Dental work and the recession

It's only natural that during times of economic squeeze people will try to save a bit of money here and there, by trading down at the supermarket for cheaper brands, or maybe cancelling a magazine subscription. However it seems that in some cases people are - due to the recession - deferring or even cancelling dental work.

Given the amount that some dental treatment can cost - even if it's just some root canal work and a couple of white fillings - it's no wonder that sometimes people are reluctant to shell out for a trip to the dentists. Sometimes it can be a pain in the wallet.

In fact, in a survey of dentists by the British Dental Association last year, two thirds of practitioners reported that they had seen customers either hold off on dental treatment or cancel it completely.

However, the BDA board chairman commented at the time that putting things off isn't the best decision either health-wise or in terms of money:

"Neglecting your oral health can increase both the complexity of the problems you face and the cost of the treatment you must eventually have."

In other words, if you decide that you will postpone treatment, then the treatment you will need in the future could well be more extensive, and costlier as a result. Making sure your teeth are in order is also important during a recession when jobs are harder to come by and we all need to present ourselves well - so it's always advisable to get the treatment that you require rather than assume it will sort itself out or not continue to develop.

Buying a dental plan is one way to ensure that you'll be able to get the treatment you require without any unexpected bumps to the bank balance. This kind of plan means that up to certain limits you can claim back the money for crowns, fillings and other things like x-rays too.

Have you ever felt tempted to cancel dental work due to the recession? Please let us know in the comments.

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Social Security No Return

Social Security beneficiaries retiring in 2012 and later are in for a rude surprise. Your return on investment is the same as if you had buried your money in the back yard or stuffed it in a mattress.



Lifetime Social Security taxes and benefits for people turning 65 in different decades. The lifetime value of taxes is based on the value of accumulated taxes paid, as if those taxes were put into an account that earned an annual 2 percent interest rate, plus inflation. The examples are for a married couple in which both spouses earned average wages ($43,500 in 2011). Projected benefits assume that both spouses have average life spans after turning 65. Want more benefits? Live longer.


If you turned 65 in 1960:
Lifetime Social Security benefits: $259,000.
Lifetime Social Security taxes: $36,000.
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If you turned 65 in 1980:
Lifetime benefits: $452,000.
Lifetime taxes: $192,000.
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If you turned 65 in 2010:
Lifetime benefits: $555,000.
Lifetime taxes: $588,000.
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If you turn 65 in 2030:
Lifetime benefits: $699,000.
Lifetime taxes: $796,000.
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In 1960, a 65-year-old woman could expect to live 16 more years, on average, and a 65-year-old man could expect to live 13 more years. In 2030, a 65-year-old woman could expect to live 21 more years, on average, and a 65-year-old man could expect to live 19 more years.

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Dangerous Precedent

Aetna did a very stupid thing. They allowed themselves to be bullied in to paying an extra-contractual claim after bowing to pressure from the Twitter-brain crowd.   


Arijit Guha, an Arizona State student bought a limited benefit student health insurance plan. Every one I have reviewed is terribly flawed and overpriced for the "benefit" you receive.


This one is no different.They even include a "disclaimer"

Your student health insurance coverage,offered by Aetna Student Health*, may notmeet the minimum standards required bythe health care reform law for therestrictions on annual dollar limits. Theannual dollar limits ensure that consumershave sufficient access to medical benefitsthroughout the annual term of the policy

The above language applies to the 2012 - 2013 policy year. We have no way of knowing if similar language was included in the one purchased by Guha. Currently receiving treatment for stage 4 colon cancer, Guha quickly exhausted his $300,000 lifetime limit on benefits under the Aetna student health insurance plan.

After multiple surgeries and costly chemotherapy sessions, the 31-year-old Phoenix man quickly surpassed the $300,000 lifetime limit on his Aetna student-health-insurance plan with another $118,000 in medical bills left unpaid.

 Facing the prospect of medical bankruptcy, Guha launched a website, Poop Strong, and sold T-shirts and trinkets to raise money to pay for his costly chemotherapy and other medical bills. He also has used Twitter to rail against what he considers the outsized profits of Aetna and the health-insurance industry. 

To his surprise, Aetna CEO Mark T. Bertolini engaged Guha via Twitter and addressed the student's plight. The result? Aetna agreed to pay the student's medical costs despite his policy's maxed-out coverage.

