Financial tips for college grads: Watch the credit cards, get health insurance

This article explains one more thing that graduating seniors need to learn before graduating. They will now have to buy their own health insurance if they do not have benefits with a new job. There are affordable plans for healthy young individuals. But they will likely need to get their own apart from their parents' plans that they have used for their childhoods. This article is from the Boston Globe and not an insurance agent so I'll link it here.

Financial tips for college grads: Watch the credit cards, get health insurance

May 20, 2008 12:03 PM

By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff

Diplomas in hand, college graduates are heading off into the “real world," where a daunting economy and sluggish job market await. Smith College economics professor Randall K. Bartlett, who teaches in the college's Women and Financial Independence program, said recent graduates need to make a concerted effort to manage their finances well as they enter post-college life.

Bad decisions now could haunt the graduates for years to come.

"Money comes in hard and goes out easy," Bartlett said. "How you plan your finances now can have huge ramifications on how your life will play out."

To help grads along their way, Bartlett recently provided a few thoughts on the economic climate and some tips on getting a financial life:

Continue reading the article here.

Google Offers Virtual Filing Cabinet for Health Records

This is a new Google feature that will revolutionize medical records in America. Many people are concerned about privacy, but they do not understand the waste of time and money involved in getting and transferring doctors records between physicians and facilities. This feature will allow the records to be available online so that timely diagnoses can be made based on the medical history of the patient. The medical industry is on the cutting edge with life saving procedures and drugs, but if you go into an office you will undoubtedly see a receptionist with rows and rows of paper files behind him or her. This Google technology will streamline the effort to keep and transfer records the way that the Clintons did for the Veterans Administration. The cost savings will be transferred to the cost of health care. The medical industry should have done this on their own. But just as the phone companies did not extend their phone directory to the internet, Google did the job for them. This is an excellent achievement and a great use of technology. I applaud this move by Google in the strongest of terms. Enjoy the article.

By Walaika Haskins
TechNewsWorld
05/20/08 12:04 PM PT

Google Health, launched in beta on Monday, is a personal health records aggregator that can provide users with online access to their own medical information culled from several sources. Partners include Walgreens, CVS and Medco. Google says targeted ads will not be involved in the system, but privacy concerns remain.

Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Latest News about Google launched the beta version of its Google Health personal health records aggregator Monday. The service, according to Google, will put users in control of their own medical records, giving them 24-hour-a-day access to their health records from a variety of sources.

With the introduction of Google Health, the search giant joins other Internet companies including Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) Free Trial. Security Software As A Service From Webroot. Latest News about Microsoft HealthVault, Revolution Health and WebMD in the business of storing personal health records (PHR). Revolution Health is a startup Over 800,000 High Quality Domains Available For Your Business. Click Here. from Steve Case, AOL's cofounder.

Proponents such as Case contend that making these types of services available to consumers is the key to revolutionizing the healthcare Latest News about healthcare system in the U.S.

Continue reading the article here.

Personal injury lawyers still send health care costs soaring

This article goes over the argument that medical malpractice lawsuits are causing the costs of health care to increase. The doctors have to get insurance that is more expensive because there is no cap on how much the doctors can sue for. I agree that there needs to be some sort of compensation for a doctor that makes a mistake. But I do not believe that the person needs to be compensated with outrageous sums of money. This issue must be addressed if the cost of health care will decrease.

Personal injury lawyers still send health care costs soaring

By David A. Ridenour
Published: May 19 2008, 10:41 PM

Americans love hospital-based televison shows, ranging from such oldies as “Marcus Welby, M.D.” to today’s “Grey’s Anatomy” — where courageous doctors rush to help victims of car crashes, chemical spills, natural disasters and even terrorism.

In real life, our well-being often resides outside of emergency rooms — dependent on a plaintiff lawyer’s avarice. Some lawsuits, of course, are well-intentioned, but others — guided mostly by greed — play a major role in our nation’s ever-escalating health care costs.

We depend on having a viable safety net for our evolving medical needs. Lawsuits that unnecessarily increase the liability risk of health care providers tend to increase costs and add to the current high cost of health care.

Continue reading the article here.

Tiered Health Care Catches On

This article goes over an issue that insurance companies are using to deal with the rising cost of prescription drugs. The problem of health care in this country is not that our health care is not good, it is that it costs too much. The most expensive aspect of the health system is prescription drugs. As a result, the copayments are getting higher and higher for drugs that can be as expensive as 1000 dollars a month. If you don't take those drugs, you still must pay for the benefits which raises your monthly premium. To keep the premiums down, insurance companies make the copayments for these drugs higher. This article goes into the discussion on this new issue.

