabilities for their members. DestinationRx is also a leading consumer resource, providing education, price comparisons, and purchasing options for a variety of prescription drug and other healthcare transactions with in the context of the DestinationRx Medicine Cabinet?. The company?s client roster includes the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs), large health plans, Fortune 100 employers, and advocacy organizations.

For more information,

DestinationRx http://www.drx.com.

Medicare Part D Plan online comparison tool http://www.drx.com/medicare-partd/compare/intermediate.aspx

Contact:

Russell LaMontagne

DestinationRx

212/255-5340

russell @ corinthgroup.com

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Find More La Medicare Press Releases

Medicare Part D Press Conference (44)


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Medicare Part D Press Conference 10-25-06


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Q1Medicare.com has now added an online section dedicated to helping seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries better understand their Medicare Part D prescription drug plan?s Explanation of Benefits document. The new Q1Medicare.com section can be found directly at Q1Medicare.com/EOB.

Every Medicare Part D prescription drug plan is required to provide their plan members with an Explanation of Benefits (EOB) summarizing the member?s monthly prescription drug purchases and showing any changes that will be made to the member?s plan coverage. The Explanation of Benefits letter is separated into six sections with details about the Medicare beneficiary?s covered drug purchases since the last EOB letter, including the cost allocation for those purchases covered in Section 1. The EOB also shows the beneficiary?s current prescription drug plan coverage stage and their progress toward the next coverage stage in Section 2; as well as the beneficiary?s out-of-pocket costs and total drug costs in Section 3.

Section 4 of the Explanation of Benefits letter includes any formulary changes that affect the beneficiary?s medications. For instance, Section 4 can include the removal of drugs from a plan?s formulary, or the addition of, or changes in, drug usage restrictions such as step therapy, quantity limits or prior authorization. Section 4 will also show a beneficiary if their medications are moving from one cost-sharing tier to another. Q1Medicare.com/EOB Sections 4 not only explain how a member?s formulary can change, but also provides the member with information and links on how to request a formulary exceptions, should they wish to request an exception to the plan?s change. Sections 5 and 6 of the EOB explain administrative topics such as errors and beneficiary rights.

?From the questions and comments we receive, we find that Section 4 is one of the most important, and often most overlooked, sections of the Explanation of Benefits,? notes Dr. Susan Johnson, Technical Director and co-founder of Q1Group LLC. ?Unfortunately, although an Explanation of Benefits letter is well organized, it seems that many people use their EOB to review their past purchases and their present plan stage, but rarely do they notice that Section 4 shows them the future of their drug coverage.?

The new Q1Medicare.com Explanation of Benefits section is organized according to the six sections that a Medicare beneficiary will find in their own printed Explanation of Benefits letter and includes tips and answers to frequently asked questions about the EOB. For instance, Seniors trying to see where they are in comparison to the Coverage Gap or Donut Hole portion of their drug plan can use the Q1Medicare.com?s EOB Section 2 to find more information. Medicare Part D beneficiaries are also encouraged to submit their own EOB related questions should they need more information.

About the Q1Medicare.com Website

Q1Medicare.com is one of the largest independent online resources for Medicare Part D prescription drug plan and Medicare Advantage plan information. Q1Medicare offers a large section of Frequently Asked Questions, online tools, and a free Medicare Part D Newsletter all designed to help Medicare beneficiaries, caregivers, advocates, advisers, and insurance agents better understand both the Medicare Part D prescription drug and Medicare Advantage programs.

Q1Medicare.com is operated by Q1Group LLC (Saint Augustine, Florida).

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Best answer:

Answer by mbrcatz
Generally, medicaid and medicare do NOT pay for home health services. Long term care coverage might.

Give your answer to this question below!

Question by Penelope: Should I be paying for Part B Medicare if I am working?
I am paying for part B Medicare for a long time. I am 74 now and employed full-time and someone told me that you can get a refund check every August if you pay for Medicare while you are working. i do have full insurance from my job?

Best answer:

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!

