Can you use multiple vision insurance plans at the eye doctor? I visited the eye doctor recently and was going to purchase new glasses. I have a vision plan through my employer, additional vision insurance through my wife's employer, and a small benefit as part of my basic health insurance. The sales person informed me I could only use one insurance, as per insurance regulations. This came as a surprise, since my wife visited the same office six months ago and had no problem using her primary and secondary insurance sources. Is this person being truthful?

Does anyone have any info on: vision and dental insurance plans for purchase monthly ? I only have health insuarance at work. I would like to purchase a dental and vision plan together.Thank You.

Just need a vision insurance plan for my wife and I? I just got eligible to receive benefits from my company I just started with. They offer great insurance except they offer no vision insurance. Does anyone know where I could get just vision insurance for a reasonable price?

Vision insurance - can i avail it before i leave my employer?? Hi, i have vision plan thru my employer.I am planning to buy a pair of glasses using the same .I am planning to switch jobs in the near future.Do you think the vision company can penalize me for not working enuf time with the employer thru whom i am planning to get my glasses? I have paid the premium for almost 4 months now.My vision plan is purely linked with my employer - like i enrolled for it when i took this job. Thank you all in advance.

Does anyone have Avesis for a vision plan insurance? Okay so my employer changed vision insurance companies from VSP to Avesis are they a good company? Well just with my luck my eye doctor does not take them so I have to find a new doctor. Is Avesis a good insurance? I looked up doctor and they are taken by most of the walmarts. I did not want to go to walmart. Is Avesis like a cheep insurance? All the doctor in the directory I guess are with companies I did not want to go to. Well if you have them let me know if they are good or bad. Sorry if my question does not go in this section but I figured this is the section where most of yo wear glasses and contacts and wanted your advise

best vision/dental and health insurance for seniors? Hi, I am shopping around for best and affordable vision/dental/health insurance plans for my mom who is 58 years old. She doesn't have any coverage right now. Any ideas what companies are there that offer these plans at affordable rates? For Houston, Texas.

Do community colleges have insurance plans? can i get medical, dental, or vision insurance for being a full time student?(have yet to enroll)

Should I put my newborn daughther on dental and vision insurance? Obviously, when she is born in 2 weeks I plan on adding her to my health insurance. However, it seems unwarranted to add her to vision and dental right away. Any thoughts? Also, if not right away, when would you add a new child to vision and dental insurance? Thanks in advance!

What are good medical and vision insurance companies? I need to find three medical plans to submit to the company I work for in order to have them pay for the plan. I want to choose the best three possible. I know everyone's needs are different when it comes to health insurance but I need to be led in the right direction.

What are some good vision discount plans? I already have insurance but I am looking for a discount plan that can be used either at lenscrafters or kaiser. Any ideas?

Best eye glass lenses for severe astigmastism? I have severe astigmatism (-4.00) with very little distance correction for farsightedness and have to get some new glasses soon. The problem is that I have a new vision insurance plan that lists that they only cover polycarbonate lenses. I remember a couple of years back getting a pair of glasses made of polycarbonate lenses from Lenscrafters (after being assured by them that polycarbonate was the best out there for severe astigmatism) and finding that the clarity of the lenses was cloudy and there seemed to be too much distortion. After that bad experience I paid a ton of money to get glasses from an expensive eye center, and the quality was well worth the money. However, I don't know if they simply used a higher index lense, or what exactly they might have used. I want to use this new insurance to cut the cost of the exam and frames, and am willing to pay out of pocket for the best lenses for my severe astigmatism, but I want to know what to ask for. THANKS!

In need of individual dental/eye insurance plan? I can't seem to be able to find a provider of individual dental and vision insurance. My employer recently dropped these benefits.

Do you know any good independent health/vision/dental insurance companies in the Midwest USA? In IL? Family Plans would be best. Thanks!

If you already have insurance, can you still use a discount plan card on what the ins. doesnt cover? I need some dental work done & am just now able to apply for insurance, up until now I had been looking at discount dental/vision plans... is it acceptable to use both at once?

Will insurance cover my boyfriend and I? My boyfriend and I are both young (22) and we recently got kicked off of our parent's insurance plans. We want to get insurance together, and were wondering if it is possible to do so? We are not married, but is there a way we can do it as a domestic partnership? Neither one of our offices that we work at offer a health insurance policy, either. We are looking for something affordable that preferrably includes dental, medical, and vision. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Even names of reliable insurance companies would be great. Thanks in advance!

Best individual insurance health plans??? I'm 19, I'm healthy, healthy weight, all that. I want a basic cheap health insurance plan that covers regular check ups and vision would be nice too, but thats not necessary. Anybody have any suggestions???

In order to be covered by the same insurance your parents have, do you have to live in the same house? I'm looking to move out in January, and I need to know if I can still be covered. I've looked at my university's insurance plan, and it doesn't cover dental or vision. This is probably a stupid question, but it's the first time I've really tried to find answers on my own with this sort of thing. Help?

does aetna insurance ppo plan cover erg, eog, vision field tests?

When does vision stop deteriorating in children who wear glasses? I have a sixteen year old daughter who has needed new glasses every six months for the past four years. She has previously been diagnosed with convergence insufficiency and a Mittendorf dot. She got her first pair of glasses at age nine. Bad vision runs in the family, nine out of 12 of her immediately family members also wear glasses, but none of them have showed the constant, chronic deterioration in vision she is experiencing. Her vision has gone from -1 to -4 diopters over the past four years, which maps to about 20/200. She is severely hearing impaired so crystal clear vision is very important to her to maximize her ability to read lips. Her opthamologist has been useless other than to issue new prescriptions. Yes I know, get another doctor, unfortunately easier said than done given my insurance plan. Any ideas about what might be causing this, when it might stop, or things we can investigate to make it stop?

Is there all-inclusive health insurance for college graduate students? I'm about to turn 23, and that means I can no longer be covered under my family's insurance plan...since I have to find my own policy now, is there anywhere I can get information on health insurance policies for grad students (in FL), possibly at a discounted rate? I would also like to find a policy that includes vision and dental, if possible. Any ideas where to start looking? Thanks! Thanks to everyone who answered! I have a lot of great resources to check into now! I really appreciate it! =)

Supplemental vision and dental insurance? I don't work, and my husband's job only offers basic health coverage. We need to pick up a supplemental plan for our 6 month old son, since he'll be getting teeth soon.

Which insurance plan should I choose? my job offers three different plans: 1. an HMO that has a $20 copay at the doctors office 2. Lumenos basic-no copay at the doctor, and the company gives me $1000 toward doctors office visits, preventative care such as mammograms and pap smears do not come off that $1000, when that $1000 is used I have a deductible of $1000, then the plan pays 80% 3. Lumenos enhanced-same as above only the deductible is $500, then the plan pays 80% If I don't use the whole $1000, it rolls over to the next year when they add another $1000. With my life insurance, dental plan, and vision, the total out of each paycheck would be $20 with the HMO, $17 with the Lumenous basic, and $25 with the Lumenous enhanced. I went with Lumenous basic, but I have 30 days to change my mind, if anyone has Lumenous, how do you like it? I have to have some kind of insurance even if it does suck.

How much should I expect to pay for health insurance? I found a plan that is about $110 per month that includes a discount dental and vision plan. The deductible is on the high end at $7,000 but I'm a 24 year old, healthy college student so the lower premium is more important than the deductible. It also includes $10 generic prescriptions and 25% payment on brand name prescriptions. Is $110 a good rate for this kind of plan?

what should i look for when picking an insurance plan for health/medical? is there a way to make a custom plan can i customize my plan(s) if needed? will it cost me an arm and a leg. i really dont need extra bills, i am very athletic and i eat healthy border-line vegan scarce with dairy, only eat turkey and variety of seafood lots of friut and veggies, soy/tofu. (if this info helps , can you tell me what are my best options? i want vision,dental,mental,preventive healthcare, and emergency, and speacialty, + general.

