Standard Poor #39;s U.S. Consumer, Retail, And Health Care Weekly Review (Feb. 3)
In this segment of U.S. Consumer, Retail, and Health Care Weekly, Standard Poor #39;s Director Rick Joy reviews the recent rating actions we took on Sotheby #39;s,...
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Standard & Poor's U.S. Consumer, Retail, And Health Care Weekly Review (Feb. 3) - Video
(NAPSI)The health of your wealth may depend on how well you understand the Affordable Care Act and the changes it creates for federal taxes.
New Rules
Whether these changes affect you is largely a matter of your households gross income minus certain deductionsyour adjusted gross income (AGI)and whether you have health insurance.
While most Americans will see little to no change when filing taxes due April 15, 2014, the experts at TaxACT point out that higher income taxpayers are more likely to be affected, particularly those with investment income.
Anyone whose modified AGI is $200,000 or more ($250,000 if filing jointly or $125,000 if married filing separately) will pay an additional 3.8 percent tax on 2013 investment income, including interest, dividends, capital gains, and rental and royalty income. Itll be added to tax already paid on investment income. For example, if you pay 20 percent tax on a long-term capital gain, your total tax on the gain will be 23.8 percent.
Fortunately, you can reduce your investment income by expenses that can be allocated to it, such as investment interest expense, advisory and brokerage fees, and rental and royalty expenses. You can also reduce it by state and local income taxes that can be allocated to investment income items.
If you pay the additional net investment income tax, you may also pay an additional 0.9 percent Medicare tax on wages and compensation in excess of $200,000. Since the tax is automatically withheld from employee wages, you simply report the amount in Boxes 5 and 6 of your Form W-2 on your tax return. The tax is calculated using figures on Schedule SE for business owners and the self-employed.
If you deduct unreimbursed medical expenses, the threshold has increased to 10 percent of your AGI. For example, if your 2013 adjusted gross income is $50,000, you can deduct only unreimbursed medical expenses that exceed $5,000. The threshold remains at 7.5 percent for taxpayers age 65 or older.
Let affordable, do-it-yourself tax software navigate these tax law changes for you, suggests TaxACTs Jessi Dolmage.
The programs ask easy questions to help minimize your tax liability and maximize your deductions and credits.
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Niagara This Week - Niagara Falls
NIAGARA FALLS Outside of a proposed new hospital for Niagara Falls, health care has taken a back seat to issues such as job creation during the current byelection campaign, health care activists say.
"The health care issue in Niagara is one of the most pressing issues that we have in our region, " said Niagara Health Coalition chair Sue Hotte. "We do have some of the worst health care going in Ontario. Some of the implications of plan are far reaching and will impact many communities, not only within the riding (Niagara Falls, Fort Erie and Niagara-on-the-Lake, but also in Port Colborne and Welland."
They want that to change.
"We've never actually had situation when both the Liberal and the Conservative candidates refused to attend an all-candidates debate on health care," said Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition, who joined Hotte and Ontario Public Service Employees Union regional board member Lucy Morton at the news conference at Niagara Falls City Hall on Monday.
"Whether you support the one hospital replacing five hospitals closing five hospitals and replacing it with one the public has a right to hear that debate. We think it's profoundly undemocratic that these candidates will not sit down and have a proper health care debate in this election."
"Niagara has from the beginning of the (Niagara Health System Hospital Improvement Plan) proposal, have seen among the worst hospital cuts in all Ontario. "Well over 100 hospital beds have been closed down here and well over 200 nurses and staff positions in the hospital have been cut already."
She said the current proposal to close five hospitals and replace them with a new south Niagara hospital in Niagara Falls comes without any guarantees to service levels.
"This is not in keeping with the history of health planning in Ontario," she said. "Formerly, when health care restructuring was proposed, it was actually clear how many hospital beds were proposed, the size of the hospital that was proposed, the services that would be in the hospital, etc. None of that has been made clear for Niagara."
Alan Sakach, a spokesman for Maves campaign, said Maves wants to take part in as many debates as possible.
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February 04, 2014
What happens when inclement weather keeps home health care professionals from reaching clients' homes?
