Top 6 Health Care Reform Tax Myths
As the health care reform debate continues, it seems like television commercials and e-mail blasts are going out left and right to either promote or discredit the bill. To help people confused by some of the claims being made in these advertisements please enjoy the following list of the top tax myths about the health care reform bill.
1. The Bill is Fully FundedPresident Obama has repeatedly claimed that the health care overhaul will be paid for, and that he would not sign a bill that is not “deficit-neutral.” The plan to raise taxes on the top income earners is expected to generate $239 billion in additional federal revenue over the next ten years. However, the reform is expected to cost more than $600 billion. Obama stated that his team has identified cuts to pay for the rest of the bill, including cuts to Medicare and payments to insurers and practitioners. However, these cuts are quite unpopular and have a history of never coming to fruition. This has left many wondering if Obama will go back on his promise and sign a bill that will increase the national debt and ultimately lead to additional tax increases.
2. US Taxpayers will Pay for Heath Care for Illegal ImmigrantsAlthough there has been speculation that over 5 million illegal immigrants will be covered by Obama’s health care plan, it is almost entirely a fabrication. The bill drafted by the House of Representatives specifically says that no money will be spent giving illegal immigrants health care. H.R. 3200: Sec 246 claims “nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States.”
3. The Government Health Agency will have Unlimited Access to Taxpayer’s Financial InformationThe myth that the government’s new health care agency will have access to every American’s financial information has been making the rounds for a few weeks. The actually legislation does allow the government to get certain information about taxpayers attempting to qualify for health benefits. However, the bill limits the information that can be requested to “(i) taxpayer identity information with respect to such taxpayer, (ii) the filing status of such taxpayer, (iii) the modified adjusted gross income of such taxpayer (as defined in section 59B(e)(5)), (iv) the number of dependents of the taxpayer, (v) such other information as is prescribed by the Secretary of regulation as might indicate whether the taxpayer is eligible for such affordability credits (and the amount thereof).” Additionally, the bill also limits the use of the information to only establishing and verifying the appropriate credit, “and providing for the repayment of any such credit which was in excess of such appropriate amount.”
4. Employers Not Offering the Public Option will Pay an Additional 8% TaxThis myth is actually somewhat based in fact, except is has been exaggerated slightly. The current health care bill does require employers to either offer private health benefits or help pay for the public option through additional taxes. Employers with annual payrolls over $400,000 will have to pay 8%, and those with payrolls between $250,000 and $400,000 will pay a lesser amount. However, employers with payrolls under $250,000 will not have to pay an additional tax or be forced to offer health benefits.
5. Taxpayers without Acceptable Health Care will Pay 10% or More in TaxesAs part of the health care package, there is a mandate requiring everyone to have insurance. Therefore, those without acceptable coverage will have to pay a penalty. There have been dozens of rumors swirling around that this penalty could exceed 10% or more, however the actual bill calls for a penalty of 2.5% of a taxpayer’s adjusted gross income, not exceeding the national average premium for individual coverage.
6. Estate Taxes will be Locked in Before a Taxpayers DeathThis claim, along with others of a suicide council, are all misinterpretations of a provision to the House’s bill asserting that Medicare will cover voluntary end-of-life counseling sessions between seniors and their doctors. These sessions can include topics such as hospice care, creating a living will, etc. However, there is no mention of forcing taxpayers to lock in their estate taxes while on their deathbeds.
Jobs in health informatics are becoming plentiful
The way most doctors and health care professionals do their jobs has hardly changed over the past thirty to forty years. Contrast this with the enormous changes in, say, transport, manufacturing and telecommunications!
But hang on to your stethoscopes! Despite the fact that some doctors still have their heads buried firmly in the sand, the winds of change are blowing and most doctors are now using electronic communication technologies, if not enthusiastically, then at least regularly. The combination of technological change, the demands of business and the rise of consumerism are causing radical changes in the way healthcare is practiced around the world. Health Informatics experts are poised to revolutionize health practices by implementing the enormous changes needed in the health system, that have already occurred in other industries. These professionals typically have backgrounds in either healthcare, such as nurses and doctors, or information technology, and then receive cross-training so as to be able to work across both areas in the newly emerging electronic health systems of today and tomorrow.
