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SoCalDem
SoCalDem's Journal
SoCalDem's Journal
August 14, 2013
Learn in Health, Living and Insurance
August 13, 2013 at 6:35 PM
Six Questions About Obamacare Answered
As a late 20-something, I could very possibly be a member of the "young invincibles," a label used to describe people between 18 and 34 who do not have health insurance because they think they're, well… invincible (not to mention broke). I lucked out in that five years ago, I somehow found myself working for the largest private statewide health foundation in California, dedicated to improving the health status of underserved populations in California. The ability for communities to have solid access to health care is one of our core values. As a reflection of this value, a variety of health insurance options are provided to our employees at a very affordable rate.
As most of us know, not everyone is so lucky. Recently, at a party during a “what do you do” conversation, a freelance screenwriter (struggling to make ends meet) asked me what he could do to get health insurance being single, unemployed, and having a few health issues to tackle. He, like many of us, will be required to have health insurance pretty soon. But beyond that, we don’t know much. So I spent some time today leafing through healthcare.gov and other sites with any 411 to get the quick down-and-dirty of what we all need to know going into January 1, 2014, when most of us will be required to have health insurance.
1. Who needs to have health insurance?
All U.S. citizens and permanent residents are required to be in possession of health insurance by January 1, 2014. There is always an exception to the rule, but you probably aren’t that exception. In addition, your plan will need to meet the "Minimal Essential Coverage" requirement. That’s a lot of complicated scary words that just mean you can comply by either having:
Private plans, including employer-provided insurance (including retirement plans and COBRA
Medicaid (for low income individuals and families)
Medicare (for people 65 and up)
Employer-provided insurance (including retirement plans and COBRA)
Plans bought through the Health Insurance Marketplace (for a lot of folks who don’t have access to any of the above) .... you’ll also hear them called ‘exchanges’, and each state will have their own.
( Note... there's a difference between Marketplace health plans and private plans.)
Other plans like CHIP, TRICARE, and certain other plans for veterans and Peace Corps volunteers are also valid. Additionally, young adults up to the age of 26 can remain on their parents’ plans. For some populations, including the undocumented and foster children, things are a little different. Before the Affordable Care Act, foster children who turned 18 immediately lost healthcare when they aged out of Medicaid coverage. The Affordable Care Act will now cover them up until age 26, so long as they remain in their state of residence and were enrolled in Medicare until age 18. For the undocumented, mixed-status households (where at least one parent is undocumented, and one child is a citizen), health care will remain an uphill climb, with limited care through Emergency Medicaid. Community health centers can continue to provide non-emergency health care regardless of immigration status (more on this in a future post in our "Countdown to Coverage" series).
Aside: Our foundation has put together this 60-second video, "Dreaming of Healthcare," to shed some light on this issue.
snip for video & rest of article/questions answered
6 Questions about Obamacare - --- answered
http://www.good.is/posts/six-questions-about-obamacare-answered?utm_medium=tdg&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=readon&utm_content=6%20Questions%20About%20Obamacare%20AnsweredLearn in Health, Living and Insurance
August 13, 2013 at 6:35 PM
Six Questions About Obamacare Answered
As a late 20-something, I could very possibly be a member of the "young invincibles," a label used to describe people between 18 and 34 who do not have health insurance because they think they're, well… invincible (not to mention broke). I lucked out in that five years ago, I somehow found myself working for the largest private statewide health foundation in California, dedicated to improving the health status of underserved populations in California. The ability for communities to have solid access to health care is one of our core values. As a reflection of this value, a variety of health insurance options are provided to our employees at a very affordable rate.
As most of us know, not everyone is so lucky. Recently, at a party during a “what do you do” conversation, a freelance screenwriter (struggling to make ends meet) asked me what he could do to get health insurance being single, unemployed, and having a few health issues to tackle. He, like many of us, will be required to have health insurance pretty soon. But beyond that, we don’t know much. So I spent some time today leafing through healthcare.gov and other sites with any 411 to get the quick down-and-dirty of what we all need to know going into January 1, 2014, when most of us will be required to have health insurance.
