Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Halloween Safe Driving Tips!

Save on car insurance in fayetteville, nc with Ai Insurance. http://www.aiins.us  
 
According to Safe Kids USA, children are twice as likely to be killed
by a vehicle on Halloween compared to other days of the year. Your
customers will have to navigate roads crowded with children in the dark.
Help your customers keep trick-or-treaters safe by sharing these
Halloween safe-driving tips on your website, in your email campaigns or
in your social networking.

 Halloween Safe-Driving Tips

 According to Safe Kids USA, children are twice as likely to be killed
by a vehicle on Halloween compared to other days of the year. Take extra
caution behind the wheel on Halloween and use the following driving tips
to keep trick-or-treaters safe.

* YIELD TO TRICK-OR-TREATERS: Be prepared for children to run into
the street at anytime.
* REFRAIN FROM PASSING IDLE VEHICLES: You never know when the driver
in front of you has stopped to drop children off. Be patient and take
extra caution when traveling near other vehicles. 
 
* PARK YOUR MOBILE PHONE: With children crowding the dark roads, it
is especially important to avoid any distractions while behind the
wheel. 
 
* COMMUNICATE WITH OTHER DRIVERS: Use hazard lights when picking-up
or dropping-off trick-or-treaters. And, always use turn signals. 
 
* CONSIDER ALTERNATE ROUTES: Avoid driving near trick-or-treaters by
taking routes that go around busy neighborhoods, not through them.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Easy Ways To Save On Car Insurance

There are easy wasy to save on car insurance, you just have to know where to find them. See what the car insurance experts at Ai Insurance have to say about that. They just might help you to reduce your vehicle insurance rates.

(NC)—If there's one wish that all drivers share—next to cheaper gas—it's how to reduce their car insurance premiums. Whether you've been paying premiums for many years or you're shopping around for your very first policy, coverage is essential but it doesn't have to break the bank.

The experts at Ai Insurance have a few suggestions on how you can reduce your car insurance premiums.


Consider The Age Of Your Car:

If you own a car that is more than 10 years old, you may want to remove collision and comprehensive coverage, especially if the total value of the car is low. It all depends on your situation. Can you afford to repair or replace the vehicle with something similar if you had an at-fault collision or if it was stolen? If not, it might make sense to maintain the coverage.

Consider Your Deductible:

Another way of saving some money is by increasing your deductible, regardless of your car's age. Increasing your deductible from $300 to $500 or even up to $1000 will reduce your premium. Remember however that in the event of an at-fault collision, you must pay the first $500 or $1000 in repair or replacement costs, depending on the deductible you choose.

Choose Your Vehicle Carefully:

That great deal on a new car might look perfect on paper, but you may want to find out what your insurance premium will be before you sign the purchase agreement. For example, luxury cars can be more expensive to insure due the higher repair or replacement costs compared to a less expensive car. Likewise you will probably pay more to insure a high performance car as these are also expensive to fix or replace and are deemed more likely to be stolen, driven at high speeds and involved in high impact collisions.

Where Are You Going?

The distance you drive and the purpose of your driving is taken into account when calculating your premium. If you have to commute a great distance to the office, maybe think of taking public transit. You could save on gas, wear and tear on your vehicle, and on your insurance premium.

Drive Carefully!

It sounds like a no-brainer, but having a clean driving record is one of the best ways of keeping your insurance costs down. Speeding and other traffic tickets can have a big impact on your insurance premiums. The same is true of at-fault accidents.

Consider Combining Your Home And Auto Insurance:

In some cases you may be eligible for a reduced rate by joining your car and house insurance, especially if you've been with your insurer for a while. Another simple way to increase your auto insurance savings and enjoy greater convenience is to consider insuring all of your personal vehicles with one provider. 
 
To learn more visit: http://www.aiins.us Auto Insurance Fayetteville, Home, Life, Health, Boat, and more.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Car insurance hope for young drivers

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Young Marmalade, which specialises in car insurance for younger drivers, has cut premiums by 17% during the four months to the end of July, bucking the trend of soaring premiums.

AA Insurance said premiums for drivers between 17 and 22 have risen, on average, by 80% over the past two years, while the latest Confused.com/Towers Watson car insurance index, which tracks more than 4m quotes, shows the average 17- to 20-year-old male now paying £4,006 a year for comprehensive cover, compared with an average premium cost of £858.

Simon Douglas, director of AA Insurance, says: "Most young people can't get their heads round why their first car insurance premium should be 10 times greater than what they might pay for an old banger. But it's got everything to do with the potential damage their irresponsible use can inflict. Entirely preventable car crash injury claims of £5m or more are becoming increasingly common."

Young Marmalade uses telematics or "black box" satellite technology, which it calls Intelligent Marmalade. It monitors driving behaviour such as braking and acceleration, speed and at what time of day the car is driven. The data is used to calculate premiums; the better the car is driven, the lower the premium and vice-versa.

Nigel Lacy of Young Marmalade, said a young man using Intelligent Marmalade will pay on average £2,601 for comprehensive cover, while a young woman will pay £1,642 a year. After the black box has been fitted, initial premiums are subject to £250 and £500 increases should the technology indicate the insured is a bad driver. If that continues, Young Marmalade will cancel the policy.

Lacy added: "Young drivers are notoriously the sector that suffers the most in insurance costs. This is part of our ongoing commitment to get more young people driving – and driving safely. Intelligent Marmalade has had a very positive impact on safety; drivers are far more vigilant and careful with the 'black box' on board."

In 2006 Norwich Union, now Aviva, launched two policies using black box technology but they were withdrawn within two years because of low take-up. This was partly because the technology was very expensive at the time and partly because insurance for younger people cost less then.

Co-operative Insurance claims its Young Driver policy results in premiums that are, on average, £328 below competitors' quotes, and 82% of 17- to 25-year-olds could save money. Policyholders have their driving assessed every 90 days and are given a discount worth up to 11% of the premium if they drive sensibly.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Insurance covers diagnosis, treatment of most sleep problems

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The diagnosis and treatment of
 sleep disorders have come a long way in recent years. In the past, people who snored might be advised to sew a tennis ball onto the back of their pajama top. The "snore ball" would discourage them from sleeping on their back and might quiet their droning. Or a doctor might use the "dog index" to measure poor sleep: If your dog generally sleeps with you but by morning has left the bed more than half the time, it may be because you're such a loud, restless sleeper that the dog has gone elsewhere for some peace and quiet.

How things have changed. Now, doctors with special training diagnose and treat more than 80 sleep disorders -- from obstructive sleep apnea to narcolepsy -- at special centers with labs where a patient's every sleeping moment may be recorded and measured.Insurance usually covers the diagnosis and treatment of sleep problems, with some exceptions. For example, snoring on its own is not a medical problem and insurance won't cover its treatment, to the great disappointment of many a snorer's bed partner.

