President Obama gives remarks in the Rose Garden, praising the consensus that continues to build for health reform. Before he begins, though, he makes a point to praise the Senate for their vote against $1.75 billion for unnecessary F-22 fighter jets, having built another bipartisan consensus for fiscal discipline and changing the way Washington works. July 21, 2009 (Public Domain)
From time to time individuals and companies make claims that the granite many homeowners have in their kitchens and bathrooms is emitting harmful radon gas. Recent claims have reached new heights and been more thoroughly examined by regulators and scientists than in the past. Their conclusions are clear – there is no risk posed by granite in homes.
Radon is a colorless, odorless naturally occurring radioactive gas. Radon is a significant contaminant that affects indoor air quality. The United States Environmental Protection Agency has a significant focus on raising awareness of the risk that radon can pose in real estate and standards for testing.
While these claims are made, many health regulators and scientists have studied this issue and concluded that granite countertop do not pose a health risk. Below is a recent sampling of the organizations that have made such a conclusion:
United States Enviromental Protection Agency: Has posted the following information on their website “It is possible for any granite sample to contain varying concentrations of uranium that can produce radon gas, a source of alpha and beta particles and gamma rays. Some granite used for countertops may contribute variably to indoor radon levels. At this time, however, EPA does not believe sufficient data exist to conclude that the types of granite commonly used in countertops are significantly increasing indoor radon levels.”
Florida Department of Health: Has posted this statement on their website “With the concern over radioactive risk potential of granite countertops, it is important to remember that we are always exposed to a certain level of background radiation. All granite, and most earthen materials, contain trace amounts of uranium and radium, emit gamma radiation and release radon gas. While the Florida Department of Health has never performaed a study specifically designed to evaluate any health risks of granite countertops, staff from the Florida Department of Healths’ (DOH) Bureau of Radiation Control and form DOH’s Radon Program have had the opportunity over the years to survey various granite samples for gamma emissions, including a few granite counter tops, and have yet to find granite thought to be a significant gamma radiation hazard. The term “significant” is used because there was measureable gamma radiation from the granite as there is always around us, just not at level of concern.”
Washington State Department of Health (WSHOH): Has posted the following information on the “Radon Outreach Homepage” of their website “The radiation (coming from a countertop) is detectable from only a very short distance, and the levels are very low. For a person to be exposed to a noticeable amount of radiation, they would have to spend many hours per day lying on the counter. This is unlikely so the public health risk is low.”
Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS): Has posted the following information on it’s website “The amount of radioactivity in most granite is quite small. While it is possible to get a measurable level of direct radiation from some granite, in general it emits less radiation than we are regularly exposed to from background radiation. These levels are so low that they are not harmful to human health.”
Health Physics Society: Has written an open letter regarding the risk of radiation based on granite in homes. The letter concludes “The bottom line: No action needs to be taken to remove granite countertops in existing homes. If there are concerns by the homeowners, appropriate radon concentration monitoring should be conducted in the living areas of the home (per EPA protocols). If the granite countertops is determined to be a cause for concern, the most risk reducing and cost-effective action would be to remove radon from the air throughout the home rather than remove the granite countertop.”
The author writes about granite counter tops, marble and other natural stone used in residential and commercial construction. He is the owner of Heritage Stone a Charlotte, NC based stone fabricator.
Because the cost of health insurance is on the increase nationwide, residents of Alabama are also in a desperate search for low cost health insurance. However, it is wise to bear in mind the fact that not everything out there qualifies as health insurance. I’ll show you what they are and their true uses and what amounts to real Alabama health insurance. Finally, I will show you how you can make the most savings.
Discount health care plans are great. However they should never be looked at as an alternative to health insurance — They are only supplemental in nature. Here are a few reasons…
1) You are still responsible for all medical bills you incur. They, however, provide medical discount services.
2) The Alabama Department of Insurance does not regulate these plans. This means that you’re on your own if you have a dispute with an Alabama discount health provider. But if you get a real health insurance plan, you can rest assured that you’ll have recourse from the Alabama Department of Insurance.
