Health Insurance Blog

It used to be that getting a quote on life insurance felt like you were pre-determining your life expectancy. Sure, they called it a life insurance quote, but it seemed more like a death insurance quote. After answering each question, the insurance salesperson would give you that look that says, How could you do that? Don’t you know it cuts ten years off your life??

Well it’s not that bad today. Life insurance quotes are now easier than ever, thanks to the time saving technology from the online world. You can get a term life insurance quote from several companies and compare them without ever talking to a representative.

Get a whole life insurance quote in a matter of seconds instead of days. And you can do it all from the comfort of home. Some Things to Remember When you Compare Life Insurance Quotes 1. Be Accurate: The more accurate your information is, the more accurate your life quote will be.

Never hide information like whether or not you smoke. Remember, this would set life insurance companies free from their obligations in the event of your death, so it wouldn’t even make sense to have insurance if you’re not as accurate as possible. 2. Never Base Your Choices on Price Alone: Low prices are always attractive, but find out for sure that a policy will suit your needs.

Ask for the details involved in term life insurance and whole life insurance plans. Don’t take anything for granted. And research the insurance companies. Find out how long they’ve been in business and how fast their usual turn around is for pay-offs. 3. Compare from at Least Three Companies: There’s no reason to limit yourself to one or two quotes, not when obtaining a quote is so easy.

Shop around and find out what insurance companies have to offer. 4. To Compare Life Insurance Quotes, Start with the Same Set of Answers: If you’re comparing different quotes, make sure they’re not for different policies. Type of life insurance policy, time periods for term policies, and the insured amount can all have a huge impact on a quote, so make sure the answers to questionnaires are the same from company to company.

The Difference between Whole Life Insurance and Term Life Insurance For the most part, there are two kinds of life insurance: whole life insurance and term life insurance. While there are variations of both of these, the biggest difference between the two is that one is for long term coverage and one is for short term coverage, and your life insurance quotes will be very different for each one. Whole Life Insurance (generally for long term coverage) has a set premium and doesn’t change (except for some variations) throughout the policy term.

You pay your premiums, and when you die, your beneficiary receives the pay-off. Your whole life insurance quote will specify the premium amount. As you pay into the policy, it builds equity, which you can withdraw or borrow against. Term Life Insurance (usually used for short term coverage) only lasts for a certain amount of time. That time is defined in the term life insurance quote.

At the end of this term, the policy ends and the policy is re-evaluated for a new quote. Using Online Life Insurance Quotes Use a website that connects you to several life insurance companies. Add them to your favorites menu so you can find them again. As you receive your quotes, print them out for easy comparison.

In no time at all, you’ll find the perfect company for your life insurance needs without ever feeling like you’re the one being examined.

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In the business of supplying blood, Labor Day is the last hurdle of the donor-dry summer. We are in dire need of blood donors,” said Audrey Lundey, communications manager for the American Red Cross Southwest-Texas region and spokeswoman for the East Texas region.Throughout the summer, the Texas region of the American Red Cross has been on a blood appeal, informing communities that the blood shortages are so severe that there is less than a day’’s supply of blood available.

“It’’s so important for people to understand that you never know when yourself, your family, friend or neighbor is going to be in need of blood,” Lundey said. The general public presumes that nobody’’s going to bleed to death because there’’s not enough blood,” said Jeffrey McCullough, a professor of laboratory medicine at the University of Minnesota and an expert on the nation’’s blood supply. But finding donors, “is more and more difficult, and the reforms make it more and more expensive,” he said.

An average adult has about 10 pints of blood, and a major trauma victim can need up to 100.Generally, the public’’s concern is blood safety, not supply. That’’s been the case since the 1980s, when HIV-tainted blood infected more than 12,000 patients nationwide through transfusions. Today, a battery of tests screen blood for HIV, hepatitis, West Nile virus and other pathogens.

A series of questions excludes donors who have visited countries with malaria or mad cow disease”The blood supply is extraordinarily safe,” said Arthur Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania and a former member of a federal advisory committee on blood safety.

