“New moms can bring baby to work at Pittsburgh firm - Business Management Daily” plus 4 more |
- New moms can bring baby to work at Pittsburgh firm - Business Management Daily
- Scrutinizing 2010 Insurance Options - New York Times
- Medicare Savings: Is the Health-Care Answer in Mexico? - Yahoo News
- Is it right to marry a pregnant woman? - Vanguard
- Erin Brockovich Leads Nation's Parents in Toxic "Crawl" to Action - CSR Wire
| New moms can bring baby to work at Pittsburgh firm - Business Management Daily Posted: 23 Oct 2009 10:05 AM PDT New moms who work for Maya Design in Pittsburgh don't have to worry about child care for their hard-to-place infants, at least for six months after they give birth. They can tote the tots to work. The consulting firm and technology research lab welcomes infants through its Babies in the Workplace program. Moms can breast-feed their babies in a private room and even bring their infants to meetings. Babies have to stay home if they have high fevers. Parents must sign liability waivers and must work their assigned hours. They're not paid for the time they spent tending to their little ones. HR Director Terry Pronko says every employee got an e-mail about the new program before it started, along with the ground rules. So far, about four moms at a time bring their babies in. Contact: Terry Pronko at (412) 488-2900. This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| Scrutinizing 2010 Insurance Options - New York Times Posted: 23 Oct 2009 10:41 AM PDT Whatever you do with your health benefits during the current open enrollment season for 2010, there's a good chance it won't be what you did last year. The time-honored "evergreen" option — defaulting to your current plan — may simply no longer be an option. Either your employer no longer even offers that plan, or the terms may be so radically different that you may no longer want it. With so much in flux, this may be the year you will need to switch health plans. That realization hit home with me recently, and painfully, when I studied my own family's health insurance options for 2010, under my husband's employer-sponsored plan. Yowie! Our premiums in a basic PPO plan will more than double in 2010. Our deductibles will be higher. And we will now have to pay a percentage of the bill for all office visits, rather than a simple $10 or $20 co-payment. Then, too, because the whole billing and collection system looks a lot more complicated, I predict we will spend twice as many hours dealing with medical paperwork in the coming year as we did in the last one. "Employees need to read their options very carefully," cautioned Randall Abbott, a senior consultant at Watson Wyatt, a benefits consulting firm. "More than ever before, employers are refining plan provisions and changing the choices in plans available." There is some good news, though, amid all the change. You may find that preventive services are now free, that generic drugs are cheaper, and that wellness services are low-cost and plentiful. Many employers recognize that the best way to stave off those increasingly enormous major medical expenses is to spend a little more upfront on your behalf. So what did I do about my family's plan? I opted for a PPO, with a low premium and somewhat high deductible. It was a different plan than last year's but offered by the same carrier. (I had been ready to take a leap of faith and select a high-deductible plan — something my colleague Walecia Konrad wrote about in her Patient Money column last week. But, alas, one was not part of the overall offerings.) Here's my advice for zeroing in on the best health plan for you. GET EDUCATED Don't just rely on the packet you received in the mail or the information sent to you via e-mail. I recently attended (for the first time ever) a benefits seminar that explained, in great detail, everything people covered by my husband's employer needed to know about the many ways the plan offerings had changed. I learned a lot from the presenter, but also from the questions asked by the audience. If you can't go to such a briefing, if it is offered, ask a colleague to pick up the literature they hand out and to debrief you on what she or he learned. If your employer doesn't offer information seminars, look on your company's intranet for interactive online tools that can help you compare health plans, benefit by benefit, and that can summarize your claims from past years. And find out whether you have access to phone advice. Many large employers hire outside vendors to offer personalized counseling; you call an 800 number and a trained staff member will help you determine which health plan makes the most sense for you. Some companies also have a dedicated line, operated with their own human resources professionals, that you can call with your questions. ASK YOUR DOCTORS Find out if the doctors you rely on participate in the plans being offered. Don't assume that just because they were in a specific plan last year that they will remain in it for 2010. Call and ask. PLAN YOUR CLAIMS To determine which health plan will cost you the least, write down every doctor's visit you are likely to make, every drug you think you'll take, and every pair of glasses or contact lenses you'll need to purchase in 2010. Then look carefully