Last night in the State of the Union address, President Obama stated that “the only way to tackle our deficit is to cut excessive spending wherever we find it—in domestic spending, defense spending, health care spending, and spending through tax breaks and loopholes. This means further reducing health care costs, including programs like Medicare and Medicaid, which are the single biggest contributor to our long-term deficit. Health insurance reform will slow these rising costs.”
Is it possible that the President has already forgotten that the health care law included a massive expansion of the broken Medicaid entitlement? According to projected national health expenditures from the Office of the Actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Medicaid spending in 2019 will be $896.2 billion. Without the health care law, CMS projects that the amount would have been $802.4 billion.
This means that the President’s health care law will increase Medicaid spending by 12 percent or about $100 billion annually. The extra spending comes from the additional 18 million or so individuals—mostly non-disabled and non-elderly adults without children—who will now have taxpayers paying their health care bills through the Medicaid program.
Two central components of the law expand eligibility to the government-run Medicaid program and offer costly subsidies to an estimated 20 million individuals to purchase health insurance. With an increasing amount of health care subsidization, taxes will increase, but so will the demand for health care services. This problem is exacerbated because there is very limited out-of-pocket payment for Medicaid. The subsidies and the increased third-party payment will cause health spending to grow, not slow.
Medicaid is a broken program for many reasons. First, national spending on Medicaid has more than quintupled over the past two decades, and about 16 percent of the population is currently enrolled. A primary reason state budgets are out of whack is this explosive Medicaid growth and states’ responsibility to finance a portion of its programs costs.
Despite the massive increase in spending, many physicians fail to participate in the program because of low payment rates and a frustrating amount of paperwork. This causes many Medicaid beneficiaries to receive basic care services in the emergency room.
There is evidence that Medicaid provides beneficiaries with a low quality of care. A recent study from the University of Virginia found that Medicaid patients have worse surgical outcomes than individuals without insurance, even controlling for a multitude of personal characteristics.
Instead of doubling down on Medicaid and its existing structure, Washington should consider major structural reform for this troubled program. To start, the open-ended federal reimbursement of state Medicaid spending, which creates perverse incentives for states to grow their programs unsustainably, must be reformed. Then, taxpayer-financed assistance should be targeted to truly deserving individuals using market-based principles that better align incentives of providers, recipients, states, and taxpayers. This is the path to put Medicaid spending on a more sustainable course.
The President should re-read his law if he believes its passage either improved Medicaid for those on it or reduced Medicaid spending growth.
A new year often means lofty resolutions, especially when it comes to planning and maintaining a travel budget.
Though there are many personal-finance sites and software out there, this year I'm resolving to use Mint.com's free online tool. You can create plans for saving toward retirement and buying a house, but I'll be primarily using the site for its Travel Goals, which help you set -- and stick to -- realistic travel budgets.
And though the tool obviously doesn't do the hardest part (you still have to save the money), it does track how far or close you are to achieving your Travel Goal.
For example, say you want to go to Hawaii for a week this summer. Once you create a budget by filling in the estimates for airfare, hotel, meals, and other expenses, you can then specify how much you will contribute to that Travel Goal each month.
If you underestimate how much you'd need to save per month, the online tool points out: "Oh no! You aren't saving enough each month to reach your goal on time." The tool then offers you two ways to fix your Travel Goal: increase your monthly contribution in order to reach your desired travel date or postpone your planned date to fit your monthly contribution.
If you stay on track with saving the specified amount each month, Mint.com's budgeting tool highlights (and adjusts) the projected date of when you can afford to take the trip. Save more, and you could afford to take your trip a month or two earlier.
But if you slack on your monthly savings, the date will be pushed back -- a reality check and an instant motivator. Once you mentally equate an unnecessary clothing purchase or an impulse buy to the consequence of delaying your trip by a month, saving becomes a little more real.