Social Security Roundtable With Rep. Fudge


Image by ProgressOhio
Congresswoman Fudge notes that few programs in American history have had as tremendous and positive an impact as Social Security. Almost 2 million Ohioans rely on Social Security benefits. This number includes retirees, those on disability and children. For 6 out of 10 recipients, the benefits amount to more than half their income. Without it, 50 percent of seniors would be living in poverty. Yet Social Security and Medicare are under attack by critics who seek to dismantle these programs and privatize contributions from working Americans.

Federal Building


Image by midwestnerd
Protesters concerned about possible cuts to Social Security and Medicare (public pension plan and public health plan for the old and retired)
If this seems strange to my European friends, the US has a loud, vocal right wing that opposes most non-military public programs.

Foxx wins Guardian of Seniors’ Rights Award


Image by Rep. Virginia Foxx
Jim Martin, Chairman of the 60 Plus Association presents the group’s Guardian of Seniors’ Rights award to Congresswoman Virginia Foxx for her work in Congress to preserve programs like Medicare and Social Security.

Press Conference on Benefits of Health Insurance Reform to Seniors


Image by Leader Nancy Pelosi
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, Congresswoman Doris Matsui and Congressman Charlie Wilson held a press conference on March 16th in the Capitol following a meeting with advocates for seniors on behalf of comprehensive health insurance reform legislation. The advocates included Bonnie Cramer of AARP and Trish Nemore of the Center for Medicare Advocacy.

Dr. Donald Berwick


Image by TalkMediaNews
At the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, DC a news conference was held Monday to discuss the benefits of Medicare and the preventive services of the Affordable Care Act. National Association of Area Agencies on Aging CEO Sandy Markwood,Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator , Don Berwick, (standing left to right), along with Assistant HHS Secretary for Aging Kathy Greenlee discuss their new campaign, "Share the News. Share the Health" and how they plan to get everyone on board.

wordy informative signage


Image by damian m
Some signs pro-health care reform had lots of words.

"Get your facts straight!

Fact: Health care reform will lower prescription drug costs for people in the Medicare Part D coverage gap or "doughnut hole" so they can better afford the health care they need."

Best answer:

Answer by Flower
Cash Aid is one of those welfare programs for people who are low income with children. It is handled at the local county social services.

Add your own answer in the comments!

In this speech on the Senate floor, Sheldon encouraged his colleagues to stand strong against any efforts to cut benefits to Social Security and Medicare as a solution to the debt crisis, and shared stories highlighting the importance of these programs to Rhode Island seniors.

Expeditive, a leading provider of interim revenue cycle staffing and A/R SWAT teams has announced a new service line. It will provide remote Medicare Billing Specialists to Critical Access Hospitals.

Mr. Yarsinsky said, “This service will be of tremendous value to our small rural hospital clients. It is most difficult for critical access hospitals to find trained and experienced Medicare Billers.”

James Yarsinsky, president of the revenue cycle staffing firm, made the announcement this week (August 22, 2011).

“Medicare Billers are highly skilled individuals who are able to navigate through idiosyncrasies of the Medicare reimbursement process,” said Yarsinsky. “In so many cases, the existing workload in accounts receivable places a huge burden for existing staff to accurately bill Medicare and, as a result, hospitals tend to leave considerable money on the table.”

Most of our Critial Access Hospital clients will use our remote Medicare Billing Specialists for their A/R Workdowns, to cover for employee sick days, vacations and to reduce billing backlogs. We will serve as an adjuct to their business office. There will be no minimum time period requirement for using our services”.

Yarsinsky said, “Our Medicare Billing Specialists will be working from their home offices. We will use a VPN connection which will get us into our clients’ patient accounting system. It will be a seamless process and will be as though we are sitting in the hospital business offices. Having hospital Billers work from home is the wave-of-the-future”.

About Expeditive

Expeditive provides experienced interim revenue cycle professionals to healthcare facilities nationwide. Its clients are hospitals, provider groups, medical billing offices, healthcare outsourcing firms, managed care organizations, collection agencies and revenue cycle consulting groups.