at how each of the plans you are considering would cover these claims. For instance, if you're pregnant, find out how visits to your ob/gyn are covered and what type of baby care services the plans offer. To get help with this task, go to your company's intranet and look for a tool that can estimate expenses for the coming year. "A medical expense estimator is a valuable tool for determining your total medical costs," said Sara Taylor, a health and welfare strategy leader for Hewitt Associates, a benefits consulting firm. "Yet only 11 percent of employees who have access to this Web tool use it." BEWARE THE LURKING DEVIL Even if your plan looks the same, scrutinize the details before you sign up. Some drug plans (like mine for example) have jettisoned co-payments in favor of co-insurance. This means employees have to pay a percentage of the cost of the medication, rather than just a flat fee. That means that a 90-day supply of a brand name drug like Ambien CR could run about $94 out of pocket (20 percent of $470) in 2010, rather than just a flat $20 or $40 co-payment. Look also at the out-of-pocket maximums for each plan. This is the amount of money you will be responsible for paying, before the plan covers 100 percent of your bills. COMPARE YOUR SPOUSE'S OPTIONS As premiums rise on family plans, and some employers make it more expensive to cover a spouse with access to health care through his or her employer, it's important to evaluate all your family's options. You might find it most cost-effective for your spouse to get single coverage and for you to maintain family coverage, or vice versa. HAVE PATIENCE "Most people see open enrollment as an intrusion," Mr. Abbott said. This year, it's better to view the process as a comparison-shopping challenge — rather than a miserable annoyance — and give it the same attention you would give to selecting a new car or high-definition television. This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| Medicare Savings: Is the Health-Care Answer in Mexico? - Yahoo News Posted: 23 Oct 2009 10:19 AM PDT The words Medicare savings are a red flag to some and a carrot to others; depending on where you stand on the issue of health-care reform, the label is code for cuts or a promise to root out fraud and save billions. But far away from the debates in Washington, a group of expatriate baby boomers point to one place they believe real Medicare savings could be realized: Mexico. Paul Crist, the owner of a Puerto Vallarta resort who once worked as an aide to former U.S. Senator Paul Sarbanes, says that paying for medical treatment in Mexico could save Medicare almost a quarter of the average cost for most procedures. "My research, as well as the research of others, shows that health care in Mexico costs less than a third of that in the U.S.," Crist says. (See a guide to what health-care reform really means.) A doctor's office visit or house call (still a common practice in Mexico) costs only $25 to $40, according to a 2007 study by the University of Texas LBJ School of Public Affairs. The same study presented information on comparative costs for common procedures: a hip replacement costs between $43,000 and $63,000 in the U.S., compared to $12,000 in Mexico, according to Texas-based hospital chain Christus Muguerza, which also operates in Mexico; a coronary bypass in Mexico costs an average of $21,000 compared to $149,000 in the U.S. Citing statistics from the U.S. census and State Department, Crist estimates approximately 200,000 of the 1 million U.S. citizens living south of the border are Medicare-eligible. (See what health care is like around the world.) However, Crist says many Medicare-eligible expats living south of the border are forced to fly back to the U.S. for medical treatment because Medicare will not pay for most coverage outside the U.S., even though they have paid into the system during their working lives. Medicare will cover only emergency care if it occurs within 60 days of leaving the country. To utilize their benefits, Medicare-eligible American citizens in Mexico have to opt for periodic flights home or else choose to pay out-of-pocket medical expenses. And because expatriates have diverse geographic origins in the U.S., there are no specific congressional districts they can pressure to legislate change in the Medicare rules on their behalf. (See a video of Ze Frank explaining health-care reform.) Crist took matters into his own hands. Touting the potential savings to Medicare, he founded Americans for Medicare in Mexico and began campaigning for reform. He travelled to Washington earlier this year to lobby Congress for expansion of Medicare to expats in Mexico. He visited about 85 congressional offices and says many members were open to the idea. Other expat groups like the Association of American Residents Overseas (AARO) joined in a letter-writing campaign. But as the health-care-reform battle grew larger and the bills more complex, Crist says supportive members of Congress told him 2009 was not going to be the year the change could be made. (See the top 10 health-care-reform players.) Resistance to the expansion of Medicare to Mexico is coming from some health-care industry groups like the American Medical Association and the American Hospital Association, according