Where do you get your Glasses? We have vision insurance that will cover getting glasses and exams at Shopko, Sears or Penny's. The other places covered are local but I would like to here peoples opinions as to which of three places I mentioned they liked the best and why. We are searching for a better place to get glasses and exams but one that is covered by our vision plan. Remember my vision insurance only covers Shopko, Sears or Penny's for name brand places so only tell which of those three places works the best for YOU and WHY.

vision or dental insurance? should I get vision or dental insurance? I can only choose 1 from my employer because it goes by a points system. i have glasses and contacts for my eyes and i also have a dentist that i go to ever 6 mos but she is not on any of the dental plans they offer. so if i get dental at no cost to me then i go to a new dentist or if i get vision or go to my current dentist and pay full price for her services. or if i get vision i get a pair of glasses and/or contacts for free every year but if i dont get vision i pay for it myself. please help!

can someone explain the insurance at my new job? This is all that is said about it. "Comprehensive medical, dental and vision for full-time Associates Special medical, dental and vision plans for part-time Associates " I'll be working part-time, but I'm not exactly sure what "special" could mean. I really need insurance since I'm a college student. I have orientation in a few days, so I'll ask then, but I'm just looking for any tips as to what that could mean. thanks

Where can I get a cheap eye exam for contacts? I need an eye exam and my new insurance plan does not cover vision. Where is the cheapest place to get an eye exam?

help. I don;t know what insurance plan choose? Hi. I am full-time student who goes to major university at Chicago (DEPAUL). Should I get Aetna IL Preventitive and Hospitalization plan for $48 per month ($1250 deductible, coin 20%, coin max $2500) or IL 5000 ($5000 deductible, but has copays for doctors and specialist before deductible for $49 per month, same coin and coin max). Or should I get BCBSIL for $43 per m ($2500 deductible, 20%, but only $1000 out-of packet max). I am with no health insurance- I only have health plan provided by my school ($80 per quarter) that covers the visit to internal medicine doctor (no refferals to specialists). My parents don't have insurance. I am currently 19 and work part-time (little dangerous job as I work at stockroom with heavy lifts sometimes). I already have from Aetna provided by my schoo lcheap vision dental discount plan. And by the way can I apply for medicaid on my own or I must as family? I am still depentent and live with parents.

Box 12 W-2 codes.? What code do I use for payments to my AFLAC insurance plan and for a vision insurance plan. These amounts show up in box 12, but our bookkeeper never puts a code in the box and doesn't really know which one I should use. These are pre-tax $, designed to reduce my take home amount, and thus lower my taxable income. I can't find anything that matches these on the IRS site. This is the only thing I have left to figure out so I can file my taxes. Help!

Which Health Insurance plan Should I choose? I want a provider in California that offers a plan that covers Health, Dental And vision....

Speaking from experience, which would you say is the best health insurance for individual plans (i.e., not EEs Including dental and vision benefits...I currently have Humana but have left my employee and am working self employed thus I need individual. THanks for ur feedback

vision care plan question? i need to see a neuro opthamologist. i have no health insurance would a vision care plan such as ameriplan cover any of the expense of a neuroopthamologist or does it just work with "eye doctors"

Need dental work but no insurance? Hello I dont have insurance and I need some dental work as well as vision. Any advise on a good dental benefit plan (not insurance) the discounted cards? I need some gum work, whitening, maybe pull one, and fixing a chip (front tooth). Thanks for all answers

Obtaining health insurance? I am a 23 year old male & live in IL. I do work, however no insurance is provided or offered through my employer, other than Aflac Supplemental, which I looked over, however none of their plans offered do much good for me, so I did not sign up for any. I have some health problems, some dental problems & vision problems. I do not make much money. I figure I can afford around $25 a month on insurance right now. Is there anywhere I can find health, dental and/or vision insurance that would actually be of assitance to me (meaning desinged as a sole provider insurance & not for supplemental purposes)?

where can u find Comprehensive and Affordable Insurance Plans? dental ,vision

Do you know of a good insurance plan for Vision dental and hearing aids? I dont want to join an HMO or PPI. Aetna has a great plan but I dont want to lose my current drug plan and I will have to if I join that plan. I need a stand-alone

Can the court make me disenroll my children from my insurance benefits? I've had my children enrolled under my insurance plans under my employer (Dental, medical, vision,etc). My soon-to-be ex has also enrolled them under her employer. In previous conversations, she has admitted to me that the judge will order me to terminate my benefits for them under my employer, since she has physical custody and I will have to pay her more than what I've been paying for child-care. There is no order for this money I send her. I send it because it's my obligation. I am still paying on a house that we purchased during our marriage. She doesn't live there. It is vacant, but I have not been able to sell due to the divorce. This is a communal property state. I wish to ask the court to consider this fact in determining what my "share" of child-care or support is. I am paying rent in California and a mortgage in Colorado.

if both parents have a good medical insurance plan, which plan do the children have to be covered under.? Also If one parents plan has better medical and the others parents has dental and vision can the child be covered for all three?

GE Wellness Plan? I am looking for dental and vision insurance. The GE Wellness Plan doenst claim to be an insurance plan but a money saving plan. It givees the prices 109/year plus different amount for procedures. . . . . Description: http://www.dentalplans.com/search/zipsummaryshort.asp?zipcode=15217&NetworkPlanID=279 Does anyone use this? Good Deal or Bad?

Private healthcare providers-anyone know of a good one to use? Me and my husband have 3 children... 6, 2, and 1 week. We both work for the same company. Our company does not provide health/dental/vision insurance. We make too much to receive any government help. How would I go about finding a good private health plan? Better yet, when I find out how, how do I figure out which one is best? Do you use one or know someone who does? Who do they use? Do they like them? I am so lost on this one, any help would be GREATLY appreciated! Thanks in advance!

question on dental and vision coverage? hi i have a heath insurance from my employer, that doesnt covers dental and vision.. i have been havng some issues recently,in my tooth....so, please let me know, how much will the average cost of doctor visit and checkup for tooth problems,if i dont have a dental coverage.. in other case, if my health insurance covers, dental,what will be the coverage cost like.... also, please suggest me some good health insurance plans whose rates are reasanable,at the same time,it should include dental and vision.... by the way, am 26 yr old single male

How much should I pay for health insurance? I recently started a new job and will soon be eligible for health benefits. Last night I was going through the paperwork to sign up. To my horror I found that for me to sign up (for medical, dental and vision) plus my wife and kids (the family plan) I will be paying nearly $600 every two weeks! This is almost a third of my take home. Does this sound right? At my previous job I was paying a little more that $200 every two weeks. Maybe I should go back to the old job...

What type of eyeglasses/contacts coupon would you like to see? What works the best? I have an optical cleint with 22 locations in a midwestern market. They are trying new forms of print since they recently got booted out of Valassis and Smart source for the year by one company that is made up of Lenscrafters, Target Optical, JCPenney Optical Pearl vision and Sears Optical... They have agreed to run, but I am not sure the Buy One Get One on glasses is the best and strongest offer.....or a $99 annual supply of contacts or $99 kids pair.... Any ideas or suggestions> their target audience is blue and white collar, 25-45. They should know what offers drive the most traffic, and they only know the eye exam and two pairs for $99 kicks butt, but they make $0 profit on it.... So many insurance plans cover the eye exam nowadays..... the competition (those mentioned above) are doing similiar offers like I just mentioned...but nothing very exciting....any ideas

Has anyone used their Tonik Health Insurance Plan? I got a Tonik 1500 plan. It is a Blue Cross plan. It was last year and I still never used it. Anyways I pay about $150 a month. Through my new job I could switch to a group plan with Aetna but I would still have to contribute around $150 month and I wouldn't have dental or vision. Any ideas? The deductible would drop a little, but then I would have to keep paying on the Aetna plan where I don't pay after deductible on the Tonik plan. Does anyone have positive or negative feedback about Tonik health insurance.

Best Discount Vision Plan???? Hello, I have regular health insurance with dental coverage, but no optical coverage. I am the only family member that currently wears glasses, and I want to replace them with contacts. What is the best discount vision card to help me save some money on the visit, contacts, glasses??

Insurance for the self-employed.? My husband is self employeed and we are looking for an insurance plan that will cover medical for the family, dental & vision. But we don't want to go bankrupt trying to get affordable insurance.

