Posts Tagged insurance
Food Vendor Insurance
Posted by admin in brand breitling on December 30th, 2009
As an independent food vendor at craft shows and festivals, you probably already know a lot of the ins and outs of selling food to hundreds or thousands of people in a day. You know how to order your stock, to create your product, to set up your booth, to collect money, and to balance your books. However, not knowing the right information about your insurance could ruin your entire business with a single bout of food sickness, even if it isn’t strictly your fault. Just like anyone else, you need health insurance to cover yourself and your family. You can buy individual health insurance plans quite easily now, though they can be rather expensive. Just be sure to look over the plan thoroughly to be sure that you aren’t paying for services that you don’t need. Do, however, be sure that you will be covered in the event of a major medical emergency. As a vendor, one of the most important forms of insurance you’ll need is liability insurance. You may think that you’re too safe in your food handling procedures to need this type of insurance, but there are really a thousand things that could go wrong. What happens if a customer gets cut on a loose screw on your booth? What happens if one of your employees trips or burns herself with hot oil? What happens if one of your vendors sells you a bad product and you have to deal with the liability fall-out? Now you probably have another fifty scenarios running through your mind. Liability insurance, though, can set you at ease. It will ensure that after you take all the necessary precautions you don’t get sued for all you own when the worst happens. Just be sure that you have plenty of liability insurance to cover lawyer and settlement costs, and you’ll be fine. Lastly, you certainly need property insurance. Even if you have only one food booth, you’ve still got quite a bit of money invested in it, and to see that money go down the drain when something bad happens would be terrible. You can get a separate business property insurance policy through just about any insurance agency, or you can possibly save money by buying it through the same company who insures your home. Oftentimes a business insurance policy will roll two or three of these types of insurance into one, and this could be a good way to go. Just be sure that you know exactly what you’re getting before you sign on the dotted line.
Skelton explains his vote against House health insurance proposal
Posted by admin in brand breitling on December 8th, 2009
Today, Congressman Ike Skelton (D-Mo. ) released the following statement concerning H. R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act:“This evening, I opposed passage of the health insurance reform legislation that was debated in the House of Representatives. After careful consideration and meetings with health care professionals and Fourth District residents, I decided the legislation did not represent the right balance for rural Missourians. “I understand the need for reform. Far too often, insurance companies get in between a patient and their doctor by denying coverage for necessary medical procedures, by dropping beneficiaries because they get sick, and by imposing unreasonable premiums on those who need coverage the most. These insurance company tactics are wrong and must be fixed. Republicans and Democrats in Congress agree on this. However, while the legislation on the House floor tonight was a vast improvement over earlier versions, especially as amended to prohibit any federal funding for abortions, I am not convinced that the legislation represented the best policy choice for the American people. “I am concerned about the impact the legislation could have on rural hospitals and doctors. The proposed reductions to Medicare reimbursement could further squeeze the budgets of rural health care providers. “I also oppose the creation of a new government run public option and continue to have serious concerns about its potential unintended consequences for Missourians who have private insurance plans they like. “One solution might be for Congress to address health care reform one issue at a time and to ensure that rural Missourians understand how any new legislation will affect them and their families. “At the end of the day the American people should be able to look at this bill and say that Congress has done a good job. This legislation did not accomplish that goal,” said Skelton. H. R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, was approved by the U. S. House of Representatives by a vote of 220 to 215 on Nov. 7. The U. S. Senate must consider the legislation before it is sent to the President for his signature.