Shaun Mullen became worried when the home health care professional serving his elderly neighbor wasn't able to get to the Stroud Township house Monday because the road was unplowed.
"As of 2 p.m., we still hadn't seen any trucks come by to plow or treat our road," Mullen said.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has 36 trucks plowing and treating 520 miles of state-owned roads in Monroe County, including Poplar Valley Road West, said Bob Mudrick, PennDOT's Monroe County maintenance manager.
"We started on the roads between 2 and 3 a.m. (Monday) and are working in 12-hour shifts until all roads are clear," said Mudrick. "Our primary concern in that area is keeping those two major roads clear so that people can get to Interstate 80. The secondary roads are just that secondary. We get to them when we can, which usually is after the snow stops and we no longer have to worry about keeping the primary roads clear."
Meanwhile, what about residents, like Mullen's elderly neighbor, who rely on home health care professionals to visit?
"Monroe County has a certain percentage of residents who require a higher level of home health care," said Patty Fretz, director of the Monroe County Area Agency on Aging. "They absolutely must have a professional visit them every day, as opposed to other residents who require less care and can go a day or more without a visit."
The Agency on Aging has a medical assistance waiver program for higher-care dependent residents who qualify to live in but cannot afford nursing homes or choose to stay in their own homes, said Fretz.
The program requires these residents to have backup plans in place on days when home health care professionals cannot visit due to inclement weather or other reasons. A backup plan involves having a family member, neighbor or friend provide care for that day.
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The homebound and the snowbound: Health care workers call on contingency plans
Technology is booming in the health care field, and physicians are just now starting to explore the possibilities, and benefits, of e-visits with patients.
A pilot program launched in January within Mercy Health includes six physicians across two practices (Mercy Health Internists of Fairfield and Mercy Health Wyoming Primary Care). The physicians are offering their patients electronic visits, said Nanette Bentley, network spokeswoman.
About 50 patients have taken advantage of the offer so far, Bentley said.
Universally, the patients love the electronic visits, Bentley said.
A patient starts an e-visit by first completing an online survey specific to certain conditions, such as sore throat or headache. The survey answers are sent to the provider who responds within 24 hours with the appropriate next steps, including diagnosis and prescription, according to Mercy Health.
Bentley said the network plans to introduce electronic visits to more physician practices this year, but no firm numbers are available yet.
Benefits to patients include being able to stay at home or work and not disrupt the day with a physician office visit, Bentley said. Benefits to physicians include the ability to treat more patients in day at their convenience.
Nicole Hatten of Hamilton said she recently learned about the concept of e-visits from her insurance company. She said technology has certainly influenced the way patients can get care.
You can do it through the computer, thats crazy, Hatten said. I would rather go see my doctor in person.
Dr. Walter Reiling, chief medical informatics officer for Premier Health, said as technology and health care continue to converge so will the ability to interact with physicians in a flexible manner.
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Obama Answers Obamacare Critic - Google+ Hangout
President Obama discusses the concerns over the new health care coverage plans under the Affordable Care Act with a Kentucky woman skeptical of the new law. ...
By: The Daily Conversation
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How to Trim Hair on Cats Between the Pads : Cat Health Care Behavior
Subscribe Now: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=Expertvillage Watch More: http://www.youtube.com/Expertvillage Trimming hair on cats betwe...
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How to Trim Hair on Cats Between the Pads : Cat Health Care & Behavior - Video
K-Link TOTAL HEALTH CARE (Food Supplement Products) In Hindi
KLINK MISSION Our Mission is to establish an International Network Marketing Company that fulfills our commitments and responsibilities to take health to far...
By: Anil Kapoor
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K-Link TOTAL HEALTH CARE (Food Supplement Products) In Hindi - Video
Repealing Health Care Law Would Mean Higher Costs
Republicans may not agree with President Obama #39;s State of the Union call to drop the idea of repealing the Affordable Care Act, but health experts say the la...