ABC Demands ‘Answers’ on U.S. Health Insurance Ills; Ignores Canadian Problems? ABC Demands ‘Answers’ on U.S. Health Insurance Ills; Ignores Canadian Problems On Monday’s "Good Morning America," the ABC program shifted into full advocacy mode as anchor Chris Cuomo investigated the health insurance industry. A week after the network promoted Michael Moore’s new documentary "Sicko" for over 21 minutes, co-host Diane Sawyer announced that, regarding health care, the program was demanding "some answers" with a new segment. According to Sawyer, the series is "for you, for all of us." At the close of the report, the ABC anchor even pleaded with the audience for examples of nefarious health care companies: Diane Sawyer: "...If you have an insurance company policy, a question that you want to raise, you want us to tackle something that you think the insurance companies are doing, you write to us. You let us know about it. ABCNews.com. We are on the case." And while Cuomo was "on the case" of a woman who had difficulty getting her insurance company to approve a much needed eye surgery, there has been no similar look at Canadian horror stories where government run health care made one woman with breast cancer wait three months for radiation treatment. A report by the Canadian Fraser Institute found that the average wait time in that country to see a general practitioner was 17.7 weeks. One such incident found a woman waiting over three months to receive radiation therapy for breast cancer: A similar lawsuit was filed in Quebec on behalf of 10,000 women with breast cancer who were forced into long waits for radiation therapy. Anahit Cilinger was one such patient. After having a lymph node removed in October 1999, she was put on a waiting list for radiation therapy. Three months later and with no end to the waiting in sight, she traveled to her native Turkey and paid $12,000 for the treatment. Sawyer began the piece by proclaiming "a GMA commitment to take a hard look at the health insurance industry, to get some answers about those policies we keep hearing about, about what happens to sick people in a time of need." One would assume that such a commitment would include investigating long wait times and other ramifications of adopting government controlled plans. The case of Shannon Dagher, the woman featured in the GMA piece, is certainly sad. After being diagnosed with a rare eye disorder, Ms. Dagher needed a surgery to prevent blindness. Instead, her insurance company, Blue Cross, launched an investigation into her claim. (They ultimately payed for the surgery.) But while unfortunate, it’s no less real then that of Canadians who must resort to leaving the country to obtain treatment. Sawyer describe the "GMA Gets Answers" segment as a new feature, one that viewers should expect to see again. Hopefully, the ramifications of universal health care will also be discussed. Michael Moore’s appearances promoting his new health care movie, "Sicko," can be found here and here. A transcript of the segment, which aired at 7:39am on June 18, follows: 7:20am tease Diane Sawyer: "And we got word this woman's health insurance company was threatening to cancel her coverage when she needed it the most, so GMA went into action. She's not the only one and we're going to get some answers." 7: 30am tease Sawyer: "And coming up in this half hour, this is one of those stories that has Americans up in arms about insurance companies. You're going to meet a young woman whose doctors say that she needs surgery or she could go blind. But her insurance company threatened to cancel her coverage. Why? A controversial practice. This morning, Chris Cuomo's on the case. It's our new series 'GMA Gets Answers,' for her and for you, for all of us." 7:39am Sawyer: "Well, today we are announcing a GMA commitment to take a hard look at the health insurance industry, to get some answers about those policies we keep hearing about, about what happens to sick people in a time of need. Today, you're going to hear about something called rescission. It is a controversial practice where insurance companies retroactively cancel the policy, often after you're trying to make a claim. Chris Cuomo here again with the story of a young woman who faced a real crisis. Her sight was at risk." ABC Graphic: "GMA Gets Answers: Can Your Insurance Be Taken Away?" Cuomo: "Absolutely. Now, as background, in this country there are thousands of people purchase their own insurance. They don't get it through a union or through their work. The young woman you're about to meet has a story that could happen to any of them. According to the industry's, the insurance industry's own estimates, thousands of similar rescission investigations into policy holders occur every year. And most of them lose their coverage as a result. It's a frightening practices you might miss in the fine print of your health insurance policy. Shannon Dagher, a 22-year-old college student, says she was at the eye doctor for a check-up last November, one month after her new insurance policy kicked in when she received terrible news." Shannon Dagher (Denied Insurance): "I was diagnosed with a very rare disorder It's called pseudo tumor cerebri. It basically looks and acts like a brain tumor." Cuomo: "Now, Shannon's doctors say she needs surgery or she may go blind." Dagher: "I'm petrified of the thought of going blind. I've never been sick before in my life. And now, in the past six months, I've started to lose my peripheral vision and I'll never get that back." Cuomo: "But instead of authorizing the surgery, here insurer, Blue Cross of California stopped processing her bills. The company, whose slogan is 'Put the power of blue to work for you,' instead launched and investigation into Shannon. It threatened to cancel her coverage if she had failed to disclose accurate information about her health, like headaches on her original application. But look at Shannon's Blue Cross application. It lumps headaches with more serious conditions like epilepsy, paralysis, stroke, all in one question. She didn't have any of those serious conditions, so she checked no." Dagher: "I never lied to Blue Cross on my application. At the time when I got the insurance, I had no knowledge that anything was wrong with me." Cuomo: "Legislators around the country are paying attention to this little known practice. The state of Connecticut has just passed a law to make it harder for health insurers to pass rescind policies." Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal: "These instances are hardly isolated or random. They are part of a pattern, a prevalent practice in this industry that very simply has to be stopped." Cuomo: "Just getting an insurance company to talk about rescission is not easy. It's Chris Cuomo from ABC News. The best we could do was get Blue Cross on the phone. Why do you rescind a policy?" Voice of Shannon Troughton (Wellpoint Spokesperson): "It's an very important tool for us to address any identified issues of abuse or misrepresentation. Anyone who causes fraud in the system increases the costs of health care for all of our members." Cuomo: "We called eight other insurers. None would talk to us on camera and referred us to their trade group. Isn't this about saving money for the company?" Susan Pisano (America's Health Insurance Plans): "Health insurers pay large claims and pay millions of dollars in claims every day." Cuomo: "Isn't it a little fishy though that this rescission review process only begins after someone files a claim? Isn't that suspicious? You know, why don't you just do it when I'm applying in the first place, figure out whether I'm telling you the truth, like most industries. Here, I filed a claim because I'm sick and now you start looking at me?" Pisano: "Well, here's the way it- Here's the way it work. Here is the way it works. A policy is rescinded only if someone could have known that the condition existed, they were asked about it on the application and they didn't provide the information." Cuomo: "GMA went back to Blue Cross for clarification on Shannon Dagher's case. What really surprised us was that shortly after we asked about Shannon's policy, she learned that her investigation was complete and her policy would not be canceled. Then, Blue Cross denied Shannon's policy had ever even been considered for rescission. It said in a statement to GMA, 'Although she may have received a letter from us indicating a review was being conducted in the past, her policy was not rescinded. For you to report that this member's issues are in any way linked to rescission would be erroneous and misleading.' But Blue Cross had sent Shannon multiple letters telling her that the, quote, 'rescission review process was under way.' And while Blue Cross says it sent Shannon this letter telling her the review was complete, Shannon tells us she never got anything in the mail." Cuomo: "You're the trade group. You're speaking for them. They don't want to talk to me about it. All they say is 'Don't say she was rescinded,' but she was going through that review process. She wasn't getting her claim paid." Pisano: "The companies we represent understand full well the impact of the process of rescission. It must be terribly disruptive, especially at a time when somebody is sick." Cuomo: "Like Shannon, who recently had to drop out of college because of her sickness and hopes her insurance company will not add any more to her troubles." Dagher: "To be accused of fraud when I have no defenses, when I'm sick and when I'm relying on the coverage that they promised me and that is due to me, it really shakes my faith in humanity and the good of people." Cuomo: "But there is some good news. The company authorized the surgery. Shannon, who has a basic policy with a high deductible, did not file suit. And just recently, Blue Cross of California did authorize the surgery that surgery that may save her vision, so remember that. And a California attorney is currently settling a class action suit against Blue Cross of California. The settlement will require the insurer to prove there was intentional misrepresentation before they can cancel a problem. The insurer is denying any wrongdoing but has agreed to revise and clarify the application policy filled out by potential clients." Sawyer: "So, after we started looking into it, word came-" Cuomo: "Yes. We're not saying cause and effect, but we started looking into it. All of a sudden they started saying that's not even going on what you said was going on, but Shannon certainly thought it was." Sawyer: "Well, we want to let everyone out there know that if you have an insurance company policy, a question that you want to raise, you want us to tackle something that you think the insurance companies are doing, you write to us. You let us know about it. ABCNews.com. We are on the case."

Will health care get better or stay the same? After this election, do you think the nation's health care crisis will improve right away, get worse for a while, or stay the same? It seems we are more worried about gas and housing costs right now then health care. We just found out our insurance company doubled our prescription co-pays, and cut out our vision plan. I realize that we are so very lucky to even have insurance, I didn't have it for 9 years before this. But really, it seems more and more employers are not offering insurance, or offering horrible insurance coverage. Do you think we will see a turnaround after this election?

Employer Benefits - Which are most important to you? I'm interested in know which employer benefits are the MOST important to you. Some examples include: 1. Health Insurance 2. Dental Insurance 3. Vision Insurance 4. Pension Plan 5. Profit Sharing Plan 6. Paid Time Off 7. Employee Assistance Program (mental health) 8. Tuition Assistance Program (college) There are many others as well, so you don't have to pick just from this list. If you could just give me your top 3 that would be great. Thank you for your time.

Health Insurance??? I am needing to find a health insurance plan for my family. It will be for my husband & I and our 2 girls. I am looking for something that will cover it all....health, dental, vision....whatever. If anyone can kind of point me in the right direction I would really appreciate it. Or if you have any tips for me. I really don't even know where to begin.... Oh and my husband is self employed....he's an independent contractor (if that helps at all)

How does Hillary Clinton plan to force everyone to buy insurance? Forcibly take it out of your paycheck? Send you to jail for not buying? Force a useless, meaningless, worthless insurance plan on you (high deductible, no copayments, low annual coverage limit) and call it good? http://edition.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/09/17/health.care/ http://www.gp.org/press/pr_2007_09_24.shtml Is this her "Third Way" vision? Provide services to everyone by forcing them to buy crappy service? Does that help people or does it help insurance companies?