Obstructive sleep apnea, which occurs in at least 2 to 4 percent of Americans is another matter entirely. The consequences of untreated sleep apnea can be extremely serious.

Sleep apnea is an obstruction of your airway that's created when the muscles at the back of your throat relax during sleep. The obstruction partially or completely stops your breathing, sometimes for a minute or longer, until your brain alerts your body to wake up and you start to breathe again. This can lead to fragmented, poor sleep as well as reduced oxygen levels, which can worsen such medical conditions ashigh blood pressure and diabetes and increase your risk ofheart attack and stroke.

As awareness of the problem has increased, so has demand for testing and treatment. Patients with suspected sleep apnea are typically sent to sleep centers where they are evaluated overnight while they sleep. In the past 10 years, the number of accredited sleep centers has grown from 566 to 2,258, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

Snoring is a common symptom of sleep apnea, but some experts say sleep studies may be overprescribed. "Everybody who snores doesn't need a sleep test," says Fred Holt, an ear, nose and throat surgeon in Raleigh, N.C., and an expert on sleep apnea who consults on anti-fraud issues for attorneys, medical auditors and investigators. The risk of developing sleep apnea is higher in people who are overweight, male, middle-aged or older, or smokers.

Medicare payments for sleep lab testing have increased from $62 million in 2001 to $235 million in 2009, according to the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Inspector General, which is conducting a study to review the appropriateness of Medicare payments for them. The study is due next year.

There are home sleep tests for problem sleepers as well, and their use is also on the rise, say experts. Rather than measure more than a dozen body functions while a person spends the night in a sleep lab hooked up to sensors, home sleep tests measure only a few functions while patients sleep in their own beds. Their cost is a few hundred dollars vs. up to $2,000 for a night in the lab.

Insurance will generally cover either type of test if it is prescribed by a physician. But while home sleep tests may mean a smaller bite out of your wallet if you have a co-payment or a high-deductible plan, they're not the best choice for everyone, sleep experts agree. "Home sleep testing should be reserved for people that are at high risk for sleep apnea and who don't have a lot of other illnesses likeobesity or heart disease that might alter the sensitivity of the test," says Nancy Collop, director of the Emory Sleep Center in Atlanta and president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

Eli Walker snores and sometimes stops breathing for short times while sleeping. Walker, 63, read that there was a correlation between high blood pressure, for which he took two medications already, and sleep apnea. He went to see an ear, nose and throat specialist who sent him to a sleep lab near his Silver Spring home. Diagnosis: moderate sleep apnea.

Walker was prescribed a continuous positive airway pressure mask, which straps onto a person's face and directs pressurized air into the airway, keeping it open. But after three months of trying to use it, he gave up. "I hated it," he says. "I couldn't breathe naturally, and I didn't like the air blowing in my nose."

Walker finally found a good night's sleep with a specially fitted oral appliance that looks kind of like a sports mouth guard. The appliance, which must be fitted by a dentist with special training in sleep medicine, repositions and stabilizes the lower jaw and soft tissues so that the airways stay open. It typically works best with people with mild to moderate sleep apnea.

Good news for seniors: Private insurers have covered the dental appliances for years, according to Sheri Katz, president of the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine. In January, Medicare began covering them, too.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Auto Insurance Canceled After Cracked Windshields



The next time you file a claim for a cracked windshield, it could result in your auto insurance being canceled.
A State Farm customer for several years, Charles Stanford said his car insurance cancellation notice came out of the blue."I never in my wildest dreams thought that I would be dropped for something like that. It doesn't make sense to me,” Stanford said.He said the reason State Farm dropped coverage was a cracked windshield, which actually happened twice in the same month.He said the windshield replacement company chosen by State Farm replaced the glass both times.Stanford said the minor incidents were not his fault and his driving record is clean."(I) don’t have any speeding tickets, no parking tickets, no accidents.

I have absolutely nothing. Why in the world would you cancel me?" he said.Action 9 talked with insurance experts who said it’s rare for most companies to cancel coverage over cracked windshields.These cases, when compared to most minor fender benders, are a modest cost and a freak event and the driver should not responsible."Normally in a case like this they would raise your premium. That woulseem the logical thing to do, but here they've gone to the extreme and dropped them as a client," one expert said.Our sister station in Orlando, WFTV,contacted State Farm, which said “whether a driver is at fault is not the reason for some cancellations.”The company said its underwriting policy includes not renewing customers who have frequent claims within the same year and a family car had a cracked windshield in 2009.

According to Stanford, other companies have offered coverage, some at higher premiums. But no one turned him down over cracked windshield claims."If this is a common thing, the public needs to know about it," Stanford said.

Monday, July 4, 2011

All or nothing for some Allstate customers

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Some North Carolina residents say they are concerned, after a major insurance company is threatening to cut them loose.

More than 40,000 Allstate customers have been getting letters in the mail letting them know their homeowner's insurance policies will not be renewed unless they add on auto insurance.
Allstate Customer Ricky Stout says he pays his homeowner's policy each year. He says in all the years he's had Allstate, he never even filed a claim.
"I was very upset because all of a sudden now they are telling me I have to put my auto insurance with them or my homeowner's policy is gone I don't think it's right at all," Stout said.
Stout says he has his auto insurance through another carrier and is happy with it and does not want to make the switch.

"I don't think they're trying to keep me," he said. "I don't think they care."
Stout says he wonders why Allstate is taking this action and if it is even allowed.
ABC11 Eyewitness New I-Team Troubleshooter Diane Wilson reached out to Allstate and a representative says they will not offer the option to renew to about 44,700 North Carolina customers who only have property coverage and not an auto policy.

"More than 400,000 North Carolina customers have purchased insurance products from Allstate, and Allstate takes that responsibility very seriously," said John Heid, Allstate Senior Communications Consultant in the Southeast Region. "Managing our exposure is necessary to allow Allstate to continue to help provide protection and peace of mind through a variety of insurance products."
"At the same time, Allstate proactively seeks out solutions to meet the challenges posed by North Carolina’s insurance market, and to help preserve affordable access to insurance in this state."
"Allstate has made an agreement with Universal North America Insurance Company (Universal). As a part of our agreement with Universal North America Insurance Company, and in an effort to manage our overall risk in the North Carolina property insurance market, Allstate will not offer the option to renew for a segment of North Carolina property customers, most of which will be provided a quote for property coverage with Universal. Beginning with policies that renew on or after June 19, 2011, Allstate will not offer the option to renew to approximately 44,700 homeowner, Landlord’s Package Policy (LPP) and mobile home policies throughout North Carolina that did not also have an active standard Allstate auto policy as of December 15, 2010. The majority of these affected customers will receive a quote from Universal for property insurance coverage."
"These actions were carefully considered, and will help ensure Allstate’s continued ability to provide a wide variety of insurance products to North Carolina consumers at a competitive rate, while remaining financially strong in every community we serve."

