Health Care Costs & Financial Planning

Are you financially prepared to face any unforeseen health hazards that might face your family? In the modern medical world, sophisticated health care costs are very much on the higher side. As such, if you have not done some financial planning, keeping in view health issues in mind, these costs can catch you unaware. In the absence of a suitable health care plan, a considerable amount of money can get unnecessarily spent. At times, the costs can even go beyond the financial abilities of patient parties, spelling doom for the patient. Thus, all expert financial planners advise clients to have a suitable health policy for themselves, which can come in handy, as and when required.

What is the best way to keep the costs within bounds? According to most financial experts, the ideal way is to go for a convenient policy. Such policies can easily cover all financial expenses if you, or any of your family members, fall critically ill. However, a significant premium also needs to be paid for holding these insurance policies. Hence, it is only prudent that individuals should do some policy-related planning and research before actually purchasing an insurance agreement.

Health care policies can generally be of two types - the reimbursement policies and the cashless policies. The former implies that, while all hospital payments have to be initially made by the concerned person, these expenses would be reimbursed as per the policy agreement. This has one significant disadvantage. If the health issue is sudden and extremely critical, a person might not get enough time to arrange for the deposit money required at hospitals, and any other necessary upfront payments. This is where cashless policies score over the reimbursement policies. According to cashless health care agreements, no payment needs to be made by the patient parties at all. Only a cashless policy form needs to be filled out by them. However, the cashless benefit can only be enjoyed if the hospital where the patient is admitted is included in the network of medical homes mentioned in the policy statement.

Any person can face an accident, or fall ill, and need immediate treatment. In such a scenario, it indeed helps if the person has some insurance policies, covering the medical expenses. Health care costs and policy-making forms a significant part of the entire process. It is also advisable that the services of expert financial planners should be hired, since they can provide sound advice as to how to keep health-related expenses within reasonable limits.

Fundamental Ways That Could Stop Global Warming

What do you think could come in as more important to our basic human needs such as food, shelter, medicine, education or even the need for affection? There could be one issue that would predetermine everything that will transpire on the planet, and that is the planet's condition. If the world were on the brink of destruction, saving it would be the priority of every single individual. And save it we must. Although the threat is still not at a life and death level, there is an alarming truth that there are several problems that are now bugging the place that we live in. Say hello to global warming. And try to say bye - stop global warming!

Global warming, which is also known as the greenhouse effect, has been here long before you or anybody else out there existed. It's been here for thousands of years. And through those thousands of years, the earth's temperature has increased, and so has the effects of global warming. Time magazine has actually coined this problem as a planetary emergency.

There are major solutions that have been done worldwide to cope, alleviate or altogether stop the effects of this major problem. But among these choices, the obvious choice that the human race is supposed to concentrate on is how to stop global warming. Since we have all contributed to the occurrence of global warming (in our own little ways), then we should also join forces in combating this dilemma.

1. Join organizations that promise to educate you about the effects of global warming and what you can do to put a stop to this problem. Be an activist on this matter. After all, everything begins with you.

2. The next step is to conserve energy. And yes, there are so many ways that an individual can save energy. Let's list some here: car pooling, turning off appliances that are not in use; unplugging any electronic devices that are not in use; buying energy-efficient lamps; keeping the filters of your air-conditioning unit clean; taking a walk (instead of driving); turn off the faucet when enough water has been consumed; do not use appliances or products that release chlorofluorocarbons into the atmosphere (examples are hairsprays and refrigerators that have CFCs); use EEF appliances; start planting trees, etc. These are basic things that we have learned even from grade school and yet, tend to forget the most.

3. If you are a slave of your profession, then, cut on those work hours to help save energy. For every individual that would cut down an hour from his work, there would be millions worth of energy saved. Learn to maximize your time and to properly manage it. I guess you never imagined before that this could also stop global warming, huh?

4. Recycle. Need we elaborate on that?

5. Use environment-friendly fuels and vehicles. They may be a little bit more expensive but they do not contribute to pollution. Honda was the first to come up with a vehicle that is cell-powered, thus, there are no harmful emissions. If you cannot afford cell-powered vehicles just yet, you can opt for those that can run thirty miles in just a gallon of fuel. This way, carbon monoxide is greatly reduced.

6. If you can, harness the power of the sun, wind and water to generate electricity. There are equipments in the market that can be used to harness solar, wind or geothermal energy. These sources of energy are clean and reusable. If, again, you can't afford to tap on the power of these sources, then, at least, choose an electric provider that does not pollute the environment by the use of fossil fuels.

7. Insulate your home to prevent excessive use of heaters. During summer, dress lightly to minimize the use of air-conditioning units.

Most people would argue that these, altogether, would not stop global warming. Well, maybe for now that is true. But with the collective efforts of each and everyone in the planet, and if everyone would be disciplined enough to care for environmental issues such as this, then even two degrees off the present global temperature would be such a major feat. The most important thing is for all of us to do something, as you have noticed, we only have one planet to save. Beyond this, there are no second chances.