Granted, most people will buy plane tickets and reserve hotels with a credit card several months before actually taking the trip; the tool helps track if you'll be able to easily pay it all off after your trip. After all, nothing ruins a vacation more than coming home to bills that you're not financially prepared to handle.
To fund my travels this year, I've linked my Mint.com account to an ING Savings Account labeled Travel Fund.
How do you stay on track with saving up for a vacation?
[flickr image via epSoS.de]
Gallery: How to create a realistic travel budget
bench craft company
Jeff Fager, David Rhodes, Sean McManus Shuffled at CBS <b>News</b>: What <b>...</b>
In a surprise even to insiders, 60 Minutes executive producer Jeff Fager will lead the news division, along with Bloomberg's David Rhodes. Howard Kurtz on the back story—and what it spells for Katie Couric.
Olbermann to become “chief <b>news</b> officer” of Al Gore's cable <b>...</b>
First, Arianna Huffington gets $315 million from AOL for the HuffPo and winds up with editorial control of their entire content. Keith Olbermann gets … a nightly news show on an all-but-invisible cable channel and editorial control of ...
Small Business <b>News</b>: Digital Privacy and Customer Care
Small business is all about customer care. So how to you feel about new proposed legislation that is designed to prevent online clients from tracking customer.
bench craft company
Last night in the State of the Union address, President Obama stated that “the only way to tackle our deficit is to cut excessive spending wherever we find it—in domestic spending, defense spending, health care spending, and spending through tax breaks and loopholes. This means further reducing health care costs, including programs like Medicare and Medicaid, which are the single biggest contributor to our long-term deficit. Health insurance reform will slow these rising costs.”
Is it possible that the President has already forgotten that the health care law included a massive expansion of the broken Medicaid entitlement? According to projected national health expenditures from the Office of the Actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Medicaid spending in 2019 will be $896.2 billion. Without the health care law, CMS projects that the amount would have been $802.4 billion.
This means that the President’s health care law will increase Medicaid spending by 12 percent or about $100 billion annually. The extra spending comes from the additional 18 million or so individuals—mostly non-disabled and non-elderly adults without children—who will now have taxpayers paying their health care bills through the Medicaid program.
Two central components of the law expand eligibility to the government-run Medicaid program and offer costly subsidies to an estimated 20 million individuals to purchase health insurance. With an increasing amount of health care subsidization, taxes will increase, but so will the demand for health care services. This problem is exacerbated because there is very limited out-of-pocket payment for Medicaid. The subsidies and the increased third-party payment will cause health spending to grow, not slow.
Medicaid is a broken program for many reasons. First, national spending on Medicaid has more than quintupled over the past two decades, and about 16 percent of the population is currently enrolled. A primary reason state budgets are out of whack is this explosive Medicaid growth and states’ responsibility to finance a portion of its programs costs.
Despite the massive increase in spending, many physicians fail to participate in the program because of low payment rates and a frustrating amount of paperwork. This causes many Medicaid beneficiaries to receive basic care services in the emergency room.
There is evidence that Medicaid provides beneficiaries with a low quality of care. A recent study from the University of Virginia found that Medicaid patients have worse surgical outcomes than individuals without insurance, even controlling for a multitude of personal characteristics.
Instead of doubling down on Medicaid and its existing structure, Washington should consider major structural reform for this troubled program. To start, the open-ended federal reimbursement of state Medicaid spending, which creates perverse incentives for states to grow their programs unsustainably, must be reformed. Then, taxpayer-financed assistance should be targeted to truly deserving individuals using market-based principles that better align incentives of providers, recipients, states, and taxpayers. This is the path to put Medicaid spending on a more sustainable course.
The President should re-read his law if he believes its passage either improved Medicaid for those on it or reduced Medicaid spending growth.
A new year often means lofty resolutions, especially when it comes to planning and maintaining a travel budget.
Though there are many personal-finance sites and software out there, this year I'm resolving to use Mint.com's free online tool. You can create plans for saving toward retirement and buying a house, but I'll be primarily using the site for its Travel Goals, which help you set -- and stick to -- realistic travel budgets.