A check with the state's department of insurance says Allstate's action is legal, as long asthe company gives the insured 30 days advanced notice of non-renewal.
Stout says he received that notice, but does not understand why Allstate wants to lose his $2,800 homeowner's policy each year.
"I don't understand as my homeowner's insurance is a lot more expensive than my car insurance and I'm like why are they worried about that little bit business," he said.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Deadline nears to apply for FEMA tornado aid

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RALEIGH -- Victims of the April 16 tornadoes that tore through North Carolina have until midnight

Monday to apply for federal disaster aid.
To receive grants and assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Small Business Administration, storm victims must apply by calling 800-621-3362 or visiting fema.gov.
Since the storms, 9,128 North Carolina victims have registered with FEMA, and the agency has doled out $15 million.
In Wake County, 2,195 people have registered, and they’ve received $1.45 million in aid. In Johnston County, 460 victims have registered and received $1.01 million.
FEMA spokesman Gene Kauffman worries that some victims are still hesitant to register. “They feel like they haven’t had much damage and they’ve got insurance,” Kauffman said. “If they’re reluctant to come forward, they should not be.”
Kauffman said victims with insurance can qualify if their policy didn’t cover all their losses. Also, registering with FEMA doesn’t affect one’s eligibility for other federal aid programs.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Coalition Issues Warning on Kids and Hot Cars

On average, 35 to 40 children across the country die from heat exposure in vehicles each year.
According to Safe Kids North Carolina, 2010 turned out to be one of the deadliest years on record for children 2 months to 6 years old with 49 hyperthermia deaths.
In the past five years, at least 10 children in North Carolina have died from hyperthermia after being trapped in hot vehicles.
Some of these deaths occur when a parent accidentally forgets a child in a car. Some occur when a parent intentionally leaves a child in a vehicle. In other cases, a child was playing in an unattended vehicle when overtaken by heat.
"Sadly, these deaths are preventable," said state Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin, state chairman of Safe Kids North Carolina. "Leaving a child unattended in a car, even for a minute, is more dangerous than many people realize."
That's why Safe Kids North Carolina has launched a new safety campaign, with the slogan "S'more dangerous than you think... Never leave your child alone in a car." Safety experts show parents, caregivers and children how easy it is to bake a s'more in a vehicle to demonstrate how quickly the inside of a car can become dangerously hot.
With its soaring temperatures, July is historically the deadliest month for cases of vehicular hyperthermia in children in the state, a news release said. However, the danger spreads from March through November due to the subtropical North Carolina climate.
Hyperthermia can occur even on days with mild 70-degree temperatures. The temperature in a closed vehicle can rise about 20 degrees in 10 minutes and nearly 30 degrees in 20 minutes. Cracking a window has little effect.
Safe Kids North Carolina offers the following safety tips:
n Never leave a child alone in a vehicle. Check to make sure all children exit the vehicle when you reach your destination.
n Lock the doors when your vehicle is parked, and store keys in a secure location. Teach children that cars are not places to play.
n Busy parents have a lot on their minds, so give yourself a reminder.
Place your purse, briefcase or other important items in the backseat next to your child's car seat so you have to look in the back before leaving the car. Also, set a reminder on your cell phone or other mobile device to remind you to drop off children when routines change.
n Make an arrangement with your child's school or day care that you will be notified if your child is not dropped off at the normal time.
n If you see a child or pet left unattended in a vehicle, call 911 immediately.
n Check vehicles and trunks first if a child goes missing.
Safe Kids North Carolina reaches out to parents, caregivers and children to prevent childhood injuries through 36 Safe Kids Coalitions working in 64 counties.

Monday, June 13, 2011

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Divorce insurance: New casualty insurance pays out on the unhappily hitched

BY PAULA BURKES pburkes@opubco.com    Comment on this article 7
Published: June 12, 2011

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Introduced in August by Kernersville, N.C.,-based SafeGuard Guaranty Corp., “WedLock” is a new type of casualty insurance that gives the unhappily married a payout after he or she is divorced.
Monthly premiums run from $15.99 for a payout of $1,250 to $3,198 ($15.99 times a maximum of 200 units) for $250,000 coverage.
To discourage people from signing up just before their divorce, policyholders must pay premiums on insured spouses for four years before the policy will pay out.
SafeGuard Chairman and CEO John Logan said the number of WedLock policyholders is growing monthly. “We don't share the numbers,” Logan said, “but it's more than a handful.”
Logan conceived the idea for Wedlock following his divorce 10 years ago.
“My finances went to hell in a handbag,” he said. “I thought I can't be the only schmuck this is happening to. That was my ‘aha' moment.”
Logan realizes most people, unless they've been divorced before, won't buy policies before they wed, because they don't anticipate divorcing. But policies, he said, may be bought discreetly by family, friends or an individual spouse after he or she weds and senses infidelity, substance abuse or other potential marriage-wrecking behaviors.
Edmond divorce attorney George Freedman is more than skeptical.
“They're playing on the fears of potentially getting a divorce,” said Freedman of Lester, Loving & Davies. “You'd be better off,” Freedman said, “contributing to a mutual fund for your child's education or a second honeymoon.”
With this insurance, he said, policyholders may “pay a whole lot of money on an investment that may never pay.”
Is it worth it?If the insured on a standard WedLock policy divorces after four years, a holder who pays $159.90 monthly for 10 units would have paid $7,675.20 in premiums and receive a claim payout out of $12,500. If the insured divorces after 10 years, the policyholder would have handed over $19,188 and would receive a payout of $27,500; insurers throw in $250 per unit for every year the marriage survives beyond four.
If policyholders desire a premium refund, including in divorces that occur sooner than four years, they can add a rider to their policies about $1 per unit, Logan said.
Though policies have no accrued value and only pay out after divorces are final, settlements under Oklahoma family law would be considered marital assets because marital money was used to pay the premiums, Freedman said.
Meanwhile, Patricia Goodman, Edmond certified financial planner and one of a few certified divorce financial analysts in the state, can see the need for divorce insurance.
“I've seen many divorcing spouses who aren't wage earners beg and plead for enough money to pay for divorces while they're pending,” Goodman said. “Divorce insurance could inspire the legal teams of such spouses to fully put in the effort needed versus wonder ‘Am I going to get stiffed?'”
“Why do we buy insurance for anything, if it's not to protect against devastating financial loss?”
Locally, divorces cost $5,000 to $10,000 per each divorcing spouse, Freedman said. They easily can be $20,000, $30,000 and more apiece for contested divorces involving child custody, he said.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