Personalized Health Insurance Plans In Danger From Reform
Posted by admin in brand breitling on December 3rd, 2009
One major objection to the healthcare reform bill making its way through Congress is that it may have a chilling effect on medical innovation. Advances in genetic testing have led to personalized health insurance plans that take an individual’s genetic makeup into account when prescribing treatment. Unfortunately, expert Dr. Francis Collins warns that the Obama administration’s focus on comparative effectiveness research, meant to reduce health care costs, could endanger this emerging field. Research in comparative effectiveness discover which treatment for a particular illness works the best. Health insurance plans, including the proposed public option, would cover the successful treatment of medication. Using this method is likely to reduce the billions of dollars wasted on ineffective health care, also lowering insurance premiums as a result. However, Collins told Reuters that caution must be taken in order to avoid ignoring genetic factors. For example, while one treatment might be most effective for the general population, one group with a certain genetic makeup would see the greatest benefit from the other remedy. The future of prescription drugs could be revitalized by the use of personalized medicine. New medications accompanied by diagnostic testing are being formulated and approved by the FDA. Testing for biomarkers (proteins, genes, etc. ) present in the body will allow more individualized, effective treatments. These drugs will become increasingly prominent in the future. Although they are expensive, they will reduce the likelihood of multiple medication switches and continuous testing. Using genetics, laboratories may eventually figure out the cures for chronic conditions that cost health insurers billions. At the very least, treatments for these conditions will be more effective than some of the equally expensive drugs out there today. A healthcare reform bill might discourage research into these areas by companies like LineaGen. While the federal government has provided grants for genetic research, their financial support may decrease after undertaking the burden of comprehensive health reform. While seemingly more costly in the short run, personalized medicine has the potential to save more money if incorporated into healthcare reform. Genetic testing might convince some patients to avoid further, more expensive treatment. Take the case of breast cancer: in 2009, our health care system is projected to see a savings of $100 million from personalized gene tests. Exactly how does this happen? Breast cancer survivors can take a $3,500 test from Genomic Health known as Oncotype DX that predicts the likelihood of recurrence. About 50,000 women have taken advantage of the test this year, and many of them have found that they are at low risk for their cancer recurring. Studies have found that the majority of women judged as low risk for recurrence have opted against chemotherapy. This choice saves each patient $2,000, and their health insurance plans thousands more, which would have otherwise been spent on chemotherapy. Eventually, this will serve to lower the cost of cancer health insurance and make it more accessible. Women also benefit from not having to undergo grueling treatments that may be unneeded. All in all, controlling the cost of health insurance plans is essential. Still, saving money can go too far and negatively impact the quality of care of those already insured. For decades, the United States has been renowned for its advances in medical technology, but several measures purport that actual health of our population lags behind other industrialized nations with slightly less innovative equipment. Personalized medicine through genetic testing is state-of-the-art medicine that may also serve to better prevent and diagnose diseases. It has the potential to be a worthwhile investment for future generations of Americans. (Image: ghutchis under CC 2. 0)
Oregon Auto Insurance - As Costs Rise Don’t Leave Your Coverage Up to Chance
Posted by admin in brand breitling on November 28th, 2009
Oregon drivers beware. You may think that not having insurance isn’t a big deal, but it can up costing you big time unexpectedly. While it’s true that you do not need to report any damages less than $2500 to an insurance company or to the police in the event of an accident you still need to bear in mind the average cost of repairs these days. A recent accident with a friend, for instance, occurred a short while back between a Mazda 6 and a Dodge Neon going less than 50 miles per hour. The total damage estimates from this small crash where nobody was hurt for these two cars alone was around $9,000. That means a total of $6,500 of damage done to the Mazda and $2500 done to his Neon it read-ended, and the damage wasn’t even too severe. Now imagine it was a newer, more expensive car in the same accident, even if they hadn’t been driving any faster. The total costs would far exceed these, despite the fact that the total apparent damage may not look severe at all. Now imagine also if both drivers didn’t have insurance. Not only would all costs need to be paid out of pocket for this accident regardless of who was involved but would also become a state crime that could potentially have the licenses revoked. The kicker of this is that it also was a completely unexpected event that was out of their hands that was caused by (and this is a true story) a chicken. Because the lead driver in a line of cars didn’t want to run over a stray chicken in the road she ended up causing a three car pile-up when she breaked unexpectedly in the countryside. Do you want to run the risk of that happening to you? I didn’t think so. So before you go hitting the road think about what sort of protection you may or may not have to protect you for when these things might happen. To use the old adage, “expect the unexpected”. Who knows when something as strange or unexpected as the accident mentioned above could happen to you? Researching into affordable insurance providers in Oregon using websites such as EZQuoteGuide. com can help provide you with ease of mind when hitting the road to make sure that even if some odd, unexplained or potentially life changing event transpires it can be handled appropriately and you can get assistance when needed. If you are truly worried about costs there are a number of different providers throughout the state that can help you find a plan to best meet your needs, especially in Oregon where even a simple Drivers Ed class can help reduce your monthly rates substantially. Take advantage of these offerings and get the protection you need before it’s too late. If you’re stuck and need some help finding good information online try using Ezquoteguide. com for finding the right local insurance information you need right away to help you fulfill your auto insurance needs.
