Health Insurance In California: Will Healthcare Reform Affect You?

It’s estimated that 4 million Californians will get access to healthcare with the changes initiated by the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act. You can use your annual income to see whether you’ll be qualified for assistance. If you make between $14,403 and $41,000 a year, or your combined annual family income is under $73,240, you will be eligible to get Health Insurance Plans in California through the exchange and you can use subsidies to make it more affordable. If you don’t have children and your annual income is below $14,403, or you are a parent and your annual income for a family of three is under $24,360, you will be eligible for Medi-Cal. Healthcare reform expands this public program to increase financial assistance to people with incomes in the low to middle range What Does Healthcare Reform Do For Children?Healthcare reform will extend coverage to more children by increasing help to families, but it also allows parents to cover their children under their California health insurance for several more years. As of September 2010, children can be protected by their parent’s coverage until they become 26.In addition, healthcare reform specifically ends exclusions on pre-existing health problems. If you are one of the millions of children with a problem like asthma who have been barred from medical care for years, you’ll have access to much-needed care. Does Healthcare Reform Affect Seniors?If you are at least 65, you will continue to get Medicare, and healthcare reform extends the viability of Medicare. For seniors in the infamous Medicare “doughnut hole,” which means Medicare does not pay for your prescriptions, healthcare reform cuts your out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs with a $250 rebate check in 2010. Ultimately, reform is designed to completely remove the Medicare gap in coverage for prescriptions by 2020. In September 2010, healthcare reform ends the charging for recommended preventive services so seniors can receive an annual wellness check-up for free. This can help catch health problems early when they are most treatable and reversible, and give seniors peace of mind.What Does Healthcare Reform Mean To Legal U.S. Residents?If you have been a legal, permanent U.S. residents for less than five years, you will be able to buy insurance through the exchange in 2014 and take advantage of subsidies to make it more affordable. If you have been a legal, permanent resident for more than five years, you may be eligible for Medi-Cal in 2014. Undocumented immigrants will not be able to participate in the exchange or Medi-Cal, but healthcare reform does not block them from receiving care at health centers, hospitals or local community clinics when they need emergency medical help. When Will You Be Able To Get California Health Insurance?Whether you need family or individual coverage, the exchange is mandated to be available in 2014. California may expand the Medi-Cal program (Medicaid) before 2014. If it expands Medi-Cal to all residents with an annual income below $14,403 (that’s 133 percent of the federal poverty level) before 2014, the federal government may help California cover the cost. When Will You Need To Have Health Insurance In California?If you are a U.S. citizens or a legal resident (with a few exceptions), you will need minimal essential coverage for yourself and your dependents in 2014. You can be covered through employers, individual plans, the exchange or Medi-Cal. American Indians, people who prove financial hardship or religious objections, those in prison and undocumented immigrants do not have to purchase health insurance. All others will have to pay a tax penalty of $95 in 2014 if you decide not get health insurance. If you are still not covered with a health plan in 2016, that penalty will have grown to $695. It’s estimated that 8.2 million are now without coverage in California. Healthcare reform is expected to extend coverage to an estimated 4 million. What about the other 4.2 million people? They are believed to be mostly undocumented immigrants who will not participate in the extended coverage.

Digital Photography Magazines

Are you stuck for what to buy your dad or the man in your life for Christmas or a birthday? In fact, what about your mom or your sister? Would they like to record things for posterity or start to create some of their very own modern art photography for their home? Do you know an avid amateur photographer or someone who wants to make their living from photography? Give them a gift of a digital photography magazine. You could really make them smile with this thoughtful gift.”A Magazine isn’t much of a Gift!”Oh yes it is! I’m not talking of a one-off couple of dollars digital photography magazine here. Nowadays it is really easy to buy a subscription to any number of magazine options. All you need to do is check out one issue or the web site of the particular magazine that draws your interest. They will have a form (and sometimes a discount coupon) to sign up for a subscription; and you can gift that subscription to someone else quite easily. That’s a gift that is sure to be appreciated.What’s on Offer?Check out details of the particular magazine that you think is has appeal to a photography enthusiast. You will usually find that, depending on your budget, you can subscribe to several packages – usually three, six, twelve and twenty-four month subscriptions. You will also find typically find that there is a relevant free gift with the subscription and some of these are pretty valuable. A digital photography magazine subscription is easily paid for by credit card, and there are often even cheaper prices for payment by direct debit.What’s Inside?This is what most people will want to know when they buy a subscription to a digital photography magazine for themselves or someone else. Is it worth the money?Typically, these magazines have articles on photography techniques; they cover technicalities of the equipment which you need for digital photography, perhaps even comparing this equipment for different brands to help you with any future purchases. You will receive professional advice on all aspects of digital photography. Magazine formats vary, so it is worth spending some time perusing them before you decide to buy. This is most important because different photography magazines are pitched at different markets and levels of experience.Once you’ve made up your mind on the digital photography magazine subscription that you would like and you’ve paid for it, the rest is automatic. The magazines will be delivered regularly to your chosen address, usually before the magazine hits the store shelves each month.

Exploring Vsmile Educational Game Systems and Vsmile Games

The Vsmile educational game system is an extremely interactive and educational fun and learning system developed by Vtech to cater kids and children ages 3 to 9 years old. The whole gaming package comes with a console that is the game controller and ROM cartridges, also being referred to as “smartriges” by many. Smartriges are commonly referred to as vsmile games – they are removable cartridges one inserts on the console that contains specific games for children to play. Smartriges are also said to be a good innovation in the gaming history because they are in their nature, robust and damage resistant. Many home video game systems utilized the cartridge based system and this was the predecessor of the CD based game systems that are widely used today. However, for kids, the vsmile educational game system is really practical because they are said to be durable and tough to last for a couple of years if they are properly maintained.Now that everything has become mobile these days, vtech also released a variant of the vsmile education game console – that is, in the form of vsmile handheld versions. Now you can virtually go out on a trip and play with your favorite games using this mobile game system. A wide variety of gaming consoles have been designed and they are sometimes classified according to gender: there are blue colored ones for boys and the pink ones are for the girls. Vtech also incorporated different themes for these kids’ enhanced gaming experience – as you may have notice, vsmile games have wide array of games to choose from based on thematic concepts and cartoon characters – to name a few, Scooby Doo, Bob the Builder, The Wiggles, Cars, Ratatouille, Kung Fu Panda, Little Red Riding Hood, Spongebob Squarepants and a whole lot more.Myriad options for Smartriges or vsmile games are licensed from different trademarks and sometimes that nature of each vsmile game is dependent on its theme. So your kid will never be bored because he or she can change smartriges every now and then to explore more games. Smartriges are also classified further according to age appropriate games that would be best suited to different age groups: the beginner’s group (ages 3-5), junior thinkers (4-6), masterminds (6-8) and advanced (6-9). The age group obviously overlaps to show that some kids are likely to enjoy one after the other, or at the same time.Other parents would think that vsmile educational games systems are just pure entertainment for children. But the truth is they are intentionally designed to be highly interactive so that kids will learn a lot from them. This is the toy company’s version of “active interactive learning” through an action based gameplay.