While generous and noble, paying extra-contractual claims because of public pressure is foolhardy. Future policyholders can simply claim ignorance of the provisions in their policy and engage in social blackmail in hopes of getting the carrier to pay up.


Now comes a new school year and a chance (perhaps) to purchase a new Aetna plan. Even if he qualifies, most student health plans exclude pre-existing medical conditions.


Oh well. Perhaps Aetna's CEO Bertolini will offer to cover those expenses as well. After all, he has set a precedent.

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Obamacare Payola?

Most who followed the "progress" of Obamacare through both houses of Congress are familiar with political payoffs such as the Cornhusker Deal, the Louisiana Purchase and other backroom shenanigans to win votes. If this is business as usual we are in big trouble as a country.


But almost 4 years after the year long snow job was pulled off on the American public it now appears the plot thickens.


Politico reports there is evidence Jim Messina, Obama's campaign manager, may have cut deals on behalf of "big Pharma" to insure the passage of Obamacare.

A House Energy and Commerce Committee report out Tuesday is stocked with emails sent from private addresses and meetings scheduled away from the building to avoid official record. Among these are several sent to a pharmaceutical industry lobbyist by Messina, then President Barack Obama’s then-deputy White House chief of staff, making promises about language for the health care reforms despite the resistance of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the measure.

“I will roll [P]elosi to get the 4 billion,” Messina wrote Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) lobbyist Jeffrey Forbes from his personal account just days before the Affordable Care Act cleared Congress in March 2010. “As you may have heard I am literally rolling over the house. But there just isn’t 8-10 billion.”

Ah yes, Mrs. Pelosi. The Speaker that famously declared "We have to pass the bill in order to know what was in it."


Now perhaps we know why she said that.


She didn't build that by herself . . .

“What we have learned from our many investigations is that, time and again, the Obama administration’s actions have failed to match the president’s lofty rhetoric on transparency,” Stearns said.

No kidding.


But then, it IS the Chicago way of politics.

After POLITICO published a story in February 2011 on meetings arranged at offices on Jackson Place near the White House, White House press secretary Jay Carney said “the guiding principle here is transparency, and we believe that — nobody is, that I’m aware of, is hiding where they’re meeting.”

“It is routine for the White House officials to meet with all types of people, including lobbyists, and frequently here,” Carney said. “The suggestion that we’re not being transparent is laughable given the unbelievable precedent this administration has set in its — closing the door, the revolving door, and releasing these records.”

Is this the same Carney that either did not know or refused to answer the direct question, "What is the capital of Israel"?


This is reminiscent of the infamous Watergate hearings and the staged memory loss of the participants.

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Cavalcade of Risk #163: Call for submissions

Julie Ferguson hosts next week's Cavalcade of Risk - Entries are due by Monday (the 6th).

To submit your risk-related post, just click here to email it.

You'll need to provide:

■ Your post's url and title
■ Your blog's url and name
■ Your name and email
■ A (brief) summary of the post

PLEASE remember: ONLY posts that relate to risk (not personal finance tips and the like).

Thanks!

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E-health research centres: a health care move forward

Last week it was reported that the drug testing facilities for the London 2012 Olympics will be turned into a permanent research centre - so when all the international athletes have packed up their kit and flown off home to all four corners of the globe, the legacy of London 2012 will partly be to the benefit of UK health care generally. The HM Government website's news room has this information on the purpose of the e-health centre initiative:


"The new centres will enable the UK to make more effective use of electronic health data – a field with huge possibilities for health care delivery and the understanding of disease"


The other planned e-health centres along with the London one (greater London, actually: it's based at Harlow) are to be established in Dundee, Manchester, and Swansea. Described by the Prime Minister as "an impressive example of collaboration between top-class research, the NHS and industry" the ehealth centres will use electronically stored health data to find new insights into disease and thus help with health care delivery.


This is all good news and potentially cutting edge UK research - we'll revisit this story in time when the e-health centres' work is underway and hopefully bringing some interesting results. Until then, though, the Olympics continue and the UK summer - despite a bit of rain here and there - welcomes millions of tourists to London to watch the games and also check out the history and culture available in the capital.

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