Happy Halloween 2013

 

Happy Halloween to all you guys! Stay Safe and Party Hard!

Infographics on Why Others Can't Keep Their Old Insurance Plans

Check out the Infographics done by NYTimes, which explains why some people can't keep their insurance plans. It is very detailed and easy to comprehend. President Barrack Obama promised that people can keep their old insurance plan under the Obamacare, however the truth is most need to buy a new plan.

Obamacare website Utter Failure

Obamacare website has been a total disappointment from start. When healthcare.gov was opened to public on October 1, 2013 it crashed and the government blamed the overwhelming visitors of the site. It's now fixed, but there are new unresolved problems particularly in name registration, eligibility questions and in the most important step of buying insurance. It led users to cryptic error messages or enduring long waits when trying to sign up.

The number of Obamacare website problems since the website opened has been deeply embarrassing for the White House. The drawbacks have called into question whether the Obama administration is capable of implementing the complex policy they seems to be unaware of the scope of the problems when the exchange sites opened.

Even Obama acknowledges problems:

“Nobody is madder than me about the fact that the website is not working as well as it should, which means it’s gonna get fixed,” Obama said.

He even turn to an ex-adviser Jeffrey Zients, he is the former acting director of the White House budget office.

A person close to the project said that "No way it was properly tested before it went live" since the website is full of bugs and junk computer codes.

Thousand of Users are Visiting Online insurance Exchanges

FRANKFORT, KY. - More than 160,000 users have visited the kynect.ky.gov to check and review information about health insurance coverage. The online visitors also have viewed more than 2.6 million web pages on kynect since Kentucky launched the health benefit exchange last Tuesday.

Gov. Steve Beshear's office said in a news release Monday that more than 6,080 individuals and/or families are now enrolled in new affordable health care coverage that will go into effect on Jan. 1.

As of 4pm Monday, 142,242 people had completed the pre-screening process to determine if they qualify for subsidies and discounts for insurance policies or to determine if they qualify for Medicaid.

About 19,372 applications for health care coverage have been started and 12,955 are now completed.

Health Insurance Marketplace or Exchanges now Open

Insurance Marketplace or Exchanges is now open. Affordable Care Act or the Obamacare gives you only two choices pay a penalty or buy health insurance. The insurance marketplaces are for those who are not insured and those who buy their own insurance (not provided by the employer).

If you already have insurance from work or through Medicare you don't need this exchanges. The Open Enrollment is from October 1, 2013 and closes on March 31, 2014.

Here are the points to remember:

• the Coverage purchased through the marketplace starts as soon as January 1, 2014. Because many of ObamaCare's benefits, rights and protections will take effect on 2014.

• There are three types of cost assistance available through marketplaces: Advanced premium tax credits which lower your monthly premium costs, cost sharing subsidies which lower your out-of-pocket costs for copays, coinsurance and deductibles, and Medicaid. Learn more about ObamaCare Cost Assistance.

• Cost assistance through the marketplace is available to Americans who make less than 400% of the Federal Poverty Level ($45,960 for an individual $94,200 for a family of four).

• The 2013 Federal Poverty Guidelines are used to determine cost assistance on the marketplace.

• Young adults can now stay on their parents health insurance plans until they are 26.

• Plans are presented in four categories – bronze, silver, gold, and platinum – to make comparing them easier.

The Insurance plans that are in the Marketplace are offered by private companies. They cover the same core set of benefits called essential health benefits. Insurance companies cannnot turn you away or charge you more for preexisting medical condition or illness. They must cover treatments for these conditions. Plans can't charge women more than men for the same plan. Many preventive services are covered at no cost to you. However, despite of these benefits many still decided to opt out.

The Opt Out Penalty is $95 fine per adult; $47.50 penalty per child; and a maximum of $235, per family. That, or 1% of your adjusted gross income; whichever is greater. It is also set to increase yearly. The penalty is still much cheaper than forking out  $300-$500 a month for insurance.

U.S. Companies that Offers Pet Insurance as Benefits

Some U.S. Companies now offer pet insurance as a benefit to their employees. Fortune 500 companies that offer pet insurance as a benefit are Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Amazon (AMZN), Procter & Gamble (PG) and Ford Motor (F). Others companies are Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) and Staples (SPLS).

Chipotle began offering the benefit in 2002. Covering one pet costs $10 to $57 a month, depending on coverage plans and deductible. But only about 100 of the eatery chain's 3,000 eligible employees get the insurance because its mostly younger employees have other financial priorities.

Fed may send mortgage rates higher

Experts in housing markets are closlyh monitoring the Federal Reserve as they nervously await word on whether the agency will start pulling back on its controversial stimulus program, known as quantitative easing according to a report on CCN.

The Fed has been buying $85 billion in mortgage-backed securities and Treasury bonds a month to help support the economy since September last year. The purchases have been credited for the historically low mortgage rates seen this year, which ultimately helped stimulate home sales and boost prices.

Doug Duncan, chief economist for Fannie Mae said that the Fed is expected to announce that it will scale back on its bond-buying program which is expected to cause rates to slowly rise.

The mortgage market has already factored in a modest cutback in the Fed's purchases. Mortgage rates have risen 1.2 percentage points since May when Fed chairman Ben Bernanke mentioned the possibility of reducing the agency's bond-buying program. In June, he noted that the tapering could begin as early as September, if the economic recovery continued on course.

However, even if the Fed started cutting back on its bond purchases this month, many don't expect the cuts to be sizable. "The recovery has been weaker the past couple of months than what the Fed had been talking about," said Duncan. "It would be a surprise if they act aggressively."

Source CNN Money