Do these mean that Alabama discount services are worthless? Far from that. I’m just trying to put things in proper perspective. You can’t get a discount health plan and wave good buy to an insurance health plan. If you can afford it, get both. Here’s how you can save enough to get both without changing your budget…
Hopefully you have other insurance policies: Auto, home, etc. Now, take out about 30 minutes to visit at least three insurance quotes sites and make sure you input the same information in all three. You’ll get quotes from up to 5 A rated insurance companies if you use the right quotes sites.
Do this for each policy: Auto, home, health and any other you already have. Compare your results. You’ll see companies that offer comparable plans for less. Make sure you understand what is truly covered (You don’t want to be shortchanged). Some lucky folks have been able to shave off a few thousand dollars from their insurance costs this way.
Here are my favorite pages for health insurance quotes…
InsureMe Health Insurance Quotes
Health Insurance Quotes
Publishers can get unique versions of my articles by following any of the links above. Click on “To Use My Articles” when you get to my site.
Chimezirim Odimba writes on insurance.
Health Insurance; COBRA; OBRA; HIPAA; Medicare. If asked, could you state that you knew that all 5 of these topics had the same thing in common: medical insurance coverage for you and, perhaps, your family? Would you know the qualifications for each? Well, in this article, we will discuss them. For a timeline that depicts, graphically, the time relationship between them, please see the timeline in http://www.disabilitykey.com.
HEALTH INSURANCE Coverage from Work
If we are lucky, we, and/or our spouse, work for a company that provides, as a benefit, health insurance coverage for us and our family. If so, we are very lucky. Even if that is true, there are some key things that you might want to look at to see if you have ENOUGH coverage.
1) From your Human Resources Department (or wherever else you would go to get information about your health insurance) get what is called a “Summary Plan Description” (SPD). This document should be kept where you can always find it, as it contains all the information you will need about what your insurance covers and what it doesn’t.
2) Look up “Coverage” and “non-coverage” in your SPD.
These will tell you what your plan covers and doesn’t cover. You need to see if, perhaps, you or one of the covered members of your family has a condition or circumstance that might not be covered, where you need additional coverage. For example, let’s say that your family has a history of cancer; perhaps your plan restricts the number of hospitalization days for care; or, restricts the days per condition. In this case, (like my children) you might want to get additional “cancer insurance” (I think that AFLAC might provide this type of coverage).
It would be a good idea to contact a Health Insurance benefit Broker and ask him/her to read your SPD and see if you have any gaps in coverage. They then can help you supplement coverage BEFORE YOU NEED IT!
NO HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE
You might be one of the growing members of our society that, through one circumstance or another, does NOT have health insurance coverage for your family. In this case, I strongly encourage you to contact a Health Insurance Broker and get immediate coverage of what is called “catestrophic” (not sure if I spelled this correctly) coverage. In this type of coverage, you will generally have large deductibles, but will have coverage if, say, one of you has to go into the hospital.
CONTACTING A BENEFITS INSURANCE BROKER
Whenever you call or email a Health Insurance Broker, it is very important to prepare ahead of time. WHAT, specifically are you looking for; how much can you afford to pay every month; what circumstances do you want to make sure that your family is covered for. In this way, you can make sure to focus on your critical needs.
COBRA
COBRA is an acronym ( how can I spell acronym correctly, yet not be sure that I spelled catestrophic correctly?) that stands for: Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act. Basically, it is a federal law that allows you to pay for your Company-paid health insurance, as an active member, if you no longer work for that company for, generally 18 additional months.
1) COBRA is “triggered” (that is, you, or a covered member of your family, become eligible for COBRA) by events such as the following: resignation from the company; termination (FOR ANY REASON) from the company; divorce of a spouse; a covered chile’s birthday makes them ineligible for coverage. These are the main “triggering” events for COBRA.
2) Now, when eligible for COBRA, you will be asked to pay for 100% to 105% of the company’s employee/employee and family coverage amount. You should get a letter from your company explaining what that amount will be. BEFORE YOU DECIDE TO TAKE COBRA, there are some important things for you to consider.
What will be your cost, and what will be the coverage for that cost?
Sometimes the cost is too much for the coverage. In these cases, you might want to select HIPAA coverage, instead (see HIPAA below).