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Q1Medicare.com has now added an online section to help Medicare beneficiaries and caregivers understand the processes involved with Medicare Part D Exceptions, Appeals, and Grievances.

All members of Medicare Part D prescription drug plans have the right to request a Formulary Exception or Coverage Determination from their Medicare Part D plan. A Formulary Exception is a request for a specific change in plan coverage and can be made for several reasons. For instance, a Medicare beneficiary may request that a non-formulary medication be covered by their drug plan or a person may ask that their medication be moved to a lower cost-sharing tier or they could request a change to a specific utilization management restriction. However, not all exceptions are allowed. For instance, a person cannot ask that their Medicare Part D plan cover a medication that is specifically excluded from the Medicare Part D program.

Usually a person, their physician or their appointed representative, can file an exception. However, a Formulary Exception is usually not successful without some assistance from the physician or the medication prescriber. If a person?s health is at risk, they can also ask that their exception be given an expedited or faster review. Generic forms to file a written exception can be downloaded at: Q1Medicare.com/ExceptionForms, although some plans may require the use of their own exception forms.

Medicare Part D plans do not automatically grant a request for a Formulary Exception or Coverage Determination. If a request for a Formulary Exception is denied, the Medicare beneficiary can challenge their plan?s decision through five different appeal levels, starting with the Medicare Part D plan itself and ending with a Federal Court. A chart showing the different levels of appeal can be viewed at: Q1Medicare.com/AppealsChart.

A Medicare beneficiary also has the right to file a complaint or grievance with their Medicare Part D plan. For instance, if a Medicare Part D plan does not respond to a request for an exception or an appeal on a timely basis, the Medicare beneficiary can telephone their plan and file a grievance. A list of other common grievances can be viewed at: Q1Medicare.com/Grievance.

?We hear from many people who are still unaware that they can request changes to their Medicare Part D coverage or they are simply intimidated at the thought of challenging their plan?s decision,? notes Dr. Susan Johnson, Technical Director and co-founder of Q1Group LLC. ?We are hoping that our new section will help Medicare beneficiaries understand more about Exceptions, Appeals, and Grievances and realize that these procedures have been put into place to insure their access to appropriate health care.?

About the Q1Medicare.com Website

Q1Medicare.com is one of the largest independent online resources for Medicare Part D prescription drug plan and Medicare Advantage plan information. Q1Medicare offers a comprehensive section of Frequently Asked Questions, online tools, and a free Medicare Part D Newsletter all designed to help Medicare beneficiaries, caregivers, advocates, advisors, and insurance agents better understand the Medicare Part D and Medicare Advantage programs. Q1Medicare.com is operated by Q1Group LLC (Saint Augustine, Florida).

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Q1Medicare.com launched their enhanced Medicare prescription drug plan Formulary Browser providing users with easy access to all Medicare prescription drug plan formularies used by Medicare Advantage that offer prescription drug coverage (or MAPDs), stand-alone Medicare Part D plans (or PDPs), and even Medicare Special Needs Plans (or SNPs). The enhanced Q1Medicare.com Formulary Browser also now offers members of the Medicare community four different ways to find their desired formulary depending on the user?s needs and expertise.

Medicare beneficiaries who are looking for a specific stand-alone Medicare Part D plan formulary or Medicare Advantage plan formulary, can simply select their state, the name of their Medicare Part D plan carrier, and then the name of the specific Medicare plan. Although Medicare Advantage plans are organized on a county-by-county basis, Medicare beneficiaries are still given the opportunity to search state-wide for Medicare Advantage plans offered by a specific Medicare plan carrier and all available Medicare Advantage plans are shown sorted by county name.

If someone wants a more specific geographic formulary search, the Formulary Browser user can also find their Medicare Advantage plans or Medicare Part D plan formulary by ZIP Code by selecting the ?ZIP & Plan? search. Since Medicare Part D plans are offered on a state-wide basis, any ZIP Codes will show all the stand-alone Medicare Part D plans offered by a particular Medicare plan provider across that entire state. However, since Medicare Advantage plan are county-specific, users may need to select their resident county when their ZIP Codes includes more than one county.