Auto Insurance Tips For a Bad Driving Record

Have a bad driving record? It is a popular belief that having a bad driving record will deter from receiving cheap car insurance rates. There is a way around this; every insurance company is different and focuses on different risks. Just know that some insurance companies focus on the high risk market, or on the people with bad driving records.

You can get quotes online for your insurance. You can enter your information and get a handful of insurance companies to evaluate your risk and get an instant quote online. Drivers can then compare which company has the cheapest rates. If you have a bad driving record you can finally find the cheapest rate.

You can also fix your bad driving record. Attending traffic school is a great way to erase any unwanted tickets. At traffic school you will learn to be a better, safer driver. You can apply this knowledge to steer clear of any further accidents, and you can also get previous violations taken off of your driving record. Keeping a good driving record will help you get low insurance rates. If you have a clean driving record, you might even be eligible for a good driver discount in the future.

Having a DUI on your record is not one of the tickets you can fix through traffic school. Let time pass without getting any more tickets or violations and in due time things will clear up. In a few states, the law requires that the DUI violation remain on your record for up to ten years. You might have to pay higher insurance rates during that time, but as you continue to drive safely without any violations your rates should begin to reduce.

DUI's or a DWI (driving while intoxicated) will raise your insurance rates dramatically. Fortunately you can still find the cheapest insurance rates using the internet. You can search for a high quality insurance company while still finding the right price.

Why You Find it Hard to Quit Smoking

It is not uncommon to hear about someone who is constantly giving up smoking. They never become an ex smoker, simply a smoker that is always trying to give. The reality is that it is hard to quit smoking. This article will explain why it is so hard to quit smoking and give you some perspective on your own challenge to kick the habit for good.

A smoking addiction works on two levels. There is a physical addiction and a psychological addiction. A person is physically addicted to the affects that nicotine causes in the body. Nicotine is known as a stimulant and is thought to trigger the release of various hormones, one of which is adrenaline. So a smoker will get a little rush when they take a first drag from their cigarette. It also explains why people will smoke when they are slightly stressed. Apart form the psychological reasons for doing this, it also triggers a physical reaction to stress. For anyone that has smoked for many years this change in the body will be hard to give up should they decide to stop smoking.

On a psychological level, nicotine is also thought to affect hormones like dopamine, that can affect a person's emotional state. Smoking a cigarette may make a person feel happier or more content. Again, should they decide to stop smoking they would miss out on this sensation thus making the quitting process hard.

Also on a psychological level, a person has associated any stressful incident or even a time to relax as the trigger to light up a cigarette. They may have first started smoking to fit in with their peer group. They may have been convinced of the benefits of smoking by media and advertising that was essentially selling cigarettes without much regard for the negative affects of smoking. All these factors set a strong desire to smoke in the person's subconscious. This is very hard to expunge from the subconscious.

So it is hard to quit smoking for both these reasons but it is made harder if the person has no alternative to having a smoke. Once you decide to quit a bad habit, it is important to fill the gap that is left with an alternative that is more beneficial.

73,000 Tamiflu Capsules Distributed in Jakarta

The Jakarta Health Office has distributed 73,000 tamiflu capsules to health services and community centers in anticipation of the spreading of swine flu or the influenza A strain of the H1N1 virus, a health official said.

"We have distributed the capsules to health services and community centers," Dr Ida Bagus Nyoman Banjar of the Jakarta Health Office said here on Friday.
Banjar said that up to May 15, Jakarta was still free from the H1N1 virus but his office was tightly supervising potential carriers of the virus.

"We have prepared three reference hospitals, namely RS Persahabatan, RSPAD Gatot Subroto and RSPI Sulianti Saroso," Banjar said. In the meantime, PT Bio Farma said recently it was ready to develop swine flu (H1N1) vaccines if the government asked it to do so.

"Bio Farma has already obtained samples of the Mexican strain of the virus from the World Health Organization for the production on a small scale of the vaccines," Bio Farma president director Isa Mansyur said on Monday. He said the production of swine flu vaccines would be carried out in the same way as bird flu (H5N1) vaccines which had been developed previously.

Mansyur said at present Bio Farma was developing bird flu vaccines, particularly for seasonal bird flu. He said for the development of bird flu vaccines his company had obtained virus samples from the WHO through the National Institute for Biological Standardization of Britain.

Mansyur said at the beginning, the development of the bird flu vaccines was carried out with high quality chicken eggs to produce measles vaccines. He said the technological facilities needed to produce flu vaccines for humans were the same as those for bird flu where the type of its virus development could be changed.

The World Health Organization (WHO) had up to May 14, 2009 registered 6,497 swine flu cases in 33 countries with 65 dead victims, or about one percent.