Omega Files

The biggest free agent splashes of the MLB offseason have been made, as Mark Teixeira, CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett have all been signed by the New York Yankees, and have received huge long-term, high-paying deals.

But there is one high-quality player that is yet to be signed with a team this offseason, and that is Manny Ramirez.

CC Sabathia inked a $161 million, seven-year deal a couple of weeks ago, and Burnett signed with the Yankees around the same time, receiving an $82.5 million, five-year contract. Teixeira was just signed by the team yesterday, receiving an enormous $180 million, 8-year contract, which is the biggest of the offseason thus far.

The Yankees were one of the teams that were mentioned to be in the running for the current free-agent All-Star slugger, Manny Ramirez. However, the Yankees have reportedly been out of the running after all of the massive amounts of money they have spent and the talent that they have already brought in.

So, where does Man-Ram go from here?

After being traded from Boston to the Los Angeles Dodgers before the trade deadline of last season, Ramirez increased his output to an impressive .396 batting average, 17 home runs, 53 RBIs, and a .743 slugging percentage, all in the second half of the season. He practically single-handedly took an ordinary Dodgers team to the playoffs last season, and past the divisional round after upsetting the Chicago Cubs in a 3-0 sweep.

But, as every front office in the big leagues knows, Manny has some baggage. From his usual “Manny being Manny” routines, to his purposely-dismal play before his departure from the Red Sox, Manny Ramirez’s infamous antics are something many teams are looking at as the main factor when looking at his resume. Not his career statistics of 527 home runs, .314 batting average, .593 slugging percentage, and 1,725 RBIs, or the fact that he is a future Hall-of-Famer and debatably the best right-handed hitter in the game today.

Because of these past issues, nobody is willing to offer Manny’s desired 3-year, multi-million dollar deal.

The Yankees seem out of the picture after their recent big-market signings, and the Red Sox are completely out of the picture after the numerous fiascos they had with Ramirez when he was with the team.

The Washington Nationals have shown interest, but are in no way offering Manny his desired deal. If the team can be convinced by Ramirez’s agent that he is worth the long-term deal, the Nationals might just take that chance, considering the struggles they have gone through the past few seasons.

The Los Angeles Angels were also rumored to be of interest, mostly because of the recent exit of their premier slugger, Mark Teixeira. However, Angels’ GM Tony Reagins announced today that they are of no interest whatsoever. According to the Los Angeles Times, Reagins bluntly stated, “Manny will not be an Angel.”

Some small-market teams may be in the running, but none have shown much interest. One team in particular is the Oakland A’s, who have been open about their interest in spending more money this season, despite the downturn of the economy. This is highly unusual for Billy Beane and the Athletics, but as we all know, Beane is all for bargains, and there are many mid to high-market free agents who will receive lower-revenue contracts this season due to the current economic recession. But don’t be fooled A’s fans, Oakland hasn’t shown any interest in acquiring Manny Ramirez.

Therefore, this only leaves one place for Manny, and that is to stay in Los Angeles with the Dodgers. He has done great things in the short time he has been there thus far, and the people of Los Angeles would be more than happy to bring him back. The Dodgers offered him a $45 million dollar, two-year deal earlier this offseason, but that was quickly shot down. Manny and his agent might have to give in and take that offer, or the Dodgers might possibly renegotiate to satisfy his needs. The Dodgers already did this with Rafael Furcal and Casey Blake, who both wanted three year deals when the Dodgers would only negotiate for two, only to eventually give them both three-year contracts. If the Dodgers are willing to give Manny what he wants, the Dodgers could be a very intriguing team in the National League in 2009.

But seriously, who wouldn’t want this guy on their team? Yeah, he has had some problems in the past; but he has shown that he has moved on from his issues in Boston after the remarkable second half of last season. Manny has all of the tools any team needs when it comes to hitting, and he can only significantly improve any team he goes to if he is put in the right situation. Even so, Manny is still a free agent in a currently frantic offseason market.

Manny basically got the short end of the stick in this year’s free agent market, but I would still put my money on Man-Ram having a better individual season than that of Mark Teixeira. The Yankees and their three acquisitions may even overshadow Ramirez next season, which is something Manny isn’t accustomed to. Nevertheless, look for Manny to have another great season, no matter what team he ends up playing for.

Just don’t expect Manny to become the quiet type, it’s hard to say he will discontinue his ways of “Manny being Manny.” I’m pretty sure he’ll find some ways to increase his publicity, but I don’t know, that’s just me making an assumption.