The Formulary Browser also has several searches designed for medical, pharmaceutical, and healthcare professionals who have access to Medicare plan information that is not specific to a geographical area or when they are assisting geographically dispersed Medicare beneficiaries. Professionals or technically savvy seniors can search by the Medicare plan Contract ID and Plan ID to find a specific Medicare plan?s formulary by selecting the ?PlanID? search. Alternatively, healthcare professionals can search the Formulary Browser by entering just the eight-digit Formulary ID by selecting the ?FormularyID? search. Both the Contract ID/Plan ID and the Formulary ID search results will return the geographical service area for the plan in question along with the Medicare plan?s formulary details and the actual plan features.

Once a formulary is found, the user can then browse through the formulary alphabetically. The Formulary Browser provides results in a chart with the medications listed along with prescription strengths, drug tier and tier description, preferred pharmacy and mail-order cost-sharing or co-payment amounts, and details on drug usage management. The site user is also shown detailed information about the specific Medicare plan including the plan?s monthly premium, deductible and if the plan qualifies for the full Low-Income Subsidy $ 0 monthly premium.

?We enhanced our Formulary Browser based on the feedback we received from our Q1Medicare.com users who wanted different ways for finding a specific Medicare plan?s formulary,? notes Dr. Susan Johnson, Technical Director of the Q1Medicare.com site and co-founder of Q1Group LLC. ?We also found that, as our site has grown, people were asking that we begin to integrate our different online tools so now our Formulary Browser is linked to the Medicare plan?s health and drug benefit details, our plain text description of the plan, and even the Medicare plan?s contact information.?

The Formulary Browser is available at no cost and designed for computer, smartphone and tablet platforms. The results of the enhanced Formulary Browser are also formatted to be printed for offline use. Users can find the Q1Medicare.com Formulary Browser directly at: Q1Medicare.com/FormularyBrowser.

About the Q1Medicare.com Website

Q1Medicare.com is one of the largest independent online resources for Medicare Part D prescription drug plan and Medicare Advantage plan information. Q1Medicare offers a large section of Frequently Asked Questions, online tools, and a free Medicare Part D Newsletter all designed to help Medicare beneficiaries, healthcare professionals, advocates, advisers, and insurance agents better understand both the Medicare Part D prescription drug and Medicare Advantage programs. Q1Medicare.com is operated by Q1Group LLC (Saint Augustine, Florida).

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Find More Advantage Medicare Plans Press Releases

Del describes why the government only taxes some people with social security and medicare, while real estate investors with passive income don’t have to pay it.
Video Rating: 5 / 5

www.staysmartstayhealthy.com Medicare Advantage, also known as Medicare Part C, is a program that allows Medicare beneficiaries to enroll in private health plans to receive their Medicare-covered benefits and, usually, a few added perks. Stay Smart Stay Healthy was created by Ed Batchelor at Humana Inc. as a new-media venture designed to deliver guidance, and to support awareness and understanding of the healthcare industry. His goal was simple to educate consumers on the healthcare system by removing the usual complexities and replacing them with an informative and engaging series of videos.

www.MedicareMadeClear.com – Free video guide to understanding Medicare Advantage Plans and Options. Important Medicare Advantage, also called Part C, Plan eligibility, available benefits and options explained.
Video Rating: 5 / 5

Because of Medicare health insurance, seniors are given more in terms of health and safety but you should know more about it in order to maximize what you should be getting. Here are a few important points about Medicare health insurance that you should know. Study them so you can determine which one or which combination is best for you or for a loved one.

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Medicare is divided into categories. Know about each one and how it can help you or someone you love:

Part A – Hospital Insurance

Most senior citizens do not have to pay for premiums for this category. This category covers hospital bills.