Low cost insurance plans for my husband and I? My husband and I are shopping around for some low cost insurance plans for the two of us. We are looking for a health/dental/vision plan(s) with a low monthly payment, anyone know of any? We live in Missouri. Also we are planning to have a baby within the next few months. I have heard that many insurance company's will not pay for prenatal care, should I just get Medicaid when I get pregnant? I am 22 and my husband is 25, both of us are non smokers. We are both full time college students and my husband works full time, and he does not get any insurance benefit through work.

Medical Insurance? I have been on my job for just about 5 months now and still have no benefits. the reasons are very complicated and unfortunate so i have decided that i want to start looking at medical, dental, vision plans on my own, mostly medical. This is my first job, i am 18 and am also very new to all of this, are there any shopping tips or pointers i should consider? or may i have some of your own personal stories about your endevour through this little subject i present to you?

What would you do? ...in relation to health care...? Me and my husband have 3 children... 6, 2, and 1 week. We both work for the same company. Our company does not provide health/dental/vision insurance. We make too much to receive any government help. How would I go about finding a good private health plan? Better yet, when I find out how, how do I figure out which one is best? Do you use one or know someone who does? Who do they use? Do they like them? I am so lost on this one, any help would be GREATLY appreciated! Thanks in advance! Don't know of anyone who has private insurance around here.

Adding husband to insurance...to do or not to do? Ok, when I get married in August, it will cost me almost $400 a month for the both of us to be covered. Right now, just for me, it costs less than $100. This is for dental, vision and health insurance. It is worth it or should we look into other options? He has no options for insurance at his job and this is the cheaper plan at my job. Im in great health, and right now he is but hes a smoker and unhealthy eater(not overweight at all, however).

can my employer legally refuse my spouse health insurance if he has coverage available if mine is better? They will cover my husband for the 90 days until he is eligible for coverage through his new employer. His plan is from out of state and does not have many doctors and dentists in network as my plan. Also, my plan offers a dental and vision with doctors we already use. Can they really deny him coverage?

Where can I get a Cheap Eye exam for contacts??? Greenville, N.C.? Where can I get a cheap eye exam for contacts? I need an eye exam and my new insurance plan does not cover vision. Where is the cheapest place to get an eye exam? around Greenville, N.C.

VSP insurance billing? I used to do insurance billing for an optometrist, who also did my eye exams as well. When I first started there, I still had Vision Service Plan from my previous employer. My contact lenses are considered medically necessary because of my strong RX, however, I am very easy to fit for contacts because my RX has been stable for a few years, and I have no other problems. We had several other patients who also had medically necessary contacts, but most were more difficult to to fit. However, he was billing for the same amount of money for me as he was for people who required several follow-ups and multiple pairs of trial lenses in various RX's. This seems unethical. Should I have reported this to VSP? I had no previous billing experiance prior to this, so I didn't think anything of it at the time. Please don't answer if you have no actual knowledge of insurance billing practices. Thanks. He was billing the actual lenses for about $200 more than he would bill the same lenses for if someone did not fall into the Medically necessary catagory. The same exact lenses. Also, when people had double coverage, and wanted non-prescription sunglasses, he would have us order a pair of glasses with RX lenses, then when they got there, he would take out the RX lenses and put plano tinted lenses in them. On occasion, he would have us bill VSP as the primary insurance when another company was in fact the primary insurer.

Was buying this a good idea? ok. i just bought a creative zen vision: m and the insurance plan for a total of $237 dollars. do u think this was a mistake or is it a good deal?

Does anyone know of any Health Insurance that will cover my 13 year old son without costing me an arm & a leg? My son and I don't have any Health Ins. I have been trying to find something affordable but had no luck so far. I don't need any Ins. unless it's cheaping to get a family plan. I need Vision, Dental, and Medical. I live in San Bernardino, California if that may help. Thank you for any help you can give.

In need of individual dental/eye insurance plan? I can't seem to be able to find a provider of individual dental and vision insurance. My employer recently dropped these benefits.

In need of individual dental/eye insurance plan? I can't seem to be able to find a provider of individual dental and vision insurance. My employer recently dropped these benefits.

what should i look for when picking an insurance plan for health/medical? is there a way to make a custom plan can i customize my plan(s) if needed? will it cost me an arm and a leg. i really dont need extra bills, i am very athletic and i eat healthy border-line vegan scarce with dairy, only eat turkey and variety of seafood lots of friut and veggies, soy/tofu. (if this info helps , can you tell me what are my best options? i want vision,dental,mental,preventive healthcare, and emergency, and speacialty, + general.

Dental Insurance???? My husbands company has Medical Insurance and Vision but NO Dental. He is a Diabetic and it is very important to have Dental care. Just wondering if anyone has a really good and affordable plan that they would recommend. Thanks

Medical/health Insurance for H1b and H4 visa holder? What is the best medical/health insurance ?Is dental,vision and pre natal included? What are HMO/PPO plan?What do i need to know about it? need some input. pls suggest. thanks =)

I just found out I have a brian tumor, but I have no insurance..what should I do.? Hi, I am 24 years old and recently lost my job about 4 months ago. 2 weeks ago my vision started to go bad and I went to the doctor and he said I have Stage 2 cancer. I have no money and no insurance would cover me. Do you know any insurance or government plan that would cover me>?

I need help finding health insurance...? I am 20 years Will be taken off of my current insurance when I turn 21, I live in knoxville Tn. I am not employed at the moment. So I am limited on money right now.. I need a insurance that provides dental,vision and also medical...along with depression, anxiety. I am a non-smoker. If you are on a plan or know of a plan.. Please let me know.. THanks!!

Phoenix Arizona Kids Care Health Insurance? I am in the process of getting my children set up with health insurance. I have already went through the big run around of signing them up for AHCCS just in order to be denied. We all knew they would be denied because of their income from SSI, but I was told that to get an application for Kids Care I had to be denied through the AHCCS first. Finally a month later I have the application for Kids Care, which is the health insurance where you pay a monthly premium for your children who don’t currently have health insurance, an their parents or in my case the children make to much money in order to get full state aid health insurance. I have the Kids Care form all filled out and ready to go except for one major detail. Which plan should I choose? My choices for Maricopa County are: Care 1st Health Choice Arizona Maricopa Health Plan Mercy Care Plan PHP/Community Connection Arizona Physicians, IPA Does anyone have any input on which way to go when choosing one of these health plans? I can not see anywhere on the site where it lists what these separate plans cover, as in co-pays, hospital stays, dental and vision. The oldest of my two children really needs something that allows him the best treatment when it comes to vision, dental an hospital stays. We just moved to the east side of the valley an with this move we also need to find new doctors. First off a pediatrician, an then a new dentist, oral surgeon & orthopedic surgeon. Does anyone have one they have found helpful an caring, that tends to listen instead of walking out of the room leaving you rambling your concerns about your children’s health to yourself? Preferable in the Mesa or Apache Junction area. After this many years with my children I have sort of grown fond of them an well I’d like to make sure I am choosing what is best for them. Also if you know of any physicians for adults that except PHP/Community Connection in the same area that would be greatly appreciated.

Cost of Routine Eye Exams? I don't have a Vision Plan associated with my health insurance. How much would it cost to get a routine eye exam and contact lenses without insurance?

for those of you that said $75 is cheap and asked if it was really insurance...? i am told it is a cigna plan...i have a $20 copay, all routine visits and followups are 100% covered...the deductible is $1000 but my understanding is that is only for non routine appts and procedures...the vision is a "plan" it covers $35 or exan and $250 for glasses contacts ect every other year...they said i pay out of pocket then will be reimbursed. dental has 100% coverage for routine and 80% for more complicated things and 50% for dentures... i am excited that i can afford it... i guess i didnt really ask a question yet...sorry...i will do better next time

Health insurance rates. Switch or stay? In the past 2 years my family's health care plan (which is offered through my husband's work) has gone from great to way too expensive. We pay 250 a month as a premium, then we have a 1,000 each deductible, then our copays kick in 25 for office visit, 35 for specialty, 100 emergency room visit (must be okayed by dr. first, or they don't pay anything), 100 each day in the hospital. Perscription copays are 25/30/50, and not all things are covered. Two years ago we paid 275/a month and had 20 copays for everything (except hospital stays were always 100 and perscriptions they were 5/10/20). They do not pay for any vision, dental, or contraceptive. Certain (most) perscriptions are not covered. Is this similar to what everyone is paying, or should we start looking outside of his work for insurance?