1. Who needs to have health insurance?
All U.S. citizens and permanent residents are required to be in possession of health insurance by January 1, 2014. There is always an exception to the rule, but you probably aren’t that exception. In addition, your plan will need to meet the "Minimal Essential Coverage" requirement. That’s a lot of complicated scary words that just mean you can comply by either having:
Private plans, including employer-provided insurance (including retirement plans and COBRA
Medicaid (for low income individuals and families)
Medicare (for people 65 and up)
Employer-provided insurance (including retirement plans and COBRA)
Plans bought through the Health Insurance Marketplace (for a lot of folks who don’t have access to any of the above) .... you’ll also hear them called ‘exchanges’, and each state will have their own.
( Note... there's a difference between Marketplace health plans and private plans.)
Other plans like CHIP, TRICARE, and certain other plans for veterans and Peace Corps volunteers are also valid. Additionally, young adults up to the age of 26 can remain on their parents’ plans. For some populations, including the undocumented and foster children, things are a little different. Before the Affordable Care Act, foster children who turned 18 immediately lost healthcare when they aged out of Medicaid coverage. The Affordable Care Act will now cover them up until age 26, so long as they remain in their state of residence and were enrolled in Medicare until age 18. For the undocumented, mixed-status households (where at least one parent is undocumented, and one child is a citizen), health care will remain an uphill climb, with limited care through Emergency Medicaid. Community health centers can continue to provide non-emergency health care regardless of immigration status (more on this in a future post in our "Countdown to Coverage" series).
Aside: Our foundation has put together this 60-second video, "Dreaming of Healthcare," to shed some light on this issue.
snip for video & rest of article/questions answered
August 10, 2013
Picture of archaeologist Anya Shetler cleaning ancient stucco frieze recently unearthed in the buried Maya city of Holmul in the Peten region of Guatemala
Big Discovery
Photograph courtesy Francisco Estrada-Belli
Archaeologist Anya Shetler cleans an inscription below an ancient stucco frieze recently unearthed in the buried Maya city of Holmul in the Peten region of Guatemala. Sunlight from a tunnel entrance highlights the carved legs of a ruler sitting atop the head of a Maya mountain spirit. The enormous frieze—which measures 26 feet by nearly 7 feet (8 meters by 2 meters)—depicts human figures in a mythological setting, suggesting these may be deified rulers. It was discovered in July in the buried foundations of a rectangular pyramid in Holmul.
Maya archaeologist Francisco Estrada-Belli and his team were excavating a tunnel left open by looters when they happened upon the frieze. "The looters had come close to it, but they hadn't seen it," Estrada-Belli said. According to Estrada-Belli, the frieze is one of the best preserved examples of its kind. "It's 95 percent preserved. There's only one corner that's not well preserved because it's too close to the surface, but the rest of it isn't missing any parts," said Estrada-Belli, who is affiliated with Tulane University, Boston University, and the American Museum of Natural History and who is also a National Geographic Explorer. His excavations at Holmul were supported by the National Geographic Society/Waitt Grants Program.
Maya archaeologist Marcello Canuto agreed, calling the frieze "amazingly and beautifully preserved." "We often dream of finding things this well preserved, and Francisco did it," said Canuto, who is the director of the Middle American Research Institute at Tulane University in New Orleans; he was not involved in the project. For example, despite being mostly faded away now, traces of red, blue, green, and yellow paint are still visible on the frieze.