And though the tool obviously doesn't do the hardest part (you still have to save the money), it does track how far or close you are to achieving your Travel Goal.
For example, say you want to go to Hawaii for a week this summer. Once you create a budget by filling in the estimates for airfare, hotel, meals, and other expenses, you can then specify how much you will contribute to that Travel Goal each month.
If you underestimate how much you'd need to save per month, the online tool points out: "Oh no! You aren't saving enough each month to reach your goal on time." The tool then offers you two ways to fix your Travel Goal: increase your monthly contribution in order to reach your desired travel date or postpone your planned date to fit your monthly contribution.
If you stay on track with saving the specified amount each month, Mint.com's budgeting tool highlights (and adjusts) the projected date of when you can afford to take the trip. Save more, and you could afford to take your trip a month or two earlier.
But if you slack on your monthly savings, the date will be pushed back -- a reality check and an instant motivator. Once you mentally equate an unnecessary clothing purchase or an impulse buy to the consequence of delaying your trip by a month, saving becomes a little more real.
Granted, most people will buy plane tickets and reserve hotels with a credit card several months before actually taking the trip; the tool helps track if you'll be able to easily pay it all off after your trip. After all, nothing ruins a vacation more than coming home to bills that you're not financially prepared to handle.
To fund my travels this year, I've linked my Mint.com account to an ING Savings Account labeled Travel Fund.
How do you stay on track with saving up for a vacation?
[flickr image via epSoS.de]
Gallery: How to create a realistic travel budget
bench craft company>
Jeff Fager, David Rhodes, Sean McManus Shuffled at CBS <b>News</b>: What <b>...</b>
In a surprise even to insiders, 60 Minutes executive producer Jeff Fager will lead the news division, along with Bloomberg's David Rhodes. Howard Kurtz on the back story—and what it spells for Katie Couric.
Olbermann to become “chief <b>news</b> officer” of Al Gore's cable <b>...</b>
First, Arianna Huffington gets $315 million from AOL for the HuffPo and winds up with editorial control of their entire content. Keith Olbermann gets … a nightly news show on an all-but-invisible cable channel and editorial control of ...
Small Business <b>News</b>: Digital Privacy and Customer Care
Small business is all about customer care. So how to you feel about new proposed legislation that is designed to prevent online clients from tracking customer.
bench craft company
[reefeed]
bench craft company
bench craft company
Jeff Fager, David Rhodes, Sean McManus Shuffled at CBS <b>News</b>: What <b>...</b>
In a surprise even to insiders, 60 Minutes executive producer Jeff Fager will lead the news division, along with Bloomberg's David Rhodes. Howard Kurtz on the back story—and what it spells for Katie Couric.
Olbermann to become “chief <b>news</b> officer” of Al Gore's cable <b>...</b>
First, Arianna Huffington gets $315 million from AOL for the HuffPo and winds up with editorial control of their entire content. Keith Olbermann gets … a nightly news show on an all-but-invisible cable channel and editorial control of ...
Small Business <b>News</b>: Digital Privacy and Customer Care
Small business is all about customer care. So how to you feel about new proposed legislation that is designed to prevent online clients from tracking customer.
bench craft company
Last night in the State of the Union address, President Obama stated that “the only way to tackle our deficit is to cut excessive spending wherever we find it—in domestic spending, defense spending, health care spending, and spending through tax breaks and loopholes. This means further reducing health care costs, including programs like Medicare and Medicaid, which are the single biggest contributor to our long-term deficit. Health insurance reform will slow these rising costs.”
Is it possible that the President has already forgotten that the health care law included a massive expansion of the broken Medicaid entitlement? According to projected national health expenditures from the Office of the Actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Medicaid spending in 2019 will be $896.2 billion. Without the health care law, CMS projects that the amount would have been $802.4 billion.
