RIP long-term care insurance? | Bankrate.com

Is long-term care insurance inherently unsustainable?

One could easily reach that conclusion based on a new report from Moody's Investor Service that throws into question the long-term viability of a complicated product that brokers have found?difficult to sell in a down economy, even to aging boomers.

Moody's notes that five major insurance companies have ceased writing long-term care insurance in the last two years: MetLife and CUNA Mutual departed in 2010, CNA and Berkshire dropped out the following year, and Prudential pulled out of the individual market this year.

That leaves the bulk of the market to Genworth, Northwestern and John Hancock, which combine for 61 percent, according to a 2012 report from Broker World magazine.

If you've ever purchased long-term care insurance, you know that the question that keeps you up nights throughout the selection process is: Which company is most likely to be there 10, 20 or 30 years from now, when I'm most likely to need them?

The Moody's report won't help you answer that question or sleep any better.

According to Laura Bazer, the Moody's vice president?who wrote the report, long-term care insurance suffers from a short track record, having only appeared on the market in the 1980s. What limited claims experience does exist shows that insurers mispriced those early policies and were overly generous with terms. The miscalculation forced many to increase reserves, which they did in large part on the backs of new customers over the past two years.

It can be pretty hard to sell a "new" product by jacking up its price, as the industry has found out recently. To further correct course, Bazer says long-term care insurers also have gotten jiggy with their products, restricting benefits and payout periods and combining long-term care coverage with life insurance and annuities to make it more attractive to some.

Unfortunately, that approach can make a complex product even more confusing -- and perhaps?more suspect in the eyes of unenthusiastic buyers.

Moody's concludes that the recent exit of five major players, combined with a low-interest-rate environment, throws into question whether long-term care insurance is a sustainable product.

The Moody's assessment echoes concerns expressed last year by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius when she announced that the feds were temporarily suspending?their search for a sustainable long-term care solution under health care reform.

The rap on long-term care insurance has long been that those who can afford it don't need it and those who need it can't afford it.

To that, Moody's has added a third possibility: that it may be impossible for even the savviest actuary to devise a long-term care product that brings in more money than it gives away.

Follow me on Twitter: @omnisaurus.

Subscribe to Bankrate newsletters today!

Source: http://www.bankrate.com/financing/insurance/rip-long-term-care-insurance/

justin bieber birthday read across america vikings stadium breitbart dead db cooper fafsa branson missouri

Don't just beat a cold. Execute it. | *Transcendental *Logic

A "cold" is just an incidence of one or more of the random herd-viruses out there catching up with you, temporarily overwhelming your immune system and getting you all gunked- and symptom'd-up. ?

I do not accept this. ?About once a year, the herd around me will get to passing enough things around that my system slips and something multiplies a bit too quickly, and I get a cold. ?Then it's time to press the voluntary systems into service of the involuntary, and to right things as quickly as possible. ?

First, prevention is, as always, worth a week of cure. ?Learn to spot when your immune system is having to work hard (you can feel it if you try), and give it extra support asap: ?Extra sleep, extra vitamins, extra good food, extra meditation ? extra everything you've identified as good for you. ?Nine times out of ten, a day or two of "extra" will keep me from catching anything to begin with. ?It saved me from three rounds of my closest friends and coworkers having nasty flu-type things in the past few months; I didn't get so much as a snorfle while even the most robust of them was laid up for days.

But sometimes you just have to go to war; that's life. ?Thursday night I went to hockey practice and found out the hard way that my sinuses were full: ?I hung out on the bottom of the pool and couldn't equalize, and my face went SQUISHSTAB. ?Pressure plus sinus issues is not cool?so this weekend I'm killing me some sniffles.