“But you have to remember that having blood available is part of safety, too, particularly if you have some kind of disaster and you need a lot.” The blood-bank system began during World War II as a way for citizens to help wounded soldiers on the front lines. Dr. Charles R. Drew discovered how to preserve and store blood, and organized the first blood drive.

Neither subsequent generations nor immigrants have embraced the donor habit as enthusiastically as the war generation. “We don”t have a blood supply problem, we have a blood donor problem,” said Teresa Solorio, spokeswoman for American Red Cross Blood Services of Southern California. “It’’s easier to get people to donate money than to donate blood.”

Even with the development of blood-conserving surgeries, the need for blood has risen because of medical advances and an aging population that needs hip replacements, heart surgery, cancer treatment and kidney transplants.

Blood shortages occur in pockets across the nation, especially in Los Angeles, New York and other large metropolitan areas, which tend to be faster-paced and have less of a sense of community than parts of the Midwest and South, blood experts say. But natural disasters, such as the recent floods in Oklahoma, can mean less blood from states that usually have enough to export. Blood type, like eye color, is inherited.

About 45 percent of whites have type O blood; an estimated 65 percent of Hispanics have it. People with type O blood can receive only type O, and demand is growing as the Latino population grows.

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A recent study states that for the first time the dollar impact on private health insurance premiums when doctors and hospitals provide health care to uninsured people. In 2005, premium costs for family health insurance coverage provided by private employers will include an extra $922 in premiums due to the cost of care for the uninsured.

Premiums for individual coverage will cost an extra $341. Nearly 48 million Americans will be uninsured for the entire year in 2005. What happens when some of these 48 million Americans get sick? Research has shown that the uninsured often put off getting care for health problems or forgo care altogether.

When the symptoms can no longer be ignored, the uninsured do see doctors and go to hospitals. Without insurance to pay the tab, the uninsured struggle to pay as much as they can. More than one-third (35 percent) of the total cost of health care services provided to people without health insurance is paid out-of-pocket by the uninsured themselves.

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Partners for healthy livingWith overweight and obesity rampant in this country, a cultural shift to more healthful living is in order, many experts say, but patients don”t always know how to do that on their own.

“Physicians are just sort of in this model of prescribing medications,” said Sallis, who would like to see doctors prescribing exercise to patients. “I think they”re much more comfortable prescribing medication than with lifestyle intervention.” His group, which is the world’’s largest sports medicine and exercise science organization, is in the process of launching a program called Exercise IS Medicine to encourage physicians to make a change.

“I think that every physician ought to inquire about a patient’’s level of physical activity, and then if they are doing less than 30 minutes, five days a week, they ought to inform them of the risks of inactivity and the benefits of doing 30 minutes of moderate exercise five days a week, said Sallis, a family physician at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Fontana, Calif. “It ought to be assessed at every visit by every physician … and similarly, smoking needs to be addressed as well, and obesity. Those three problems, to me, are the big three.”

A change in lifestyle Though some patients would prefer a magic pill instead of exercise and eating right, it’’s worth it to try to make lifestyle changes, said Veeneman, who emphasizes a combined approach of exercise and dietary changes to her patients. “Even a small amount of weight loss can impact lots of things like the blood pressure … or the cholesterol or the sugars,” she said. “So a 10 to 15 pound weight loss can be significant in people.” Delaney, who lives in the South End, has not been exercising because of arthritic pain but said she hopes to in the future.

Meanwhile, she’’s lost about 12 pounds and seen her condition improve by changing her eating habits and getting her medication adjusted by the doctor. Doctors can help patients by guiding them away from unwise strategies, such as unproven weight-loss supplements, and helping them choose better foods and better portions, Veeneman said.

They also can provide some objectivity when it comes to things like crash diets, Haney said. “As a general rule, we”re not trying to sell a product,” he said. “Virtually every one of these other diet systems is trying to sell some product or some gimmick to make money. … Some of those things are downright unhealthy.”

A program that fits Doctors also can be helpful in tailoring programs to fit patients” specific needs. “There are some patients that want to set up a program with personal trainers, so sometimes I do give them some written instructions to sort of go over with their personal trainer just with some general recommendations on management of their weight and general calorie goals,” Haney said. “There are so many things that have to be taken into consideration with each person.” Haney’’s approach resonates with Nanci Brill, 51, of Oldham County, who is not only a longtime patient but also participates in a step aerobics class that he teaches.