This means that the President’s health care law will increase Medicaid spending by 12 percent or about $100 billion annually. The extra spending comes from the additional 18 million or so individuals—mostly non-disabled and non-elderly adults without children—who will now have taxpayers paying their health care bills through the Medicaid program.
Two central components of the law expand eligibility to the government-run Medicaid program and offer costly subsidies to an estimated 20 million individuals to purchase health insurance. With an increasing amount of health care subsidization, taxes will increase, but so will the demand for health care services. This problem is exacerbated because there is very limited out-of-pocket payment for Medicaid. The subsidies and the increased third-party payment will cause health spending to grow, not slow.
Medicaid is a broken program for many reasons. First, national spending on Medicaid has more than quintupled over the past two decades, and about 16 percent of the population is currently enrolled. A primary reason state budgets are out of whack is this explosive Medicaid growth and states’ responsibility to finance a portion of its programs costs.
Despite the massive increase in spending, many physicians fail to participate in the program because of low payment rates and a frustrating amount of paperwork. This causes many Medicaid beneficiaries to receive basic care services in the emergency room.
There is evidence that Medicaid provides beneficiaries with a low quality of care. A recent study from the University of Virginia found that Medicaid patients have worse surgical outcomes than individuals without insurance, even controlling for a multitude of personal characteristics.
Instead of doubling down on Medicaid and its existing structure, Washington should consider major structural reform for this troubled program. To start, the open-ended federal reimbursement of state Medicaid spending, which creates perverse incentives for states to grow their programs unsustainably, must be reformed. Then, taxpayer-financed assistance should be targeted to truly deserving individuals using market-based principles that better align incentives of providers, recipients, states, and taxpayers. This is the path to put Medicaid spending on a more sustainable course.
The President should re-read his law if he believes its passage either improved Medicaid for those on it or reduced Medicaid spending growth.
A new year often means lofty resolutions, especially when it comes to planning and maintaining a travel budget.
Though there are many personal-finance sites and software out there, this year I'm resolving to use Mint.com's free online tool. You can create plans for saving toward retirement and buying a house, but I'll be primarily using the site for its Travel Goals, which help you set -- and stick to -- realistic travel budgets.
And though the tool obviously doesn't do the hardest part (you still have to save the money), it does track how far or close you are to achieving your Travel Goal.
For example, say you want to go to Hawaii for a week this summer. Once you create a budget by filling in the estimates for airfare, hotel, meals, and other expenses, you can then specify how much you will contribute to that Travel Goal each month.
If you underestimate how much you'd need to save per month, the online tool points out: "Oh no! You aren't saving enough each month to reach your goal on time." The tool then offers you two ways to fix your Travel Goal: increase your monthly contribution in order to reach your desired travel date or postpone your planned date to fit your monthly contribution.
If you stay on track with saving the specified amount each month, Mint.com's budgeting tool highlights (and adjusts) the projected date of when you can afford to take the trip. Save more, and you could afford to take your trip a month or two earlier.
But if you slack on your monthly savings, the date will be pushed back -- a reality check and an instant motivator. Once you mentally equate an unnecessary clothing purchase or an impulse buy to the consequence of delaying your trip by a month, saving becomes a little more real.
Granted, most people will buy plane tickets and reserve hotels with a credit card several months before actually taking the trip; the tool helps track if you'll be able to easily pay it all off after your trip. After all, nothing ruins a vacation more than coming home to bills that you're not financially prepared to handle.
To fund my travels this year, I've linked my Mint.com account to an ING Savings Account labeled Travel Fund.
How do you stay on track with saving up for a vacation?
[flickr image via epSoS.de]
Gallery: How to create a realistic travel budget
bench craft company
bench craft company
Jeff Fager, David Rhodes, Sean McManus Shuffled at CBS <b>News</b>: What <b>...</b>
In a surprise even to insiders, 60 Minutes executive producer Jeff Fager will lead the news division, along with Bloomberg's David Rhodes. Howard Kurtz on the back story—and what it spells for Katie Couric.