"It gives you an idea of how intricate and ornate these sites that we are excavating must have been during their apogee," Canuto said. "These sites must have been a feast for the eyes when they were inhabited." David Stuart, a Maya hieroglyph expert at the University of Texas at Austin, pointed out that archaeologists think most large Maya temples were probably decorated with similar sorts of designs. "But not all temples were so carefully buried and preserved like this," said Stuart, who did not participate in the project. "Also, each temple facade was slightly different and therefore unique in terms of its detail and message." (Explore an interactive map of key Maya sites.)
snip
Giant Maya Carvings Found in Guatemala
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/08/pictures/130807-maya-frieze-discovered-holmul-guatemala-archaeology/Picture of archaeologist Anya Shetler cleaning ancient stucco frieze recently unearthed in the buried Maya city of Holmul in the Peten region of Guatemala
Big Discovery
Photograph courtesy Francisco Estrada-Belli
Archaeologist Anya Shetler cleans an inscription below an ancient stucco frieze recently unearthed in the buried Maya city of Holmul in the Peten region of Guatemala. Sunlight from a tunnel entrance highlights the carved legs of a ruler sitting atop the head of a Maya mountain spirit. The enormous frieze—which measures 26 feet by nearly 7 feet (8 meters by 2 meters)—depicts human figures in a mythological setting, suggesting these may be deified rulers. It was discovered in July in the buried foundations of a rectangular pyramid in Holmul.
Maya archaeologist Francisco Estrada-Belli and his team were excavating a tunnel left open by looters when they happened upon the frieze. "The looters had come close to it, but they hadn't seen it," Estrada-Belli said. According to Estrada-Belli, the frieze is one of the best preserved examples of its kind. "It's 95 percent preserved. There's only one corner that's not well preserved because it's too close to the surface, but the rest of it isn't missing any parts," said Estrada-Belli, who is affiliated with Tulane University, Boston University, and the American Museum of Natural History and who is also a National Geographic Explorer. His excavations at Holmul were supported by the National Geographic Society/Waitt Grants Program.
Maya archaeologist Marcello Canuto agreed, calling the frieze "amazingly and beautifully preserved." "We often dream of finding things this well preserved, and Francisco did it," said Canuto, who is the director of the Middle American Research Institute at Tulane University in New Orleans; he was not involved in the project. For example, despite being mostly faded away now, traces of red, blue, green, and yellow paint are still visible on the frieze.
"It gives you an idea of how intricate and ornate these sites that we are excavating must have been during their apogee," Canuto said. "These sites must have been a feast for the eyes when they were inhabited." David Stuart, a Maya hieroglyph expert at the University of Texas at Austin, pointed out that archaeologists think most large Maya temples were probably decorated with similar sorts of designs. "But not all temples were so carefully buried and preserved like this," said Stuart, who did not participate in the project. "Also, each temple facade was slightly different and therefore unique in terms of its detail and message." (Explore an interactive map of key Maya sites.)
snip
August 7, 2013
By REUBEN KYAMA and NICOLA CLARK
Published: August 7, 2013
NAIROBI, Kenya — The Kenyan authorities ordered the temporary closing on Wednesday of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport here in Nairobi after a huge fire broke out and raged for four hours, officials and witnesses said. The blaze spread to the international arrivals area, bringing East Africa’s busiest airport to a standstill and turning parts of it into charred ruins.
The fire sent dense black smoke billowing into the sky.
By midafternoon, Michael Kamau, a senior government transportation official, told reporters that the airport had been partially reopened for domestic and cargo flights, but that international passenger traffic was still suspended. The airport authorities planned to convert another part of the facility to a temporary terminal for international passenger flights, he said.
The blaze sent a plume of black smoke that was visible from Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, a few miles away, witnesses said. Visiting the gutted section of the circular, 1960s-era terminal, Kenya’s president, Uhuru Kenyatta, said there was no loss of life but expressed dismay over the damage and the disruption the blaze had caused to air travelers, said Manoah Esipisu, a presidential spokesman. The cause of the fire was being investigated, he added. Kenya is a crucial Western ally, abutting troubled areas of neighboring Somalia. But Mr. Kenyatta and other Kenyan officials were reluctant to make any immediate link to terrorism. Wednesday, Aug. 7, is the anniversary of the 1998 coordinated bombings of United States Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, attacks that killed more than 200 people.
snip
Huge fire rips through Nairobi airport's international terminal
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/08/world/africa/huge-fire-shuts-down-nairobis-international-airport.html?_r=0By REUBEN KYAMA and NICOLA CLARK
Published: August 7, 2013
NAIROBI, Kenya — The Kenyan authorities ordered the temporary closing on Wednesday of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport here in Nairobi after a huge fire broke out and raged for four hours, officials and witnesses said. The blaze spread to the international arrivals area, bringing East Africa’s busiest airport to a standstill and turning parts of it into charred ruins.
