Hundreds of thousands of Americans who purchase their own health insurance have received cancellation notices since August because the plans do not meet Obamacare’s requirements.
The number of cancellation notices greatly exceed the number of Obamacare enrollees.
Insurance carrier Florida Blue sent out 300,000 cancellation notices, or 80 percent of the entire state’s individual coverage policies, Kaiser Health News reports. California’s Kaiser Permanente canceled 160,000 plans — half of its insurance plans in the state — while Blue Shield of California sent 119,000 notices in mid-September alone.
Two major insurance carriers in Pennsylvania, Insurance Highmark in Pittsburgh and Independence Blue Cross in Philadelphia plan to cancel 20 percent and 45 percent of their total plans, respectively.
Nearly 800,000 New Jersey residents’ health-care plans will not longer exist in 2014, forcing insurers to create new ones for individuals and small business owners that hew to the Obamacare’s new regulations, The New Jersey Star Ledger found in early October.
Tatuaje Monster Series is here at Tobacco Shop of Ridgewood
Tatuaje Monster Series 2013
‘Jason’
Available now at
The Tobacco Shop of Ridgewood
~Gary, Barbara and Collin
The Tobacco Shop of Ridgewood
The Tobacco Shop of Ridgewood | 10 Chestnut Street | Ridgewood, New Jersey 07450
Phone: 201-447-2204 | Email: [email protected]
Hours: Monday – Saturday 10:00AM – 5:30PM and Thursday Night 6:30PM – 8:30PM
Fine Print: NJEA PAC’s Report Shows Union Sharing Wealth with Candidates
Teachers union lists $1.4 million in spending, most of it for hot legislative campaigns and counties
What it is: The New Jersey Education Association Political Action Committee (NJEA PAC) last week filed its latest Receipts and Expenditures Quarterly Report with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission. It covers spending by the union’s political arm on the November 5 gubernatorial and legislative elections.
What it means: The 31-page report shows how NJEA PAC spreads its wealth to more than 100 different organizations with a stake in the 2013 elections, be it for individual candidates or tickets or for county and state party apparatus. It is the most that the NJEA PAC has spent at this point in a state election, said the union’s director, reflective of the union’s investment in the race not just for governor but also the Legislature. The list is predominantly Democratic, including Democratic gubernatorial candidate Barbara Buono, but the NJEA includes a few Republicans in its largesse.
The totals: The NJEA PAC lists $1,439,772.32 in expenditures and another $353,424.19 in the bank. Of the total, $1.2 million went to legislative candidates or committees. (Mooney/NJSpotlight)
Study: Self-Driving Cars Would Eliminate Majority Of Traffic Deaths, Congestion
October 23, 2013 12:02 PM
WASHINGTON — In some ways, computers make ideal drivers: They don’t drink and then climb behind the wheel. They don’t do drugs, get distracted, fall asleep, run red lights or tailgate. And their reaction times are quicker.
They do such a good job, in fact, that a new study says self-driving cars and trucks hold the potential to transform driving by eliminating the majority of traffic deaths, significantly reducing congestion and providing tens of billions of dollars in economic benefits.
But significant hurdles to widespread use of self-driving cars remain, the most important of which is likely to be cost. Added sensors, software, engineering and power and computing requirements currently tally over $100,000 per vehicle, clearly unaffordable for most people, the study said. But large-scale production “promises greater affordability over time,” it concluded.
Another Obamacare Screw Job Jared C. Note: If my language offends you, ask Obama to pass a censorship law.
Found affordable health insurance for $50 less a month than what Obama care offers me. However, the price gets jacked up in 2014 courtesy of Obama care. So basically, insurance companies who already offer affordable rates can’t do it anymore thanks to Obama care. You didn’t really think the government would let there be competition did you? This entire system is fucked on so many levels. For hundreds of years people have looked death in the face and died to protect us from this kind of government over reach… but my generation is ready to wipe their ass with the constitution because of expensive doctor bills? Because they are afraid of possibly getting sick? You just let the government spend over 500 million dollars on a fucking website that sells insurance. That 500 million dollars should have been spent on Cancer research, not on a way to profit from the disease. I’m so disgusted right now. Your government is out of control and using fear to fuck with your head. Wake up America! They are doing it right in front of you.