Olbermann to become “chief <b>news</b> officer” of Al Gore's cable <b>...</b>
First, Arianna Huffington gets $315 million from AOL for the HuffPo and winds up with editorial control of their entire content. Keith Olbermann gets … a nightly news show on an all-but-invisible cable channel and editorial control of ...
Small Business <b>News</b>: Digital Privacy and Customer Care
Small business is all about customer care. So how to you feel about new proposed legislation that is designed to prevent online clients from tracking customer.
bench craft company
bench craft company
Jeff Fager, David Rhodes, Sean McManus Shuffled at CBS <b>News</b>: What <b>...</b>
In a surprise even to insiders, 60 Minutes executive producer Jeff Fager will lead the news division, along with Bloomberg's David Rhodes. Howard Kurtz on the back story—and what it spells for Katie Couric.
Olbermann to become “chief <b>news</b> officer” of Al Gore's cable <b>...</b>
First, Arianna Huffington gets $315 million from AOL for the HuffPo and winds up with editorial control of their entire content. Keith Olbermann gets … a nightly news show on an all-but-invisible cable channel and editorial control of ...
Small Business <b>News</b>: Digital Privacy and Customer Care
Small business is all about customer care. So how to you feel about new proposed legislation that is designed to prevent online clients from tracking customer.
bench craft company
Jeff Fager, David Rhodes, Sean McManus Shuffled at CBS <b>News</b>: What <b>...</b>
In a surprise even to insiders, 60 Minutes executive producer Jeff Fager will lead the news division, along with Bloomberg's David Rhodes. Howard Kurtz on the back story—and what it spells for Katie Couric.
Olbermann to become “chief <b>news</b> officer” of Al Gore's cable <b>...</b>
First, Arianna Huffington gets $315 million from AOL for the HuffPo and winds up with editorial control of their entire content. Keith Olbermann gets … a nightly news show on an all-but-invisible cable channel and editorial control of ...
Small Business <b>News</b>: Digital Privacy and Customer Care
Small business is all about customer care. So how to you feel about new proposed legislation that is designed to prevent online clients from tracking customer.
bench craft company
Jeff Fager, David Rhodes, Sean McManus Shuffled at CBS <b>News</b>: What <b>...</b>
In a surprise even to insiders, 60 Minutes executive producer Jeff Fager will lead the news division, along with Bloomberg's David Rhodes. Howard Kurtz on the back story—and what it spells for Katie Couric.
Olbermann to become “chief <b>news</b> officer” of Al Gore's cable <b>...</b>
First, Arianna Huffington gets $315 million from AOL for the HuffPo and winds up with editorial control of their entire content. Keith Olbermann gets … a nightly news show on an all-but-invisible cable channel and editorial control of ...
Small Business <b>News</b>: Digital Privacy and Customer Care
Small business is all about customer care. So how to you feel about new proposed legislation that is designed to prevent online clients from tracking customer.
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bench craft company
bench craft company
bench craft company
Jeff Fager, David Rhodes, Sean McManus Shuffled at CBS <b>News</b>: What <b>...</b>
In a surprise even to insiders, 60 Minutes executive producer Jeff Fager will lead the news division, along with Bloomberg's David Rhodes. Howard Kurtz on the back story—and what it spells for Katie Couric.
Olbermann to become “chief <b>news</b> officer” of Al Gore's cable <b>...</b>
First, Arianna Huffington gets $315 million from AOL for the HuffPo and winds up with editorial control of their entire content. Keith Olbermann gets … a nightly news show on an all-but-invisible cable channel and editorial control of ...
Small Business <b>News</b>: Digital Privacy and Customer Care
Small business is all about customer care. So how to you feel about new proposed legislation that is designed to prevent online clients from tracking customer.
bench craft company
I wasn't always a business owner and, after all I like to share my experience with you about this long/short process. Don't be afraid of running out of time, be diligent and persistent.
