Here in southwest Ohio, we're getting our White Christmas a day late. It's quite beautiful, if treacherous, and the added treat of thunder-and-lightning is a real joy.
In that spirit, then, here are some interesting (if disheartening) health- and health insurance-related tidbits:
■ First up, co-blogger Bob shares this news on the anticipated growing costs (both financial and otherwise) of treating folks with dementia over the next few years:
"The fiscal climate may be challenging, but the Alzheimer's Association is estimating that, unless the country finds some way to prevent Alzheimer's disease (AD), cure it or substantially improve treatments for disease, the condition will cost the United States alone about $20 trillion over the next 40 years"
■ And as if that's not scary enough, turns out that those great Electronic Health Records mandated by the ObamaTax aren't necessarily safe from prying eyes:
"Security researchers warn that intruders could exploit known gaps to steal patients’ records for use in identity theft schemes and even launch disruptive attacks that could shut down critical hospital systems."
■ If you're one of those folks classified as "poor," you're about to get even poorer:
"[F]amilies earning as little as $19,000 will face a tax up to $2,085 if they don't buy health care under Obamacare by 2016 ... A family of four will face the highest tax, a penalty of 8 percent to 10 percent."
■ Finally, lest the rest of us think we've gotten off easy, here's a handy list of many of the new ObamaTaxes arriving in '14:
"Upper-income households. Starting Jan. 1, individuals making more than $200,000 per year, and couples making more than $250,000 will face a 0.9 percent Medicare tax increase on wages above those threshold amounts" [ed: lest you think these are "elites," remember that a great many of those in that bracket are business owners who may well have to scale back their companies - and your job]
And of course there's more at the link.
Happy Holidays!
In that spirit, then, here are some interesting (if disheartening) health- and health insurance-related tidbits:
■ First up, co-blogger Bob shares this news on the anticipated growing costs (both financial and otherwise) of treating folks with dementia over the next few years:
"The fiscal climate may be challenging, but the Alzheimer's Association is estimating that, unless the country finds some way to prevent Alzheimer's disease (AD), cure it or substantially improve treatments for disease, the condition will cost the United States alone about $20 trillion over the next 40 years"
■ And as if that's not scary enough, turns out that those great Electronic Health Records mandated by the ObamaTax aren't necessarily safe from prying eyes:
"Security researchers warn that intruders could exploit known gaps to steal patients’ records for use in identity theft schemes and even launch disruptive attacks that could shut down critical hospital systems."
■ If you're one of those folks classified as "poor," you're about to get even poorer:
"[F]amilies earning as little as $19,000 will face a tax up to $2,085 if they don't buy health care under Obamacare by 2016 ... A family of four will face the highest tax, a penalty of 8 percent to 10 percent."
■ Finally, lest the rest of us think we've gotten off easy, here's a handy list of many of the new ObamaTaxes arriving in '14:
"Upper-income households. Starting Jan. 1, individuals making more than $200,000 per year, and couples making more than $250,000 will face a 0.9 percent Medicare tax increase on wages above those threshold amounts" [ed: lest you think these are "elites," remember that a great many of those in that bracket are business owners who may well have to scale back their companies - and your job]
And of course there's more at the link.
Happy Holidays!
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