“He really stresses the importance of your health and promoting the longevity of that and the importance of it in terms of what you eat and how you exercise,” said Brill, an emergency room nurse at Baptist Hospital East. Brill said taking care of herself has always been a priority for her but feels that, as you age, it’’s important to have someone to motivate and monitor you like Haney does.

If anything starts to go wrong, “I know that we”re going to sit down and we”re going to discuss it,” she said.

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Political interference often prevents the nation’’s top public health official from dispensing unvarnished medical opinions, two powerful Democratic lawmakers want to make the position of surgeon general more independent by giving the president less of a free hand in selecting nominees.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, introduced their measures in the wake of testimony last month by former Surgeons General Richard Carmona, David Satcher, and Everett Koop that the position is becoming too politicized. Carmona, who served from 2002 to 2006, accused top Bush administration officials of censoring his speeches and preventing him from speaking out on embryonic-stem-cell research, sex education, and emergency contraception.

Satcher, a Clinton appointee who served from 1998 to 2002, and Koop, a Reagan appointee who held the post from 1982 to 1989, joined Carmona before Waxman’’s committee on July 10, but testified of less severe meddling during the Reagan, Bush I, and Clinton administrations. Waxman, D-Calif., told the three, “The position of surgeon general is a revered post in our government. Fixing what’’s wrong and making the office work again should be a bipartisan priority.”Carmona, Satcher, and Koop contend that the best way to strengthen the surgeon general’’s hand is to make the nomination process less political and to give the office an independent budget and staff.

With a budget of $19 million and a staff of 115 employees, the Surgeon General’’s Office has the responsibility of spotlighting important health concerns by issuing statements that promote public health education, analyze health policy, and identify research priorities for health professionals.

The surgeon general also advises the president and the secretary of Health and Human Services, and directs the 6,000-member Commissioned Corps of the Public Health Service. Waxman and Kennedy based their legislation on the notion that the best way to safeguard the surgeon general’’s objectivity is to begin by making the selection process less overtly political.

As of now, the president is free to nominate anyone to be surgeon general. If confirmed by the Senate, the appointee serves a four-year term. But until the late 1960s, surgeons general were required to come from the Commissioned Corps of the Public Health Service. Under Waxman’’s bill, a surgeon general’’s report or call to action (a report that outlines steps that need to be taken to address an urgent health problem) could be blocked only by the HHS secretary, who would then have 10 days to notify Congress of that decision and its rationale.

Waxman would also change the chain of command so that the surgeon general would report directly to the secretary, instead of the assistant secretary, and his bill would make it harder for a president to get rid of a surgeon general because of ideological differencesIn 1994, after 15 months as surgeon general, Joycelyn Elders resigned at President Clinton’’s request after making controversial statements about masturbation and sex education and being criticized as too liberal.

With the Elders example still fresh in observers” minds, Waxman says that fear of losing the job could lead surgeons general to be inappropriately circumspect when the time comes to deliver hard-hitting health care messages. The Bush administration is predictably cool to the Waxman and Kennedy proposals. “We are reviewing the legislation, and we believe that the Office of the Surgeon General functions very well,” says White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore. Michael Tanner, director of health and welfare studies at the Cato Institute, says that the Republicans who wanted to get rid of the position in 1995 and the Democrats who want the surgeon general to be less under the thumb of the White House are missing the point. “The surgeon general has no real nonpolitical purpose,” Tanner said. “This is a political appointee put in a position that is primarily designed to espouse political policies.” Because the position is inherently political but is expected to produce health care advisories that are objective and scientific, he says, there will always be critics pushing for pointless reforms.

“This is a silly debate — and one we”re doomed to every couple of years,” Tanner says.

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Life insurance (Life Assurance in British English) is a type of insurance. As in all insurance, the insured transfers a risk to the insurer, receiving a policy and paying a premium in exchange. The risk assumed by the insurer is the risk of death of the insured.

