Monthly Archives: September 2013

Grand Theft Auto IV – XBox 360 – Let’s get to the other islands! with Commentary – Video

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Grand Theft Auto IV - XBox 360 - Let #39;s get to the other islands! with Commentary
Now that GTA V is out, figured it was about time to solve GTA IV. This is just a vid of a few attempts to reach the other areas of the map prior to actually ...

By: aerosmithgamer

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Grand Theft Auto IV - XBox 360 - Let's get to the other islands! with Commentary - Video

S. Texas provides gauge on health care law impact

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SAN JUAN, Texas (AP) Promoters of the new federal health care law have spent months crisscrossing border communities in South Texas, speaking to church congregations and making presentations in community centers where some of the nation's largest pockets of uninsured can be found.

They're tasked with spreading the word about an initiative that state leaders have strongly denounced and refused to promote. On Tuesday, so-called navigators and other trained personnel across Texas will begin seeing how many of the state's 6 million uninsured will seek coverage through the health insurance marketplace during the next six months.

The response in Texas' Rio Grande Valley which has some of the nation's most impoverished communities and more than 300,000 people eligible for coverage through the new law will be a closely watched gauge of how well the Affordable Care Act aids its intended targets.

"We will become the poster child for why a comprehensive health plan is a great idea, because you look here and say, 'Oh my god, it's diabetes, it's preventable and it's treatable, but you have to do both consistently and cannot do that without a medical home or a health plan," said Michael Seifert, of the RGV Equal Voice Network, a coalition of 11 community organizations in the Rio Grande Valley.

Hidalgo County, located along the Mexican border, has the highest rate of uninsured among urban counties in the country with about one in three people lacking health coverage. Here diabetes and other obesity-related diseases run rampant and often unchecked until reaching the critical stage.

But the health care overhaul is expected to have a major impact across the state, which leads the nation with about a quarter of its population lacking coverage. Millions of Texans will qualify to shop among the subsidized health plans in the marketplace, but some of those will fall into the gap created by Texas' refusal to expand Medicaid and not be eligible for subsidies on the private plans. Those who don't qualify may be able to get one of a number of exemptions from a federal fine affecting those who aren't covered next year.

The Valley's well-established network of community health workers will be a key element in guiding people through the process. Many have already undergone training to work as health care navigators or certified application counselors the program's front-line guides for the new system and know where to find those most likely to benefit. In the coming months they will carry information into those neighborhoods, explain the system to those already seeking care in community health centers and try to have a presence at a range of community gatherings.

Whether the navigators have the resources to handle the workload during the six-month enrollment period remains to be seen. The groups anticipate the flow of people seeking assistance will be spread out over the coming months. And some hospital staff, insurance agents and others will also be prepared to assist.

"If every single uninsured person in the Valley sought in-person assistance from a navigator or certified application counselor, no, we wouldn't have sufficient capacity," said Rachel Udow, interim program director at Migrant Health Promotion, which received a federal grant to train navigators. "But I think we expect that ... some people may just choose online chat to get their questions answered, some people may log into the marketplace and not seek any assistance, others may try the call center. So it really depends."

Migrant Health Promotion is training seven navigators and preparing a broader outreach campaign in the four-county Valley. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services could not provide a statewide total for the number of navigators and counselors who would be trained in Texas, but estimated the number of those providing in-person assistance would be in the thousands with more added as the enrollment period progresses.

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S. Texas provides gauge on health care law impact

Take our health care quiz

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One of the countless ads and stories talking about health care.

Like it or not, these days you cant avoid talk of health care reform. Thats because on Tuesday, the states roll out their new health insurance exchanges, a key piece of the Affordable Care Act. So whether youve been meticulously tracking the details of Obamacare, or have passively allowed the news stories and TV, radio and online ads wash over you, take our quiz and see how you rate! (Answers are at the end of the quiz.)

1. How long is the open enrollment for the new insurance exchanges?

a. 3 months, Oct. 1 to Jan. 1, 2014. b. 6 months, Oct. 1 to Mar. 31, 2014. c. 1 year, beginning Oct. 1. d. It never closes.

2. Who will be penalized if they are uninsured and dont buy insurance?

a. Medicare recipients. b. Native Americans. c. Prison inmates. d. College students. e. All of the above.

3. The Affordable Care Act requires insurance plans do all of the following except:

a. Allow you to go to any doctor and hospital that you want. b. Cannot deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions. c. Pays for preventive care including mammograms, colonscopies and flu shots, with no cost sharing. d. Cannot impose annual or lifetime coverage limits. e. Must limit out-of-pocket costs.

4. Who is eligible for financial help paying for health insurance?

a. A family of four earning up to $120,200. b. Undocumented immigrants. c. Individuals earning up to $45,950. d. Those under age 30 buying a catastrophic plan.

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Take our health care quiz

Health care Q&A: Cost, type of coverage varies

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Published: 9/28/2013 9:16 PM | Last update: 9/28/2013 11:48 PM

About 366,000 Kansans don't have any health insurance. Some can't afford it. Some can't get it because of a pre-existing condition. And some are young and healthy and haven't thought they need it.

But come Jan. 1, as major provisions of the Affordable Care Act take effect, many of those who think they can't afford it will be able to get a federal subsidy for insurance; pre-existing conditions will no longer be grounds for an insurance company to refuse to provide coverage, and the young invincibles, as well as all other uninsured people, will be required to have insurance or pay a tax penalty.

