Doctors and other health care service providers BILL insurance companies what they would LIKE to be reimbursed. However, the proof of what insurance companies actually pay is seen on the Explanation of Benefits (EOB). In most cases, the payment is 50, 60 or 70% less than what the provider has billed. Yes, some physicians (and the occasional hospital or laboratory) will adjust their bills for the uninsured, but know that this price is rarely less than what the insurance company had contracted to pay.
My husband is a small business owner, and we have an HSA compatible High-deductible PPO. This plan works as insurance is supposed to. We pay a fee to be covered should the unthinkable occur, and in the meantime, we benefit from the insurance companies pre-negotiated rates for services. If we have a healthy year, we save the amount in our HSA and pay premiums for the security insurance provides. If we find that we're ill or injury prone, we shell out the additional up to our deductible (and with the insurance company's fee schedule, we usually don't meet the deductible, even with three children!) But even with a year when we might meet the deductible, we're still not spending close to as much as a group plan's premiums would cost us!
These plans are going to be how more and more families have portable, affordable health insurance.
Money matters sour the heart, taint the jealous with even more selfishness. I enjoyed Catherine's article and took it in-the-balance. We each have our own lives and relative perspectives which aren't universal truths. We stand much to learn from each other.
The whole story is a parable. Read no more into the facts of the story than what are given. The tax brackets described may not be exactly accurate, or they might be, but they set a framework for us to think about deeper meaning. Look at the relative math. Look at how people react. Maybe the rich guy could move away; maybe he couldn't. What matters is the reaction on the last day when he is not there to support the rest of the crowd.
Make no inferences about greed or forthrightness, etc., among the characters. In the story nine guys beat up a tenth man because he had more money than the rest of them. Now, suppose he was a mean boss: does that justify a crime like assault and battery?
What we are seeing is an internet Rorschach test. People get to expound on a simple story with their own interpretations of the world. #14 is obviously stuck in a socialist Labor agenda of the early 20th century. The law student in #50 is hoping that he one day gets a chance to bill that much. We Americans get as much from psychoanalyzing random strangers as we do from any tax break or government benefit.
Me, technically I'm a "rich doctor" who for some reason probably won't make enough to see a tax increase under Obama's proposed tax plan. I make less in a year than the least paid major league baseball rookie. And yes, I have worked 60 to 80 hour weeks for the last 25 years to maintain a tenuous toe hold on my social standing. Somehow I think my charitable work (i.e. don't charge those who really can't afford to have seen me) is doing more for society than buying $59 beers. Psychoanalyze that.
The price of the beer is raised to $200. $90 for the beer (national security, mail, criminal justice system (police, courts, prison), highways, healthcare, $10 to pay for the operators (government employees), $50 to pay for the guys who only paid $80 last week for $130 worth of beer, and $50 to pay for all the free beer for the guys who stold some (illegals and tax cheats)
The man paying $59 now pays $150.
The man paying $18 now pays $45.
The man paying $12 now pays $25.
The man paying $7 now pays $10.
The man paying $3 pays nothing.
The man paying $1 gets $4 back.
The four men who paid nothing get the free beer, highering preferance for the government jobs, and $6.50 back.
If I was the rich guy I'd move too. Not because I don't want to pay taxes, but because I'd rather give my money to the four men who paid nothing, and cut out the government who will spend 10% of my tax dollars to manage the program. If the jobless rate out there is on the rise, how come illegals are still trying to get over the boarder? Because there are still jobs American's aren't willing to do, not because there aren't any jobs.
With all respect, your post reveals a lack of basic understanding of economics and the ways that corporations raise money and production. Corporations raise productivity/production through investments. They get the money to make the investments through sales (sale of goods and services), sale of stock, or sale of debt (bonds). Thus the money put into "Paper investments" does in fact spur production.
I find your argument about privatization of the postal system very interesting and an angle I had not thought of before. It would be interesting to do a population distribution study to determine if this is a net outflow from the lower income. It is certainly a net outflow from the urban to the rural, as those in urban areas are clearly subsidizing the "cost" of postal services in rural area. I suspect that those in rural areas are more middle class and thus this is a net transfer of cost from the poorer classes to those better off.