Is it true that the loss of jobs and health insurance does not matter, as long as you are right with Jesus? “The Christian right has lured tens of millions of Americans, who rightly feel abandoned and betrayed by the political system, from the reality-based world to one of magic -- to fantastic visions of angels and miracles, to a childlike belief that God has a plan for them and Jesus will guide and protect them. This mythological worldview, one that has no use for science or dispassionate, honest intellectual inquiry, one that promises that the loss of jobs and health insurance does not matter, as long as you are right with Jesus, offers a lying world of consistency that addresses the emotional yearnings of desperate followers at the expense of reality. It creates a world where facts become interchangeable with opinions, where lies become true -- the very essence of the totalitarian state. It includes a dark license to kill, to obliterate all those who do not conform to this vision, from Muslims in the Middle East to those at home who refuse to submit to the movement. And it conveniently empowers a rapacious oligarchy whose god is maximum profit at the expense of citizens.” (Chris Hedges, Alternet)

I am thinking of having employers apply to me to see if I approve of them. What do you think of my application Fill out this application to have Linda Fallsrock agree to work for your company. Remember no oral understandings are allowed and Linda is an "at will" worker who can leave at any time and will if she does not like your company any more. Q1. Will you pay me at least $75,000 per year? Q2. May I make up my own work hours and days? Q3. Will you buy me lunch everyday and pay for transportation as well as medical, life, dental, vision, tuition plan without limit, life insurance, disability insurance, car insurance, house insurance, and insurance insurance? Q4. Do I have immunity from disciplinary action? Q5. May I date any male (or female) I choose and they must agree to the date if they work for you? Q6, Am I guaranteed at least 18% lump sum bonus each year? Q7. Are my job duties limited to xeroxing and manual filing? Q8. Can I nap at work? Q9. May I watch TV or play music? Q10. Will I have a private office with bath, shower, sink and auxillary bedroom and furniture? Q11. Cat?

Which provides better health Insurance coverage? Traditional Medical Coverage or Short-Term Medical Coverage? I just transitioned from a student to a worker! In school, my university provided insurance services to me so it was not a big deal. However now I have to look for one myself. My employer says that I can select any type of plan I want and he will pay 50% of it, subject to a $100 per month cap. I have never fallen sick, touch wood, and have never used insurance. So, for a person who seldomly visits a doctor, which is better. Traditional: $ 70 per month $1500 deductible $7500 max. annual out of pocket. Roughly 30% Co-Payments an most of the services. Short Term: $ 30 per month $500 deductible $1000 max. annual out of pocket. Roughly 30% Co-Payments an most of the services. Traditional +s: No need to pay in bulk, includes dental, vision and life. Short Term +s: Low premium, deductable and Annual OOP. Traditional -s: High Premium, deductable, Annual OOP and Co-Payments. Short Term -s: Need to buy every 6 months, no dent. no life.

Individual Freedom vs. Government Control? Individual Freedom vs. Government Control Congress faces a critical question this week: Will U.S. health care be government-run, or will Americans be given the freedom to obtain their insurance plans and medical care from private firms? The next U.S. president will likely answer this question, but the resolution to the current debate about SCHIP — the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, a state and federal government partnership for insuring poor children — that is roiling Washington, D.C., will preview the answer. Although health care is a crucial issue for the electorate; traditionally, presidential candidates have avoided any but the blandest generalities. Health care is the third rail of politics. Its complexity, size, and multiple, committed stakeholders scare away most would-be saviors. Yet, the underlying debate is simple: It is all about who will manage and control the health-care sector that comprises one-seventh of our economy. Will individual Americans have the freedom to make their own choices? Or, will we trust government bureaucrats, lawyers, and politicians to make those decisions for them? Our future health-care system will be shaped by how we answer these simple questions. Let’s be clear: The SCHIP battle is not about whether to insure poor children. The debate is about how to insure them: Via the government or private insurers? This debate has not only pitted Democrats against Republicans but has also sundered the Republican coalition. Some Democrats wanted SCHIP expanded by $50 billion dollars so that even families earning about $81,000 a year who have eligible children were included. (The 2005 U.S. median household income was $46,000.) A resolution with the Republicans who hold minority leadership roles led to a compromise, costing only $35 billion, which allowed coverage for those earning up to $60,000. A fundamental problem with this compromise is that the same amount of coverage for children within SCHIP costs $1,000 more per child than under private insurance. A group of forward-thinking Republicans led by U.S. Senator Richard Burr (R., N.C.) and others has an entirely different idea of how to provide insurance: they want to cash out eligible people and enable them to use this money to buy health insurance from private insurers in a tax-protected way. Count the president in too. He has pledged to veto legislation that permits expansion of the present program. None of the combatants’ are supported by an unblemished array of evidence. The Democrats support the expansion of SCHIP by lauding the universal coverage and substantially lower costs of single-payer, government-run systems, like the U.K.’s and Canada’s. Yes; but costs are controlled by rationing health care to the sick. More than 20,000 Brits would not have died from cancer in the U.S. Onerous waiting lists have caused illegal, for-profit health-service centers to proliferate in Canada. These rogue establishments are so well-accepted that the head of one became the president of the Canadian Medical Association. Nor do single-payer systems achieve equality of access or health status — the powerful, assertive, litigious, and connected go to the head of the line. In the U.S., the government-controlled Medicaid program has achieved its low costs per person by stringent limits on provider prices. As many as 40 percent of doctors refuse to see Medicaid enrollees, leading to reduced health care quality. Physicians who accept Medicaid often shift their un-reimbursed costs to the privately insured. A system totally paid by the government would shut down this escape hatch, exacerbating the current shortage of primary care doctors. But the group of Republicans who support private insurance acknowledge that they cannot laud health insurance as a model industry. The massive bureaucracies patients all-too-often encounter when they attempt to obtain the medical services they paid for are not merely frustrating, they sometimes kill. Free-market Republicans claim that the problem with the U.S. insurance firms arises from their lack of accountability. Agents, such as governments and employers, use our money to buy health plans. The agents’ incentives — simplicity and cost control — are not well aligned with our needs for responsiveness. Senators Richard Burr (R., N.C.), Bob Corker (R., Tenn.) and others want to refigure the tax code so that we could buy health insurance with tax-sheltered money, a right currently reserved solely for our employers. If we purchased our own health insurance with tax-protected funds, we could keep these arrogant behemoths in check, just as we do in the other sectors of the American economy. The Swiss universal-coverage, consumer-driven system requires people, not employers or governments, to buy health insurance. (The poor primarily receive funds to purchase insurance just like everybody else.) This consumer control enables the Swiss to enjoy an excellent quality of care without the social inequality of single-payer countries at costs that are a third lower than ours. SCHIP is not merely a debate about yet another mystifying government program. It is all about free-market principles versus government mandates. Giving taxpayers the freedom to choose and buy their own health care would unleash powerful market forces that have been subdued by third-party bureaucracies for the last 60 years. In every area of our economy, market forces have transformed rare, costly products and services like cars and computers into common products and services. We can make health care cheaper, better, and more widely available, if Congress can muster the vision and courage to act.

What’s at the heart of the SCHIP debate.? What’s at the heart of the SCHIP debate. Congress faces a critical question this week: Will U.S. health care be government-run, or will Americans be given the freedom to obtain their insurance plans and medical care from private firms? The next U.S. president will likely answer this question, but the resolution to the current debate about SCHIP — the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, a state and federal government partnership for insuring poor children — that is roiling Washington, D.C., will preview the answer. Although health care is a crucial issue for the electorate; traditionally, presidential candidates have avoided any but the blandest generalities. Health care is the third rail of politics. Its complexity, size, and multiple, committed stakeholders scare away most would-be saviors. Yet, the underlying debate is simple: It is all about who will manage and control the health-care sector that comprises one-seventh of our economy. Will individual Americans have the freedom to make their own choices? Or, will we trust government bureaucrats, lawyers, and politicians to make those decisions for them? Our future health-care system will be shaped by how we answer these simple questions. Let’s be clear: The SCHIP battle is not about whether to insure poor children. The debate is about how to insure them: Via the government or private insurers? This debate has not only pitted Democrats against Republicans but has also sundered the Republican coalition. Some Democrats wanted SCHIP expanded by $50 billion dollars so that even families earning about $81,000 a year who have eligible children were included. (The 2005 U.S. median household income was $46,000.) A resolution with the Republicans who hold minority leadership roles led to a compromise, costing only $35 billion, which allowed coverage for those earning up to $60,000. A fundamental problem with this compromise is that the same amount of coverage for children within SCHIP costs $1,000 more per child than under private insurance. A group of forward-thinking Republicans led by U.S. Senator Richard Burr (R., N.C.) and others has an entirely different idea of how to provide insurance: they want to cash out eligible people and enable them to use this money to buy health insurance from private insurers in a tax-protected way. Count the president in too. He has pledged to veto legislation that permits expansion of the present program. None of the combatants’ are supported by an unblemished array of evidence. The Democrats support the expansion of SCHIP by lauding the universal coverage and substantially lower costs of single-payer, government-run systems, like the U.K.’s and Canada’s. Yes; but costs are controlled by rationing health care to the sick. More than 20,000 Brits would not have died from cancer in the U.S. Onerous waiting lists have caused illegal, for-profit health-service centers to proliferate in Canada. These rogue establishments are so well-accepted that the head of one became the president of the Canadian Medical Association. Nor do single-payer systems achieve equality of access or health status — the powerful, assertive, litigious, and connected go to the head of the line. In the U.S., the government-controlled Medicaid program has achieved its low costs per person by stringent limits on provider prices. As many as 40 percent of doctors refuse to see Medicaid enrollees, leading to reduced health care quality. Physicians who accept Medicaid often shift their un-reimbursed costs to the privately insured. A system totally paid by the government would shut down this escape hatch, exacerbating the current shortage of primary care doctors. But the group of Republicans who support private insurance acknowledge that they cannot laud health insurance as a model industry. The massive bureaucracies patients all-too-often encounter when they attempt to obtain the medical services they paid for are not merely frustrating, they sometimes kill. Free-market Republicans claim that the problem with the U.S. insurance firms arises from their lack of accountability. Agents, such as governments and employers, use our money to buy health plans. The agents’ incentives — simplicity and cost control — are not well aligned with our needs for responsiveness. Senators Richard Burr (R., N.C.), Bob Corker (R., Tenn.) and others want to refigure the tax code so that we could buy health insurance with tax-sheltered money, a right currently reserved solely for our employers. If we purchased our own health insurance with tax-protected funds, we could keep these arrogant behemoths in check, just as we do in the other sectors of the American economy. The Swiss universal-coverage, consumer-driven system requires people, not employers or governments, to buy health insurance. (The poor primarily receive funds to purchase insurance just like everybody else.) This consumer control enables the Swiss to enjoy an excellent quality of care without the social inequality of single-payer countries at costs that are a third lower than ours. SCHIP is not merely a debate about yet another mystifying government program. It is all about free-market principles versus government mandates. Giving taxpayers the freedom to choose and buy their own health care would unleash powerful market forces that have been subdued by third-party bureaucracies for the last 60 years. In every area of our economy, market forces have transformed rare, costly products and services like cars and computers into common products and services. We can make health care cheaper, better, and more widely available, if Congress can muster the vision and courage to act.