Tiered Health Care Catches On

Health insurance companies are shifting the cost of expensive prescription drugs on to patients, part of a larger trend toward "tiered" private health insurance coverage. Although employers support these measures, vulnerable patients are being exposed to great financial risks.

Health insurers are struggling to adapt to surging health care costs in the U.S. The newest development in private health insurance is the introduction of a fourth tier of cost sharing ("Tier 4") in prescription drug coverage.

Insurance tiering requires patients to bear an increasing share of the costs of care. The system is attractive to employers who sponsor health plans and to employees in good health, but it can be very costly for those who become chronically ill.

Continue reading the article here.

States Look to Tobacco Tax for Budget Holes

This article from the New York Times talks about the new tax proposed on cigarettes. While the Massachusetts tax is focused on shoring up the health care program, other states are taxing tobacco for other budget shortfalls. The problem is that they would prefer people stop smoking because they ban smoking everywhere except inside your home. This tax should help people who want to quit. But it won't bring in the revenue that the states want or need. The problem is that government is spending too much. I guess nobody should be angry over a tax on such a demonized legal product. But when are people going to get angry that the government is simply spending more money than it has? Why can't government see that they are placing burdens on future generations to pay for their pet projects. If the government didn't spend so much money, they would not need so much money. Here is the article.

States Look to Tobacco Tax for Budget Holes

By KEVIN SACK
Published: April 21, 2008

To keep the state’s landmark universal health coverage plan afloat, Massachusetts lawmakers are looking to tap an increasingly popular source of financing for health-related initiatives: tobacco taxes.

If the state raises its tax by as much as $1 a pack, it will join New York — and possibly a number of other states — in enacting significant increases this year. The speaker of the Massachusetts House, Salvatore F. DiMasi, a Democrat, pushed the increase, to $2.51, through the chamber this month, and the State Senate president, Therese Murray, and Gov. Deval Patrick, also Democrats, have signaled support.

The $175 million in projected revenue would be used to shore up the state’s year-old mandatory health insurance plan. State officials say the plan, which is the first to require that individuals have coverage, is over budget because enrollment has been higher than expected for state-subsidized insurance policies offered to low- and middle-income workers.

Continue reading the article here.

Personal Loans and Credit Cards

These days finances are always on our minds. There are many ways to save money if you follow simple tips from experts. Personal loans are a necessity these days if you want to buy a car or a house. If you have ever tried to get a loan, you know that there are so many different options that it is easy to choose the most costly one if you have not done your research.

Some people will even use credit cards to pay for things like a mortgage or car payment if they are low on cash. They mistakenly believe that this postpones the payment and saves them time. Instead, this is usually a costly mistake and ends up costing the borrower much more than they should have to pay. It is important to understand the difference between secured and unsecured loans so that you do not fall into the trap of paying more than you should for interest.

If you are in the market for a loan, you should compare loans before you sign on the dotted line. There are many websites available where you can do this for free. Since the economy is still in a questionable state, it is important to cut costs wherever you can. I recommend visiting sites like http://www.thriftyscot.co.uk/ so that you can get all the information you need to make the right choice for you.

Parties' Split Most Apparent on Health Care

This Wall Street Journal article goes over the major differences between the 3 major candidates' views on health care. Basically it says that McCain wants more free market solutions, while Clinton and Obama both want a government system set up to insure everyone. The problem here is that no matter what these candidates say, and despite their best intentions at heart, their proposals will have to get through so many different committees in Congress before anything is passed that what one person says about it is fairly insignificant. However the people in the media and news will still hang on to every word and detail that the candidates put out as some type of indicator of how they will lead. The system that we have now is fine except for a few major problems. Our health care system is the greatest in the world, it is just too expensive. State governments are doing things to fix the problems and that is how the system is set up. The federal government can not appropriately address the problems at the local level. It is a good article and people should know the information in it. Enjoy.

Parties' Split Most Apparent on Health Care

Democrats, Republicans Differ
Over Roles of Government
And Market to Revamp System
By LAURA MECKLER
April 19, 2008

Washington

As the presidential candidates respond to increasing economic anxiety about many issues, some of the sharpest differences in this fall's debate are expected to involve health care.

While the Democratic candidates want to use government as a lever to aid the 47 million people in the U.S. without health insurance, Sen. John McCain would rely much more heavily on the free market. The likely Republican nominee has begun charging that his Democratic rivals "want government to take over the health-care system."


With Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama focused on their own contest, Elizabeth Edwards, wife of former candidate John Edwards, has stepped in and begun attacking the McCain plan.

Continue reading the article here.