My final comment is on efficiency of private charities versus the government. Any private organization is more efficient than the government. However, I agree with what I think your point is - private charities are not more EFFECTIVE - because they may not be as accessible.
I would much support a graduated rate that was a flat tax type, but graduated. Say the bottom x% pay 10%; next 15%; next 20%; next 28%; etc with no deductions. The way the tax code is now, the richest hire the best tax attorneys and find ways to "hide" their money, effectively paying less. Its the upper middle class who can't afford the best tax attorneys who end up paying the highest net tax rates.
Commercial milk powders are reported to contain, in general, very low levels of oxysterols (OS)[9]. However, compared to fresh milk (trace levels), powdered milk is higher in oxysterols (oxidized cholesterol), up to 30μg/g, yet significantly lower than powdered eggs (200μg/g)[10]. The OS free radicals have been suspected of being initiators of atherosclerotic plaques[11
However it simply will not take off while publishers keep trying to do the RIAA/MPAA trick of overcharging for them.
Let me explain.
The cost of a book (cover price) stems from a variety of costs associated with publication. The least of all costs is the royalties cost - the new author is typically lucky to get a few cents on a dollar for a new book, while more seasoned authors can get more.
The rest of the cost is wrapped up in publication, syndication, advertisation (is that even a word??) - and other necessary costs. Cut out all the need for print (this cuts a big swath through the costs), and you immediately reduce the cost to the publisher.
eBooks are currently more than half the price of a printed softcover book. This does not sustain itself, and is not value for money. Add the fact that you can simply get the book from the library for free.. you get the picture.
To date, I refuse to buy ebooks based on that simple problem. I'll loan them from a library, heck I'll buy them in print from a secondhand shop before I buy an ebook.
Personally, the ebook version should come free with the hardcopy; but that's unlikely to happen. The next best thing is making ebooks WORTH buying. Sell the at 1/5 of the cost if you buy 10 for example - would be worth my while; and instead of borrowing the book at the libraries I'd start buying them.
My husbands travels the majority of the year as well, which is one reason why we own a ton of books instead of getting them from the library. The upside to this arrangement is at least I get a chance to get my hands on the books once he's home (and luckily we have similar tastes). With music, we can share our song libraries.
Does anyone know if one Kindle user can share his book or subscription with another Kindle user? If we can't, it might mean we would actually pay *more* for reading materials. . .
You're angry that Target allows their employees to have freedom to express their religious beliefs. I would say Freedom of Religion is a must and respect companies who uphold this value. Even if it goes against my beliefs.
I'm having difficulty parsing this sentence: "It currently costs about $6.70 a week to have the Times delivered to your doorstep. On Kindle, it's $13.99, a savings of more than $13 a month."
I know some people who really live out the description of being a stay-at-home status symbol sort of wives.
Their husbands really make so much that they're pretty much well pampered and provided for. The seriously need not work, but they end up spending more than anything.
On those cases, yes, it's an "extreme luxury."
However, people in general should consider that NOT ALL wives who don't work are just prima donnas.
My mother for one, was a stay-at-home mom. My father did the income generating and my mother did the financial managing. She was very simple, practical frugal and disciplined about the budget and her purchases. She raised me with the practical ideology to live according to my means, and as much as possible do only with what I need and not what I want.
So I guess it really depends. If given the opportunity to be a stay-at-home mom one day, and if ever my husband will be so financially stable, I think I will not flaunt or think of my situation as some kind of luxury. I will still live simply and accordingly to what my family needs.
- The above sites provide books in standard electronic formats: text, pdf, ogg vorbis and mp3.
- I've not looked at Kindle since the early announcement. The first press releases didn't indicate that text, PDF or mp3/ogg format would usable on the Kindle.
- If Kindle has been made usable by adding these, then Kindle may be worthwhile.
- The Gutenberg/Librivox books are great classic literature. Their offerings are in the public domain (no copyright). If modern stuff is you taste, little will be available through Gutenberg/Librivox.
- Baen is a publisher with some web savvy. The recognize the complementary nature of Web versus books. They appear to realize most readers would like to taste via the web/ebooks, but will still buy hard copy of favorites.