Health Insurance Fraud in the United States of America
Posted by admin in brand breitling on November 28th, 2009
The system in the United states for health insurance works fine, so long as you stay fit and healthy. It is only those who need health care who have the problems! However bad the health system might look on paper - Americans pay double what people in other wealthy countries pay, yet they have worse health results. And this is despite America still having forty seven million uninsured people - so in practice it is much worse. Let’s consider the start of the process. You are ill. So you go to the doctor. You pay the doctor direct and then send his bill to your insurer for reimbursement. The insurer then sends you a standard letter rejecting your claim. Yes, it happens all the time. Those of us who are persistent contact their insurer and demand to know why the the claim was refused. The insurer replies, if you are lucky, providing a form for your doctor to complete. Then, despite the doctor returning the form, the insurance company will still not payout. Those of us who are very persistent again contact their insurer and demand to know why the claim was rejected. The insurer denies that they never received the Doctors’ form. A rather unhappy doctor is then persuaded to fill out a second form. The result? The bill is still not paid. Those extremely persistent people amongst us call the insurer again demanding to know why the claim was rejected. The insurer says the doctor sent in the wrong form. The story goes on and on but at the end of the day, the insurer got the form they wanted and were correctly reimbursed as provided. But, I think we are in the minority as the extremely persistent, well-educated policyholders who are aware of our rights under the insurance policy. Suppose the refusal to pay had arrived on the doorstep of someone who is not very well educated, or does not have the mental or physical awareness to fight back or who even does not speak english? That person may well have just accepted that the insurance company was in its rights to refuse their claim. Probably they would not have fought the issue. Or, if they did fight once, they might have given it up after the first or second set of correspondence. From the insurance company’s standpoint, the refusal of a claim is almost a no-brainer. For the cost of sending a letter, they save themselves payouts that can run into the millions of dollars. In the worst case scenario, they come across persistent clients who demand that the insurer honours its policy and end up paying what they should have paid out in the first place. In the mean time they earn interest on the money they with hold from you. They are not faced with any penalties or fines for wrongly refusing claims. In America, insurers do not generally publish the basis under which they refuse claims. Nor do they disclose what proportion of claims are refused. So how can someone intelligently decide between insurance companies if they do not know how likely it will be that their claim will be refused? This is not the only information that insurers keep to themselves. With most policies, when people go “out of network”, they payout a sum that is around 70 to 80 per cent of the “reasonable and customary” rate. Usually your insurer will not tell you in advance what their “reasonable and customary” rate is, so if you are ill you will not know how much that trip to the doctor will cost until the doctor has submited the claim. Furthermore, the insurance company is free to change their “reasonable and customary” rates at its own discretion. Similarly, at their own discretion, they can also change their procedures and change what they do and do not cover. As it is, the law basically gives insurers a free hand to abuse patients. It is like handing over a 10,000 dollar check to a contractor to repair the roof and chimney on your house and then leaving it to them to decide which repairs they do. A contractor that fixed a few tiles and bricks and then drove away would be prosecuted for fraud. An insurer effectively doing the same thing, by denying care to its policyholders, could end up paying big bonuses to its Chief Executive. We would like Obama to have healthcare reform at