There are three parties in a life insurance transaction: the insurer, the insured, and the owner of the policy (policyholder), although the owner and the insured are often the same person. For example, if John Smith buys a policy on his own life, he is both the owner and the insured. But if Mary Smith, his wife, buys a policy on John’’s life, she is the owner and he is the insured.

Life insurance companies are never required by law to underwrite or to provide coverage on anyone. They alone determine insurability, and some people, for their own health or lifestyle reasons, are uninsurable. The policy can be declined (turned down) or rated.

Rating means increasing the premiums to provide for additional risks relative to that particular insured discovered in the underwriting process. Term life insurance (Term Assurance in British English) provides for life insurance coverage for a specified term of years for a specified premium.

The policy does not accumulate cash value. Term of life insurance quote is generally considered “pure” insurance, where the premium buys protection in the event of death and nothing else. See Theory of decreasing responsibility and buy term and invest the difference.

Permanent Life insurance is life insurance that remains in force until the policy matures, unless the owner fails to pay the premium when due.

Whole Life insurance provides for a level premium, and a cash value table included in the policy guaranteed by the company.Universal Life insurance is a relatively new insurance product intended to provide permanent insurance coverage with greater flexibility in premium payment and the potential for a higher internal rate of return.

Variable universal life insurance is the same except that the rate of return on the cash account is related to separate accounts that work like mutual funds. Another type of permanent insurance is limited-pay life insurance, in which all the premiums are paid over a specified period after which no additional premiums are due to keep the policy in force.

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Mammograms are the best way to detect breast cancer, but the number of Florida clinics performing the procedure has dropped by 10 percent in the past six years. Since 1999 the total number of mammography clinics has declined by more than 1,200, a decrease of 12 percent, according to a report released last week by Democratic U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner of Brooklyn, N.Y.Weiner plans to introduce an “Assure Access to Mammography Act” this week, which would raise Medicare reimbursement rates for mammograms.

That should help existing clinics stay open and, Weiner said, “reverse the decline in the number of . . . women seeking these life-saving exams.” Since 2001, the number of certified mammography clinics in Florida has declined from 505 to 456, according to the American Cancer Society. Entrekin worries that longer wait times for mammograms will discourage women from getting them.When an annual mammogram becomes “a once-every-18-months mammogram,” it can lead to frustration and women skipping them altogether, particularly if their previous mammograms have shown no problems.

While there is no definitive statewide data on mammogram-screening rates, Entrekin said there is no question that national mammogram-screening rates have declined during the past five years. The director of the Women’’s Center for Radiology in Orlando said several new mammography centers have opened in Orlando within the past year.

According to the American Cancer Society’’s statewide registry, the number of certified mammography facilities in Metro Orlando has inched from 36 to 37 since 2002.But a slight increase hasn”t eliminated the problem for many Central Florida women. At the Women’’s Center for Radiology, for example, the waiting time for screening mammograms is short — less than a week, Belmont said. But the average wait time for a diagnostic mammogram is six weeks.Since diagnostic mammograms are for women with symptoms of breast cancer, having to wait any length of time can be agonizing.

The wait times for diagnostic mammograms are far shorter — one to two weeks — at the Kissimmee Outpatient Center — but a woman who calls today for a screening mammogram won”t get in until March 2008, said the center’’s administrator, Polly Rodeffer. “As a service provider, I hate that the service I”m providing is seven months away,” Rodeffer said.

She explained those shorter wait times can be costly because insurance networks often exclude hospital-based imaging centers for mammography coverage. Checks with imaging centers connected to M.D. Anderson, Florida Hospital and Osceola Regional

Medical Center found wait times of two weeks or less for diagnostic mammograms, and a much wider range for screening mammograms: two to three days at Osceola Regional, two to eight weeks at M.D. Anderson. Elise MacCarroll, who oversees mammography services for Florida Hospital’’s seven Metro Orlando campuses, said wait times in Central Florida had improved considerably in the past three years. “We used to have a tremendous backlog, the same thing New York is going through now: So many [mammograms] to do and not enough sites to do them.”If you”re a woman who feels something in her breast and can”t get in for an exam, be persistent.