The fire sent dense black smoke billowing into the sky.
By midafternoon, Michael Kamau, a senior government transportation official, told reporters that the airport had been partially reopened for domestic and cargo flights, but that international passenger traffic was still suspended. The airport authorities planned to convert another part of the facility to a temporary terminal for international passenger flights, he said.
The blaze sent a plume of black smoke that was visible from Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, a few miles away, witnesses said. Visiting the gutted section of the circular, 1960s-era terminal, Kenya’s president, Uhuru Kenyatta, said there was no loss of life but expressed dismay over the damage and the disruption the blaze had caused to air travelers, said Manoah Esipisu, a presidential spokesman. The cause of the fire was being investigated, he added. Kenya is a crucial Western ally, abutting troubled areas of neighboring Somalia. But Mr. Kenyatta and other Kenyan officials were reluctant to make any immediate link to terrorism. Wednesday, Aug. 7, is the anniversary of the 1998 coordinated bombings of United States Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, attacks that killed more than 200 people.
snip
August 7, 2013
Video
Power couple Beyonce and Jay Z have reportedly gifted their employees with huge bonus checks. According to sources, all 80 of their employees have gotten a bonus of more than $45,000, totalling close to $4 million. An insider told TMZ that employees were so shocked that they had to make sure that the performers had not made an an error on their paychecks. "Jay Z is spreading the wealth around and everyone is blown away. Nobody got left out. A lot of them couldn't believe it and phoned his personal assistant to check that there hadn't been some mistake."
http://www.ajc.com/videos/entertainment/jay-z-employees-get-massive-bonuses/v8R9j/
Jay Z gives massive bonuses to all 80 of his employees. (Yay, Jay !)
Video
Power couple Beyonce and Jay Z have reportedly gifted their employees with huge bonus checks. According to sources, all 80 of their employees have gotten a bonus of more than $45,000, totalling close to $4 million. An insider told TMZ that employees were so shocked that they had to make sure that the performers had not made an an error on their paychecks. "Jay Z is spreading the wealth around and everyone is blown away. Nobody got left out. A lot of them couldn't believe it and phoned his personal assistant to check that there hadn't been some mistake."
http://www.ajc.com/videos/entertainment/jay-z-employees-get-massive-bonuses/v8R9j/
August 6, 2013
(not new...but new to me !)
Helicopter Pilot Saves Kid's RC Plane
Good guy pilots retrieve a kids toy stuck in a tree top
such a fun video
Tuesday afternoon "feel-good" story.. enjoy
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/82880426/(not new...but new to me !)
Helicopter Pilot Saves Kid's RC Plane
Good guy pilots retrieve a kids toy stuck in a tree top
such a fun video
August 6, 2013
‘We have a real problem with incest in South Alabama’ (Say it aint so, Jo)
(video at link)
Heard on the Hill — Roll Call's Gossip Blog
Jo Bonner Comes Full Circle in Funny Farewell Speech
http://hoh.rollcall.com/jo-bonner-comes-full-circle-in-funny-farewell-speech/
By Warren Rojas Posted at 12:39 p.m. on Aug. 2
Retiring Rep. Jo Bonner signed off from his career in public life with a self-effacing address recalling the unintentional sexy-talk he broadcast to millions a decade ago. The Alabama Republican, who is stepping down from Congress to join the University of Alabama (Roll Tide!), took to the House floor Thursday to regale colleagues with the tale of his most embarrassing ad-lib of all time.