the top of his domestic agenda. His reforms must make healthcare affordable to all. He shouls also plan to offer a public insurance option modelled on Medicare that everyone can qualify for. The Medicare plan has predictable benefits and costs unlike private insurance. Virtually any doctor can be seen and Medicare pays the doctor directly. This means you do not have to pay upfront. The, if your claim is refused, it is your doctor who becomes financially liable unless he or she has warned you in advance that your Medicare will not cover the cost. Health care reform should more heavily regulate the private insurance system. Companies must be forced to disclose the full schedule of treatments they will cover and under what circumstances. They must also publish a full schedule of their fees. Once a policyholder signs up for the insurance the insurer should noy be allowed to move the goal posts and they should have to publish the percentage and average values of the claims they refuse. After all few businesses can unilaterally change the terms of their contracts part way through the contract and there is no reason to make an exception for insurance companies. This is especially important as they are often dealing with clients with serious health conditions, the most vulnerable sector of the population.
Oregon Auto Insurance - As Costs Rise Don’t Leave Your Coverage Up to Chance
Posted by admin in brand breitling on November 27th, 2009
Oregon drivers beware. You may think that not having insurance isn’t a big deal, but it can up costing you big time unexpectedly. While it’s true that you do not need to report any damages less than $2500 to an insurance company or to the police in the event of an accident you still need to bear in mind the average cost of repairs these days. A recent accident with a friend, for instance, occurred a short while back between a Mazda 6 and a Dodge Neon going less than 50 miles per hour. The total damage estimates from this small crash where nobody was hurt for these two cars alone was around $9,000. That means a total of $6,500 of damage done to the Mazda and $2500 done to his Neon it read-ended, and the damage wasn’t even too severe. Now imagine it was a newer, more expensive car in the same accident, even if they hadn’t been driving any faster. The total costs would far exceed these, despite the fact that the total apparent damage may not look severe at all. Now imagine also if both drivers didn’t have insurance. Not only would all costs need to be paid out of pocket for this accident regardless of who was involved but would also become a state crime that could potentially have the licenses revoked. The kicker of this is that it also was a completely unexpected event that was out of their hands that was caused by (and this is a true story) a chicken. Because the lead driver in a line of cars didn’t want to run over a stray chicken in the road she ended up causing a three car pile-up when she breaked unexpectedly in the countryside. Do you want to run the risk of that happening to you? I didn’t think so. So before you go hitting the road think about what sort of protection you may or may not have to protect you for when these things might happen. To use the old adage, “expect the unexpected”. Who knows when something as strange or unexpected as the accident mentioned above could happen to you? Researching into affordable insurance providers in Oregon using websites such as EZQuoteGuide. com can help provide you with ease of mind when hitting the road to make sure that even if some odd, unexplained or potentially life changing event transpires it can be handled appropriately and you can get assistance when needed. If you are truly worried about costs there are a number of different providers throughout the state that can help you find a plan to best meet your needs, especially in Oregon where even a simple Drivers Ed class can help reduce your monthly rates substantially. Take advantage of these offerings and get the protection you need before it’s too late. If you’re stuck and need some help finding good information online try using Ezquoteguide. com for finding the right local insurance information you need right away to help you fulfill your auto insurance needs.