Given those circumstances, the big question on many people's mind is how much health insurance will cost under the Affordable Care Act. The answer depends on your age, your income, whether you use tobacco products and where you live.

But here are a few scenarios, based on a cost estimator available at http://www.InsureKS.org, a Web site set up by the Kansas Insurance Department. Each scenario is based on the average cost of a "silver" plan offered by the four companies that have applied to sell insurance on the federal insurance exchange in Kansas. There are bronze, silver, gold and platinum plans, based on the percentage of health care costs they will cover, which range from 60 to 70 to 80 and 90 percent.

Suppose, for instance, you are a married couple, ages 35 and 34, with two children, you live in Reno County and your total family income is $50,000 a year. The total monthly premium for a family silver plan would be about $561, but you would qualify for federal tax credits that would reduce the monthly premium to $280. Premiums would be higher if any members of the family are tobacco users.

If that same family had total income of $70,000, their total premium would still be $561 a month, but they would get a much smaller subsidy and would be responsible for paying $549 a month.

A 60-year-old Reno County resident, nonsmoker, living alone with $25,000 a year in income, would pay $420 a month for a silver plan, but also would qualify for a tax credit subsidy that would reduce the monthly premium to $144. A single 60-year-old making $35,000 a year would pay $277 a month for the same insurance.

A 27-year-old non-smoking Reno County resident making $30,000 a year, would pay $162 a month for a silver plan, but would not qualify for a subsidy to reduce the premium.

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Health care Q&A: Cost, type of coverage varies

From the editor: Health care to hockey, Post-Dispatch has it covered

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October brings alive some divergent topics, including evolving changes in national health care reform, Cardinals baseball playoffs and the onset of the National Hockey League season.

This Sunday, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch offers two excellent special sections that provide deep information: one for consumers trying to make sense of changes that affect millions of Americans and another one for those who have longed for action on the ice.

St. Louis Blues diehards hope that some new faces on an already gritty team playing under a new divisional alignment will vault them toward the teams first Stanley Cup championship.

And October in St. Louis means postseason baseball for the Cardinals. As is our tradition, the Post-Dispatch will supply the most comprehensive and informed coverage of the Cardinals playoff run for every step of their journey. In print, online or through social media, the Post-Dispatch stable of writers, columnists and photographers is unrivaled.

But first, health care reform.

Ongoing passionate debates in Congress about Obamacare and the Tuesday start date for some people to sign up for health insurance exchanges have thrust the concept of health care reform into Americas living rooms.

But the Post-Dispatch has been steeped in covering health care reform long before this fall.

A great team has collaborated to produce the 12-page guide Navigating Health Care in this Sunday edition and to launch a special website, MoHealthReport.com, which showcases our staff coverage, online blogs, columns, editorials, commentary and national health care stories all aggregated into one easily accessible site.

Health care-related coverage also is assembled each Monday through Friday under a free email newsletter, which readers can subscribe to at MoHealthReport.com. It focuses on distilling complex topics and insights into news developments as they unfold. The Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act, aka Obamacare, rolls out fully next year, but changes and impacts on consumers nationwide are well under way.

The team of Post-Dispatch writers includes Virginia Young, the Capitol bureau chief in Jefferson City; Jim Doyle, the health care industry reporter on the Business staff; Metro Desk medical and health reporter Blythe Bernhard; Jim Gallagher, a Business reporter and columnist; Walker Moskop, a Metro reporter and data specialist; and Tara Kulash, a reporter and blogger for MoHealthReport.com.

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From the editor: Health care to hockey, Post-Dispatch has it covered

Q&A: Health care reform for business owners

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At a Sept. 17 Affordable Care Act Workshop at the Main Street Oceanside offices, members of the panel listen to a question, LtoR: event facilitator Cecil Goff of Nationwide Insurance, Angela Shrove of Covered California, Elly Garner of Palomar Health (speaking), Arcela Nunez of the National Latino Research Center (partially blocked from view), and Julie Warner of Nationwide Insurance.

The health care overhaul plan, known as Obamacare is set to launch Tuesday. And even though the new health care requirements and fines arent set to kick in until 2015, many business owners are wrestling with the act and what it means to them and their employees.

U-T San Diego collected the most frequently asked questions that businesses had about the Affordable Care Act and found the answers for you.

Q: How do I know if Im required to provide health insurance?

A: Only so-called large businesses, or those with the equivalent of 50 or more full-time employees, will pay a penalty if they do not provide health insurance coverage.

The Affordable Care Acts defines a full-time employee as someone who works an average of 30 hours per week, but part-time employees do count in determining whether you meet the large business threshold.

To figure out whether you have 50 full-time equivalent employees: Take the number of part-time employees, multiply that number by the total hours they worked in a month, and divide by 120 (the number of hours a full-time employee would work). Adding that number with the number of full-time employees you have, gives you your FTE.

If your company has multiple divisions or franchises, employees in all divisions must be counted in your total full-time equivalent calculation or FTE.

Q: OK, so I have more than 50 full-time employees, or the equivalent. Who do I have to insure?

A: As an employer, you have two options, says Bill Hammett of Hammett Health:

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Q&A: Health care reform for business owners