“I said, ‘We have a real problem with incest in South Alabama’. I said, in fact, ‘I would venture a guess, we have more problem with incest in my district in Alabama than in any other congressional district in America,’” Bonner shared of an off-the-cuff remark that was supposed to garner sympathy for an INSECT problem— pine beetles, to be exact — in his area.
anip
Regardless, Bonner hopes the gaffe helps remind lawmakers to laugh — especially at themselves — every once in a while.
snip
He then wrapped things up by slipping in one last inbreeding joke, just for old time’s sake. “I would be extremely remiss if I didn’t say a special thank you to my wife Janée, our daughter Lee, and my son Robins, who like they were 10 years ago, are back home in Alabama, listening to your daddy talk about incest,” Bonner quipped. “Thank you for your love and support.”
August 6, 2013
Heard on the Hill — Roll Call's Gossip Blog
Philanthropub Needs Charity, New Air Conditioner
By Diana Oberoi Posted at 4:28 p.m. today
Prepay for a cocktail and support a local business. Yes, prepay … and no, it’s not what you’re probably thinking.
Cause, the world’s first “philanthropub” opened last October with the premise “you eat, drink, and be merry, we pay all our bills, and we donate 100% of net profits to charities.” Its charitable donations rotate between different local and international organizations. One Acre Fund, Year Up and Life Pieces to Masterpieces are on the current receiving list. So, where does the prepaying and drinking come in?
Recently, Cause’s air conditioner unit went on the fritz. Instead of dipping into its own funds and cutting down on the amount of money it can give to its charities, it asked for the public’s support. The philanthropub has an Indiegogo campaign seeking $11,000 to purchase a new air conditioning system. With a little more than a day left in its campaign, Cause is still $10,184 short of its goal.
snip
Give $11, and your next drink is on Cause. If you factor in classic cocktails that are $10, you’re essentially prepaying for a drink. Oh, and, please, 21 and over only for this. For $20, the generous get an “I Drink CAUSE I Care” T-shirt. For $109, it’s dinner and drinks for four — two drinks each, two shareable appetizers and main course of choice. Want a cocktail party for you and nine of your friends? Hand over $500 and that’s what you’ll get!
“I Drink CAUSE I Care”
http://hoh.rollcall.com/philanthropub-needs-charity-new-air-conditioner/Heard on the Hill — Roll Call's Gossip Blog
Philanthropub Needs Charity, New Air Conditioner
By Diana Oberoi Posted at 4:28 p.m. today
Prepay for a cocktail and support a local business. Yes, prepay … and no, it’s not what you’re probably thinking.
Cause, the world’s first “philanthropub” opened last October with the premise “you eat, drink, and be merry, we pay all our bills, and we donate 100% of net profits to charities.” Its charitable donations rotate between different local and international organizations. One Acre Fund, Year Up and Life Pieces to Masterpieces are on the current receiving list. So, where does the prepaying and drinking come in?
Recently, Cause’s air conditioner unit went on the fritz. Instead of dipping into its own funds and cutting down on the amount of money it can give to its charities, it asked for the public’s support. The philanthropub has an Indiegogo campaign seeking $11,000 to purchase a new air conditioning system. With a little more than a day left in its campaign, Cause is still $10,184 short of its goal.
snip
Give $11, and your next drink is on Cause. If you factor in classic cocktails that are $10, you’re essentially prepaying for a drink. Oh, and, please, 21 and over only for this. For $20, the generous get an “I Drink CAUSE I Care” T-shirt. For $109, it’s dinner and drinks for four — two drinks each, two shareable appetizers and main course of choice. Want a cocktail party for you and nine of your friends? Hand over $500 and that’s what you’ll get!
August 6, 2013
Ray Donovan?
Reminds me of John, From Cincinnati..
I tried to like it, gave it multiple tries.. I just don't like any of the characters and especially cannot stand Jon Voight..
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