If one place doesn”t have a time, call another.”

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Auto Insurance in US follows the points as given below. Liability coverage insures you against the cost of injury and damage you cause to another in an automobile accident. It is made up of two policies like bodily injury liability and property damage liability. Auto liability insurance is required in virtually every state.

Auto insurance regulations vary greatly from state to state depending upon the place of living, purchasing types and coverage.Bodily Injury Coverage is the part of liability coverage that insures you against the injury you cause to others in an auto accident. It consists of two figures. One limits the cost of injury coverage per person injured, and the second limits the total dollar amount of injury coverage (for everyone injured.)

This is a very important policy.Property damage coverage is the part of liability coverage that insures you against the cost of damage to another’’s property caused by you in an automobile accident. Here “Property” includes other cars, houses, fences, telephone poles, etc.Medical payment coverage pays the medical bills of the covered driver, family members, and passengers when injured in an accident, regardless of who was at fault.

This coverage is required in some states, but not in othersPersonal Injury Protection (PIP) is similar to medical payments coverage, only it usually covers a broader range of events, including medical bills, lost wages, loss of services, etc.Uninsured Motorist Coverage policy covers the cost of injury or damage caused by another driver who is not insured. It covers the policy holder, authorized drivers, and any passengers. It usually consists of separate limits for bodily injury and property damage.

This policy is required in some states.Collision Coverage policy helps to pay for repairs or fair market replacement cost if your car is damaged in an accident caused by you or an authorized driver. This policy is always optional.Comprehensive Coverage policy covers the cost of repairs to or replacement of your vehicle should it be stolen, vandalized, struck in a hit-and-run, or damaged by an “act of God.” Covered events vary from policy to policy but usually include fire, flood, and falling objects.

This policy is always optional.

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Health insurance is generally available through groups and to individuals. Premiums—the regular fees that you pay for health insurance coverage—are generally lower for group coverage. When you receive group insurance at work, the premium usually is paid through your employer.

Group insurance is typically offered through employers, although unions, professional associations, and other organizations also offer it. As an employee benefit, group health insurance has many advantages. Much—although not all—of the cost may be borne by the employer. Premium costs are frequently lower because economies of scale in large groups make administration less expensive. With group insurance, if you enroll when you first become eligible for coverage, you generally will not be asked for evidence that you are insurable.

(Enrollment usually occurs when you first take a job, and/or during a specified period each year, which is called open enrollment.) Some employers offer employees a choice of fee-for-service and managed care plans. In addition, some group plans offer dental insurance as well as medical.

Individual insurance is a good option if you work for a small company that does not offer health insurance or if you are self-employed. Buying individual insurance allows you to tailor a plan to fit your needs from the insurance company of your choice. It requires careful shopping, because coverage and costs vary from company to company. In evaluating policies, consider what medical services are covered, what benefits are paid, and how much you must pay in deductibles and coinsurance.

You may keep premiums down by accepting a higher deductible.Many people worry about coverage for preexisting conditions, especially when they change jobs. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) helps assure continued health insurance coverage for employees and their dependents. Starting July 1, 1997, insurers could impose only one 12-month waiting period for any preexisting condition treated or diagnosed in the previous six months.

Your prior health insurance coverage will be credited toward the preexisting condition exclusion period as long as you have maintained continuous coverage without a break of more than 62 days. Pregnancy is not considered a preexisting condition, and newborns and adopted children who are covered within 30 days are not subject to the 12-monthwaiting period.

If you get health care coverage at work, or through a trade or professional association or a union, you are almost certainly enrolled under a group contract. Generally, the contract is between the group and the insurer, and your employer has done comparison shopping before offering the plan to the employees. The individual health insurance market provides coverage to those who do not have access to employer-sponsored group coverage or government-sponsored health insurance.

Unlike the employer group insurance market, purchasers in the individual health insurance market bear the full cost of coverage. For those who are not self-employed, the premiums are not tax deductible.

Individual health insurance policies are required to conform to federal “individual market” rules established by HIPAA, including guaranteed issue requirements for HIPAA eligibles. HIPAA also requires “guaranteed renewability” for all individual policies.

