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As we grow older, our responsibilities add up. Having a health insurance should be one of the priorities that we should think of. By the time you are old enough to fend for yourself, you are then required to get an insurance. However, many young adults are still confused on its importance. 1. It may be Illegal When you are living in the United States, Affordable Care Act (ACA) compels you to purchase insurance. Going without insurance for three months would force you to pay a penalty of $325 or 2% of your monthly income, whichever is higher. In developing countries, uninsured individuals have the option to purchase from private companies but laws are already drafted for completion. In cities like Jakarta, Indonesia and Bangkok, Thailand, more than half of their unemployed population goes uninsured. 2. If you are a full-time employee, your employer should provide you with insurance Most companies require employees work for set period before benefits can be provided. It usually takes 3-6 months in a probationary period before regularization, by which insurance is given. It is in any law in any states and government to mandate to every employer to provide employee benefits. 3. Your parents may still be able to cover you Individuals under the age of 26 can still be listed under their parents' coverage. They can still cover even a modest premium cost. 4. You can do it alone If you are not insured under your parents' plan or purchasing insurance under your employer is not an option, you have the choice to purchase your own insurance from trusted private companies. If you are buying online, just make sure you

The U.S. health care system has changed significantly since the passage of the Affordable Care Act. The federal law introduced many changes to the insurance space and health care market and helped change the way that people shop for health insurance coverage. With the launch of insurance exchanges, new marketplaces were opened up to consumers, but these exchanges also represented a promising opportunity for scammers that are looking to exploit a person's private information. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission recently issued a warning about the growing prevalence of insurance scams, and there are some things that people can do to protect themselves and their information when shopping for insurance coverage. Be Careful About What You Share Online Many insurance scams seek to collect personal information through fraudulent websites. These sites can be designed to look official, but are merely fronts for criminal activity. Many fraudulent sites attempt to show that they represent an insurance or government agency, offering policies at discounted rates, but the policies that these sites offer are not real and exist only to collect information, such as medical records. Beware of Unsolicited Calls Sometimes, scammers prefer to take a more direct approach and will disguise themselves as insurance agents representing a reputable company or exchange. These people often attempt to call consumers and offer inexpensive insurance policies based on the information that they provide. Insurance exchanges do not randomly contact consumers and organizations promoting coverage through exchanges will never ask for personal information to be shared over the phone. Document Everything Keeping records of all salespeople you may come in contact with, as well as the names of their representative companies, could be valuable if your information is ever compromised. Information can be used for or against you, and collecting information from the agents or organizations trying to sell you

Information submitted COLUMBUS - Complications with the federal health insurance exchanges have created challenges for some consumers who have not yet received proof of their insurance coverage. As a result, many consumers are unsure if their medical treatments are covered and are unable to provide their proof of coverage. "Since open enrollment began on Oct. 1 the federal exchange has struggled to process applications and enroll consumers in coverage," Ohio Lieutenant Governor and Department of Insurance Director Mary Taylor said. "These delays are making it more difficult and confusing for consumers to use the health insurance plans they have purchased through the federal exchange." If you recently purchased a plan, but still haven't received proof of insurance from your insurance company, Taylor offers these tips. Contact the Company The first thing you should do is contact your insurance company to verify that you do have insurance coverage. Ask your insurance company for proof of coverage, such as an insurance card or identification numbers. Take detailed notes of conversations and include the representatives names, and date and time they took place. Keep copies of written communication you received from your insurance company such as emails or letters. You may need these materials later. You should also verify that you have paid your first premium on time. Some insurers have permitted late payments for coverage that is retroactively effective to Jan. 1. Ask your insurer for their deadline and keep any records that can serve as proof of payment. If you are about to buy coverage from the federal exchange, print any paperwork or confirmations that you receive during the enrollment process. Payment Options

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Retiring overseas may seem like a fabulous idea, but the quality of health care often has post 50s thinking twice before making a move abroad. But they needn't worry.Live and Invest Overseas, an online publication devoted to helping those interested in living abroad, has a list of the eight best places to retire for quality health care. (They also published a list of the 21 best places to retire in 2013 earlier this year.)

Westhill Consulting - Experimental Melanoma Vaccine Responds Positively Experimental Melanoma Vaccine Responds Positively One day late-stage skin cancer may be treated by 'Personalized immunotherapy' Researchers report a finding shows promise for personalized skin cancer treatment since six of seven advanced melanoma patients had a positive response to an experimental vaccine According to the investigators at the Washington University School of Medicine in St.

WEDNESDAY, May 7, 2014 (Health Day News) - there will be almost twice as many elderly Americans in 2050 as there are now, posing serious issues for the nation's health care system, according to two U.S. Census Bureau reports released Tuesday. "The United States is projected to age significantly over this period, with 20 percent of its population age 65 and over by 2030," Jennifer Ortman, chief of the Population Projections Branch at the census bureau, said in an agency news release. The number of people aged 65 and older is projected to reach 83.7 million by 2050, compared with 43.1 million in 2012, the bureau reported. This sharp rise is due to aging baby boomers, which were born between 1946 and 1964 and began turning 65 in 2011. An aging population "will have implications for health care services and providers, national and local policymakers," Ortman added. She said businesses will also have to adapt to meet new demands as a rising number of elderly influences both the "family structure and the American landscape." Baby boomer-influenced growth in health-care related industries began a few years ago, the agency said. According to the census bureau, there were about 819,000 health and social assistance-related facilities and businesses in 2011 - a 20 percent jump from 2007.