Aspiring journalist of only 18 years of age. Currently in college; writing many sports related articles to gain some experience and recognition. You can check out my blog at sportsblogclaytonterry.blogspot.com

According to the United States Census Bureau, 87.7 percent of Ohioans had some form of health insurance coverage during 2005, while 12.3 percent were not insured at any time during the year. Additionally, 14 percent of Ohio residents under the age of sixty-five did not have health insurance during 2005.

AFFORDABLE HEALTH INSURANCE OPTIONS IN OHIO

Most Ohioans who have health insurance are covered by either employer based plans or government programs. What options are available for individuals who do not have access to such coverage? Ohio Department of Insurance Director, Ann Womer Benjamin, references the “increasing number of options with Health Savings Accounts. There may be a person, or a family, generally comfortable paying for health care costs, but wants a high deductible policy. Also, for fairly young, fairly healthy individuals, an HSA coupled with a High Deductible Health Plan could really work.”

Health Savings Accounts are not feasible for everyone. Ohio residents who are not interested in HSAs should try to take advantage of alternative plans and programs. “Ohio has an Open Enrollment Program that takes (uninsured individuals) regardless of pre-existing conditions, but is likely costly”, Womer Benjamin explains.

HEALTH CARE COVERAGE LEGISLATION

There are currently two bills in the Ohio Legislature, Senate Bill 272 and House Bill 5 / Senate Bill 5 that are generally supported by the Ohio Department of Insurance as methods of expanding access to health insurance coverage.

Senate Bill 272 would repeal the Open Enrollment Program, as well as the Open Enrollment Reinsurance Program. In its place, the Ohio Health Insurance Risk Pool would be created to provide health care coverage to individuals who are unable to obtain affordable health care coverage in any other manner. This would eliminate the annual periods of open enrollment that sickness and accident insurers, health insurance corporations, and multiple employer welfare arrangements (MEWAs) are currently required to hold. “The Ohio Health Insurance Risk Pool would provide a state fund for those without health insurance coverage. We would support this concept and have various suggestions for funding. We would theoretically be able to reach ten times more individuals than the Open Enrollment Program does currently”, says Womer Benjamin.

House Bill 5 / Senate Bill 5 would permit small employers to offer health care plans that do not provide benefits otherwise required by law. The bill provides for the operation of health savings accounts that are consistent with federal law, and places a limit on an insured’s liability for co-payments and deductibles under a health benefit plan. ODI Director Womer Benjamin asserts that the bill “would provide more options for small businesses, and we are hopeful that that will pass”.

THE MASSACHUSETTS EXAMPLE

On April 4, 2006, Massachusetts House Bill 4850 was overwhelmingly passed by the state legislature. All Massachusetts residents will be required to obtain health insurance coverage by July 1, 2007. The state’s plan dictates that businesses with more than ten employees that do not provide health insurance coverage will be charged a fee of as much as $295 a year for each employee. Government subsidies to private insurance plans will provide affordable health insurance to a greater number of the working poor, and individuals who can afford private health plans will be penalized on their state income taxes if they do not have coverage. Should Ohio consider a similar plan in order to achieve nearly universal health insurance coverage? Ohio Department of Insurance Director Ann Womer Benjamin says that we need to “watch Massachusetts and evaluate the plan’s success and funding”. “Ohio has a larger number of uninsured individuals and is different than Massachusetts, politically.”

Ohioans have a large selection of health insurance carriers and government programs to choose from. Regardless of the provider, it is extremely important for individuals to obtain a health insurance plan. Director Womer Benjamin emphasizes that she is “concerned with people who don’t think they need health insurance coverage”.

About The Ohio Department of Insurance

The Ohio Department of Insurance (ODI) is an informative resource for those seeking information regarding health insurance options in the state. ODI asserts that its mission is to be “responsive to and safeguard consumer interests through education and vigilance while promoting a stable and competitive marketplace among insurance providers”. The Ohio Department of Insurance can help uninsured persons sort through their options, depending on their individual circumstances. For more information, call the ODI Consumer Hotline at 1-800-686-1526.

The Department is headed by Director Ann Womer Benjamin, who was appointed in January of 2003, and is the first woman to hold this position. Prior to this appointment, Womer Benjamin served in the Ohio House of Representatives for eight years.

Erin Shaughnessy is a freelance writer of political and consumer advocacy articles, and is a frequent contributor to Fast Health Insurance.