Mean Dad? should he consider him a JERK? ok so I believe my dad has the ability to let me stay on his insurance plan. Recently his took me off dental and vision. It makes me really sad that he wouldn't put his best effort to make sure im insured, I'm a hard working, full time student. I'm just wondering how to tell him that I feel he's not helping me like he should be thanks to his wife.

Do you need Health coverage? there is a plan that isn't insurance but a discount card for all dental vision prescrition and health it covers like 40% at nhcdplan.com it is only $52 a month for a whole family! would I be better off with insurance?

What is the best dental plan for large companies? I work for a company that manufacutres dental products but my employer doesn't offer dental insurance for my family only employees. Employees have free exams & cleanings but have to pay 50% of any work done. My husband is in pain & my daughter needs cleanings. I want to approach my boss about looking into a plan for the company but I'm trying to do research on plans before I do so. When I started 10 yrs ago there was 10 of us. Now we are close to 70. I think it's time to offer dental & vision.

Has the Christian Right lured people into a childlike belief that God has a plan for them? “The Christian right has lured tens of millions of Americans, who rightly feel abandoned and betrayed by the political system, from the reality-based world to one of magic -- to fantastic visions of angels and miracles, to a childlike belief that God has a plan for them and Jesus will guide and protect them. This mythological worldview, one that has no use for science or dispassionate, honest intellectual inquiry, one that promises that the loss of jobs and health insurance does not matter, as long as you are right with Jesus, offers a lying world of consistency that addresses the emotional yearnings of desperate followers at the expense of reality. It creates a world where facts become interchangeable with opinions, where lies become true -- the very essence of the totalitarian state. It includes a dark license to kill, to obliterate all those who do not conform to this vision, from Muslims in the Middle East to those at home who refuse to submit to the movement. And it conveniently empowers a rapacious oligarchy whose god is maximum profit at the expense of citizens.” (Chris Hedges, Alternet)