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NC General Assembly Strips Patients' Rights, Leaves All North Carolinians at Risk,

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R /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The NC General Assembly on

Thursday approved rules that strip away patients' rights, said the NC Advocates for Justice, and leave everyone less safe.
Among its provisions, SB33 imposes a one-size-fits-all cap on damages in malpractice cases resulting in mutilation, loss of limbs, blindness and other preventable injuries.
The bill - sponsored by Sens. Tom Apodaca, Harry Brown and Bob Rucho - passed after a conference report diluted measures inserted by the NC House to somewhat protect patients' rights.  The House had moved to exempt disfigurement, death, permanent injury and loss of use of the body from the arbitrary $500,000 cap.  
The conference report kept the exemption in name only -- requiring the injured person to prove the party in the wrong acted with gross negligence, reckless indifference, malice, fraud, or intentional conduct.  For all practical purposes, most patients could not prove those things and would not fall under a cap exception.
"The bottom line is that a person who is disfigured or has lost the use of limb will not be able to recover more than an arbitrary amount for those injuries except in extremely unlikely circumstances," said Dick Taylor of the NCAJ.  "The GOP-led vote is a boon to insurance companies, an injustice to injured patients and a danger to everyone who seeks care."
The one-size-fits-all cap will benefit corporations such as insurance companies, Taylor added, some of which are openly boasting of record profits.
Unconstitutional Cap
Two conservative former NC Supreme Court justices have said the arbitrary cap would violate the sacred rights of North Carolinians. Former Chief Justice I. Beverly Lake Jr., a conservative icon, called the proposed cap "unnecessary as well as unconstitutional."
Doctors, too, are troubled by the bill's lack of fairness.  In a letter to lawmakers, Dr. John Faulkner, a physician who's wife was burned in a preventable operating room fire, wrote, "No one can put a 'cap' on my wife's pain and disfigurement - so how can the legislature put a cap on what it's worth? … Why do you think it's fairer for legislators to decide, rather than juries?"
Dr. Martin Brooks, an award-winning physician with a career spanning 50 years, has advised legislators that an arbitrary cap on damages for severely injured patients "will reduce the quality of medical care given to the people of North Carolina."
For more information, please visit www.LetJuriesDecide.com.  Follow our news on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/NCLawandPolitics.
SOURCE NC Advocates for Justice

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Buy Young

Emily Lambert, 06.08.11, 06:00 PM EDT
Forbes Magazine dated June 27, 2011

For a good deal on a life or disability policy, shop when you're least in need.


image

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In the wake of the recession only 44% of American households have individual life insurance, a half-century low. Fewer still have disability insurance. If you're uninsured or haven't reviewed your coverage recently, here's a reason to get moving: You're the youngest now you'll ever be, and as you age the cost of coverage will only rise. "A 35-year-old male is going to pay less than a 36-year-old male," says Mark Maurer, president of brokerage Low Load Insurance Services.
Here's how to get started.


Find your family's number
Insurance agents are fond of citing multiples of annual income that people should try to replace with life insurance. But what matters is your own family's needs. "The key question is ‘Who suffers if this person's income is gone?'" says William Wixon, a certified financial planner in Maple Grove, Minn. In fact, Wixon occasionally advises his older clients to let their life insurance policies lapse.
Young parents, by contrast, generally do need life insurance. But situations differ. Two highly paid professionals might be able to raise their kids just fine on one of their salaries, while a stay-at-home spouse needs extra protection should something happen to the sole breadwinner. Estimate what your survivors would need to cover future bills, including a mortgage and the rapidly rising cost of college. Then subtract your spouse's expected earnings, plus death benefits your family would receive from group life insurance policies, Social Security and other sources.


 

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Windows 8 heavily focused on mobile devices; will it affect the desktop experience?

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No, You Can't Keep Your Health Insurance

A new study by McKinsey suggests that as many as 78 million Americans could lose employer health coverage.

By Grace-Marie Turner

ObamaCare will lead to a dramatic decline in employer-provided health insurance—with as many as 78 million Americans forced to find other sources of coverage.

This disturbing finding is based on my calculations from a survey by McKinsey & Company. The survey, published this week in the McKinsey Quarterly, found that up to 50% of employers say they will definitely or probably pursue alternatives to their current health-insurance plan in the years after the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act takes effect in 2014. An estimated 156 million non-elderly Americans get their coverage at work, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

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Before the health law passed, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that only nine million to 10 million people, or about 7% of employees who currently get health insurance at work, would switch to government-subsidized insurance. But the McKinsey survey of 1,300 employers across industries, geographies and employer sizes found "that reform will provoke a much greater response" and concludes that the health overhaul law will lead to a "radical restructuring" of job-based health coverage.

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turner
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Another McKinsey analyst, Alissa Meade, told a meeting of health-insurance executives last November that "something in the range of 80 million to 100 million individuals are going to change coverage categories in the two years" after the insurance mandates take effect in 2014.

Many employees who will need to seek another source of coverage will take advantage of the health-insurance subsidies for families making as much as $88,000 a year. This will drive up the cost of ObamaCare.

In a study last year, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former director of the Congressional Budget Office, estimated that an additional 35 million workers would be moved out of employer plans and into subsidized coverage, and that this would add about $1 trillion to the total cost of the president's health law over the next decade. McKinsey's survey implies that the cost to taxpayers could be significantly more.

The McKinsey study, "How US health care reform will affect employee benefits," predicts that employers will either drop coverage altogether, offer defined contributions for insurance, or offer coverage only to certain employees. The study concludes that 30% of employers overall will definitely or probably stop offering health insurance to their workers. However, among employers with a high awareness of the health-reform law, this proportion increases to more than 50%.

The employer incentives to alter or cease coverage under the health-reform law are strong. According to the study, at least 30% of employers would gain economically from dropping coverage, even if they completely compensated employees for the change through other benefit offerings or higher salaries. That's because they no longer would be tethered to health-insurance costs that consistently rise faster than inflation.

Employers should think twice if they believe the fine for not offering coverage will stay unchanged at $2,000 per worker. "If many companies drop health insurance coverage, the government could increase the employer penalty or raise taxes," according to the new study, authored by McKinsey consultants Shubham Singhal, Jeris Stueland and Drew Ungerman.

The case for repeal of ObamaCare grows stronger every year. The massive shift of health costs to taxpayers thanks to the disruption of employer-sponsored health insurance will add further to the burgeoning federal budget deficit. Congress can and must develop policies that allow the marketplace to evolve and not be forced into ObamaCare's regulatory straitjacket.