Part B – Medical Insurance

This category is usually utilized to cover for the expenses that are not included in the hospital insurance category. Senior citizens usually pay premiums but most are taken out of social security checks.

Part C – Medicare Advantage Plans

This category is mainly taken from private insurers. This means that you or a loved one is still a Medicare beneficiary but this can be acquired with additional premium payment.

Part D – Prescription Drug Coverage

For this category, you have to pay additional premiums, but for most seniors, taxes help pay for this coverage. This is used for prescription drug payments.

Medicare Gap or Medicare Supplements

This type of coverage is used as a supplemental insurance for those who use Part A or part B. Premiums have to be paid but can be used for any gaps not covered by the original insurance policy.

More seniors have begun taking advantage of computers, but a technological gap continues to separate many seniors from the mainstream way that modern society disperses information. This separation impacts healthcare for seniors on several levels.

Younger adults are more likely to learn about changes in healthcare and health insurance online than seniors. If older adults are limited to the information that is available in local newspapers and on TV, it’s likely they have less of the information they need to make informed decisions about protecting their health.

Medicare, Medigap, and Medicare Advantage Plans

Seniors need to know about the research into whether traditional Medicare, Medicare Supplement Insurance, or Medicare Advantage Insurance provides the best health for senior populations. Many of these studies are only reported online.

In addition, these plans change as earlier plans are taken off the market, and new one are presented. Seniors need access to new plan benefits and rates as they become available. For example, new plans with lower premiums will soon be available this summer.

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Without access to online independent information sharing, seniors must rely on biased third parties to learn about the choices that are available. Rather than comparing plan benefits and prices online, seniors without Web access spend more time phoning agents, and reading company literature that is intentionally biased.

Web access offers more perspectives. With greater input, comes more choice, and a better chance of finding the best health insurance option at the best price.

Web Access Is Even More Important for an Aging Population

Researchers at Florida State University go so far as to charge that leaving seniors behind as information sharing moves online, “threatens to turn senior citizens into second-class citizens.”

Researchers Boot and Charness point out that, “The technology gap is a problem because technology, particularly computer and Internet technology, is becoming ubiquitous, and full participation in society becomes more difficult for those without such access.”

To help to prevent this, the Center for Research and Education on Aging and Technology Enhancement (CREATE) has received a .5 million, five-year subcontract from the National Institute of Aging. Their goal is to study how to use technology to promote senior cognition and health.

Medicare, Medicare Advantage, and Medigap Work Better Online

The whole process from learning about changes in Medicare, Medicare Advantage, and Medigap to enrolling in a plan is easier, faster, and/or less expensive with Web access. For seniors who have reduced mobility, or even just trouble standing in lines, the physical demands of gathering information, completing forms, and making payments puts them at a disadvantage.

Web access through libraries, senior centers, and community college classes can help. Public libraries offer not only free Web access (with time limits), but also instruction to help seniors search for information online.

In minutes, seniors can find expert advisors online and arrange free phone consultations to get help comparing Medicare Supplement and Medicare Advantage Plans. Most applications can be done online quickly, or printed and later faxed or mailed.

The Web offers seniors a wealth of information, including studies about how Medicare Advantage and Medigap Plans have helped seniors maintain their health, and have reduced their need for hospitalization. Online searches can keep seniors up-to-date on new plan benefits and rates, and can even connect them with licensed experts to answer their questions about how to fill the gaps in their Medicare coverage.

This :30 local commercial highlights the availability of Butte Home Health & Hospice’s services via Medicare benefits while also touting it’s exclusive recognition by the home health industry 5 years running. Updated May, 2011

In order to qualify for Medicaid, a person must meet certain eligibility requirements. Applicants must fall within a certain income range and are limited to a certain number of other assets. Jason Lazarus, a financial planner in Orlando, FL, explains the requirements and what is required to qualify.
Video Rating: 5 / 5