Florida Health Insurance Rate Hike

Florida Health insurance premiums have touched new heights! Every Floridian has the common knowledge that most annual health insurance contracts will endure a rate increase at the end of the year. This trend is not new and should be expected. Every time this issue pops up it seems as though the blame game starts. Floridians blame Health insurance companies; Health insurance companies blame Hospitals, Doctors and other medical care providers, Medical care providers blame inflation and politicians, well, we really don’t know what they do to help the issue… No one seems to be interested in finding the real cause of the health insurance premium rate increase. Most individuals, self employed, and small business owners have taken Florida Health Insurance Rate Hikes as the inevitable evil.

Hard Facts

What are various reports telling us? Why do Health insurance premium have annual rate increases?

Rate of inflation and heath insurance premium rate increase.

America’s health expenditure in the year 2004 has increased dramatically, it has increased more than three time the inflation rate. In this year the inflation rate was around 2.5% while the national health expenses were around 7.9%. The employer health insurance or group health insurance premium had increased approximately 7.8% in the year 2006, which is almost double the rate of inflation. In short, last year in 2006, the annual premiums of group health plan sponsored by an employer was around $4,250 for a single premium plan, while the average family premium was around $ 11,250 per year. This indicates that in the year 2006 the employer sponsored health insurance premium increased 7.7 percent. Taking the biggest hit were small businesses that had 0-24 employees. There health insurance premiums increased by nearly 10.4%

Employees are also not spared, in the year 2006 the employee also had to pay around $ 3,000 more in their contribution to employer’s sponsored health insurance plan in comparison to the previous year, 2005. Rate hikes have been in existence since the “Florida Health Insurance” plan started. In covering an entire family of four, a person will experience an increase in premium rate at every annual renewal. If they would have kept the record of their health insurance premium payments they will find that they are now paying around $ 1,100 more than they paid in the year 2000 for the same coverage and with the same company. The same item was found by the Health Research Educational Trust and the Kaiser Family Foundation in their survey report of the year 2000. They found out that the premiums of health insurance that is sponsored by the employer increases by around 4 times than the employee’s salary. This report also stated that since 2000 the contribution of employees in group health insurance sponsored by employer was increased by more than 143 percent.

One business man predicts that if nothing is done and the Health insurance premiums keep increasing that in the year 2008, the amount of health premium contribution to employer will surpass their profit. Professionals within and outside the field of Florida health insurance, think that the reason for increase in Florida health insurance premium rates are due to many factors, such as high administration expenditure, inflation, poor or bad management, increase in the cost of medical care, waste etc.

Florida health insurance rate hikes affect whom?

Rising rates of Florida health insurance generally affects most of the Floridians who live in our beautiful state. The highest affected individudals are the minimum wage and low wage workers. Recent drops in the renewal of health insurance are mostly from this low income group. They just can’t afford the high premiums of Florida health insurance. They are in the situation where they can not afford the medical care and they can not afford the medical insurance premiums that are assosiated with adequate coverage. Almost half of all Americans are of the opinion that they are more worried about the high health insurance rate and high cost of health care, over any other bill they have on a monthly basis. A survey also finds that around 42% of Americans can not afford the high cost of health care services. There is one very interesting study conducted by Harvard University researchers. They found out that 68% of people who filed bankruptcy covered themselves and their family by health insurance. Average out-of-pocket deductibles for people filed bankruptcy were around $ 12,000 per year. They also found some co-relation between medical expenditure and bankruptcy. A national survey also reports that main reason for people not to take health insurance is the high premium rate of health insurance.

How to reduce Florida’s high health insurance cost? Nobody knows for sure. There are different opinions and experts are not agreeing with each other. Health professionals believe that if we can raise the number of healthy people by improving the lifestyle and regular exercise, good diets etc. than naturally they will need less medical care services which decreases the demands of health care and hence the cost.( This year in Florida the smoking rate has increased by 21.7 percent) One Floridian sarcastically suggested that there are ‘highs’ and ‘lows’ in health care that are needed to reversed. That the state of Florida is to ‘high’ in cost of medical care compare to other States and ‘low’ in the quality of health care.

Florida Health insurance rate hike has attracted many frauds. These frauds float many bogus insurance companies and offer cheap health insurance rate which attract many people to them. These companies usually through assosiations that are based in other states.

Meanwhile reputable Florida health insurance companies provide different types of health insurance like employer sponsored group health insurance, small business health insurance, individual health insurance etc. to vast number of employees and their families. Still there are many people in Florida that lack any health coverage. Today the employer also has found it challenging to decide how to offer employer sponsored group health insurance to their employees, so that both of them arrive at some point of agreement.

For Floridians it is very important to shop around for a quality health insurance program that doesn’t break the bank.