By: WochitGeneralNews
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My Cat Is Acting Hyper After Being Spayed : Cat Health Care Behavior
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My Cat Is Acting Hyper After Being Spayed : Cat Health Care & Behavior - Video
Judge Jeanine Pirro - Obamacare Lies - White House Continues To Defend Health Care Mess
Judge Jeanine Pirro - Obamacare Lies - White House Continues To Defend Health Care Mess =========================================== **Please Click Below t...
By: MTP
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Judge Jeanine Pirro - Obamacare Lies - White House Continues To Defend Health Care Mess - Video
Intro to Health Care
In this introductory video of the Brookings Institution-Khan academy partnership to teach the basics of health care delivery and payment reform, Darshak (a p...
By: Darshak Sanghavi
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Job Title / Description ( show titles only ) Company Location (Distance) Posted Case Manager - Health Care Coordinator - Personal Health Coach - View similar jobs Job type: Full-Time Case Manager - Health Care Coordinator - Personal Health Coach Are you a caring, committed individual fascinated with health and how people relate... FL - St. Petersburg 3 Weeks Ago Case Manager - Health Care Coordinator - Personal Health Coach - View similar jobs Job type: Full-Time Case Manager - Health Care Coordinator - Personal Health Coach Are you a caring, committed individual fascinated with health and how people relate... FL - St. Petersburg 3 Weeks Ago Case Manager - Health Care Coordinator - Personal Health Coach - View similar jobs Job type: Full-Time Case Manager - Health Care Coordinator - Personal Health Coach Are you a caring, committed individual fascinated with health and how people relate... 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KY - Lexington 1 Week Ago RN - Home Care Nurse - Home health RN - View similar jobs Job type: Full-Time | Pay: $65k - $80k/year LOCAL HOME CARE COMPANY LOOKING FOR REGISTERED NURSES!! A local homecare company is looking for FULL and PART TIME Registered Nurses in the... PA - Montgomery County 3 Weeks Ago RN - Home Care Nurse - Home health RN - View similar jobs Job type: Full-Time | Pay: $65k - $80k/year LOCAL HOME CARE COMPANY LOOKING FOR REGISTERED NURSES!! A local homecare company is looking for FULL and PART TIME Registered Nurses in the... PA - Montgomery County 3 Weeks Ago RN - Home Care Nurse - Home health RN - View similar jobs Job type: Full-Time | Pay: $65k - $80k/year LOCAL HOME CARE COMPANY LOOKING FOR REGISTERED NURSES!! A local homecare company is looking for FULL and PART TIME Registered Nurses in the... 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Health Care Jobs on CareerBuilder.com - Jobs & Job Search ...
Many prisoners do not receive adequate health care upon their release, a problem that was the focal point of an event entitled Incarceration, Disparities and Health in America in the Age of Health Care Reform held Friday in the Perry and Marty Granoff Center for the Creative Arts.
The symposium featured presentations on the realities former prisoners face accessing health care, followed by a question-and-answer session with panelists. With an audience of about 70 people, it was the first of a four-part series on prisoner health.
The event began with a presentation by Sol Rodriguez, executive director of the Rhode Island-based nonprofit OpenDoors. OpenDoors focuses on reintroducing former prisoners into the community upon their release, helping them attain housing, health care and employment.
The enactment of the Affordable Care Act has made the process of receiving health care more manageable for formerly incarcerated individuals, but there are still significant obstacles for them, Rodriguez said. Many prisoners who are battling substance abuse and mental health problems are met with resistance when they try to seek treatment outside of prison, she added. Without access to the proper medication they were receiving when incarcerated, many individuals wind up back in jail.
OpenDoors is working with prisoners to give them the best possible preparation for release, Rodriguez said in her presentation.
The benefits of the program to prisoners still surprise her sometimes, Rodriguez said. It amazes me how much they change, how much more confident they are, how engaged they are with their lives, she said of the prisoners involved.
Rodriguezs talk was followed by a presentation by Emily Wang, assistant professor at the Yale School of Medicine and co-founder of the Transitions Clinic Network. The Transitions Clinic is specifically designed for people coming out of the prison system. Its goals are to provide quick access to health care for recently released individuals, bring in employees who have been incarcerated in the past to work with the newly released individuals, and partner with organizations like OpenDoors to make the transition out of prison as easy as possible, she said.