Uploaded by ohiomedicaidtv on May 24, 2011 www.helpprotectyourfamily.com Ohio Medicaid Guidelines learn how to qualify for nursing home Medicaid without losing your home to Ohio Medicaid Recovery or spending down your life savings. Dallas L Alford IV, CPA is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in the state of North Carolina and owner of Atlantic Financial Consulting, a consulting firm that provides comprehensive medical billing services, practice management consulting, coding audits, Medicare compliance, Medicare RAC support and other general medical practice consulting services. To learn more about Atlantic Financial Consulting you may visit their website at atlanticfinancial.us or contact Dallas L Alford IV, CPA directly at 1 888-428-2555, Ext. 200.
Video Rating: 0 / 5

Once your application is approved, you will start receiving benefits in about 6 months. You will acquire your Social Security benefits on a month-to-month basis.

How a lot will my benefits be?

The amount of your month-to-month disability benefits is based on your average lifetime earnings. You can get an estimate of your benefits from the SSA’s Advantage Calculator on their internet site. – 2008: Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA) – Non-Blind (0 / 30 days), Blind (,570 / month), Trial Operate Period (0 / month)

In addition to a monthly quantity, you may be eligible to receive other benefits. Additional Social Security benefits that you might be eligible for are:

- Supplemental Security Earnings (SSI) if you are 65 or older, blind, or disabled

- Medicaid

- Medicare (following 2 years)

- Services below the Ticket to Function Program (allows you to go to function to earn much more cash)

When do I get Medicare coverage?

You will get coverage following you have received disability benefits for 2 years.

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Yes.
- Your spouse, if he or she is 62 or older

- Your spouse, if he or she is financially supporting a kid of yours who is either disabled or underneath the age of 16 younger

- Your kid, over the age of 18, if he or she has a disability that started prior to age 22

How a lot can a family members member obtain in benefits?

Each family members member might be eligible for a month-to-month benefit of up to 50% of your disability rate.

Your Social Security benefits might alter as required.
- The price of living has gone up (in which situation, your benefits would boost)

- Your medical problem improves

- There is any modify in your ability to operate

- You get married or divorced

- Your citizenship modifications

What may possibly result in my Social Security benefits to be temporarily or permanently stopped?

- You have an outstanding arrest warrant

- You are convicted of a crime

- You are also receiving Railroad Retirement benefits

- You earn much more than 0 or much more per 30 days (,640 if you are blind)

- You violate a problem of your probation or parole

What might trigger my Social Security benefits to be reduced?
Your Social Security benefits might be decreased if:

- You are receiving workers’ compensation

- You operate for an employer that does not withhold Social Security taxes from your salary (Windfall Elimination Provision)

What 2010 Social Security Disability modifications will occur? A Social Security Disability attorney is an expert on disability law. Hiring a disability lawyer helps improve your chances of winning disability benefits and can impact the speed from date of application that you begin to obtain benefits. If you have questions about the 2010 Social Security Disability Application, or if you have a situation from a prior year that has not been awarded benefits, think about contacting an experienced disability lawyer.

This webinar will provide a visual step-by-step guide for eligible hospitals to use to prepare for attestation. The videos also answer common questions about attestation for the Medicare program. Medicaid attestation takes place at the state level.

Republican Senator Tom Coburn told town hall attendees in Tulsa Oklahoma that Medicare is unconstitutional and a “family responsibility”. The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks it down. Source: thinkprogress.org The Largest Online News Show in the World. Google+: www.gplus.to Facebook: www.facebook.com Twitter: twitter.com Support TYT for FREE: bit.ly

Continued Medicare coverage and Social Security Disability work incentives are discussed for people returning to work.