to David C. Warner, who teaches public affairs at the University of Texas LBJ School. Warner says these groups see it as the beginning of a slippery slope that will lead to expansion of Medicare coverage to places like China and Eastern Europe where health-care costs are rock bottom. Warner adds that the issue also has been raised at the highest levels by Mexican President Felipe CalderÓn in a meeting earlier this year with President Barack Obama. But any pressure from Mexican interests could be politically tricky, Crist says: "It would not necessarily be helpful to have Mexican firms pressuring Congress on an issue that will benefit this industry and the Mexican economy generally. This could create a backlash among some [U.S.] political groups." However, there are several forces set to join the battle that could change the power balance. Not only are more expats finding Mexico's climate and low costs welcoming, but investors are flocking to Mexico as a growth market for health care and senior living. "Many in the baby-boomer generation have seen their retirement savings disappear and it is not likely those funds will be built back up quickly," Crist says, explaining why Mexico, with its low costs, has become attractive. Seeing potential profits, he adds, "the developers and operators of senior housing, which runs the spectrum from independent-living communities through nursing-care facilities, are certainly betting on a substantial influx in the coming years." Developments aimed at attracting seniors have been built near Puerto Vallarta and in the northern Baja peninsula, and independent-living projects are planned for San Miguel de Allende, already a popular expat center north of Mexico City, Warner notes. "Some of the developers in Mexico are affiliated with firms in the U.S., so there will certainly be support in Washington from those firms," Crist says. "Both the senior-housing industry and the health-care industry are internationalizing, and the U.S. players in these industries will be big winners. They have the capital, and the experience to dominate this industry in Mexico and elsewhere, because the senior-housing industry, in particular, is so new in many countries." Crist plans to hold town-hall meetings in 15 Mexican cities beginning January to pull the expat community together and launch a massive letter-writing campaign. He and other proponents are also hoping to engage another key group in the fight, the so-called returnees - Mexican dual citizens, or Mexican-born citizens with legal status in the U.S. who are Medicare-eligible after a lifetime of payroll contributions. In the U.S., proponents will focus on gaining the support of a key member of Congress to carry the banner. Warner says two from Texas are likely targets: Democratic U.S. Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson and Republican U.S. Representative Pete Sessions, whose districts include concentrated returnee populations, multigenerational families with roots in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, the cradle of Mexican independence and a favorite spot for expat retirees. "The opportunity to provide services to Americans at much lower cost outside the U.S. border is enormous," Crist says. "This is pushing even private insurers to explore coverage options outside of the U.S., and Medicare will certainly be a part of this globalization, sooner or later. My preference is for sooner." View this article on Time.com Related articles on Time.com: This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| Is it right to marry a pregnant woman? - Vanguard Posted: 23 Oct 2009 11:16 AM PDT By Bridget Amaraegbu ( bridgyfree@yahoo.com ) Ngozi, an unmarried teenage mother had her first baby three years ago. To her dismay today, she is pregnant for her second baby. How could this have happened and how is she going to cope? The single mother remembered the heart break, severe pains and agony that trailed her first pregnancy following the refusal of her boyfriend, Charles, to accept responsibility of the child. Outright adoption, the answer — Obiwon, Musician  Obiwon The truth remains that every reasonable man will want to have his child back, no matter the circumstance that led him to deny the pregnancy in the past. If I'm in the shoes of this biological father we're talking about, I'll surely do my best to get the child back. But it has to follow a gradual process. I'm not going to fight the woman who's the mother of my child to claim this child because I rejected her in the past, and I'll not also fight the man who adopted my baby because if not for him, only God knows what could have become of this mother and child. So, it's going to take a whole gradual process because I don't even expect the child to forgive me. So, I'll start by asking for their forgiveness, and if they're able to forgive me, I can now extend my request to at least visiting the child and making him or her realise that I'm truly sorry for my actions in the past. So, I can't force myself on him if he doesn't want me. But I know that someday, the child will want to see me when he or she is grown up and realises that there's a biological father somewhere. There's no way the child will not look for me, especially when it's a male child. Even if the child in