Ms. Turner is president of the Galen Institute and a co-author of "Why ObamaCare Is Wrong for America" (Broadside/HarperCollins, 2011).

*Ai Insurance does not endorse the content provided within this blog. Content is strictly for informational purposes only.

Critics: Insurance Companies Benefit from NC Tort Reform Bill

RALEIGH, N.C. - Cutting costs for insurance companies is the end result of a bill that passed the North Carolina House last week, according to those who oppose the legislation. They say it would be at the expense of the public, since in the event of an auto accident or similar circumstance, the extent to which a person in North Carolina can hold someone else accountable for injuries could soon be limited..

If House Bill 542 becomes law, people hurt by the actions of others will be required to reveal the amount of insurance they have while, at the same time, defendants would be able to keep their insurance coverage secret.

Raleigh attorney Chris Nichols doesn't think that's fair when, for example, someone is injured by a drunk driver.

"The North Carolina GOP wants to change the law and allow an irresponsible driver to take advantage of the benefits that responsible people have worked for and paid for."


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HB 542 passed the House last week and is now in the Senate Judiciary Committee. If voted out of committee, it will go to the Senate floor by June 17.

Nichols believes state lawmakers are bowing to the pressures of insurance company lobbyists.

"North Carolina has always favored the people; we're a populist state. And, if the governor signs this bill, she is reversing that trend. We become a state that caters to corporate interests only."

Those in favor of this provision and others in the bill insist they are a necessary part of tort reform for the state, to rein in the costs of legal action.
Stephanie Carroll Carson, Public News Service - NC

Critics: Insurance Companies Benefit from NC Tort Reform Bill

RALEIGH, N.C. - Cutting costs for insurance companies is the end result of a bill that passed the North Carolina House last week, according to those who oppose the legislation. They say it would be at the expense of the public, since in the event of an auto accident or similar circumstance, the extent to which a person in North Carolina can hold someone else accountable for injuries could soon be limited..

If House Bill 542 becomes law, people hurt by the actions of others will be required to reveal the amount of insurance they have while, at the same time, defendants would be able to keep their insurance coverage secret.

Raleigh attorney Chris Nichols doesn't think that's fair when, for example, someone is injured by a drunk driver.

"The North Carolina GOP wants to change the law and allow an irresponsible driver to take advantage of the benefits that responsible people have worked for and paid for."


Contact Ai Insurance for all of your insurance needs. Auto, Home, Life, Health, Commercial...they can help. Save up to 50% on your current insurance! Compare your current plan with Ai Insurance rates. Offices in Fayetteville, Wilmington, Rocky Mount, Greenville, and Wilson. http://www.aiins.us

HB 542 passed the House last week and is now in the Senate Judiciary Committee. If voted out of committee, it will go to the Senate floor by June 17.

Nichols believes state lawmakers are bowing to the pressures of insurance company lobbyists.

"North Carolina has always favored the people; we're a populist state. And, if the governor signs this bill, she is reversing that trend. We become a state that caters to corporate interests only."

Those in favor of this provision and others in the bill insist they are a necessary part of tort reform for the state, to rein in the costs of legal action.
Stephanie Carroll Carson, Public News Service - NC

Critics: Insurance Companies Benefit from NC Tort Reform Bill

RALEIGH, N.C. - Cutting costs for insurance companies is the end result of a bill that passed the North Carolina House last week, according to those who oppose the legislation. They say it would be at the expense of the public, since in the event of an auto accident or similar circumstance, the extent to which a person in North Carolina can hold someone else accountable for injuries could soon be limited..

If House Bill 542 becomes law, people hurt by the actions of others will be required to reveal the amount of insurance they have while, at the same time, defendants would be able to keep their insurance coverage secret.

Raleigh attorney Chris Nichols doesn't think that's fair when, for example, someone is injured by a drunk driver.

"The North Carolina GOP wants to change the law and allow an irresponsible driver to take advantage of the benefits that responsible people have worked for and paid for."


Contact Ai Insurance for all of your insurance needs. Auto, Home, Life, Health, Commercial...they can help. Save up to 50% on your current insurance! Compare your current plan with Ai Insurance rates. Offices in Fayetteville, Wilmington, Rocky Mount, Greenville, and Wilson. http://www.aiins.us

HB 542 passed the House last week and is now in the Senate Judiciary Committee. If voted out of committee, it will go to the Senate floor by June 17.

Nichols believes state lawmakers are bowing to the pressures of insurance company lobbyists.

"North Carolina has always favored the people; we're a populist state. And, if the governor signs this bill, she is reversing that trend. We become a state that caters to corporate interests only."

Those in favor of this provision and others in the bill insist they are a necessary part of tort reform for the state, to rein in the costs of legal action.
Stephanie Carroll Carson, Public News Service - NC

Critics: Insurance Companies Benefit from NC Tort Reform Bill

RALEIGH, N.C. - Cutting costs for insurance companies is the end result of a bill that passed the North Carolina House last week, according to those who oppose the legislation. They say it would be at the expense of the public, since in the event of an auto accident or similar circumstance, the extent to which a person in North Carolina can hold someone else accountable for injuries could soon be limited..

If House Bill 542 becomes law, people hurt by the actions of others will be required to reveal the amount of insurance they have while, at the same time, defendants would be able to keep their insurance coverage secret.

Raleigh attorney Chris Nichols doesn't think that's fair when, for example, someone is injured by a drunk driver.

"The North Carolina GOP wants to change the law and allow an irresponsible driver to take advantage of the benefits that responsible people have worked for and paid for."


Contact Ai Insurance for all of your insurance needs. Auto, Home, Life, Health, Commercial...they can help. Save up to 50% on your current insurance! Compare your current plan with Ai Insurance rates. Offices in Fayetteville, Wilmington, Rocky Mount, Greenville, and Wilson. http://www.aiins.us

HB 542 passed the House last week and is now in the Senate Judiciary Committee. If voted out of committee, it will go to the Senate floor by June 17.

Nichols believes state lawmakers are bowing to the pressures of insurance company lobbyists.

"North Carolina has always favored the people; we're a populist state. And, if the governor signs this bill, she is reversing that trend. We become a state that caters to corporate interests only."

Those in favor of this provision and others in the bill insist they are a necessary part of tort reform for the state, to rein in the costs of legal action.
Stephanie Carroll Carson, Public News Service - NC

Critics: Insurance Companies Benefit from NC Tort Reform Bill

RALEIGH, N.C. - Cutting costs for insurance companies is the end result of a bill that passed the North Carolina House last week, according to those who oppose the legislation. They say it would be at the expense of the public, since in the event of an auto accident or similar circumstance, the extent to which a person in North Carolina can hold someone else accountable for injuries could soon be limited..