The changes in healthcare will be the 21st century’s equivalent of the public health initiatives of sanitation and nutrition which revolutionized health care in the twentieth century. Integration of online technologies will see doctors and patients working together on electronic health records with patients having much more say in their treatments. The development of widely available broadband networks and video mail will bring electronic health into everyone’s home. Patients and doctors will work collaboratively on the internet as parters with the agreed mutual objective of health improvement.
Look at how fast the average adolescent can send messages on their phone – gone are the days when a telephone was just an audio device. The way we interact with communication systems is radically changing the way we behave and think in ways that are impossible to predict. And the computer literate children of today – the millenials and succeeding generations – will drive these changes. How many doctors want to interact with patients using instant messaging? Not many today, but the doctors of the millennial generation will probably think nothing of this approach. And these sorts of systems will be developed by experts who have been trained in health informatics, and who understand how to apply information technologies of all sorts to change and improve the way that we deliver patient care.
Knowledge has never been as important – and as accessible – as it is today.
Technology, and in particular, Internet technology, is transforming the academic medical landscape. A large number of institutions are moving to digital-only radiography and full electronic medical records. I no longer write any notes on paper – all my clinical work is electronically recorded. Residents now come to rounds armed with a vast array of reference information stored in hand-held personal digital assistants. The iPod is now a platform for lectures presented either as “podcasts” and “videocasts” and is also used as a mobile x-ray image viewer. Continuing medical education is increasingly available through the Internet. The digital revolution has greatly altered how academic health systems pursue education, research, and clinical care, and this is spreading through the rest of the health system.
The provision of clinical care is changing rapidly as health informatics technologies become increasingly used and accepted, with a move away from episodic care to concentrating on continuity of care, especially for patients with chronic disease who will create the greatest disease burden in the future. Care is gradually moving away from a focus on the service provider to that of the informed patient and from an individual approach to treatment to a team approach. Increasingly, less focus is placed on treating the illness and more is placed on wellness promotion and illness prevention: the model of the”Information Age care” first described by Dr Tom Ferguson MD. To move to this future of information age healthcare, the availability and use of information must be strengthened to facilitate changes in health service delivery, and a much greater focus must be placed on developing and refining the information technology infrastructure, and on training experts in health informatics who can create and develop the electronic clinical environments needed by both patients and doctors.
This is all occurring at a time of difficulty in our economy, but America is known for its capacity to thrive on challenges, and to rapidly change its industrial practices in the face of adversity. The health system needs large numbers of experts in health informatics, and training programs are being rapidly expanded. The University of California Davis Health Informatics graduate program, for instance, has doubled the number of Masters Health Informatics students in one year, and has enrolled 76 new students in a fully online Health Informatics certificate program within the last three months. The Obama Administration is putting billions of dollars into health informatics implementation and training with funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and increasing numbers of jobs in health informatics are already appearing. The jobs website, CareerBuilder has just marked health informatics as it’s number one emerging industry job opportunity, and is highlighting a number of jobs in areas as diverse as telemedicine, nursing information officers, clinical information technology liaisons, programmers, analysts, data integration experts and health service managers.
So, as healthcare continues to change and become more electronically enabled, watch out for this whole new generation of professionals trained in Health Informatics, and how they will facilitate the changes in healthcare, and eventually contribute to improving the health of all of us.
8 Health Tips To Get In Shape For The New Year!
With the new year approaching, the first resolution most people think about going for is a gym membership. Year after year the same thing happens. They really want to get into shape, and they know for sure that this year will be different. They sign up for a year membership and start their new goal with clear focus and determination.
Most people never make it past the first week. Why? Mostly because they quit when they realize how much work goes into getting back into the shape they once had. The fact of the matter is that it really is not as difficult as they think. They are just focusing on one aspect of overall wellness and burning themselves out on it.
In order to lose weight and keep it off for good, a person must develop the mindset necessary for living a healthy lifestyle. There is much more to being healthy than showing up to the gym every day. In fact, exercise is only one-eighth of the total equation. If you really want to achieve personal wellness in 2009, forget the gym and focus instead on improving the following 8 categories of health.