What? This isn't propaganda. This is how our tax system works. Who said it was from the perspective of the right wing. It is an objective perspective that accurately lays out in a broad generality of the income the tax structure in the US.
Did anyone else notice that Oprah kept calling it a "KENdile."Oprah, it's a KINdile." She should figure out how to properly pronounce a product she's endorsing.
My office pays for my cell phone, but my wife is on her own. She hardly uses any minutes but when she does use the phone it's extremely handy, enough to justify the cost. Net10 has the absolute best deal anywhere for minimal users: $16.05 after taxes gets us 150 minutes per month, and she still hasn't used up the introductory 300 minutes. It's prepaid BUT you can sign up for Easy Minutes which automatically deducts from your CC and adds the minutes to your card every month. Not bad!
We even ported our old cell number, but be forewarned: These people are very low tech; porting from AT&T to Net10 took almost a week, while porting my phone from AT&T to Sprint at the same time took just 30 minutes. Customer no-service is so-so but improves if you have a friend who speaks Spanish ;-) Net10 uses the high-quality GSM network along with AT&T/T-Mobile, etc.
Other prepaid services have daily fees or lower-cost minutes but monthly fees. For the amount she uses, Net10 is super.
One downside to Net10 is calls to voicemail and nights+weekend are not free.
If you use more than 150 minutes, it may be time to consider one of the unlimited plans. We have a few in our area such as MetroPCS. I can't speak for their quality.
Hope that helps! Since my office pays for my phone, our monthly bill is ONLY $16.05 after taxes. WOW!
IF YOUR TIME IS IMPORTANT TO YOU, NEVER USE CAPITAL ONE CREDIT CARD. They are the worst in the industry! For the 4th or 5th time in a few months, they have put a hold on my credit card for no reason. It is so embarrasing! I am waiting in line to pay the cashier at a supermarket and the card gets declined. I know that there is plenty of money on the card, so I called the customer service number. Guess what? I am transferred to India, where I could barely understand the customer rep's thick Indian accent. I had to repeat my card number several times, then she argues that the number I gave is not a legitimate number. I said, "What?!" I am reading the card that you, guys issued me and I have been using this same card for years. Then, she puts me on hold for several minutes. Upon her return, I remind her that I am still holding up the line at the supermarket and people are starting to glare at me like it's my fault that my credit card is having problems. The service rep asks me to repeat the credit card number 2 more times, puts me on hold for 3 more minutes and then says that there is no hold on the card and for the cashier to try to run it again. For the 4th time, the store cashier runs the card and again, the computer screen says that the card is declined. I tell the service rep this, and she still insists that it is not on their end, but on the store's end. The cashier runs the card 2 more times. Same thing. I ask the service rep to be transferred to a supervisor and she says in "an-i-don't-give-a-crap" voice, "I can't transfer you until I exhaust all the troubleshooting possibilities. What are the last 3 digits on the back of your card?" I give her the number and she says, "That is an invalid code". Again, I shriek, '"What?! I am simply reading the back of my card and I have used this code and this card for years? What is going on?" She says (amused), "Hold the line..." Again, I was on hold for several minutes, then she comes back on the line and said, "I don't see any problem on the card. Run the card again... Maybe this time it will work." I ask the cashier (who at this time, is now glaring at ME), to run the card one last time. Guess what? Card is still declined and the phone goes dead! Unbelievable!
Doctors and other health care service providers BILL insurance companies what they would LIKE to be reimbursed. However, the proof of what insurance companies actually pay is seen on the Explanation of Benefits (EOB). In most cases, the payment is 50, 60 or 70% less than what the provider has billed. Yes, some physicians (and the occasional hospital or laboratory) will adjust their bills for the uninsured, but know that this price is rarely less than what the insurance company had contracted to pay.
My husband is a small business owner, and we have an HSA compatible High-deductible PPO. This plan works as insurance is supposed to. We pay a fee to be covered should the unthinkable occur, and in the meantime, we benefit from the insurance companies pre-negotiated rates for services. If we have a healthy year, we save the amount in our HSA and pay premiums for the security insurance provides. If we find that we're ill or injury prone, we shell out the additional up to our deductible (and with the insurance company's fee schedule, we usually don't meet the deductible, even with three children!) But even with a year when we might meet the deductible, we're still not spending close to as much as a group plan's premiums would cost us!