No matter how great and unique your idea for a new business is, or what business are you buying or taking over, you won't get past the starting gate without funding. There are many ways to find money, but most are generally more appropriate for most established companies. Still, there are some smart tacks for start ups; there's money out there if you get creative. Here's a look at some options:
Bootstrapping. - the translation for"Bootstrapping" is - using whatever resources you have on hand to help you get your business to the next level.
Entrepreneurs spend an average of close to $70,000 - $75,000 to start a business, and most of that money is provided by the small-business owners themselves. I am talking about my own experience here
Where do entrepreneurs find the money? While most part comes from personal savings and home-equity loans, they also tend to use (plastic), Credit Cards heavily. Possibly, half of all start ups are funded by the owners' credit cards. Also, if you dare, get into your pension plan, I did!
Raise money from relatives - Friends and family come handy. At the very early stages of any start up, entrepreneurs also tend to raise money from relatives, colleagues and other people they know well.
Usually, friends family financing is informal; you probably don't have to write a business plan for the transaction. But, no matter how well you know your early investors, it would be wise to draw up a contract to prevent any misunderstandings down the road.
Borrow from Banks. For most start ups, getting a traditional bank loan is a long shot, especially in today's economy. That's because banks typically will only consider companies that have been in business for two years, at least. I don't have to go on about my personal story, we were turned down by some exactly for the reason I am going to mention in a minute here. Above all, they need to see a tangible asset that can be used as collateral. The bank is going to loan money based on your ability to pay out, and they're more likely to finance something that has greater value and a history of great performance.
Also try SBA - Small Business Association. One possibility is to apply for a loan guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA). A bank is less reluctant to take on a company with an SBA guaranty. Even with that seal of approval, you may still have to pledge your home/personal property as collateral.
Look for Grants you might qualify for. There are tons of information on the web, just be very selective who you start working with. You can order one of those kits and try yourself or you can find someone that write grands as a profession and help you with the application. If your venture is a technology business, you might be able to apply for a Small Business Innovation Research grant (SBIR).
That is a federally funded program mandating that certain agencies set aside part of their budgets to fund fledgling high-tech companies with interesting inventions they want to commercialize.
There also are a limited number of government grants for women and minority-owned businesses as well. One really good thing is: Competition for this money is steep. So, if you apply for the grant and win it, it's helpful for attracting funding from other investors.
Use Venture capital. Simply put, Venture Capitals rarely invest in start ups or even early-stage companies. Still, if your company already has a track record and promises high returns, it's worth a shot.
Learn about the service as it involves some sensitive issues. Your best bet is to use your network to find a referral. Then, make sure you have an great business plan put together. You also have to be willing to give up control over major decisions and/or to sell your business at one point in time.
Find "Angels". If you're further along in your development - you have a management team and, preferably, a product or service on the market that's of a high interest - you can try angels.
www.angelinvestors.net. They're private, high net-worth individuals who generally invest anywhere from $50,000 to $2 million in companies.
Who are they? most likely former entrepreneurs themselves, angels can offer not only money, they also can provide expertise and useful contacts.
How to find them? One avenue is to approach the growing number of angel clubs. These groups of private investors meet regularly to hear brief presentations from entrepreneurs seeking money and then, often, give money jointly to companies. to find them see link on this article!)
It's always important to do some research and document yourself on your options, your opportunity and use those professionals to get help from. Get expert tips, links on...
* Accounting and finance
* Entrepreneurial women, minorities, kids, more
* Global business
* Government regulations
* Green business
* Hiring and managing
* Legal issues
* Marketing
* Raising money
* Real estate
* Start up
* Technology
When it comes to Credit Cards, tread carefully. If you use them up to the maximum and create a huge debt and damage your credit rating, once your credit is shaky, it'll be hard to get further funding.
References: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2011/snapshots/1.html
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