Village Green chef Kevin Portscher dishes on his favorites
Wednesday, October 23, 2013 Last updated: Wednesday October 23, 2013, 10:56 AM
The Record
Position: Chef/owner.
Kevin Portscher, Village Green Restaurant in Ridgewood
Favorite dish to cook: My favorite dish at the moment is gnudi. It’s like a ravioli without the dough.
Favorite dish to eat: Anything with pig in it.
Culinary hero: Nick Gatti, executive chef of Alpine Country Club. Out of all the chefs I’ve worked with, and I’ve worked with many, he was the one that really helped to mold me to where I am today.
Best cookbooks: “A Girl and Her Pig: Recipes and Stories” by April Bloomfield with JJ Goode, and “Momofuku” by David Chang and Peter Meehan.
Best cooking show: As a chef, the last thing I want to watch is a cooking show. I don’t want to sit there and watch Food Network.
After mine, best local restaurant: Wondee’s Fine Thai Food & Noodles in Hackensack. It’s just always fresh and it’s cheap and it’s fast and it’s authentic.
Cooking show I’d like to be on: The Chew. [Otherwise, he said, he doesn’t even know what’s out there these days.]
Advice for diners in my restaurant: Put on something comfortable; grab a nice bottle of wine.
Young mom slain in her Waldwick home with baby nearby
Wednesday, October 23, 2013 Last updated: Thursday October 24, 2013, 12:35 AM
BY ABBOTT KOLOFF, ZACH PATBERG AND EVONNE COUTROS
STAFF WRITERS
The Record
A 23-year-old single mother and former beauty pageant contestant was found dead on Wednesday afternoon after apparently being strangled at her parents’ home in Waldwick, with her baby lying unharmed in a bassinet nearby, authorities said.
Mary Greff, who gave birth to a baby boy in February, was found by her father at 1 p.m. in a second-floor bedroom of the house on Mary Lane, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said at the scene. Her infant son appears to have been alone for hours because police said they believe she died sometime in the early morning hours on Wednesday.
“An autopsy is yet to be performed, but the death has been ruled a homicide due to evidence of strangulation/asphyxiation,” Molinelli said in a statement on Wednesday night
PSE&G Cuts Gas Bills by a Third for November and December Usage
October 23, 2013
Customers to save about $93 depending on usage
33 percent bill credit is on top of four years of declining gas bills
(Newark, NJ – October 23, 2013) Public Service Electric and Gas (PSE&G) announced today that it is providing a two-month bill credit for its residential gas customers that will cut the typical monthly bill by about 33 percent in both November and December.
The bill credit of 35 cents per therm, including NJ Sales and Use Tax (SUT), will reduce the current supply rate of approximately 54 cents to 19 cents per therm including SUT for usage in November and December.
With the bill credit factored in, a typical residential heating customer using 106 therms in November and 160 therms in December would see a reduction in their two-month bill to $188.65 from $281.75 for a savings of $93.10. Depending on meter reading schedules, many customers will see some of the credit in November and December, with the remainder in January.
This latest action by the utility is in addition to nine decreases in a row for residential customers since January 2009 that saves the typical customer about $674 per year. A 15-cent per therm bill credit for February 2012 usage provided an additional $24 in savings.
“We’re pleased that we can provide this substantial credit to our customers, especially at this time of year,” said Jorge Cardenas, PSE&G vice president of asset management and centralized services. “This bill credit will return money to customers as temperatures are dropping and they strive to keep their winter heating bills affordable.
“Since 2009, PSE&G’s residential gas customers have benefitted from steady reductions in the cost of natural gas,” Cardenas said. “Annual bills for residential heating customers have dropped about 39 percent as a result. Our close proximity to the abundance of gas supply in the Marcellus Shale Formation in Pennsylvania, plus our transportation and storage capabilities and the way we manage our pipeline contracts, enabled us to seize this opportunity to once again reduce costs for our customers.”
