You might be surprised to find out that as of last year, 52 percent of employers already offered domestic partner health benefits. This is up from 31 percent in 2010. These statistics are derived from a recent survey conducted by Mercer, a benefit consultant group. Apparently, employers tend to feel that by offering domestic partner health insurance, they will be able to attract a wider pool of talent interested in staying on board for longer periods of time.

It would appear that the times, they are a changin’.

It should be noted, however that percentages of businesses offering group health insurance that cater to domestic partners varies greatly depending on what region of the country you work in. In the West, 79 percent of large companies extend this benefit, while only 28 percent do in the South.

Here are some more interesting facts surrounding the issue:

In 1982, The Village Voice newspaper in New York City was the first private employer ever to offer domestic partner benefits to their employees.
In 1995, Vermont became the first state to offer domestic partner benefits to state workers.
58 percent of Fortune 500 companies currently offer domestic partner benefits.
Same-sex partners of federal workers are still not eligible for domestic partner benefits due to the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act. There is plenty of opposition to this law and it is likely that the issue will be brought before the Supreme Court.

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This past weekend, our Vice President of Consumer Marketing, Michael Mahoney, traveled to the fair city of Charlotte, North Carolina to visit their local CBS news station, WBTV. Consumer reporter, Kristen Miranda interviewed Michael about health insurance options for recent graduates and how GoHealthInsurance.com can streamline the process of obtaining it.

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A number of tax expenditure lapses can result in charges like not filing tax returns, misleading the IRS, filing your taxes incorrectly, and not funding quarterly taxes etc. The whole directory of charges including the processes that are initiated to gather these charges and for interest abatement is obtainable in the Penalty Handbook. When you notice the long list of penalties, you feel that apt from the taxes the administration also makes an remarkable amount of funds by fining non payers. So in essence, you would end up paying even more that you actually owe in case of tax payment lapses.

However, the federal government is also concerned about the rights of the taxpayer, and keeping this in mind the IRS has provided some recourses for careless taxpayer to clean up their own tax dues also the methods of dismissing tax levies has been made very easy to make sure that the evaluation of charges is done appropriately. A few years ago, non payment matters would become a veritable battle but now the methods is significantly friendlier.

The government presents all relevant details for the taxpayer concerning the interest rates, penalties, levies and penalty abatement with the Penalties Handbook; ensure that you educate yourself with the data offered on this publication if you face an IRS hurdle. If you have the proper information that is applicable to your condition, you could possibly lessen the chance of being penalized considerably.

There has been a change in the way in which the IRS collects its penalties in current day, as opposed to the automatic scheme that did the dishonest work, this work is now assigned to IRS collectors. You can’t reason using a machine and you can definitely accomplish that using a person. Which means you possibly can reduce the total amount if penalties and even erase them completely by stating that the error in your side wasn’t intentional and that you did not got down to intentionally defraud the IRS. This strategy of called the IRS abatement of penalties.

Are you aware the IRS collects $15 billion in penalties each year? Although this is a good side income for the IRS, as far as the taxpayer is concerned, he has to incur the burden of this exorbitant payment. For some people the situation gets increasingly worst because the penalties are added to the tax amount previously due swelling the figure and to top it, interest is applied to this new increased figure. The rate of interest is equally high at 2% of the total amount due.

If this continues, in an extremely short time a tax payer may have to pay for twice as well as thrice of the original amount. However, it is possible to avoid all this trouble when you act fast. The IRS will mail you a notice mentioning the problem with your tax dues, did you know that at this time you may get in touch along and request a cancellation of the penalties? This is exactly your right and is the first step in the penalties abatement procedure.

If you are a homeowner, then check this article for getting huge tips for 2011 Tax Deductions for homeowners. These tips can help you save you a lot of money when you utilize 2011 Online Tax Returns software

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1) Keep a clean driving history. If you have previously received tickets for moving violations, there is little you could do, but wait for them to clean off your record. However, when you have any pending traffic matters, be sure to clear them up before you apply. Sometimes you could clear them without points, therefore without an increase in your insurance premiums.

2) Anti-theft devices. Very few insurance carriers provide discounts for small devices like the club anymore. These days, it requires technical and hi tech anti-theft devices to be installed, to be able to get good rate discounts. Many of these devices could be installed after market and the savings you’ll get on your insurance policy would be well worth the out of pocket expense.