Part 1 of Anna Little for Congress’ interview brought to you by Dr. Joe Clemente & Dr. Joe Cauda on 9-25-10. 36 Days to the elections, Congressional District 6 Candidate Anna Little, shares her Views, Values and Philosophy Specific to Universal Health Care Reform; Medicare Payments and Medicare payment cuts to physicians.
Video Rating: 5 / 5

Different sorts of Medicare Choices are: Clientele might pay with their personal money. Acquire a personal supplemental insurance coverage, a lot more generally named “Medigap” insurance which has to shell out for products what Medicare wellness insurance does not.Get Medicare Portion D pharmaceutical drug coverage in a distinct Aspect D Insurance policy. Get Medicaid insurance, which is a lawmakers system for wage-earning folks that pays just about all of the well being-associated care costs that Medicare would not spend, in case you do not obtain Medicaid, you could indication up for subsidized insurance policy of prescribed medicines with Medicare Aspect-D

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The following method that folks can get Medicare added benefits is with a managed care package, referred to as Medicare Benefit, supplied by private insurance coverage corporations and managed care suppliers. These coverages cover almost everything that regular Medicare does, and also supplemental solutions Medicare program does not insure at all. These options also eliminate several of the co-payments along with deductibles essential by typical Medicare.

Many managed care coverages are commonly provided by wellbeing upkeep establishments (HMOs) and are typically less pricey than the mix of common Medicare-plan with a Medi-gap additional insurance coverage protection. Nonetheless, managed care options handle the health care vendors a client might use. Moreover, HMO packages at occasions impede admission to a doctor by not authorizing medicine or limiting healthcare-care.

Currently being familiar with your Medicare standing is critical. Not realizing the diverse possibilities accessible to you might indicate the distinction with regards to financial feasibility along with the preservation of your properly-getting.

If you would like assistance in browsing or navigating the bunch of possibilities available to you, then test out a medicare insurance coverage comparing net-website and leave your requests. A registered agent will contact you at at any scheduled time and clarify in a lot more detail this quite challenging subject of medicare well being insurance coverage.

There are distinct health services that are not integrated, even in little sums, by Medicare well being insurance, and this is exactly where the supplementary protection steps in. These personal policies are stringently monitored by the authorities and need to have to follow rigid laws.More info of Medicare supplemental insurance

If you wish to challenge or appeal a Medicare denial claim, there is a Medicare form for every step of the way. You can see a summary of the available forms listd below. Rules can change quickly, so please consult with a Medicare professional before taking any action on your claim.

One commonly-disputed Medicare claim is denial of coverage. If you receive the always dreaded Medicare form CMS-10003-NDMC saying that your claim was denied, you have the right to challenge it. The standard appeal period of 30 days can be lessened to 72 hours if the longer interval would cause serious harm to the applicant.

The denial of payment form is issued to notify medical providers that they won’t be paid for services already provided. The provider has 60 days to appeal the decision on Medicare form CMS-10003-NDP.

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A hearing can be requested by completing Medicare form CMS-1965. During the hearing, an individual can fight the results of his or her Medicare claim as determined by the insurance carrier.

Form CMS-1696 is completed for the appointment of a representative at the hearing. The Medicare beneficiary can appoint a person to be his representative at the hearing. The representative must indicate her acceptance on the Medicare form.

A Medicare hearing by an Administrative Law Judge can be requested via special form CMS-20034A/B. This form is for use by a party to a reconsideration determination issued by a Qualified Independent Contractor (QIC). Furthermore, the challenged amount must be 0 or greater.

If you don’t like the decision of your appeal claim, utilize Medicare form CMS-20027 to request a redetermination of the way your appeal was decided. Any more evidence can be added with the Medicare form.

You can transfer your appeal rights for an item or service to your health care provider with Medicare form CMS-20031. A claim will be filed on your behalf by the medical provider. Keep in mind that if your medical provider accepts your appeal rights, it can’t bill you for this item or service (with reasonable exceptions) even if Medicare will not pay the claim.

Finally, if you want Medicare to reconsider the outcome of the appeal, file Medicare form CMS-20033. This process involves a reconsideration of the redetermination of your claim appeal.

If you have reached this point in the Medicare appeals process, you have probably devoted half a room of your house to the storage of processed Medicare forms. To determine the proper filing method, there is probably a Medicare form for that also!

This video illustrates the two-way form completion capability of Medicfusion EMR’s Custom Forms beta. Pretty cool stuff!