Restrictions on the ability to base premiums on risk, such as community rating and guaranteed issue requirements, increase costs for younger people and people with lower health care risks. As a result, fewer young or healthy people buy coverage and instead choose to join the ranks of the uninsured. As this happens, the average claim cost for those persons remaining in the individual market will rise and, in turn, so will the average premium for all those wanting to purchase coverage.

In most states, a well-funded, appropriately priced high-risk pool provides coverage options to high-risk individuals without placing an undue burden on purchasers of individual health coverage.It is also a good idea to ask for the insurance company’s rating.

The A.M. Best Company, Standard & Poor’s Corporation, and Moody’s all rate insurance companies after analyzing their financial records. These publications that list ratings usually can be found in the business section of libraries.And bearing in mind: In some cases, even after you buy a policy, if you find that it doesn’t meet your needs, you may have 30 days to return the policy and get your money back. This is called the “free look period.”

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‘To choose a new doctor is confusing for the consumers. They might want someone who is skilled, pays attention to their concerns and makes it easy to get an appointment. “Times are changing, and people’’s expectations of what they want from their medical care has changed, and we as practitioners are changing,” says Dr. Donald Klitgaard, a family physician in Iowa who, like doctors across the nation, has computerized his record-keeping, made it easier for patients to get appointments and helped his office staff become more efficient.

Nationally, only about 20% of physician offices are computerized; the rest still rely on notoriously inefficient paper charts. But computers are an easy benchmark for quality. They can help a doctor not just keep track of files, but also send out prescriptions accurately and quickly, get lab results inserted into the record automatically and be reminded what the scientific evidence suggests is the next best step with a patient.

At the same time, for doctors to get the most value out of computers, experts say they need to use them as more than word processors; physicians should use features such as electronic reminders to prescribe a test or a medication, and change the way they practice as a result. “I believe it really does translate to better care,” says Robert Eidus, a New Jersey physician with a background in business and medical quality improvement.

“But it’’s not just that I have an electronic medical record, it’’s how do you use it and how does it impact caring for patients.”Oso Family Medical Group in Mission Viejo converted to an electronic medical record system in 2004, going through the expensive and painful process of converting thousands of paper files. But it was worth it, says Dr. Lee Burnett, an osteopath and partner in the five-doctor practice.

This patient-centered approach is considered a new measure of quality because it means patients will be more motivated to not only see the doctor but also accept the medical and lifestyle-change advice dispensed. Good, basic customer service is part of the package, because it gets patients in the door.

The doctors at Oso Family Medical Group heard about the “new model” of family practice and that a first step is surveying patients to find out what they need. That yielded complaints about long waits and other annoyances. “I”ve always loved them, they treat you like family,” says patient Josh Dryman, a 33-year-old who lives in Laguna Niguel.

“But I had to wait an hour in the lobby and wait in the exam room another half-hour. Now when you go in, they get you in right away and the staff seems a heck of a lot friendlier.” Hearing these and similar comments from the people on whom they depended, the five doctors changed their — and their practice’’s — ways.

We saw the marketplace evolve to be much more patient-centric, and insurance companies looking for specific measures of how happy patients are with your practice,” Burnett said. “We”re trying to be on the cusp of this.”Of course, a good doctor-patient relationship comes down to more than a single measure of quality or modernization. And different people want different things from a doctor.

Nevertheless, having a doctor who takes pains to provide the kind of care patients need and want is arguably more likely to please them. It will require medical consumers to be willing to think through what they want, and ask questions even if that means asking a receptionist to put the call through to an office manager, nurse or the doctor.

Other aspects of this “new model” of family practice are largely invisible to patients but just as important: The staff acts as a team to improve patients” health by making sure they follow up on medical advice and make it to appointments; the doctors base care on scientific evidence rather than instinct or habit; patients with chronic illnesses receive follow-up care; the practice follows up on test results and visits to specialists rather than waiting for the patient to track down that information.

You can also use <a href=”http://www.quickdoctors.com”>Find a good Doctor </a>’ ,

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