question is a female, a day will come when she'll still have to look for her biological father. But I'll want to use this opportunity to advise all those who're planning any form of adoption to avoid all the trouble that could come with issues relating to this. So, the best thing to do will be to go through outright adoption. When you do that, you actually do not know the real parents of the baby you've adopted. Though in our own part of the world, people frown at any story related to child adoption, I still think it's better than marrying a pregnant woman where you have to go through all the fight with the biological father and mother of the baby. Our level of exposure has not got to that stage where we can associate with persons of different cultural backgrounds as if we're one and I pray that we get there soon because every man created in the image and likeness of God is one. For the young men amongst us who want to play a fast game, always remember to play safe and if you impregnate a woman for any reason, carry your cross. Shoulder your responsibility to avoid crying and fighting for your baby in the future. Nothing's wrong with it — Etcetera, Musician I don't see anything wrong in marrying a pregnant woman. If I impregnated a woman and refused to take custody of the pregnancy, it means I should be able to let her have custody of the baby. I understand that she must have passed through so much pain because I denied her in the first place. So, it will only be humane for me not to hurt her anymore by wanting to claim the child in the future. I'll let her leave peacefully with the child wherever and with whoever she pleases because I didn't play my own role when it was necessary. Besides, I don't see anything wrong if this child is happy staying with the mother and the adopted father, if he's well taken care of. I will only be tempted to go for the baby if he or she is being maltreated in anyway. But if the child is given a sound education and lacks nothing, then there will be no need to bother myself about the child. Don't forget that by so doing, I would have solved someone's problem somewhere and life is all about being happy. My child is not for sale — Guy P, Musician My dear, whether I denied the pregnancy or not, I'll not allow another man to take custody of my child. Once I'm able to identify the whereabouts of this child, I must recover him or her because he or she is my blood and won't live with a foreigner. Yes, I may have made the mistake of denying the pregnancy as a young man who wasn't ready to settle down but that does not mean I'm interested in selling my child to any man. I'll do whatever I can to have my child back. Whether the people involved are wealthy, influential or not, they won't intimidate me. Even if the child refuses to stay with me, I'll still do my best to get him back. A mistake with deadly consequences — Scott Robert, Actor Look, any man who goes as far as marrying a pregnant woman is making a big mistake because it's not only likely that the biological owner of the pregnancy will come back for his child but it's a must that this child will someday look for his or her father. Let me speak for myself and the truth is, if I impregnate any woman, even if she's a cripple, I'll marry her because I can't imagine my own blood in a foreign land. So, I won't give any man that opportunity of wanting to own my child for any reason. For those guys who shy away from their responsibility, I think something is wrong with them somehow. Sometimes, I ask myself why would any man deny his pregnancy and allow the woman to suffer alone? If you think you're not old enough to father a child, then you're not man enough to take a woman to bed or where have all the condoms in Naija gone to? There's something I want to let you know and that is that even the young man who refused to take responsibility of a particular woman whom he had impregnated will surely come back for his child in future. Any man who decides to marry a pregnant woman will only succeed if the real owner of the pregnancy never got to know about it. Even if you have to marry a pregnant little girl because you don't have a child, you should allow her put to bed and marry her later. Don't marry another man's blood. I advise you because if you do, you'll surely face the consequences. A risky venture — Emmanuel Ojo, Graphic artist My friend, please don't try to do any such thing. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with marrying a pregnant woman if she gives you her consent. But I'm looking at what the future holds for the man who decides to marry another man's pregnancy. Don't forget that the real owner of the pregnancy could make a comeback in future and the consequences, you never really can tell because there's every likelihood that the baby may not have an option than to go with his biological father, especially now that we have the DNA test at our finger tips. Even if the biological father did not come for this child, the child could go looking for him if he gets any signal that he's living in a foreign land. So, I think it's a very risky venture to go into. Send comments and similar topics that you'll like to see on this page to the above email address This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| Erin Brockovich