In addition to the two-month credit, the utility offers some steps customers can take to reduce their costs even further.
• Check for sufficient water levels in the sight glass for hot water and steam heating systems to ensure maximum efficiency. Clean or replace the furnace filter on hot air heating systems.
• Lower your thermostat by just one degree, which may reduce your heating bill by up to 3 percent. Save even more by lowering your thermostat 2 degrees during the day and 5 to 10 degrees at bedtime if health conditions permit.
• Close dampers in fireplaces you don’t use.
• Purchase and wrap an insulation blanket around the tank of your hot water heater. Wrap the outlet pipe with inexpensive flexible insulating tubing to reduce the time it takes for hot water to reach your shower. Set your hot water heater to no more than 120 degrees.
• Move furniture and drapes away from heating registers, radiators, and baseboard element covers. Open any register or baseboard dampers.
• Cover window air conditioners to reduce drafts. Install insulated or lined drapes on your windows.
• Use weather stripping or one-sided sticky tape to seal up cracks and prevent drafts in windows and doorframes. Caulk smaller gaps. Beneath doors, install draft guards available at hardware stores.
• Use a shrink film insulation kit on really drafty windows or make one yourself from plastic sheeting and double-faced tape.
• Seal wall switches and electrical outlets with small foam gaskets available at home improvement centers and hardware stores. Remove the cover plate, insert the gasket, and screw the cover plate back in place.
• If you have a door leading outside from your basement, hang a full-size sheet of plastic from the door frame to keep heat from escaping. Seal windows in the basement with plastic to create a barrier against the cold. (Make sure you allow enough air supply to feed your fuel-burning appliances safely.)
• Keep your garage door closed if the garage is attached to the house.
• If your budget permits, install (or have installed) a programmable thermostat that you can set to automatically lower room temperatures when rooms are not in use and also at bedtime if health conditions permit.
• Visit PSE&G’s Home Energy Toolkit at www.pseg.com/toolkit. You can calculate the energy efficiency of your home and find out how to save energy and money on appliances and heating systems.
FDA Alerts Pet Owners, Vets To Possible Link Between Jerky Treats, Dogs Getting Sick
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — There’s a new federal health alert for dog owners.
Several brands of the jerky treats were voluntarily removed from store shelves back in January.
Now, the Food and Drug Administration is asking pet owners and veterinarians to contact them if their pet has become ill after eating jerky pet treats.
At least 3,600 dogs have been sickened since 2007 and 580 of those pets died.
Official says effective deadline to have insurance could be postponed
By Jen Wieczner
The Obama administration may give Americans an extension on how long they can go without health insurance before facing a penalty under the Affordable Care Act, MarketWatch has learned.
The health care law requires most people to have health insurance by Jan. 1, 2014 or face a penalty, but the Administration may postpone when those penalties will go into effect. The law allows for “short coverage gaps” of up to three months before imposing the penalty, which is $95 or 1% of an individual’s income (whichever is greater) next year. That means someone must be covered by March 31, an official with the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed, which is the final day that people will be able to purchase health insurance on the public exchanges, or marketplaces, created by the ACA.
But because the new health policies take effect on the first day of each month, in order to be covered by March 31, people would actually need to have insurance by March 1. And since it takes up to two weeks to process insurance applications, consumers would have to apply by Feb. 15, the Associated Press reported recently. (People must apply by Dec. 15 if they want coverage starting Jan. 1.)
Congratulations: It’s a Three-Peat! Valley Achieves Nursing’s Highest Honor for Third Consecutive Time
October 21, 2013 — The Valley Hospital is proud to announce that it has achieved Magnet designation for the third consecutive time. Valley is among only 6 percent of hospitals nationwide to receive Magnet designation, the highest honor an organization can receive for professional nursing practice.
Conferred by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), the Magnet program provides national recognition to health care organizations that demonstrate sustained excellence in nursing care. The ANCC, the nation’s largest and foremost nursing accrediting and credentialing organization chose the term “magnet” to describe a hospital’s ability to attract high-quality nurses.