You need to find an agent or web portal like Florida Health Insurance Web, www.FloridaHealthInsuranceWeb.com that offers a variety of products. There you will most likely be able to get quotes, compare plans, and apply online.

Florida Health Insurance Consultants can help you!

Morgan Q. Moran is a licensed insurance agent in the state of Florida and is the managing partner of The Moran Financial Group http://www.floridahealthinsuranceweb.com. His strong background in financial management includes: insurance, annuities, and asset management. He has proven methodologies to help his client with all aspects of financial risk management. Morgan holds a B.S. degree from the University of Vermont in Business Administration with concentrations in both marketing and finance.

1. Buy a group policy through your employer. 

Since it is a group policy that is subsidized by your employer, the premium will be lower that if you purchased an individual policy.2.  Apply for coverage before your next birthday.

Since your premium is based on your “issue age”, the age you are when you apply for coverage, each year you wait your cost will increase by 8% to 12%.  

3.  Apply for coverage with your spouse.

This Joint or Shared Benefits Policy provides more flexibility in using your combined benefits and can lead to a Spouse/Partner discount of up to 25%

4. Take advantage of good health discounts.

By applying for coverage before you have health issues, you could receive a “Healthy Person” discount of between 5% and 25%.  Even if your health deteriorates in the future, you will retain your “Healthy Person” discount for the rest of your life.

5. Take advantage of tax deductions.

Under current Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidelines, premiums on tax-qualified long term care policies are considered medical expenses. If your total medical expenses exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income, you may be able to deduct the premiums on Schedule A. If you are a business owner, you can deduct all of the premiums for long-term-care insurance even if you do not you itemize.

6. Lower your daily benefit.

Lowering your daily benefit by 20% may result in a 20% lower premium. 

7. Select a longer elimination period.

This is the amount of time that you pay out of pocket before the policy starts to pay. Increasing your elimination period from 0 to 90 days can save you up to 15% per year in premiums.

8. Make fewer Premium Payments

You can save 8% a year by making one lump sum payment instead of paying monthly or quarterly. 

9. Get several quotes for long term care policies.

Prices for the same coverage can vary by hundreds of dollars, so it pays to shop around.

Get free quotes for long term care insurance at http://www.howtocutexpenses.com

 

With over 20 years of experience as a personal financial educator and counselor, Vernon Williams has developed in depth knowledge of what it takes to achieve financial success. Today, he is a sought after trainer and speaker by organizations from both the public and private sector. He is the author of 425 Ways to Stretch Your $$$$ and 3 Rules that Guarantee Financial Success.    For more money-saving tips, go to  http://www.howtocutexpenses.com.

With over 20 years of experience as a personal financial educator and counselor, Vernon Williams has developed in depth knowledge of what it takes to achieve financial success. Today, he is a sought after trainer and speaker by organizations from both the public and private sector. He is the author of 425 Ways to Stretch Your $$$$ and 3 Rules that Guarantee Financial Success. Visit Vernon at http://www.howtocutyourexpenses.com

There are many UK Auto insurance policies and covers, provided in the United Kingdom. If your auto is subjected to a hire purchase agreement, any payment will be made to the owner described in that agreement. If your auto is disabled through loss or damage under auto insurance policy the most of auto insurance companies will pay the reasonable cost of its protection and removal to the nearest repairs, its delivery to you after repair. If your auto(including accessories and spare parts in or on your auto) is lost or destroyed auto insurance company will pay the amount stated in the auto insurance schedule as representing the value of the car if such loss is insured under the U.K auto insurance policy. If the car doesn’t have electronic vehicle immobiliser that had been activated or car wasn’t in locked building at the time of theft, the theft excess will be 250 pounds sterling for vehicles valued up to 15,000 pounds sterling and 500 pounds sterling for cars valued between 15,001 pounds sterling and 30,000 pounds sterling.

In respect to loss or damage of the car audio system or telephone and its fittings, auto insurance liability will be limited to 500 pounds sterling unless the equipment was fitted by the Manufacturer as original equipment.

Your auto insurance policy doesn’t cover the following: damages to tires caused by braking or punctures; loss of value following repair; loss or damage from the theft while the ignition keys have been left in or on your auto; theft of spare parts and accessories if your vehicle isn’t stolen at the same time.

n addition the most of the auto insurance companies will not pay for any loss or damage occuring when your auto is being driven under its own power and on a road, to which the public have a rightof access. your auto will have auto insurance cover for loss or damage while it is being exhibited and in the process of being transported to or from an exhibition it is not being driven under its own power. Read more about auto insurance policy cover in UK here …

My favourite blog Car Insurance in United Kingdom Get all information about auto insurance HERE…