Or, you might just want to get catestrophic coverage as was mentioned earlier, and wait for full coverage under your next job.
Part of this decision should be whether or not you or a member of your family has what is called a “pre-exisitng coverage” condition.
Here again, before automatically taking COBRA, it would be wise to contact a Benefits Insurance Broker and give him/her all of your options, and get their input. I have worked extensively with a Benefits Insurance Broker, and he is absolutely fantastic!
OBRA
What, you ask, is OBRA? I’ve never heard of it, you say, and no one I know has heard of it either! Well, that’s because, 99% of Human Resource or Benefit folks that I know have never heard of it! OBRA is a federal law that was passed that extends COBRA for an additional 11 months FOR DISABILITY PURPOSES ONLY!! Why, you ask, is this important? Thanks for asking, let’s see if I can explain.
If you are as nieve (did I spell this wrong too? sorry!) as I was when I first started looking to bridge my health insurance from working to Medicare, I assumed that when I got through all of the hoops to qualify for SSDI (Social Security Disabililty Insurance) I’d IMMEDIATELY be eligible for Medicare, RIGHT??? WRONG!!!!
When you FINALLY qualify for SSDI, you have to wait for 5 months before you get your first check. AND, the rules state that, you are eligible for Medicare 2 years (24 months) FROM THE DATE OF YOUR FIRST SSDI PAYMENT. Well, if you add 24 + 5 you get, 29 months between qualifying for SSDI, and Medicare coverage.
OK, I said earlier that COBRA is for 18 months of coverage. Well guess what 18 months of COBRA + 11 months of OBRA equal – 29 months!
BUT, there are two catches to OBRA; first of all, you have a small window of 30 – 60 days to apply ( this window opens the date of your SSDI approval); and, it can cost up to 150% of your plan coverage amount. BUT, if you have a “previously existing condition” this might be the best way for you to proceed.
Again, it is important to contact a Health Insurance Broker to help you with the risk/cost ratio of all of these situations.
It is also improtant to know all of these deadlines as you plan to ensure that you and your family have important health insurance coverage.
HIPAA
HIPAA is a federal law that is called, briefly, the “portability” law for health insurance. What that means is that when you leave a group (read company-paid plan), the carrier that provided that plan, must offer to you, another plan, different from COBRA, when you leave the group coverage. Generally this will be what is called a “bare bones” plan. Again, the best thing for you to do is to call/email a Health Insurance/Benefits Broker with all of your information: SPD, COBRA info, HIPAA info, needs, cost limits, and let him/her help you find the optimum plan coverage for you.
MEDICARE
OK, now, finally, we’ve reached Medicare! BUT (you really didn’t think it would be that easy, did you?) if you have qualified for Medicare because of disability, there are RESTRICTIONS (of COURSE there are!).
First of all, if you are qualifying for Medicare because of disability, you are probably under the age of 65 – normal retirement age.
Medicare coverage does NOT cover prescription drugs, which, those of us with disabilities probably need, and which cost lots.
But, Congress prescribed that states (all but 11) offer what is called “Medicare supplement” plans, some of which do offer prescription coverages.
BUT, these plans ARE NOT REQUIRED TO, and do not, offer these medicare supplement plans that offer prescription coverages to folks who qualify under age 65! So, if you are qualifying because of disability, your medical insurance plan doesn’t cover one of your primary cost expenditures!
Here again is where you need to contact a health insurance/benefit broker. Again, he/she can work with you, and your specific circumstances, to get you the coverage you need.
Hope that this information was helpful to you. If you have any questions, please feel to ask them by commenting on this blog, and I’ll be happy to get you an answer.
About Disabilitykey.com & Carolyn Magura:
Disabilitykey.com is a website designed to assist each person in his/her own unique quest to navigate through the difficult and often conflicting and misleading information about coping with disabilities.
Carolyn Magura, noted disability / ADA expert, has written an e-Book documenting the process that allowed her to:
a) continue to work and receive her “full salary” while on Long Term Disability; and
b) become the first person in her State to qualify for Social Security Disability the FIRST TIME, in UNDER 30 DAYS.