Get Great Affordable Health Insurance In Tennessee
Posted by admin in brand breitling on November 25th, 2009
Affordable health insurance in Tennessee can be obtained through a great health care program called TennCare. TennCare provides health benefits to pregnant women; women who need cancer treatment (breast and/or cervical); children under the age of 21; people receiving, or who have received, Supplement Security Income (SSI) or some other form of Social Security assistance; people who reside in nursing homes and have a total monthly income of less than $1,373; and anyone receiving any other kind of assistance from Tennessee, including the Families First program. TennCare recently underwent a reformation process, so adults who are eligible for another kind of health insurance program or who signed up for TennCare simply because they had very high medical bills are no longer eligible for TennCare health coverage. This means these individuals must seek affordable health insurance in Tennessee elsewhere. If you are one of the Tennesseans who lost TennCare, or simply aren’t eligible for the health care program, don’t fret; there are still ways to find affordable health insurance in Tennessee. You can check into group health insurance coverage. These kinds of policies are generally less expensive than individual health insurance coverage. They are most commonly offered by employers, but can sometimes be obtained as member benefits through clubs, associations, organizations, and even credit card companies. Still, affordable health insurance in Tennessee can be found with individual health insurance plans, too. As long as you take your time searching insurance companies licensed to sell health insurance policies in Tennessee, as well as companies that offer the coverage you need at premiums you can manage, it’s possible to find an affordable individual health insurance policy in Tennessee. An important fact to remember: if you need to shop for group or individual health insurance plans, you have a time limit beginning the first day you lose coverage. For group health insurance, you need to obtain coverage within 30 days; for individual policies, it’s 63 days. This isn’t mandatory, but it makes finding affordable health insurance in Tennessee easier.
New Mandates Ordering Health Insurance in US
Posted by admin in brand breitling on November 23rd, 2009
In the autumn of 2007 Laura Allen didn’t think Massachusetts’ law requiring everyone to have health insurance would affect her life. She had a customer service job at a rubber stamp company that provided coverage. But then the 42-year-old was told she would be laid off before the end of the year. And the new state law imposed a $200 tax penalty on anyone uninsured on Dec. 31, 2007The prospect of being unemployed and uninsured was stressful for Allen. She couldn’t afford the $1,400 monthly COBRA premiums for herself and her husband. So she called the Connector Authority -the body managing the state’s comprehensive health reform program- several times for help enrolling in health insurance. She couldn’t get through because the Connector phone lines were overwhelmed by residents trying to do the same thing. “It was frustrating,” said Allen. Eventually, things worked out for Allen. On Nov. 5, 2007, she began work as a receptionist at an electrical supply company that would offer health insurance in two months — just after the deadline. Her company let her enroll five days early so she could avoid the tax penalty. A Commonwealth Connector spokesman said Allen could have applied for a hardship exemption. Allen, like many others in Massachusetts, found herself on the front line of an experiment in personal responsibility — the individual health insurance mandate. Since the Massachusetts effort began in 2006, many lawmakers and policy experts have embraced individual mandates as an integral part of health system reform. Several states — most notably California — have considered legislation with a Massachusetts-style insurance requirement. So far none has adopted the measures. Some states are considering mandates for higher-income residents only, which parallels AMA policy. At the federal level, at least one lawmaker has introduced a bill with an individual mandate. Both Democrats running for president include required insurance in their health system reform plans. The idea behind these proposals is that reform won’t work unless everyone is personally responsible for getting insurance. The theory is that requiring everyone to have coverage lowers its cost. Premiums would drop as medical risk is spread across the population, and health care costs would decrease because uncompensated care would decline, said Jonathan Gruber, PhD, professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a member of the Connector board. Mandate proponents note that an insurance requirement doesn’t mean much unless affordability is directly addressed. The questions that arise include how much to subsidize coverage for low-income people, what benefits to mandate, and how to reform the health insurance market. Part of the AMA’s health system reform plan calls for requiring people earning more than 500% of the federal poverty level — $52,000 for individuals — to obtain at least catastrophic coverage. Those who don’t comply would face tax penalties. People earning less would be subject to the requirement only after receiving tax credits or vouchers for buying insurance. “It’s difficult to force somebody who can’t afford health insurance to purchase it,” said Joseph M. Heyman, MD, AMA Board of Trustees chair-elect. Massachusetts lawmakers and government officials addressed the affordability problem with a host of reforms. The state created Commonwealth Care, a program in which private health plans provide state-subsidized coverage to residents who earn less than 300% of the federal poverty level and don’t have access to work-based insurance. People who earn less than 150% of poverty pay no premiums. People who earn more than 300% of poverty have access to the plans, but not to subsidies. However, insurance costs are still an issue, some experts said. The Connector board in March voted to increase premiums for subsidized plans by 10% starting July 1. Participating insurance companies initially proposed 14% premium hikes.