These plans are going to be how more and more families have portable, affordable health insurance.
We have a great balance in the U.S....We may have the largest debt, but we still have the best and most missiles so it all balances out. Sorry
Cable is a big one for me. I'm home all day, every day. And my husband has been lately, too, as he tries to figure out what his next career will be.
And I need good internet speed for my part-time work at home.
Even so, we pay under $90 for both combined.
Money matters sour the heart, taint the jealous with even more selfishness. I enjoyed Catherine's article and took it in-the-balance. We each have our own lives and relative perspectives which aren't universal truths. We stand much to learn from each other.
The whole story is a parable. Read no more into the facts of the story than what are given. The tax brackets described may not be exactly accurate, or they might be, but they set a framework for us to think about deeper meaning. Look at the relative math. Look at how people react. Maybe the rich guy could move away; maybe he couldn't. What matters is the reaction on the last day when he is not there to support the rest of the crowd.
Make no inferences about greed or forthrightness, etc., among the characters. In the story nine guys beat up a tenth man because he had more money than the rest of them. Now, suppose he was a mean boss: does that justify a crime like assault and battery?
What we are seeing is an internet Rorschach test. People get to expound on a simple story with their own interpretations of the world. #14 is obviously stuck in a socialist Labor agenda of the early 20th century. The law student in #50 is hoping that he one day gets a chance to bill that much. We Americans get as much from psychoanalyzing random strangers as we do from any tax break or government benefit.
Me, technically I'm a "rich doctor" who for some reason probably won't make enough to see a tax increase under Obama's proposed tax plan. I make less in a year than the least paid major league baseball rookie. And yes, I have worked 60 to 80 hour weeks for the last 25 years to maintain a tenuous toe hold on my social standing. Somehow I think my charitable work (i.e. don't charge those who really can't afford to have seen me) is doing more for society than buying $59 beers. Psychoanalyze that.
Sexually transmitted debt® is a registered trade mark of VSJ Enterprises, LLC.
The price of the beer is raised to $200. $90 for the beer (national security, mail, criminal justice system (police, courts, prison), highways, healthcare, $10 to pay for the operators (government employees), $50 to pay for the guys who only paid $80 last week for $130 worth of beer, and $50 to pay for all the free beer for the guys who stold some (illegals and tax cheats)
The man paying $59 now pays $150.
The man paying $18 now pays $45.
The man paying $12 now pays $25.
The man paying $7 now pays $10.
The man paying $3 pays nothing.
The man paying $1 gets $4 back.
The four men who paid nothing get the free beer, highering preferance for the government jobs, and $6.50 back.
If I was the rich guy I'd move too. Not because I don't want to pay taxes, but because I'd rather give my money to the four men who paid nothing, and cut out the government who will spend 10% of my tax dollars to manage the program. If the jobless rate out there is on the rise, how come illegals are still trying to get over the boarder? Because there are still jobs American's aren't willing to do, not because there aren't any jobs.
Golden Avenue - $90,000 cash
Pier 6, Detriot, 12:00 P.M. November 1st
i need pieces please help! I have a lot of pieces!
Matt,
With all respect, your post reveals a lack of basic understanding of economics and the ways that corporations raise money and production. Corporations raise productivity/production through investments. They get the money to make the investments through sales (sale of goods and services), sale of stock, or sale of debt (bonds). Thus the money put into "Paper investments" does in fact spur production.
I find your argument about privatization of the postal system very interesting and an angle I had not thought of before. It would be interesting to do a population distribution study to determine if this is a net outflow from the lower income. It is certainly a net outflow from the urban to the rural, as those in urban areas are clearly subsidizing the "cost" of postal services in rural area. I suspect that those in rural areas are more middle class and thus this is a net transfer of cost from the poorer classes to those better off.
My final comment is on efficiency of private charities versus the government. Any private organization is more efficient than the government. However, I agree with what I think your point is - private charities are not more EFFECTIVE - because they may not be as accessible.