With Medicaid expansion having come into effect Jan. 1, there isnt a better time to do (the event), said Bradley Brockmann 76, director of the Universitys Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights and organizer of the symposium.
There hasnt been any focus that we can see that highlights the fact that simply handing individuals a Medicaid card is not enough, he said, which is why the symposium was formed. More than 60 percent of the prison populace is substance-dependent or substance-abusing, and 44 percent of federal prisoners have histories of mental health problems, Brockmann said.
That was really phenomenal to hear so many perspectives that you dont normally hear, David Katzevich 16 said of the event. People have got to take action, raise it as an issue, and take political action if you can I have been motivated to, absolutely.
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Panel discusses lack of health care options for formerly incarcerated
Photo by: Robin Scholz/The News-Gazette
Dr. Patch Adams, right, and Susan Parenti, a composer who's active in School for Designing a Society, enter the Art Theater Co-op in Champaign for the opening of "Health Care in All the Wrong Places."
Susan Parenti doesn't cover the Affordable Care Act in her new feature-length movie about the health care system.
Yet "Obamacare" came up as a topic after the premiere of "Health Care in All the Wrong Places" on Tuesday evening before a nearly full house at the Art Theater Co-op in Champaign.
Parenti wrote the script three years ago and doesn't plan to update it.
"Why not? The Affordable Care Act doesn't change the health care system it changes the degree of access we have to that system," she told me the day after the screening.
"Health care will still be treated as a scarce commodity and be run for the sake of profit. And many of the unfortunate things that happen as a consequence of that structure will still be place under the Affordable Care Act."
Parenti's friend, Dr. Patch Adams, who appears in her movie, shot mainly in Champaign-Urbana with local actors, said Obamacare is better than what Americans have had since health care became "corporatized" in the late 1970s.
Medical care, though, remains "vulgarly expensive" and unequal, with rich people receiving better services than the poor and minorities, Adams said.
"Even though we're getting closer to a system that cares for more people, I would not be surprised if we get more hospitals for wealthy people and fewer hospitals for people with affordable policies," he said at the Art.
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The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, continues to be the dominant variable in the health care industry, locally and nationwide.
Health care demand softened last year, partly from a mild winter with fewer admissions, partly from changes in the market and partly from the impending arrival of the Affordable Care Act, said Gene Diamond, Franciscan Alliance Northern Indiana Region CEO.
In anticipation of the new health care law, some employers changed their insurance coverage for employees, which led to higher co-pays, higher deductibles and higher out-of-pocket costs, Diamond said.
People became more responsible for their health care as a result.
"We saw the demand rather precipitously decline for inpatient services as well as outpatient services," he said.
The softened demand impacted hiring.
"The first time in my career my 35-year career as an executive in health care in December, health care employment actually went down," he said.
Diamond expects health care in Northwest Indiana to remain flat over the next six months.
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Health Care Crisis - 7 million Canadian #39;s at risk - YouTube
Mental illness indirectly affects all Canadians at some time through a family member, friend or colleague. 20% of Canadians will personally experience a ment...
By: JCVdude
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Health Care Crisis - 7 million Canadian's at risk - YouTube - Video
President Obama Draws Laughs At 2014 SOTU After Reminding Congress He #39;s #39;Fixing #39; Health Care
President Barack Obama drew laughs from the assembled members of Congress on Tuesday night during the State of the Union address when he brought up the subje...
By: RocketNews
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President Obama Draws Laughs At 2014 SOTU After Reminding Congress He's 'Fixing' Health Care - Video
Senator Blunt Highlights Health Care Solutions To Replace ObamaCare 1/29/14
On Wednesday, January 29, 2014, U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.) highlighted several common-sense health care solutions to replace ObamaCare.
By: SenatorBlunt
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Senator Blunt Highlights Health Care Solutions To Replace ObamaCare 1/29/14 - Video
Gov. to sign emergency health care bill
The governor #39;s emergency bill allows those who couldn #39;t enroll in Maryland #39;s health benefit exchange to temporarily participate in the state #39;s high-risk heal...
By: WBAL-TV 11 Baltimore
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