Wearable Technology: The Coming Revolution in  Healthcare The year 2014 may well go down as the year of wearable technology. The impact of wearables is already being felt in education, communication, navigating, and entertainment; but perhaps the greatest potential lies in healthcare. Wearable technology has started to revolutionize healthcare by assisting doctors in the operating room and providing real time access to electronic health records. The full potential of wearable technology in healthcare, though, goes well beyond directly assisting doctors. Patients can now continuously monitor their own health. At the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Sony, LG and Garmin introduced devices that track everything from heart rate and blood pressure to a patient's O2 saturation. By 2018, the overall number of wearable devices shipped to consumers is expected to reach 130 million. With such acceptance on the part of the public, wearables are perhaps the perfect application for healthcare.

Does health insurance increase your lifespan? Felue Chang, who is newly insured under an insurance plan through the Affordable Care Act, receives a checkup from Dr. Peria Del Pino-White at the South Broward Community Health Services clinic on April 15 in Hollywood, Fla. The mortality rate in Massachusetts declined substantially in the four years after the state enacted a law in 2006 mandating universal health care coverage, providing the model for the Affordable Care Act. In a study released last week, Harvard School of Public Health professors Benjamin Sommers, Sharon Long and Katherine Baicker conclude that "health reform in Massachusetts was associated with a significant decrease in all-cause mortality." The authors caution that their conclusions, published in Annals of Internal Medicine, may not apply to all states, and other studies have shown little correlation between having insurance and living longer. Nevertheless, the Harvard study adds to a growing body of evidence that having health insurance increases a person's life expectancy.

A 27-year-old in Jackson pays $336 a month for the second-cheapest silver health plan on Mississippi's s federally run insurance marketplace. That is more than twice as much as the $154 a 27-year-old in Nashville would pay for the same type of policy, and the $138 for a similar person in Tucson. Across all 34 insurance marketplaces run by the federal government, the average is $287, about 25 percent cheaper. The reason for the higher prices in some markets? Paltry competition, say Leemore Dafny and Christopher Ody from Northwestern University, and Jonathan Gruber of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Jackson has only two insurers on the marketplace: Humana and Centene. By contrast, four insurance companies slug it out on Nashville's exchange. In Tucson, there are eight. Jackson's over-the-top premiums underscore one of the least-heralded shortcomings of the rollout of the Affordable Care Act: the scarcity of insurers on health plan exchanges, which is driving up the price of policies across the country. The research by Ms. Dafny, Mr. Gruber and Mr. Ody, to be published by the National Bureau of Economic Research next week, concludes that premiums on the exchanges are 11 percent higher than they would be if all the health insurance companies that sell policies in each state had participated in the new markets for health plans. More competition not only would lower premiums, but would also save the federal government money. It would spend $1.7 billion less in subsidies to low- and middle-income Americans buying policies on the health care insurance exchanges. "Half of the population in the states with health exchanges facilitated by the federal government is served by three insurers or fewer," Ms. Dafny said. "To have competition on the exchanges you need competitors." The findings are somewhat perplexing, though. By law, 80 to 85 percent of premiums must be devoted to medical spending. Insurers don't have particularly large profit margin

When the subject of health insurance is discussed someone raises the argument that because Medicare or Medicaid are government programs, they are subject to fraud. This is usually an objection from politicians who support Free Enterprise and fear Big Government. Let's be honest with ourselves, any human event that involves something of value attracts fraudsters. A bank robber, a hacker, a big company submitting false claims; all fall into the category of fraud. Any googling of Medicare fraud brings up some infuriating examples. For example, health care industry giant HCA (which the New York Times notes was bought by Bain Capital in 2006) eventually settled a Medicare fraud scandal (overcharging) for more than $1.7 billion. Or, last May the feds arrested 107 health care providers, including doctors and nurses, in several cities and charged them with cheating Medicare out of $452 million. In 2010, 94 people were charged with submitting $251 million in phony claims. Fraud isn't the product of scheming low-income beneficiaries - Mitt Romney's 47 percent - it is most often committed by big companies and rich doctors, not a patient seeking a second colonoscopy. We should admit that fraud is endemic to the insurance business, whether public or private. The Coalition Against Insurance Fraud estimates that in 2006 a total of about $80 billion was lost in the United States due to insurance fraud. According to estimates by the Insurance Information Institute, insurance fraud accounts for about 10 percent of the property/casualty insurance industry's incurred losses and loss adjustment expenses. So, how to tackle any fraud. Putting more police on the streets is an acceptable way of reducing crime. Private industry is free to hire as many investigators and accountants as it takes to catch fraudsters.