Old rationales for government growth (discredited) and terrible time of recruiting employeess : GOOD¡? If you say that government is too big and truly overweening, you elicit a surprising degree of agreement among people, even mainstream columnists, economists, and nearly everyone. Even government employees, who famously resent their bosses, might be quick to agree. If you hang outside the offices of the IRS in Washington, D.C., in the park at noontime where its employees take their lunch, you will get an earful of vitriol against the bureaucracy such as you wouldn't hear outside 1990s militia circles. Incidentally, the government is having a terrible time recruiting employees. Only 16% of college-educated workers say that they are interested in a government job. Among those without a college degree, there is twice the level of interest. Among people currently employed, those with managerial or professional occupations show a low interest level of 17%. Among those who want work to be challenging and enjoyable, only 9% thought a government job qualified. And, interestingly, among those who say they want to make a contribution to society, 90% said that non-government work in the private sector, whether for profit or non-profit, is the way to go. Now, what this means is that the smart set avoids government. Government work might still be attractive to people with fewer economic opportunities, but they are entering it for reasons that are not ideological. And for that reason too, they are less loyal to the public sector and glad to bail out if something else comes available. Most people view this as a very bad trend. I would only say that it is a significant trend, especially considering that in the heyday of government central planning, government sought to attract the best and the brightest. Often it did. Now, one might argue that if government were doing what it should be doing, this would be a good thing. But if government is doing many bad things, it is certainly not a bad trend for it to experience a brain drain. It is always a tragedy to see smart and entrepreneurial men and women be attracted away from productive employment in the private sector toward a position of power in the public sector. It makes us poorer to have the talents drained away from wealth creation toward wealth destruction. As for the very few good people in politics — Ron Paul is the great exception that proves the rule — they are true public servants only insofar as they work to diminish government power rather than increase it. So long as government is large and overweening, we are better off with a public sector that cannot attract the best and brightest. They should stay put where they can continue to expand the range of goods and services offered within the market framework. It is the market that provides us the means necessary to improve our standard of living, and the tools we need to maintain some degree of independence from the state. We often rail against incompetence in government. But before we go too far with this language, we need to consider that competence in government may be a far worse fate. We don't need genuinely competent antitrust enforcers, drug and food regulators, tax collectors, money manipulators, labor-law interventionists, gun grabbers, and environmental police. As H.L. Mencken said, we should be thankful that we don't get all the government we pay for. To be sure, we are paying far more today for government than ever before. Consider the real annual growth rate of total government outlays by presidents. Under Nixon, it was 3%. Under Carter, it was 4.1%. Under Reagan, 2.6%. Under Bush's dad, 1.9%, a figuring owing to the cuts in military spending. Domestic spending soared. Under Clinton, whom we all denounced as a socialist, it was 1.5%, the lowest rate in the postwar period. And under the present Bush, who promised less government? The real annual growth rate of total government outlays has been 5%, which compares to Johnson-era spending. The old rationales for government growth may have been discredited in the public mind. But they are alive in Washington, among the special interest groups, and among the media. I would like to identify the main ones. Rationale Number One: The Good Samaritan State. In this view of government, the state should act like the third person to come upon the poor man who had been beaten and robbed. They imagine a population that is divided among three types of people: victims, victimizers, and those who refuse to help. The victim classes we know all too well, because the litany is said again and again within the structure of labor law: the elderly, the very young, ethnic and racial minorities, religious minorities, sexual minorities, the physically and mentally disabled, workers, the underpaid, people in rural areas, those who deal with urban overcrowding, people who breathe dirty air or eat chemically produced products, artists, the manufacturing industry, people with peanut allergies, the dyslexic, short people, fat people, the leisure deprived, and I've probably left out a hundred or so other groups. Among the victimizers, we similarly have a list: capitalists, racial and ethnic majorities, sexual majorities, the overpaid, managers and CEOs, people who live in gated communities, the well armed, consumers of cell phones, owners of mines, anyone living off a trust fund, fully abled men, and anyone who resents social managers telling them what to do. In the view of those who advocate the Samaritan State, these two classes of victims and victimizers are constantly at war. There is nothing but conflict between them. The loss of one is the gain of the other. These categories are fixed and unchanging. The lack of harmony of interests is built into the structure of the social and economic world. The remedy requires an institution that is relentlessly engaged in reweighing the power relationships between the two groups. The conflict cannot be finally ended, but justice requires that the victims are given an unending stream of compensation and that the victimizers are treated with disdain and punished for their very existence. Social justice thus requires that victimizers are reduced, disabled, denounced, and spat upon, while the victims must be exalted, fed, clothed, funded, and made whole. This is how the Left, broadly speaking, thinks the world works, and should work. It doesn't matter whether one considers oneself a hard Marxist or a soft social democrat, the intellectual tie that binds them together is the view that conflict and not cooperation characterizes the work of society in the absence of an institution dedicated to bringing about social justice. The institutional answer is, of course, the state. The state is the Samaritan who lifts up and exalts the meek, and smites the proud and powerful who would otherwise walk right past the poor person on the street, who is the very archetype of the victim in the leftist view of how the world works. But there are many things wrong with this view of society. In the parable, the victim was beaten and robbed. He was exploited only in a very narrow and old-fashioned sense: his person and property were violated. These are crimes against libertarian ethics, a system of thought that mirrors what every religious and ethical system has taught: do not kill and do not steal. In other words, he was not a victim of some hazy notion of Social Injustice. He was not discriminated against, exploited by an employer, made to work long hours, or denied a comfy living in his old age. There is a huge difference between being beaten and robbed, and having to pay high prices for prescription drugs. The great error of the Left is its inability to distinguish the injustice of violence from the supposed injustice of inequality of material condition. As for the Samaritan, he was not acting as an agent of the regime. He used his own money to help the victim. He got him back on his feet and paid his bills at the private clinic where he was deposited for care. The Samaritan did not rob someone else to give money to the man on the street. He presumably got his money justly by hard work and investment. He had no desire to keep the man dependent, nor to exercise power over him, tax him, regulate him, nor send him to war. The state is something very different. It has no income but that which it robs from someone else. It seeks its own gain at others' expense. It protects itself and promotes itself before the interests of everyone else. It is beholden to special interests who create and control its regulatory apparatus. It is not impartial. It sides with its friends over its enemies. Moreover, the state is an exploiter, a murderer, a violator of human rights. The typical response of the Left is to say that they want a state that does only good things such as share and care, and not bad things such as steal and kill. But this cannot be. We might as well wish for a lion that only purrs and cuddles, or a rattlesnake that only provides percussion accompaniment to mariachi music. The very nature of the state is that it exists only through and for compulsion. To imagine otherwise is not to face reality. Rationale Number Two: The Solomonic State. In the Bible we are told that King Solomon had "understanding exceeding much and largeness of heart, even as the sand that [is] on the sea shore." And his "wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt." He was "wiser than all men" and "his fame was in all nations round about." He spoke "three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five." He "spake of trees, from the cedar tree that [is] in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes. And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom." Now, I'm not here to dispute the Bible's account of Solomon's wisdom. But let us also recall that Solomon's rule later became close to tyrannical. His son Rehoboam inherited his power, and when the people begged for relief from Solomon's "heavy yoke," and instigated a full-scale crackdown: "My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions." To be wise and prudent is not characteristics of rulers. In fact, it is very dangerous to hope that they may be. If we set out to find such a person, and have fantastic power available to him when we believe he has arrived, we have set up the framework for tyranny. The founders knew that no man can be trusted with power. They attempted to construct a system that presumed that men were corruptible, and that there would be some means to dislodge them when their corruption showed. Still, today many people long for the Solomonic State as a means of dispensing justice. Unlike the Samaritan model, the goal here is not charity but the just wielding of the sword on behalf of the right and true. Thus should we seek out righteous men of learning and moral character who know what evil is and have the courage to stand up to it and destroy it. This model is what inspires this mentality. There are many problems with this model. One man might be very wise, even the wisest of all men. But as F.A. Hayek might remind us, all the accumulated knowledge in the head of one person is still infinitesimal as compared with the wisdom that emerges through social cooperation on the marketplace. We can consider the price of any good on the market as it stands right now, and know that this one price results from the accumulated decisions of millions of people across thousands and thousands of sectors of economic activity spread throughout the world. The knowledge is dispersed in a million directions and results from small decisions and actions by economic actors. But the result is a single indicator that assists in allocating resources better than any single mind could ever do. The model of the Solomonic State also imagines that somehow the social order we see around us cannot possibly have come about without a single will operating in society, some firm hand that has designed the order and keeps it running smoothly. People who think this way imagine that in the absence of this firm hand, there would be nothing but a Hobbesian state of nature, where society is a war of all against all and life is nasty, brutish, and short. Our age is notably lacking in the likes of Solomon, and so those who fear the Hobbesian state of nature turn to the managerial state to act wisely in the interest of justice and order, at home and abroad. They might not always like what the rulers do, but they consider the alternative to despotism more fearsome. They warn about the dread results of anarchism and liberty, where people senselessly kill and rob without consequence. They fear this liberty more than they fear the abuses of power. This, I submit, is the mentality of many conservatives and many on the Right. We see it in the affections they have for Bush, the Patriot Act, the war on terror, and how quickly people fall for any leader who uses Manichean rhetoric in defense of the latest nationalistic crusade. What these people need more than anything else is a familiarity with the insights of the old liberal tradition as represented by Jefferson, Bastiat, Mises, Hayek, and Rothbard. They need to come to see how order is not the mother of liberty but its daughter. They need to see how society is harmonious not because of the state but because of the prevalence of human cooperation in the marketplace, where people work to trade to their own mutual betterment. People who fail to understand this become the unwitting servants of tyranny, particularly in the modern age when it is so obviously not wise but stupid and violent and presumptuous. They imagine that the state can posses godlike powers and bring justice and order, but they end up only empowering the worst elements in society, bringing injustice, and chaos. Now, you might say that the old liberal view of society is naïve. It might be in people's interest to learn to trade rather than steal but we live in a fallen world. If not for some overarching controlling force, people would loot each other unrelentingly and kill for fun. Now, to this I can say that it is true that some societies have not learned to make trading and peace significantly more prevalent than violence and killing. History is strewn with examples. The question we have to ask ourselves is whether a society that fails to learn the art of civilization will erect and sustain a state that will impose civilization on the people. I submit that history also teaches that when a people are brutal and uncivilized, the state is even more so. The state is rarely and maybe never better than the people it rules; in fact, it is almost always worse. Rationale Number Three: Log-Rolling. Given these two very different conceptions of the state, one favoring the welfare state and the other favoring a warfare state, why don't the visions cancel each other out? So intense is the desire of one group to have the state that it wants that it is willing to put up with another group's desire for its conception of the state. The two conceptions decide to cooperate and erect a state that purports to behave both like Solomon and like the Samaritan. That is the origin of the guns-and-butter state, or the welfare-warfare state, or the modern state as we know it, one that purports to meet every need. We see how this log-rolling works every day on Capitol Hill. One group wants more money for tanks and weaponry, and the other wants more for Medicaid and education. If both agree that politics is the art of compromise, they will put up with the other group's priorities in order that their own vision can be fulfilled. On the Right, we find that the love for the police power is more intense than the hatred of redistribution. On the Left, we find that the love of redistribution is more intense than the hatred of war and leviathan. They therefore work together to erect a massive and ever-growing executive. They are similarly unwilling to oppose the state in total. They fear that in doing so, the state as an institution will be discredited, and their conception of what the state should do along with it. Neither side particularly loves big government but both sides agree that it is better than the alternative of letting people alone. So they log-roll to support the public sector above all else, even when it means that they must sleep with their ostensible political enemies. Rationale Number Four: The Inflationary State. Now we come to the reason this system is able to perpetuate itself. And there is something of a mystery to explain here. No people anywhere will put up with a leviathan that grows and grows forever. At some point, the problem of funding state expansion will result in too much violence against property, and the people will revolt. Indeed, if the federal government had to collect all its revenue through a tax of any kind, leveled right now against the public, I submit to you that it would spark a tax revolt on a scale never before seen in modern history. Thus do we have the central bank to create money for the state. Thus do we have paper money that can be created in unlimited quantities. Thus do we have deposit insurance to make banks failure proof, so that the masses will never doubt that the credit pyramid is immortal. Thus do we have the Fed's power to manipulate interest rates and control the flow of credit to the system. An economist at Lehman Brothers sent us an interesting chart the other day. It compares the level of price increases across many Fed regimes. Under the first Fed governor Charles Hamlin, the dollar declined 8% in value. Under Thomas B. McCabe from the late forties, it declined 7.2%. Under Arthur Burns, wholly owned by Nixon, the dollar declined 42% in value. Under Volcker, Mr. Tight Money, it fell 40%. And under Greenspan, who has a reputation as a great inflation fighter, the value of the dollar in terms of goods and services fell fully 44%! Inflation serves the cause of the state by giving it room to run up debts without limit and fund its activities without making the people cough up more revenue. Indeed, that is the primary purpose of the inflationary state. People often say to me that a gold standard is impractical. In fact, that is not the case. It is very practical. It is the free-market answer. The state doesn't need to produce money any more than it needs to produce shoes or shirts or clocks. The problem is that we lack the political will to stop the inflation monster. Rationale Number Five: The Propaganda State. In every society control of educational institutions increases in tandem with the rise of the state. This is because the state needs these institutions to inculcate the civic religion of loving the public enterprise, and also because the less people know about the idea of liberty the more the state is provided the room to grow. Consider the Department of Education. Ever since its creation, every Republican administration has come to power with an intention to abolish it. But once they get in power, they find that bureaucracy has its uses. Instead of cutting or abolishing it, they increase the agency and give it more to do. The more the state does, the more the state sees the need to control public opinion by controlling the schools. Now, there is a point of optimism here. If any state could rule without propaganda, it would surely do so. Why then do states find educational control and the propagation of the civic religion in their interest? Because at some level, every state, in all times and places, is required to seek the tacit consent of those it governs. No state can control a society by use of the sword only and alone. It must also seek some degree of ideological conformity with its own goals. Otherwise its rule becomes threatened and destabilized. The other side of the coin is that states can indeed be destabilized by the ultimate counterrevolutionary tactic of providing alternative sources of education. As Mises said, all of history is a battle of ideas. Where the ideas of freedom are triumphant, liberty prevails. Where the ideas of freedom are buried and suppressed, despotism prevails. More from Lew: $25 Our pathway is clear. It is a choice of the Mises Institute not to mix in the mire of a political system that is wholly owned or attempt to seek favor from influential opinion makers. Our path is one of education, pursued with high-minded ideals, advanced using the most modern methods, and animated by the spirit of guerilla warfare. There are Misesians and Rothbardians strewn throughout the academic world, financial and banking houses, law firms, and in every walk of life, not only in this country but all over the world. We have worked for nearly a quarter of a century on a very radical project of advancing economic science and logic. We have pushed to keep the fire of freedom burning brightly. We have sought to teach anyone and everyone about the workings and benefits of liberty. We have come under pressure from left, right, and center. Yet the attention given to this body of ideas grows by the day. We can prevail against the Propaganda State. So long as we are free to do so and have the means available, we will continue to do so. This is our weapon against power. It is the most effective weapon anyone could ever possess. If we win this victory, we win all others. We thank you for supporting education for liberty, for supporting the Mises Institute financially and morally, and for being part of the revolutionary vanguard that sees through the errors of our day and imagines a brighter future of freedom, private property, and peace. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lew Rockwell