The Truth About Payment Protection Insurance (ppi)
Posted by admin in brand breitling on November 22nd, 2009
Payment Protection Insurance or PPI is loan insurance designed to protect your Mortgage, Credit Card and Loan payments in the unfortunate event that you cannot work because of an accident or sickness, or if you have been made unemployed.
Like a career criminal, PPI has many names and aliases, such as Accident, Sickness and Unemployment (ASU), Life & Accident, Sickness and Unemployment cover (Life & ASU), Mortgage Payment Protection Insurance (MPPI), Personal Loan Protection (PLP) or Credit Card Repayment Protection (CCRP). Policies are usually sold when a consumers applies for a credit card, loan or mortgage, although ‘stand alone’ policies which are not linked directly to a specific credit product are also available.
In theory, making provision for maintaining your loan repayments if you cannot to work is a laudable financial planning aim and there is nothing inherently wrong with PPI. It can be highly beneficial to many consumers who specifically need protection in case they are unable to work, helping policyholders avoid defaulting on their loans and possible repossession of their home.
Like all insurance products, the devil is in the detail. PPI is riddled with clauses, limits, exclusions and exemptions, which preclude claims about many common causes of absence from work, such as back ache, stress or depression. In addition, consumers who are self employed, on short-terms contracts and agency work are not usually covered. As a result, 1 in 4 of all claims made under PPI policies are rejected by the insurer, due to exclusions and limits in small print of the policy.
In addition to strict policy exclusions that made the policy useless for some consumers, PPI sold by lenders together with Loans, Credit Card, Mortgages and on high-street or catalogue “Buy Now-Pay Later” deals offer extremely poor value for money and are exceedingly expensive when compared to ‘stand alone’ policies. Consumers who needed and were eligible for PPI would have been better off shopping around to get a policy from a ’stand alone’ provider, which can be less than 15% of the cost of policies arranged by the lender. Recent research by MoneyFacts revealed NatWest PPI added £3,267. 60 to a £10,000 loan, whilst a similar ‘stand alone’ policy provided by British Insurance costs only £468.
Selling PPI alongside every application for credit has become common practice in recent years. The Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) estimates there are over 20m PPI policies in existence, with over 7m being sold each year. Therefore if you have taken out some credit in the last few years it is likely that you have a PPI policy, although many consumers don’t actually realise they were sold this insurance or realise how much it is really costing them.
It is not surprising that lenders train their staff into selling PPI at every opportunity, rather than advising their customers according to their needs and circumstances, as industry insiders state 17% of some high street lenders total group profits came from the sales of PPI. A recent report stated only 20 per cent of the money collected in PPI premiums is returned to policyholders who claim, which means insurers and lenders keep about £4bn of the £5bn paid in premiums annually, making PPI the most profitable type of insurance to sell. The Competition Commission has revealed that lenders can make a staggering 982% return on their costs by selling PPI.
The Competition Commission issued a report into the ‘Profitability of PPI’ on 28th January 2007, stating “The personal loans business has suffered from declining profits in recent years, to the point where in 2006 it appears to have been loss-making before taking into account income from PPI. ” It is clear therefore that selling PPI is essential to arranging loans.