If House Bill 542 becomes law, people hurt by the actions of others will be required to reveal the amount of insurance they have while, at the same time, defendants would be able to keep their insurance coverage secret.

Raleigh attorney Chris Nichols doesn't think that's fair when, for example, someone is injured by a drunk driver.

"The North Carolina GOP wants to change the law and allow an irresponsible driver to take advantage of the benefits that responsible people have worked for and paid for."


Contact Ai Insurance for all of your insurance needs. Auto, Home, Life, Health, Commercial...they can help. Save up to 50% on your current insurance! Compare your current plan with Ai Insurance rates. Offices in Fayetteville, Wilmington, Rocky Mount, Greenville, and Wilson. http://www.aiins.us

HB 542 passed the House last week and is now in the Senate Judiciary Committee. If voted out of committee, it will go to the Senate floor by June 17.

Nichols believes state lawmakers are bowing to the pressures of insurance company lobbyists.

"North Carolina has always favored the people; we're a populist state. And, if the governor signs this bill, she is reversing that trend. We become a state that caters to corporate interests only."

Those in favor of this provision and others in the bill insist they are a necessary part of tort reform for the state, to rein in the costs of legal action.
Stephanie Carroll Carson, Public News Service - NC

Critics: Insurance Companies Benefit from NC Tort Reform Bill

RALEIGH, N.C. - Cutting costs for insurance companies is the end result of a bill that passed the North Carolina House last week, according to those who oppose the legislation. They say it would be at the expense of the public, since in the event of an auto accident or similar circumstance, the extent to which a person in North Carolina can hold someone else accountable for injuries could soon be limited..

If House Bill 542 becomes law, people hurt by the actions of others will be required to reveal the amount of insurance they have while, at the same time, defendants would be able to keep their insurance coverage secret.

Raleigh attorney Chris Nichols doesn't think that's fair when, for example, someone is injured by a drunk driver.

"The North Carolina GOP wants to change the law and allow an irresponsible driver to take advantage of the benefits that responsible people have worked for and paid for."


Contact Ai Insurance for all of your insurance needs. Auto, Home, Life, Health, Commercial...they can help. Save up to 50% on your current insurance! Compare your current plan with Ai Insurance rates. Offices in Fayetteville, Wilmington, Rocky Mount, Greenville, and Wilson. http://www.aiins.us

HB 542 passed the House last week and is now in the Senate Judiciary Committee. If voted out of committee, it will go to the Senate floor by June 17.

Nichols believes state lawmakers are bowing to the pressures of insurance company lobbyists.

"North Carolina has always favored the people; we're a populist state. And, if the governor signs this bill, she is reversing that trend. We become a state that caters to corporate interests only."

Those in favor of this provision and others in the bill insist they are a necessary part of tort reform for the state, to rein in the costs of legal action.
Stephanie Carroll Carson, Public News Service - NC

No, You Can't Keep Your Health Insurance

A new study by McKinsey suggests that as many as 78 million Americans could lose employer health coverage.


ObamaCare will lead to a dramatic decline in employer-provided health insurance—with as many as 78 million Americans forced to find other sources of coverage.

This disturbing finding is based on my calculations from a survey by McKinsey & Company. The survey, published this week in the McKinsey Quarterly, found that up to 50% of employers say they will definitely or probably pursue alternatives to their current health-insurance plan in the years after the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act takes effect in 2014. An estimated 156 million non-elderly Americans get their coverage at work, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

Ai Insurance of North Carolina offers the best insurance rates on auto, home, life, commercial, and health insurance. http://www.aiins.us  if you ou are looking for car insurance, health insurance, commercial insurance, life insurance, or boat insurance...they can help..offices in
Fayetteville, Wilson, Rocky Mount, Greenville, and Wilmington.

Before the health law passed, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that only nine million to 10 million people, or about 7% of employees who currently get health insurance at work, would switch to government-subsidized insurance. But the McKinsey survey of 1,300 employers across industries, geographies and employer sizes found "that reform will provoke a much greater response" and concludes that the health overhaul law will lead to a "radical restructuring" of job-based health coverage.

Getty Images/Stock Illustration RF

Another McKinsey analyst, Alissa Meade, told a meeting of health-insurance executives last November that "something in the range of 80 million to 100 million individuals are going to change coverage categories in the two years" after the insurance mandates take effect in 2014.

Many employees who will need to seek another source of coverage will take advantage of the health-insurance subsidies for families making as much as $88,000 a year. This will drive up the cost of ObamaCare.

In a study last year, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former director of the Congressional Budget Office, estimated that an additional 35 million workers would be moved out of employer plans and into subsidized coverage, and that this would add about $1 trillion to the total cost of the president's health law over the next decade. McKinsey's survey implies that the cost to taxpayers could be significantly more.

The McKinsey study, "How US health care reform will affect employee benefits," predicts that employers will either drop coverage altogether, offer defined contributions for insurance, or offer coverage only to certain employees. The study concludes that 30% of employers overall will definitely or probably stop offering health insurance to their workers. However, among employers with a high awareness of the health-reform law, this proportion increases to more than 50%.

The employer incentives to alter or cease coverage under the health-reform law are strong. According to the study, at least 30% of employers would gain economically from dropping coverage, even if they completely compensated employees for the change through other benefit offerings or higher salaries. That's because they no longer would be tethered to health-insurance costs that consistently rise faster than inflation.

Employers should think twice if they believe the fine for not offering coverage will stay unchanged at $2,000 per worker. "If many companies drop health insurance coverage, the government could increase the employer penalty or raise taxes," according to the new study, authored by McKinsey consultants Shubham Singhal, Jeris Stueland and Drew Ungerman.

The case for repeal of ObamaCare grows stronger every year. The massive shift of health costs to taxpayers thanks to the disruption of employer-sponsored health insurance will add further to the burgeoning federal budget deficit. Congress can and must develop policies that allow the marketplace to evolve and not be forced into ObamaCare's regulatory straitjacket.

Ms. Turner is president of the Galen Institute and a co-author of "Why ObamaCare Is Wrong for America" (Broadside/HarperCollins, 2011).

*Ai Insurance does not endorse the content provided within this blog. Content is strictly for informational purposes only.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Single-Payer Health Care Systems, Multiple Health Care Disasters

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Democrats have recently seized on a novel way of reducing health care costs — threats.

The Obama Administration’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently announced that any insurance company that wants to increase premiums more than 10% will have to get approval from the government. Congress didn’t pass a law mandating this draconian policy — HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius simply decreed it.

Meanwhile, at the state level, Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin just signed a bill that will create a public insurance option within his borders. Advocates hope that the end result will be a “single-payer” system, in which the state pays for the health care of its residents directly.