“Our re-designation as a Magnet facility reflects our nurses’ commitment to providing exceptional care in a patient- and family-centered environment,” says Ann Marie Leichman, Chief Nursing Officer and Vice President of Patient Care Services at Valley. “This prestigious recognition is a result of the extraordinary work our nurses do every day.”
“Achieving this designation places Valley in the top tier of U.S. hospitals,” said Audrey Meyers, President and CEO of The Valley Hospital and Valley Health System. “This designation provides recognition of excellence in nursing, and achieving it took the efforts of all of our staff, those at the bedside and those who work behind the scenes,” Meyers said.
Hospitals that apply for Magnet re-designation must meet rigorous standards to prove that they have demonstrated various elements deemed essential to delivering superior patient care. These include the quality of nursing leadership and coordination and collaboration across specialties, as well as processes for measuring and improving the quality and delivery of care.
“To our patients, their families, and the community we serve, Magnet designation reinforces that Valley is the best place to receive care,” said Leichman. “It is a tribute to the quality of care our nursing staff provides and I am very proud of this recognition.”
Newly discovered mechanism could help researchers understand ageing process and lead to ways of slowing it down
Ian Sample, science correspondent
theguardian.com, Sunday 20 October 2013 20.02 EDT
A US scientist has discovered an internal body clock based on DNA that measures the biological age of our tissues and organs.
The clock shows that while many healthy tissues age at the same rate as the body as a whole, some of them age much faster or slower. The age of diseased organs varied hugely, with some many tens of years “older” than healthy tissue in the same person, according to the clock.
Researchers say that unravelling the mechanisms behind the clock will help them understand the ageing process and hopefully lead to drugs and other interventions that slow it down.
Therapies that counteract natural ageing are attracting huge interest from scientists because they target the single most important risk factor for scores of incurable diseases that strike in old age.
“Ultimately, it would be very exciting to develop therapy interventions to reset the clock and hopefully keep us young,” said Steve Horvath, professor of genetics and biostatistics at the University of California in Los Angeles.
Horvath looked at the DNA of nearly 8,000 samples of 51 different healthy and cancerous cells and tissues. Specifically, he looked at how methylation, a natural process that chemically modifies DNA, varied with age.
On Friday October 11th the Ridgewood Police Department, held the first meeting of its new Community Policing Youth Ambassador Program at B.F. Middle School. The meeting was attended by 18 young residents representing the elementary schools, middle school and the High School along with several parents, school and police officials.
photos from Ridgewod Police
The program is a community policing partnership with the Ridgewood Board of Education, focusing on leadership and youth engagement in community and public safety concerns. These young residents will be part of an active community policing advisory team consulting directly with the Chief of Police, police personnel, school officials and village personnel on public safety and community concerns.
The Youth Ambassadors will have the opportunity to:
• Help make our community a safer place to live, learn, play and work.
• Be a voice in matters/concerns which directly or indirectly impact the youth of our community such as anti-bullying, tolerance and respect.
• Assist the police department with community outreach andeducational programs for Crime Prevention, Community Policing, and Pedestrian/Traffic Safety etc.
• Have input and involvement in the development of and content for Public Safety/Awareness (PSA) videos which would reach varied audiences.
• Help forge a collaborative partnership between Ridgewood’s youth and various public officials and agencies which serve our community and the region.
• Learn and experience team building and project management, as well as help develop interpersonal skills of collaboration, communication, cooperation, leadership and active listening.
• Demonstrate to their peers and others that you are never too young to develop the leader within you and make a difference.
The issues and concerns they will be addressing are real and have an impact on our community and region. The solutions they help develop will make a difference for our community. They will be working with other students, police, school and other public officials to find innovative solutions to current and future challenges.
Honorary Police Chief Michael Feeney will continue his duties for the Ridgewood Police Department as a critical member of the Youth Ambassador team.
Chief John M. Ward and Gregory Wu (Assistant Principle BF Middle School) will be coordinating and serving as program advisors.
Chief John M. Ward – [email protected] Gregory Wu – [email protected]