3) Take a class. No longer are driver’s education classes only valuable for beginning drivers. Even if you have been driving for some time, you could benefit significantly from taking and completing a course for defensive or safe driving. Your insurance carrier provides you with a big discount when you show evidence of completion.

Sevak Meenasian is a California Car Insurance agent who provides excellent service, coverage and prices for Car Insurance. He has over 10 years of insurance experience and provides excellent protection from the nation’s top carriers.

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Latinos make up the highest number of uninsured people in the country. Assuming the health reform laws go through, about nine million Latinos in America will be have more control over their own health care than ever before. For extensive information on how health care reform could potentially affect all Americans, visit HealthCare.Gov. Let’s take a look at how things would change in ways specific to Latinos.

Access to Preventive Care

Due to lack of health insurance, Latinos are less likely to seek out preventive care. Under reform, proactive approaches to staying well and preventing the spread of illness and disease are considered top priorities. Any preventive care is exempt from co-pays and deductibles.

Changes in Latino Health Disparities

Research will be conducted to learn more about the disparities in health care quality in Latino communities throughout the country. Using this information, initiatives are planned to increase ethnic diversity amongst health care professionals and build cultural training programs among health care providers.

A New Focus on Minority Health

The National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities will transition from a “Center” to an “Institute” with much broader scope and purpose. Also, the Office of Minority Health within the Department of Health and Human Services will elevate practices to monitor health, trends, and quality of care among minorities to evaluate the success of minority health initiatives.

Medicaid Funding for Puerto Rico and the US Territories

$6.3 billion in new Medicaid funding will be available to Puerto Rico and the Territories. Puerto Rico may develop a Health Care Exchange to make the process of comparing health insurance rates and plans more clear cut.

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Among children, obesity rates are staggering. Between 16 and 33 percent of children and adolescents are obese. If a parent is obese, it is 3 times more likely that their child will be.

The health problems associated with obesity have a significant economic impact on the U.S. health care system. The most recent information totaled the medical cost of obesity to about $190 billion. This figure is derived by looking at both direct and indirect costs related to obesity.

An example of a direct cost would be receiving medical treatment due to your weight problem. Indirect costs are the value of income lost from things such as decreased productivity, absenteeism and bed days.

As GoHealth has reported in a previous blog, the cost of health insurance coverage also increases dramatically when one is overweight or obese. Obesity is defined as having a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or more. People with a BMI between 25 to 29.9 are considered to be overweight.

Under the current law, health insurance carriers are allowed to raise rates based on a high BMI. In some cases, it can increase your monthly premium payment by over $500. If your BMI is too high, an insurance company will likely deny you health insurance coverage altogether.

As disconcerting as the recent predictions about obesity in America are, let’s not just surrender to the inevitable. We have the power to fight obesity and determine our own healthy futures. Here are just a few wise things to consider entering into your rotation:

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Proponents of purchasing health insurance across state lines thought this would make health insurance rates more competitive across the country and would allow consumers to save money by purchasing more affordable plans.

Currently there are three states that have passed laws intending to allow out-of-state health insurers to offer policies to residents including Rhode Island, Wyoming and Georgia.

Georgia passed the law almost exactly a year ago and many are considering it to be a failure.

Why?

Not one out-of-state health insurer has requested to offer plans in Georgia since the law was passed in 2011. Instead of health insurers flooding to Georgia to offer plans in the state, many aren’t jumping to the opportunity.

Reasons for the lack of interest could mainly be due to the fact that many health insurance companies are waiting until the Supreme Court makes a decision on health care reform. Instead of acting, many health insurers seem to be in a waiting pattern.

Another issue could be that health insurers are not interested in joining the market, spending money on advertising in a state they don’t have presence in and trying to maintain certain Medical Loss Ratios (MLR) as defined by the ACA. This all requires a lot of work and planning at a time when many health insurance companies are just trying to keep up with ACA regulations and deadlines.

While the experiment in Georgia is an interesting one, Georgia may have enacted the legislation at the wrong time. Either way, maybe health insurers will join the market in the future and provide Georgia residents another source for health insurance.

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