what do u think?? believe it or not? Reading this information & sharing it, might mean saving a life or improving the quality of someone's life, maybe yours. In October of 2001, my sister started getting very sick, she had stomach spasms, she was having a hard time getting around, and to walk was a major chore. It took everything she had just to get out of bed; she was in so much pain. By March 2002, she had undergone biopsies, and was on 24 various prescription medications. The doctors could not figure out what was wrong with her. She was in so much pain, and so sick, she knew she was dying. She put her house, bank accounts, life insurance, etc., in her oldest daughters name, and made sure her younger children were to be with her oldest daughter. She wanted her last hooray, so she planned a trip to Florida (basically in a wheelchair) for March 22nd. On March 19th I called her to ask her how one of her tests went, and she said they didn't find anything on the test, but they believe she had MS. I thought, oh, my.... then I recalled an article a friend of mine emailed to me...and I asked her.... Do you drink Diet pop? She told me yes, as a matter of fact she was getting ready to crack one open that moment. I told her not to open it, and stop drinking the diet pop.... and I emailed her the following article. She called me within 32 hours after our phone conversation and told me she stopped drinking the diet pop, and she can walk. She went up the stairs, and the muscle spasms went away. She said she didn't feel 100% well, but sure felt a lot better. She told me she was going to her doctor with this article and would call me back when she got home. She called me, and her doctor was amazed, he is going to call all of his MS patients to find out if they consumed artificial sweetener! In a nutshell she was being poisoned by the aspartame in the diet soda, dying a slow death! When she got to FL March 22nd, all she had to take was one pill, and that was a pill for poisoning... she is well on her way to recovery... and she is walking!!! No wheelchair!!! This article saved her life!!! The life saving article: If it says "SUGAR FREE," on the label, DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT! Have spent several days lecturing at the WORLD ENVIRONMENTAL CONFERENCE on "ASPARTAME" marketed as 'NutraSweet,' 'Equal,' and 'Spoonful.' In the keynote address by the EPA, it was announced that in the United States in 2001 there is an epidemic of multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus, that it was hard to understand what toxin was causing this to be rampant. I stood up and said that I was there to lecture on exactly that subject. I will explain why Aspartame is so dangerous: When the temperature of this sweetener exceeds 86 degrees F, the wood alcohol in ASPARTAME converts to Formaldehyde, and then to formic acid, which in turn causes metabolic acidosis. (Formic acid is the poison found in the sting of fire ants.) The methane toxicity mimics, among other conditions, multiple sclerosis. People were being diagnosed with having multiple sclerosis in error. The multiple sclerosis is not a death sentence, where methanol toxicity is! Systemic lupus has become almost as rampant as multiple sclerosis; especially with Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi drinkers. The victim usually does not know that the aspartame is the culprit. He or she continues its use, irritating the lupus to such a degree that it may become life threatening. We have seen patients with systemic lupus become symptomatic once taken off diet sodas. In the case of those diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, (when in reality, the disease is methanol toxicity), most of the symptoms disappear. We've seen many cases where vision returned and hearing improved markedly. This also applies to cases of tinnitus . During the lecture I said, "If you are using ASPARTAME (Nutra Sweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc.) And you suffer from fibromyalgia symptoms, spasms, shooting pains, numbness in your legs, cramps, vertigo, dizziness, headaches, tinnitus, joint pain, depression, anxiety attacks, slurred speech, blurred vision, or memory loss.... you probably have ASPARTAME DISEASE!" People were jumping up during the lecture saying, I've got some of these symptoms: Is it reversible? Yes! Not drinking diet sodas and keeping an eye out for aspartame on food labels. Yes! We have a very serious problem. A stranger came up to Dr. Espisto (one of my speakers) and me and said: "Could you tell me why so many people seem to be coming down with MS? During a visit to a hospice, a nurse said that six of her friends, who were heavy Diet Coke addicts, had all been diagnosed with MS. This is beyond coincidence! Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi, etc. are NOT A DIET PRODUCT! The Congressional Record states that it makes you crave carbohydrates and will make you FAT. The formaldehyde stores in the fat cells, particularly if no significant increase in exercise, etc. Aspartame is especially dangerous for diabetics. We found that physicians would believe that they have a patient with retinopathy, when in fact the symptoms are caused by aspartame! The aspartame drives the blood sugar out of control! Thus diabetics may suffer acute memory loss due to the fact that aspartic acid and phenylalanine are neurotoxin without the other amino acids found in protein. Thus it passes the blood brain barrier and deteriorates the neurons of the brain, causing in diabetics (as well as in patients not suffering from diabetes) various kinds of brain damage, seizures, depression, manic seizures, manic depression, panic attacks, rage, and violence. (The Aspartame in thousands of pallets of diet Coke and diet Pepsi, consumed by men and women fighting in the Gulf War may be partially to blame for the well-known Gulf War Syndrome.) Dr. Roberts warns that it can cause birth defects: i.e. mental retardation if taken at the time of conception and early pregnancy. Children are especially at risk for neurological disorders and should NOT be given NutraSweet. I can relate different case histories of children having mal seizures and other disturbances, being on NutraSweet. Unfortunately it is not always easy to convince a mother that aspartame is to blame for her child's illness. Only by trial and success will she be able to warn other mothers to take their children's health into their own hands. Stevia, a sweet herb, NOT A MANUFACTURED ADDITIVE, which helps in the metabolism of sugar (which would be ideal for diabetics) has now been approved as a dietary supplement by the FDA. For years the FDA has outlawed this sweet food because of their loyalty to MONSANTO. Books on this subject are available: EXCITOTOXINS: THE TASTE THAT KILLS written by Dr. Russell Blayblock (Health Press 1-800-643-2665) and DEFENSE AGAINST ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE - written by DR H. J. Roberts, also a diabetic specialist. These two doctors will be posting a position paper with some case histories on the deadly effects of Aspartame on the Internet. According to the Conference of the American College of Physicians "we are talking about a plague of neurological diseases caused by this deadly poison." Here is the problem: There were Congressional Hearings when aspartame was included in 100 different products. Since this initial hearing, there have been two subsequent hearings, but to no avail. Nothing has been done. The drug and chemical lobbies have very deep pockets. Now there are over 5,000 products containing this chemical, and the PATENT HAS EXPIRED!!!!! I assure you, MONSANTO, the creator of Aspartame knows how deadly it is. They fund among others, the American Diabetes Association, the American Dietetic Association, the Conference of the American College of Physicians. This has been exposed in the New York Times - to no avail. These Associations cannot criticize any additives or convey their link to MONSANTO because they take money from the food industry and have to endorse their products. Senator Howard Hetzenbaum wrote a bill that would have warned all infants, pregnant mothers and children of the dangers of aspartame. The bill would have also instituted independent studies on the problems existing in the population (seizures, changes in brain chemistry, changes neurological and behavioral symptoms). It was killed by the powerful drug and chemical lobbies, letting loose the hounds of disease and death on an unsuspecting public! Someone said this, but don’t you think that this is sort of hypocritical?? What do u think, make up your own mind in what you believe or don’t believe, but you should read it and consider it. Urban legend. Do your homework and stop believing the crap you get in e-mails. Source(s): http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/asp... LOL i got this in an email, lol i didnt not write this, lol come on, lol if i did write this, i would be spending my time on more important things that the internet and silly questions, lol