As with other financial products, the major problem lies with how the policies were sold and whether the insurance was suitable for the consumer. Many policyholders have been sold PPI when they had no chance of successfully claiming under the policy, as they had been to the doctors several times with a stiff knee or they had not been employed on a permanent contract. In most cases, the salesperson simply did not ask their customer about their circumstances, which explains why we regularly deal with complaints from foreign residents, people on state benefits and full time students.
According to our experience, most consumers were not made aware of the alternative ’stand-alone’ policies, or the various policy exclusions. Some were told that they would improve their credit rating, receive a lower interest rate or be more likely to be accepted. In some cases, the customer was told it was compulsory or didn’t even realise that they had been sold PPI.
One of the major inconsistencies with PPI are Single Premium policies. A Single Premium PPI policy is where the whole cost of the insurance is added as a lump sum to the amount borrowed, so you’re effectively borrowing more initially, which then must be repaid over the term of the loan plus interest. This makes Banks an extra 10-18% per year in interest (See Competition Commission report) and makes little allowance if you wish to repay the loan.
It is no wonder that the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) have called selling of Payment Protection Insurance a ‘Protection Racket’ and the head of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has said “Many customers are failed by payment protection insurance, which gives them a poor deal and often less protection that they think. ” The prevalence of such sales tactics has resulted in one industry analyst estimating that upto 70% of all PPI policies were mis-sold.
The good news is that consumers who have been mis-sold PPI can claim a refund and Victory Claims Ltd are specialists in handling complaints about financial products such as Payment Protection Insurance. If you have a PPI policy and would like to know how to start your claim, visit www. victoryclaims. co. uk/PPI_Home. html, call 0871 218 1206 or email michael. morgan@victoryclaims. co. uk.
Victory Claims Ltd (www. victoryclaims. co. uk) is a Professional Complaints Handling Company that helps consumers secure redress from financial institutions for losses suffered as a result of the advice they received. Victory Claims Ltd is regulated by the Ministry of Justice in respect of regulated claims management activities. Our registration is recorded on www. claimsregulation. gov. uk. We are also registered with the Information Commissioner to ensure security & confidentially of your personal information, under the Data Protection Act.
New Stimulus Package to Include Billions for Health Insurance
Posted by admin in brand breitling on November 21st, 2009
Next year’s stimulus package will include large investments in health care and health insurance reform, according to the Washington Post. The package could top $500 billion. There are a few major financial assistance health care programs slated to get a significant funding boost. Here are the programs in question:SCHIP The successful State’s Children’s Health Insurance Program will likely play a big role in the upcoming health reform plan. SCHIP has been widely regarded as a very successful, but costly, program to get children the health insurance they need. Already Congress has supported the expansion of SCHIP to include more children, and it looks like it will happen under Obama. COBRA U. S. Representative Pete Stark from California is calling for an expansion of COBRA, which allows unemployed people to continue their previous employer’s group health insurance coverage. But because COBRA coverage is expensive, Congressman Stark proposes providing subsidies to help the unemployed pay for the plan. MEDICAID The Federal health coverage program for low income Americans is scheduled to receive up to $40 billion in the next two years as part of the Obama stimulus plan. One of Obama’s campaign goals was to streamline medical recordkeeping process by automating it into computers. The stimulus package is likely to include at least $10 billion as assistance to health care providers and facilities to implement the plan. When the bill comes before Congress, there is certain to be plenty of debate over its final content. Too many of us don’t have adequate <a onClick=”javascript:pageTracker. _trackPageview(’/outgoing/article_exit_link’);” href=”http://www. gohealthinsurance. com”>health insurance</a>, if any at all. And researching to find he best <a onClick=”javascript:pageTracker. _trackPageview(’/outgoing/article_exit_link’);” href=”http://www. gohealthinsurance. com/plan-finder. html”>health insurance plans</a> can be a chore many are just not up to. There’s a general website I’ve recently discovered at www. gohealthinsurance. com which offers more answers and information in one place that you will find anywhere. Check it out.