I would much support a graduated rate that was a flat tax type, but graduated. Say the bottom x% pay 10%; next 15%; next 20%; next 28%; etc with no deductions. The way the tax code is now, the richest hire the best tax attorneys and find ways to "hide" their money, effectively paying less. Its the upper middle class who can't afford the best tax attorneys who end up paying the highest net tax rates.
just learned this about powder milk, previously commented on above
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powdered_milk
Oxysterols
Commercial milk powders are reported to contain, in general, very low levels of oxysterols (OS)[9]. However, compared to fresh milk (trace levels), powdered milk is higher in oxysterols (oxidized cholesterol), up to 30μg/g, yet significantly lower than powdered eggs (200μg/g)[10]. The OS free radicals have been suspected of being initiators of atherosclerotic plaques[11
See what I said? Maybe AmyB can take note.
If you don't help out the people who made some bad decisions, some honest bad mistakes, like Ridenour, you'll end up with people thinking like Guest.
hey peta you should love McDonalds isnt peta an abbreviation for People Eating Tasty Animals.......
However it simply will not take off while publishers keep trying to do the RIAA/MPAA trick of overcharging for them.
Let me explain.
The cost of a book (cover price) stems from a variety of costs associated with publication. The least of all costs is the royalties cost - the new author is typically lucky to get a few cents on a dollar for a new book, while more seasoned authors can get more.
The rest of the cost is wrapped up in publication, syndication, advertisation (is that even a word??) - and other necessary costs. Cut out all the need for print (this cuts a big swath through the costs), and you immediately reduce the cost to the publisher.
eBooks are currently more than half the price of a printed softcover book. This does not sustain itself, and is not value for money. Add the fact that you can simply get the book from the library for free.. you get the picture.
To date, I refuse to buy ebooks based on that simple problem. I'll loan them from a library, heck I'll buy them in print from a secondhand shop before I buy an ebook.
Personally, the ebook version should come free with the hardcopy; but that's unlikely to happen. The next best thing is making ebooks WORTH buying. Sell the at 1/5 of the cost if you buy 10 for example - would be worth my while; and instead of borrowing the book at the libraries I'd start buying them.
My husbands travels the majority of the year as well, which is one reason why we own a ton of books instead of getting them from the library. The upside to this arrangement is at least I get a chance to get my hands on the books once he's home (and luckily we have similar tastes). With music, we can share our song libraries.
Does anyone know if one Kindle user can share his book or subscription with another Kindle user? If we can't, it might mean we would actually pay *more* for reading materials. . .
You're angry that Target allows their employees to have freedom to express their religious beliefs. I would say Freedom of Religion is a must and respect companies who uphold this value. Even if it goes against my beliefs.
I'm having difficulty parsing this sentence: "It currently costs about $6.70 a week to have the Times delivered to your doorstep. On Kindle, it's $13.99, a savings of more than $13 a month."
Huh?
It depends.
I know some people who really live out the description of being a stay-at-home status symbol sort of wives.
Their husbands really make so much that they're pretty much well pampered and provided for. The seriously need not work, but they end up spending more than anything.
On those cases, yes, it's an "extreme luxury."
However, people in general should consider that NOT ALL wives who don't work are just prima donnas.
My mother for one, was a stay-at-home mom. My father did the income generating and my mother did the financial managing. She was very simple, practical frugal and disciplined about the budget and her purchases. She raised me with the practical ideology to live according to my means, and as much as possible do only with what I need and not what I want.
So I guess it really depends. If given the opportunity to be a stay-at-home mom one day, and if ever my husband will be so financially stable, I think I will not flaunt or think of my situation as some kind of luxury. I will still live simply and accordingly to what my family needs.
- Several sources exist for free books.
Etexts (text format): http://www.gutenberg.org/
Audio books(mp3 & ogg vorbis): http://librivox.org/
SciFi: http://www.baen.com/
- The above sites provide books in standard electronic formats: text, pdf, ogg vorbis and mp3.
- I've not looked at Kindle since the early announcement. The first press releases didn't indicate that text, PDF or mp3/ogg format would usable on the Kindle.
- If Kindle has been made usable by adding these, then Kindle may be worthwhile.
- The Gutenberg/Librivox books are great classic literature. Their offerings are in the public domain (no copyright). If modern stuff is you taste, little will be available through Gutenberg/Librivox.