Health Tips #1: Diet & NutritionYou already know the main reason you gained weight. Too many trips through the McDonalds drive-thru, late night snacking on junk food and poor dinner choices. You do not have to eat a diet of bland salads and yogurt, but you do need to limit the amount of trigger foods that you caused your weight gain. Replace your current American diet of high sugar, high-fat processed foods with those found in the produce and lean meat department as often as you can.
Health Tips #2: Nutritional SupplementsNow that our soils are more depleted of minerals than ever, and our farm animals are not fed properly, living a healthy lifestyle requires nutritional supplementation. I lost 70 pounds in 4 months and kept it off for over 15 years simply by drinking a soy-based protein shake for breakfast every morning and taking a few targeted vitamins. Why does this work? Because greasy bacon and runny eggs do not provide proper nutrition.
Health Tips #3: Fun & RecreationWhat makes you happy? Going to the movies? Ice Skating? Playing the guitar? Whatever it is, you must find time for it on a weekly basis (if not daily) in order to maintain good mental stability. Your activities and hobbies should not include junk food or alcohol. Going to the movies is watching the movie, not eating a tub of fatty buttered popcorn. Be happy with what you are doing without the unnecessary evils.
Health Tips #4: HydrationDrinking enough water throughout the day is the part of the equation that gets overlooked. People do not consider drinking as important as eating and it is! You should not be drinking soda or processed juices every day. Why? Because they deplete your body of vitamins and minerals while loading you up on sugar. Alcohol is even worse. Do yourself a favor and keep a water bottle with you at all times. Drink, drink, drink. I cannot stress this enough.
Health Tips #5: StressAnd speaking of stress, this is what happens when you do not allow yourself to have any fun in your life. This is just as important to living a healthy lifestyle as eating and drinking properly. Too much stress can cause major problems for your body. You only live once, so do not allow other people and events to get you so bothered and worried that you cannot live the lifestyle you deserve for yourself.
Health Tips #6: Unhealthy HabitsNot eating the wrong foods is just as important as eating the right foods. But unhealthy habits are not just about food, are they? Smoking and the use of other drugs, prescription or not, is probably the worst thing a person can do to their body. This is the only one you have! Take care of it. Alcohol is OK on occasion but not recommended on a daily basis to anyone interested in living a healthy lifestyle.
Health Tips #7: Weight ManagementHave you ever noticed that weight loss really is not the issue that people struggle with? Most everyone has lost weight at one point in their life. Keeping that weight off is the obstacle that most people can not overcome. Think about it logically. If you gained weight by eating twinkies, then lost weight when you stopped eating twinkies, do not go back to eating twinkies. The person who eats twinkies on occasion (not every day) does not struggle with weight fluctuation.
Health Tips #8: ExerciseYou knew this one was coming! It is totally possible to lose weight without exercising. I am living proof because my severe asthma prohibited me from doing it. The reason I can exercise now is because I got my body healthy through focusing on the other 7 categories. Once I began exercising, it only accelerated my weight loss and now helps to keep me lean. The key to exercise is not quantity but quality. A little bit every day will give you the best health benefits overall.
So there you have it! The 8 health tips to kick off the new year for a new you. Focus on improving each of these simultaneously as your one and only New Years Resolution and you will be on a successful path to overall wellness. Weight loss and poor health can be things of the past if you are just willing to make small changes on a daily basis.
Top Health tips for men and women
Keeping yourself healthy and sound requires proper health management and schedule. However, the hectic life schedule doesn’t allow people to follow a proper schedule. The imperative fact is that making small changes and following some effective health tips in your life schedule you can get rid of chronic complications of bad health and avoid spending huge amount of money on the medications. Healthy body and sound mind keep you always free from the infections. There are several health videos that will give you insight about each methods and techniques to stay healthy and active.
1. Sensible and healthy diet – Stomach is the center of entire body as it produces the energy for body by using calories and other minerals. There is a good saying that a healthy stomach means a healthy man. Thus, the most vital step towards getting healthy is adding only healthy foods in your diet such as green vegetables and fruits. Make sure that you are eating only fresh foods. This is one of the best health tips.
2. Change foods time to time – In order to avoid boredom in your meals keep changing your meal daily according to your taste and preferences but don’t go for the junk foods in excess. This way you will keep yourself comply with the healthy diet chart otherwise you will be forgotten to follow the diet chart.