The scams Phantom treatments. Dishonest medical providers will bill health insurers for expensive treatments, tests or equipment you never received - and for illnesses or injuries you don't even have. Double billing. Unethical providers may double- or triple-bill health insurers for the same treatments, hoping the insurer won't discover the overruns in the big stack of bills. Shoddy care. You might receive shoddy or substandard treatment for real and urgent medical problems. One eye doctor shined pen lights into patients' eyes and said he'd performed cataract surgery. Surgeons have used defective pacemakers and catheters during heart surgeries, which have killed patients or required more surgeries to correct the problems. Unneeded care. You might receive dangerous and even life-threatening treatment you don't need. One surgeon performed heart surgery on patients who didn't need it. Bogus insurers. Insurance agents or brokers sell you low-cost health coverage from fake insurance companies. Then they take your premiums and disappear. You're left without vital health coverage, and don't even know it until you make a claim. Identity theft. Cheaters steal your medical ID number, then use it to bill health programs tens of thousands of dollars for phantom treatment. Crooks steal your health info from dumpsters behind medical clinics, break into doctor offices and steal files, and hack into computer databases containing your records. Rolling labs. Mobile diagnostic labs give needless or fake tests or physical exams to consumers, then bill health insurers for expensive procedures. Runners. A person hired by a medical provider to drum up business trolls through neighborhoods, often low-income areas, enticing people to come to a clinic for tests. These runners will even round up children for unneeded tests and procedures.

When shopping for a plan, start with the basics of what you're looking for and what you're willing to pay for, says Michael McMillan,Executive Director of Market and Network Services at Cleveland Clinic. Then make your selection carefully so you get what you're paying for, he adds. To help you navigate enrollment - either on health insurance exchanges or elsewhere - McMillan offers the following helpful tips: 1. Know what services are covered under a selected plan Start by reviewing what each particular plan offers. For example, what does the network of care providers look like? What services are most important to you based on your particular health needs or conditions, and are they available within a plan's coverage? "This will be a period of great change, and consumers will have a lot of options they haven't had before on the exchanges," McMillan says. "It's important to be clear on what's available and what isn't." 2. Make sure your providers are part of the network When choosing plans, this is a major factor. Look at any given plan to see if your doctors and hospitals you use regularly are listed as network providers. One evolving trend has been for health plans to create narrow networks - smaller versions of their standard network that help them achieve a lower price. The bottom line: Not all providers are included in these limited networks, so it's worth your effort to check first and make sure your new plan includes the doctors and other practitioners you see regularly, McMillan says. 3. Know your out-of-pocket costs These are costs associated with the care received. They include things such as deductibles - the amount you pay before coverage kicks in - as well as copays and coinsurance on services. Out-of-pocket costs vary by the "metal" level of plan you choose on a health insurance exchange. So, for example, you would pay 40 percent of costs of coinsurance in a bronze plan, and 30 percent for silver. In some high

With the widespread of insurance nowadays, people are confused which one is legit and which one is a fraud; which can offer better and which one cost less. Choosing the right health coverage has never been easy, and the health reform law has made things more complicated. Besides sorting through differences in premiums, deductibles, and copayments, you need to consider new provisions in the law that have recently kicked in and could impact your coverage for the coming year. Westhill Insurance Consulting can help you clear away any confusion, doubts and complaints. Health insurance should cover any medical need you may have, now or in the future. Buying insurance on your own used to be riskier because many plans didn't cover important things such as prescription drugs or mental health care. Every kind of health insurance must now cover preventive care, with no deductibles, co-pays, or other types of out-of-pocket expenses. That includes Pap and cholesterol tests, mammograms, immunizations, and colonoscopies when age- and condition-appropriate. But even though you no longer have to worry about your basic health care needs being covered, you'll still have to navigate lots of other confusing choices. That's true even if you get coverage through a job, because more than half of workers have a choice of two or more types of health plans. 1. Do you want to pay for care now or later? All health plans have to come up with enough money to pay for the medical expenses of their members. You can choose to collect most of the money up front in the form of premiums. If you have a high premium, you'll pay a smaller share out of your own pocket, in the form of deductibles, co-insurance, and co-pays. Or plans can go the other way, charging smaller premiums but asking you to pay a bigger share on your own. 2. Are you OK with a small network of docs? Doctors and hospitals accept lower fees from insurers if they know they'll be part of a small, o

Trials involving human patients are crucial to the advancement of clinical science. But they're not without risk. Fortunately, insurers are willing to cover them. Westhill Insurance Consulting, one of the most trusted on-line insurance consultant that offer consumer information on reasonably priced health and medical coverage has these following things to review if you are planning to take part in a clinical test. Challenging trials One challenge for underwriters is the relatively small premium base measured against a trend for higher [insured] limits to be requested. Clinical trials policies normally have "claims made" wordings which means that insurance coverage does not automatically extend beyond the trial dates. The potential gap is where you arrange insurance, let the policy end and have no insurance for an event which may occur sometime in the future that can be attached to the clinical trial. Serious problems in clinical trials are rare, as Rossano points out. "But what I would say is that clinical trials are not without risk. The risk of a clinical trial is that the human body is very complex and in rare cases there can be unforeseen outcomes, as happened in cases like TeGenaro."