Leads Nation's Parents in Toxic "Crawl" to Action - CSR Wire Posted: 23 Oct 2009 06:09 AM PDT BURLINGTON, Vt., Oct. 23 /CSRwire/ - Acclaimed Advocate Partners With Seventh Generation & Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families to Launch www.MillionBabyCrawl.com and Demand New Hazardous Chemicals Law Seventh Generation, the nation's leading brand of non-toxic and environmentally-safe household and personal care products, announced today a new partnership with noted advocate Erin Brockovich and Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families. Together they're launching the Million Baby Crawl, a grassroots effort to raise awareness about the nation's badly outdated chemical laws and encourage parents and others everywhere to ask Congress to pass new, stronger regulations that will protect the health of all Americans. Synthetic chemicals are currently regulated by the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), a decades-old law that experts say has utterly failed to keep the nation's environment and its citizens safe from materials that cause cancer and a host of other serious illnesses. Under the outdated TCSA, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) does not have the authority to demand the information it needs to evaluate a chemical's risk, and neither manufacturers nor the agency are required to prove a chemical's safety before it can be used. In fact, in the 33 years since the TCSA was enacted, the EPA has required testing on only 200 of the more than 80,000 chemical compounds now in use. "It's time for commonsense limits on toxic chemicals in our homes, workplaces, and in the products we use," said Andy Igrejas of the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families coalition. "We must act together to see that new legislation is passed and families are protected from unsafe products. The Million Baby Crawl will take much more than baby steps toward making these things happen." Congress is writing a new proposal to reform TSCA, updating last year's Kid-Safe Chemicals Act. Scheduled for a Fall 2009 introduction, the policy will address these and many other deficiencies by establishing tough new safety standards for each chemical on the market and requiring manufacturers to prove that their chemicals meet these standards before they can be used in the products people buy. The bill would give the EPA new authority to restrict any substances that fail to pass the test. To rally support for the Kid-Safe Chemical Act and raise awareness of the urgent issues it addresses, Seventh Generation, Erin Brockovich, and Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families have launched the Million Baby Crawl, an online initiative designed to educate parents, empower them to work on the legislation's behalf and literally help them create infant avatars. The result will be a virtual march, or crawl, to Washington, DC, where they'll "rattle" legislators for toxic chemical reform. "I am an advocate for awareness, the truth, and a person's right to know. I believe that in the absence of the truth, all of us stand helpless to defend our families and our health, which are the greatest gifts we have," said Erin Brockovich, famed environmental and consumer advocate and mother of three. Perhaps best known for the Oscar winning story of her first fight against energy giant Pacific Gas and Electric company, Ms. Brockovich continues to be focused on the research of environmental issues and remains dedicated to providing information and support services to communities in need. "In many instances, our issues may seem to fall on deaf ears, but I'm living proof that when we speak loudly enough, change will occur. I'm urging everyone to join me in the Million Baby Crawl to help make that difference and make sure all our voices, young and old, are heard." To learn how you can get involved locally to support stronger standards on toxic chemicals and make a baby of your very own that will crawl to Washington, D.C. to help fight for a healthier nation to grow up in, please visit www.MillionBabyCrawl.com. Follow the Million Baby Crawl on Twitter #mbcrawl. "We assume our homes are safe havens, but the fact is that the vast majority of the chemical compounds found in the products we use there have never been tested. And in most cases manufacturers don't even have to tell us on product labels what those toxins are. This is a dangerous recipe for harm that virtually every family is exposed to every day," said Seventh Generation Co-Founder and Chief Inspired Protagonist, Jeffrey Hollender. "We're on a mission to come together and change that once and for all." ABOUT SEVENTH GENERATION For information on Seventh Generation cleaning, paper, baby and feminine personal care products, to find store locations, and explore the company's website, visit www.seventhgeneration.com. To read more about Seventh Generation's corporate responsibility, visit the Corporate Consciousness Report at: www.seventhgeneration.com/corporate-responsibility/2008. ABOUT SAFER CHEMICALS, HEALTHY FAMILIES Embedded Video Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/release_html_b1?release_id=550820 This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
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