Click here to receive Carolyn ’s easy-to-read, easy-to-follow direct guide through this difficult, trying process. If you are disabled, don’t let this disabiling process disable you. Read Carolyns Disability Key Blog.
Silent Hill 3 Hard / Hard Strategy [Part 5: Office building] Played by Fungo of Silent Hill Media. shm.silenthillfever.com This is a complete video strategy for SH3 on Hard Hard Difficulty. the reason I am doing the strategy on Hard difficulty is because the game is made for it – there are ten different levels of Hard going from Extreme 1-9, then Extreme X. Watch carefully at what I do, as I just grab what I need. I usually have “just enough” ammo and health supplies to get through the game. More videos will be updated soon. Check out the annotations for my commentary.
A Green Bay, Wisconsin, the president holds a town hall directly to the American people about the need for real reform health care to talk – without excuses, without endless delays. 11. June 2009. (Public Domain)
Mold is most often green, red, black, or blue in coloring while most mildew is generally gray or white. Mold is very common outdoors, depending on an individuals location, a good many people do suffer from mold allergies. Mold is a live organism that will develop when in combination with the right temperature, mold spores, dampness, and a sufficient food source are available. Mold is a natural living organism. The term toxic mold can be somewhat misleading to some, as it precludes an idea that certain molds can be toxic, when in actuality certain strains of mold produces secondary metabolites that will produce toxins. Mold is the general terminology used to describe a furry growth or organic matter, caused by fungus, mainly in the presence of dampness and rot.
Various Mold Strains
There are thousands of varieties of mold. Molds are not always necessarily harmful, penicillin was created from mold. Molds do release spores as part of the their reproductive cycle. Molds can and do grow on wood, ceilings, wallpaper, paint, carpeting, drywall, and the different types of insulation, and they utilize their very powerful enzymes to eat up and dissolve home materials the same way that they can dissolve rotting and decaying plant matter. Molds that have the ability to produce toxins are very common. Molds can also grow at a variety of humidity and temperatures, but they have a difficult time growing in arid environments.
Mold Issues Indoors
Indoors mold can be found where dampness and humidity levels are high, mainly in basements and showers. Unfortunately, our government has not established a set of guidelines that determines unhealthy amounts of poor indoor air standards. Thereby making it difficult, if not impossible for scores of sickly people to get help during this possible emerging health crisis. A lot of people are unaware or ignorant about the extreme health hazards that may be involved with certain types of indoor molds. In many areas, your local health department might also have important information on mold, and you might want to contact your state Air Quality office.
Toxic Molds
Toxic mold may cause cold like symptoms in an individual . Headaches, possible sneezing, running nose, itchy red eyes and/or skin rashes, according to many experts, certain molds may cause permanent neurological, psychological, pathological, and immune system damage. In some cases toxic effects have been recorded from ingesting moldy grain, but evidence is feeble that breathing mold spores inside a structure can cause toxic effects. Toxic mold will very commonly occur in damp and humid areas of a dwelling including behind the walls and also appliances. Toxic mold or commonly known as black mold can be deadly, mainly targeting children with allergies to mold. Extremely toxic molds may develop from water leakage, while black mold is generally not as common than other mold types, it is by no means rare.
How to Get Rid of Mold Conclusion
If you spot mold in your home, it is a warning sign that you have water seepage or a leak that needs to be attended to. While mold is getting plenty of coverage in the media these days, it has actually been around for since time eternity. This mold is an undesired intruder in our home’s. Regardless of the variety of mold found in the home, a home that has mold is not necessarily a healthy home. You may be able to contact your local county or state health department about mold concerns that you may have in the area that you live to find out about what mold assessment they may offer.
Cautionary Side Note: How to Get Rid of Mold
Attempting to mixing bleach with ammonia or any other cleaning products will produce dangerous and toxic fumes.
My name is Charlene Rhodes, I am an avid natural health enthusiast. When I can use natural, that’s where I go. I research and write articles on various health disorders and the best way to deal with them naturally. I have a How To Get Rid of Mold site for this particular topic located here: http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-get-rid-of-mold