Both Sebelius and Shumlin declared that they were only trying to rein in health costs and limit wasteful spending on insurance company profits. But cost control by fiat — whether through rate regulation or a state-run health care system — will fail not only to restrain spending but also to improve Americans’ health.



The facts suggest that most of the waste and inefficiency in our health care system is in the sectors dominated by government. The federal government loses as much as $60 billion a year in Medicare fraud alone. That’s five times more than the combined profits of the top ten health insurance companies in the Fortune 500.

And the price controls the federal government plans to impose on insurers will simply result in the disappearance of private insurance options. For evidence, take a look at what happened after Massachusetts instituted heavy-handed price controls under its state health reform law — considered by the White House to be a model for ObamaCare.

Bay State officials initially denied 235 of 274 rate increases proposed by insurers last year. So insurers temporarily stopped offering new coverage.

The state government and insurers later compromised, but the state’s attempts to set insurance rates have resulted in a serious shortage of medical care. More than half of the state’s primary care practices are closed to new patients, and wait times for specialists range from 24 to 48 days, according to a survey by the Massachusetts Medical Society.

In Vermont, things will likely turn out much worse. The Green Mountain State’s new health care law creates a five-member board appointed by the governor with the power to set prices for all aspects of the state’s medical system — from routine tests to drugs.

The funding mechanism for the whole mess has not yet been set. But the law’s framers envisioned a 14% payroll tax paid by almost all workers and employers in the state. That’s on top of the Social Security, Medicare, and other taxes that Vermont’s residents and businesses already pay.

Again, we know how this scheme will play out. Vermont is just across the border from Quebec — which features a government-funded single-payer system of its own that relies heavily on price controls.

The francophone province’s health care system was implemented in the 1960s at the behest of a commission led by Dr. Claude Castonguay, the so-called “father of Quebec Medicare.”

Forty years later, in 2008, Castonguay was asked to review Quebec’s health care system again. He concluded that Canadian health care was in crisis. “We thought we could resolve the system’s problems by rationing services or injecting massive amounts of new money into it,” he said.

His prescription for Canadian health care? “We are proposing to give a greater role to the private sector so that people can exercise freedom of choice.”

So just as Canada is running away from single-payer after decades of experience, Vermont is embracing it.

In 2010, residents of Quebec faced a median wait time of 18.8 weeks for surgical and other therapeutic treatments. According to The Fraser Institute, a Canadian think tank, average hospital wait times increased 96% in Canada between 1993 to 2010.

Not the sort of system most Americans would want to emulate.

Here in America, federal and state officials have promised to lower health care costs — and right quick. But forcibly regulating prices won’t do the trick. Americans — and Vermonters in particular — should hope that these experiments in health care reform are mercifully short.

Sally C. Pipes is President, CEO, and Taube Fellow in Health Care Studies at the Pacific Research Institute. Her latest book is The Truth About Obamacare (Regnery 2010).

Is Dental Insurance A Valuable Benefit?

 
By Carol Harnett

Get the health insurance coverage you need at prices you can afford. 
http://www.aiins.us Ai Insurance
 
The cost of twice-yearly dental care may be less than the cost of a dental-benefits plan, but HR leaders may want to consider carefully before changing their employees' coverage. It's a highly valued benefit -- plus it may drive down some healthcare costs as well.

As a small business owner, I wear many hats. One of my responsibilities includes making decisions about my benefits.
In theory, this should be an easy task for me. But, since I now pay the entire premium instead of receiving contributions from my employer, I find myself being more thoughtful about how I structure my benefits package.
Medical insurance was a no-brainer, as was setting up my retirement plan and making certain I provided for my survivors via a life insurance policy. Given my background working in and around rehabilitation medicine and disability insurance, I knew that updating my disability-insurance coverage was critical.
I found myself pausing, however, when I looked at dental insurance. You see, in the back alleys of the benefits world, experts often quietly discuss dental coverage as an overpriced benefit.
I started my analysis by looking at my plan design, my dental-coverage utilization and how much I paid in premiums, co-pays and deductibles.
My last group plan was a standard benefits design. After a $100 deductible, it paid 100 percent, 80 percent and 50 percent, respectively, for preventive, basic and major dental services. There was a maximum annual benefit of $1,500 and a lifetime plan maximum of $1,000 for orthodontic services. The insurance company had also negotiated discounts with the providers in its network.
The plan allowed me to seek preventive care twice every 12 months as long as I separated my appointments by 150 days. My annual premium was $600.
But, here's where my analysis got interesting. Historically, I sought preventive care twice a year like clockwork. My dentist and I worked out an intervention plan that included x-rays once a year.
When I reviewed my billing history, I noticed that the discount the dental carrier provided was only a few dollars less than my dentist's regular charges. And, when I looked at the total charges for the year, they were, on average, about $400.
Simple math led me to the conclusion that I "lost" approximately $300 annually.
Maybe my dental experience was atypical. But, it turns out that I'm not unusual. According to the American Dental Association, most people who seek treatment incur annual costs just below $300.
As a person who knows my way around insurance, I considered the risk I was insuring against. While I have never experienced a dental emergency, I was protecting myself, in theory, against unplanned dental issues.
But, if I ever had a dental emergency or needed major dental services, how much would my dental coverage help me? The answer: up to $1,500 per year.
Costhelper.com estimates that root canals and dental crowns range from $350 to $3,000 per tooth depending upon complexity, materials, location and the dentist's training and experience. Insurance would certainly help offset those expenses.
I would have to hope, of course, that my dentist's treatment and charges lined up with what my dental coverage established as "usual, customary and reasonable."
I decided to turn to my dentist, Robert Antmann, DDS, regarding his experience with dental care and insurance. Convery Dental, of which he is an owner, has been established for 99 years, so he has access to an unusual depth of history and perspective.
Dental insurance began sometime in the 1960s, Dr. Antmann says, and the benefit, at that time, had an annual maximum of about $1,000. The majority of his patients today have an annual maximum benefit of $1000 to $1,500. Not much has changed in 50 years.
Dr. Antmann's experience is not unusual, according to other sources -- which also project that the typical annual maximum, which was $1,500 in the 1970s, should have increased, via inflation, to $10,000.
So, there are some questions about the botton-line value of dental insurance. Why would employers offer it? A few reasons.
Most employee-benefits surveys find that dental insurance is the third most employee-requested benefit after medical and retirement benefits. The theory among industry experts is that employees believe this coverage is a tangible benefit they could potentially use every year -- unlike disability or long-term-care insurance.
A 2005 study published in the Journal of the American Dental Association reported that 63 percent of adults with dental insurance visited dentists regularly, compared to 40 percent of adults without coverage.
That may not be true, however, for the 12 percent of adults who have high dental anxiety. HR executives should consider a unique finding of the JADA study: Those employees with dental anxiety who have dental insurance were significantly less likely to visit dentists regularly than uninsured adults.
Overall, employed adults lose more than 164 million hours of work each year due to dental disease or dentist visits, according to the U.S. Surgeon General's 2011 report on Oral Health in America. The theory put forward by the National Association of Dental Plans is that employees without dental insurance are more likely to lose work due to untreated dental problems.
Dental treatment may also affect medical care, according to a recent longitudinal study by CIGNA (full disclosure: a client of mine), which sought to determine whether periodontal treatment affects the cost of medical care in diabetics. (Experts suggest there is a relationship between diabetes and periodontal disease -- and that both conditions may worsen if either is not properly care for.)
The results of the study indicate that ongoing periodontal treatment of diabetics lowered medical costs in 2008 by an average of almost $2,500. The effect was more pronounced in men than women ($3,200 vs. $735, respectively).
For HR leaders, the issue of whether dental insurance is a benefit that has kept up with the times may be a moot point. Dental coverage is a benefit that employees desire.
Added to that perceived value is the potential impact dental care may have on the healthcare costs of employees who are diabetic and, potentially, pregnant.
And, you can consider, too, that dental insurance is expanding its reach and services.
Gary Ballman, staff vice president at Anthem-owned Wellpoint Dental, says new enhancements in group dental insurance include international emergency treatment as well as dental analytics, which score providers by utilization and long-term economic value.
The American Dental Association offers some benefit-plan design alternatives to consider, such as a direct reimbursement plan, which may give your employees more coverage flexibility and maintain dental-benefit costs.
As for me, I've elected to forgo dental coverage this year. But, I'll keep my eye on how dental benefits evolve.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Windows 8 heavily focused on mobile devices; will it affect the desktop experience?