- Baen is a publisher with some web savvy. The recognize the complementary nature of Web versus books. They appear to realize most readers would like to taste via the web/ebooks, but will still buy hard copy of favorites.
What? This isn't propaganda. This is how our tax system works. Who said it was from the perspective of the right wing. It is an objective perspective that accurately lays out in a broad generality of the income the tax structure in the US.
There has been no point to being a saver over the last decade or more, at least here in the U.S.
Government policy has kept savings rates low because they wanted to subsidize borrowers.
If you did save, you saw the purchasing power parity of your savings cut nearly in half as the dollar devalued.
Deflation may occur in "toys" like consumer goods (electronics, vehicles, stainless-steel appliances)
But not in anything I want to buy like housing.
Few are willing to admit their house's value is no more than it was a decade ago, so most (non-distressed) "for sale" houses - don't.
While there has been huge growth in the money supply, little is being used (near zero velocity).
That will change, however, resulting in inflation at least as bad as the 1970s, if not close to South American levels.
Did anyone else notice that Oprah kept calling it a "KENdile."Oprah, it's a KINdile." She should figure out how to properly pronounce a product she's endorsing.
My office pays for my cell phone, but my wife is on her own. She hardly uses any minutes but when she does use the phone it's extremely handy, enough to justify the cost. Net10 has the absolute best deal anywhere for minimal users: $16.05 after taxes gets us 150 minutes per month, and she still hasn't used up the introductory 300 minutes. It's prepaid BUT you can sign up for Easy Minutes which automatically deducts from your CC and adds the minutes to your card every month. Not bad!
We even ported our old cell number, but be forewarned: These people are very low tech; porting from AT&T to Net10 took almost a week, while porting my phone from AT&T to Sprint at the same time took just 30 minutes. Customer no-service is so-so but improves if you have a friend who speaks Spanish ;-) Net10 uses the high-quality GSM network along with AT&T/T-Mobile, etc.
Other prepaid services have daily fees or lower-cost minutes but monthly fees. For the amount she uses, Net10 is super.
One downside to Net10 is calls to voicemail and nights+weekend are not free.
If you use more than 150 minutes, it may be time to consider one of the unlimited plans. We have a few in our area such as MetroPCS. I can't speak for their quality.
Hope that helps! Since my office pays for my phone, our monthly bill is ONLY $16.05 after taxes. WOW!
the others are easy to get
IF YOUR TIME IS IMPORTANT TO YOU, NEVER USE CAPITAL ONE CREDIT CARD. They are the worst in the industry! For the 4th or 5th time in a few months, they have put a hold on my credit card for no reason. It is so embarrasing! I am waiting in line to pay the cashier at a supermarket and the card gets declined. I know that there is plenty of money on the card, so I called the customer service number. Guess what? I am transferred to India, where I could barely understand the customer rep's thick Indian accent. I had to repeat my card number several times, then she argues that the number I gave is not a legitimate number. I said, "What?!" I am reading the card that you, guys issued me and I have been using this same card for years. Then, she puts me on hold for several minutes. Upon her return, I remind her that I am still holding up the line at the supermarket and people are starting to glare at me like it's my fault that my credit card is having problems. The service rep asks me to repeat the credit card number 2 more times, puts me on hold for 3 more minutes and then says that there is no hold on the card and for the cashier to try to run it again. For the 4th time, the store cashier runs the card and again, the computer screen says that the card is declined. I tell the service rep this, and she still insists that it is not on their end, but on the store's end. The cashier runs the card 2 more times. Same thing. I ask the service rep to be transferred to a supervisor and she says in "an-i-don't-give-a-crap" voice, "I can't transfer you until I exhaust all the troubleshooting possibilities. What are the last 3 digits on the back of your card?" I give her the number and she says, "That is an invalid code". Again, I shriek, '"What?! I am simply reading the back of my card and I have used this code and this card for years? What is going on?" She says (amused), "Hold the line..." Again, I was on hold for several minutes, then she comes back on the line and said, "I don't see any problem on the card. Run the card again... Maybe this time it will work." I ask the cashier (who at this time, is now glaring at ME), to run the card one last time. Guess what? Card is still declined and the phone goes dead! Unbelievable!