3. Stop avoiding breakfast – Most of the people have myth that avoiding breakfast will help them in losing weight and keep them healthy and fit. It is completely wrong as avoiding breakfast causes gas and food craving that leads to the intake of junk foods and obesity. Thus, make sure that you take your breakfast daily and timely.
4. Drink Water – Undeniably, water is the best ingredient that keeps your body healthy and free from the health issues. Hence, drink water as much as you can to stay healthy and active.
5. Exercise and yoga – Add exercise and yoga in your daily schedule at least for 20-30 minutes. It is very effective way of keeping your entire family healthy. Make your child aware about the benefits of exercises. Make proper balance between your work schedule and exercise, don’t avoid doing exercise. Moreover, mild walk is good for the good health. You can find more details about exercises and other health tips via health videos.
6. Avoid stress and depression instead bring serenity for having sound mind and healthy body.
These all are the common health tips for staying healthy and living life without any complications. Moreover, people can grab more healthy tips over the web in the form of articles and healthy videos.
Health Insurance For Young Adults And New Health Insurance Bill
In these new economic times when fresh graduates have it much harder than the previous generations to find a solid job with health benefits worth mentioning, many young adults are perplexed while looking for possiblities of removing a big financial uncertainty about possible health costs and looking for ways to purchase a suitable health insurance.The recent new health care law of 2010, while attempting to reduce costs of healthcare by driving toward the single-payer system, has a four year (until 2014) adaptation period, during which the transition is supposed to happen. Unfortunately, this causes even more confusion in an already fragmented, and complicated health care system in the US.In this article we will provide the basic options for a young adult over 26 years to find a health insurance that will allow him or her to sleep well knowing that, even in the case of an accident, or any other catastrophic health event, requiring major medical intervention, the financial situation of the person will not be jeopardized, and that the insurance will be able to take care of the majority of the medical treatment cost.While the following options are always subject to change, especially between now and 2014, it is likely that all of these options will remain in place at least until 2014. Unfortunately, age 26 marks the age when a young adult can not be insured under the parent’s health insurance plan, according to the health care law of 2010. The existing options include getting insurance through employment, getting it either on the individual insurance market or from one of the standard state health insurances for low income citizens during the time of unemployment or part time employment, and, in case of pre-existing conditions, from the newly-created federal pre-existing condition insurance plan, PCIP. One option that is not available to young adults over 26 years old is family health insurance plan through one of their parents.Health insurance plans through employment: This remains the main source of insurance of young adults. In the coming years, you can expect higher premiums, higher deductibles, and higher copayments with health insurances through work, and fewer employers even offering them, but at least the employee can not be denied the insurance due to the pre-existing condition.Private or individual health insurance coverage: When group insurance through employment is unavailable, there is always an option to purchase insurance on the individual market. The high deductible individual health insurance and major medical insurance are especially popular. However, the underwriting of individual policies is subject to filling out application forms, and the insurance can be declined due to what insurance company deems a pre-existing condition. Which can be something as simple as being overweight for example. It can even be a condition that you have in the meantime been healed from. Furthermore, for certain “pre-existing conditions” such as pregnancy, there can be waiting periods of as much as 18 to 24 months. The current health care law does not require insurers to accept applications of people over 19 years of age who have a pre-existing condition.State sponsored health insurance policies such as Medicaid and Healthy Families: These have strict rules and limits on personal income or family income of an applicant, and will only kick in when one’s income falls below those limits. Because of current budget crunches on the state level, individual states have been recently scaling back these health insurance benefits. This trend is expected to continue.Pre-existing condition insurance plan: When you are over 26 years old, make too much money to qualify for state sponsored health insurance, yet are unable to get health insurance either from your employer or on an individual insurance market due to a pre-existing condition, there is a new way out, the PCIP, or the pre-existing condition insurance plan, sponsored either by the federal government or by individual states. This is the real benefit coming from the health care plan of 2010. You will get a reasonably priced insurance with great benefits, and you will not be declined regardless of any pre-existing condition. The only drawback of the PCIP plan is the waiting period of 6 months, during which you will not be able to have any insurance.