We all know that Windows 8 will be designed to run on tablets and according to some recent reports, the next version of Windows will put a heavy focus on mobile devices. Windows 8 will supposedly feature a welcome/unlock screen similar to the one found in Windows Phone 7, a new Ribbon UI for Windows Explorer and a document reader that uses a new packaged application model that “closely resembles Windows Phone 7 application packages.” These new features suggest that the operating system will be headed towards a more mobile-friendly interface than the previous versions of Windows. While this may be a good sign for users who want Windows on their mobile devices, it makes one wonder if the desktop version of the operating system will be streamlined similarly as well. After all, the desktop version of the Windows 7 is what makes it a great operating system and optimizing a desktop OS for the tablet/smartphone could have pretty drastic results.

Ai Insurance http://www.aiins.us recently made available a mobile (web-based) app to it's web users this weekend. Shortcuts includes "get a quote, locations, find an agent, and of course the Facebook link out. Try it out on your Droid or iPhone.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Tang was invented for the NASA space program

Myth: Tang was invented for the NASA space program.

       In fact, Tang was actually invented by chemist and occasional playwright William A. Mitchell in 1957 while he was working for General Foods. General Foods introduced Tang to the public in powder form in 1959, but it wasn’t popular initially.  Eventually, NASA decided to use it in 1962 during John Glenn’s Mercury flight and later in 1965 for the Gemini program.  In both instances, the Tang was used to improve the poor taste of the water from the life support system.
      The usage in the Gemini program particularly contributed to the previously unpopular drink mix becoming a huge hit.  Because most people were introduced to Tang for the first time through the space program, this lead to the misconception that it was invented for that program, rather than just a generally available product that NASA decided to use, as it was.
Bonus Factoids:
  • Mitchell didn’t just invent Tang, he also invented Cool Whip, Pop Rocks, quick-setting Jell-O, powdered egg whites, and a popular Tapioca substitute, among other things (70 patents total).  In the non-food related field, Mitchell also helped invent a chemical process for developing the color green, while working for Eastman Kodak.
  • The first major product Mitchell invented was a Tapioca substitute that was developed to get around the cassava shortage due to WWII, which is why Tapioca is sometimes called “Mitchell’s Mud”.
  • Mitchell thought up Pop Rocks for a play he wrote about a boy who eats magical popping rocks.  In the play, every time the boy eats one of the rocks, he’s teleported to another world.  Later, when Mitchell was working for General Foods, he was attempting to come up with a way to make “instant” carbonated drink and accidentally invented Pop Rocks in the process, which he named Pop Rocks, referencing his play.  For how Pop Rocks Pop, check out this link.
  • Project Mercury was the U.S.’s program to put a man in space for the first time.  Objectives of the program were to orbit a person around the Earth; investigate a human’s ability to function in space; and to bring that person home safely.  The program ran from 1958 to 1963 with all total NASA launching six manned flights.
  • Tang was included in the menu for John Glenn’s 1962 Mercury mission where he orbited the Earth and experimented with eating in space.
  • The Gemini program’s primary objectives were to test man’s ability to cope with long term flights in space; to maneuver a spacecraft in space, including docking with another spacecraft; train and prepare the flight and ground crews for the upcoming Apollo program; experiment with space walks; test out equipment and technologies that would be needed in the Apollo missions; and controlled re-entry.  The program included 19 total launches, only 10 of which were manned.
  • According to an engineer who worked on the Gemini program, the reason Tang was specifically included in the astronaut’s rations was: “There was a particular component of the Gemini life support-system module which produced H2O (water) among other things. This was a byproduct of a recurring chemical reaction of one of the mechanical devices on the life-support module. The astronauts would use this water to drink during their space flight. The problem was that the astronauts did not like the taste of the water because of some of the byproducts produced, which were not harmful of course. So, they added Tang to make the water taste better.”
  • It isn’t known exactly if Tang was used in the Apollo 11 mission.  The astronauts there decided to use a grapefruit-orange mix, which may have been a variant of Tang or may have been something else.  Both Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong both have stated that they didn’t use Tang, but because Tang came in a variety of flavors and, during the missions, was labeled things like “Orange Aid” and the like, rather than Tang, so it may well have been Tang they were drinking.
  • Methadone was once sold packaged with Tang, in an attempt by Philadelphia officials to stop people from injecting the drug into their bloodstream.  Unfortunately, they underestimated the addicts, who seemed to have no qualms with injecting the Tang/methadone mix, which obviously isn’t advisable.
  • Tang, hydrogen peroxide, and hexamine were primary components of the explosive meant for the failed 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot.  These, and other components, were used to make HMTD (Hexamethylene triperoxide diamine), which is a fairly powerful homemade explosive.  HMTD was also going to be used in the failed 1999/2000 bombing of L.A. International Airport.