Here are my favorite prevention-didn't-work, time-to-throw-down weapons:

• Naps. ?Because duh. ?Even if you're not tired, try to lay in bed reading (or whatever) as often as you can stand it. ?(Prop up with pillows if your sinuses hate lying down.) ?Energy you're not burning on moving your body around can be shunted to your immune system.
• Hot fluids. ?Not much coffee, since I like it with milk and dairy gunks you up; but tons of tea and soup and hot showers. ?I drink tea pretty much constantly, especially ginger tea with honey (honey is throat-soothing and ginger is spicy, which helps flush things out even more).
• Neti pot. ?Awfully unfun as this is, using it about twice a day shortens the duration of any sinus-hiding bug's reign better than anything else I know of. ?While you're suffering through it, comfort yourself by considering that you're becoming hardened against waterboarding. ?;)
• Whiskey. ?Yeah, this is my farm-wife grandma talking, but I dare you to tell me those women weren't geniuses in many ways. ?Alcohol kills germs and constricts capillaries, and nothing will sledgehammer open clogged sinuses like a shot of whiskey. ?Plus, it can help you get to sleep if you're miserable (hence NyQuil). ?Grandma always splashed some honey and lemon in, then topped it off with hot tea ? a nice pre-bedtime toddy, but make it *strong* if you're sick. ?I usually force a straight shot down in the morning, and either take another at night, or drink the tea/toddy thing if I'm feeling wimpy.
• Spicy food. ?Spicier food than you usually like always tastes better with a cold anyway, since the tasting abilities of your nose are impaired; use this to eat the hottest stuff you can gastrointestinally stand.
• Very very good tissues: ?As soon as I get sniffles, I run out and buy the super nice lotiony kleenex. ?I don't keep these around the house because they're pricey and if you've ever accidentally used them to wipe lenses, you know how much you can hate them; but after the fifteenth nose-blow, I'm always super glad I have them.
• Peppermint lip balm ? real peppermint; the one I use is Burt's Bees; their plain "beeswax lip balm" has a good strong dose of peppermint in it. ?This is the best stuff for keeping your lips from cracking due to extra mouth-breathing, plus inhaling peppermint oil opens your sinuses too. ?Apply liberally and constantly to lips & nostrils.

After most of these things, your nose will run like mad. ?BLOW IT: ?Get the virus?out. ?Cold medicine, especially the decongestant kind that lets you function well in the outside world, keeps stuff in; avoid it unless you have to work or something, and be aware that by forcing yourself to function while sick, you're almost certainly asking to stay sick longer. ?A constant stream of hot liquids, plus regular neti and whiskey treatments, will keep you feeling well enough if you're staying at home, and if you go ahead and blow your nose constantly (taking care of your skin using the last two steps above), you'll get that crap out and over with much faster.

• On the rare occasion that I've actually gotten an infection rather than just a cold (it's been years at this point; the move away from Detroit's visible air may have made a difference there), the bazooka for fighting those is raw garlic. ?You MUST either chew the raw cloves, or crush them right before ingestion. ?Yes, it's not pleasant. ?The best way I've found is to butter a piece of bread, then crush a clove and smear it on one corner. ?Eat that corner in one bite, then finish the bread ? by the time you're done, it'll just taste like garlic bread instead of nuclear death. ?Do that three times a day though, and the nastiest, greenest, most cement-faced sinus infection from hell will run screaming.

Source: http://www.puredoxyk.com/index.php/2012/10/13/dont-just-beat-a-cold-execute-it/

chris carpenter dick cheney hcg drops reason rally mad hatter azerbaijan ryan howard

BlackBerry 10 ?L Series? model shown off in Mexican sales demo [video]

{ttle}

{cptn}","template_name":"ss_thmb_play_ttle","i18n":{"end_of_gallery_header":"End of Gallery","end_of_gallery_next":"View Again"},"metadata":{"pagination":"{firstVisible} - {lastVisible} of {numItems}","ult":{"spaceid":"7665149","sec":""}}},{"id": "hcm-carousel-2010190402", "dataManager": C.dmgr, "mediator": C.mdtr, "group_name":"hcm-carousel-2010190402", "track_item_selected":1,"tracking":{ "spaceid" : "7665149", "events" : { "click" : { "any" : { "yui-carousel-prev" : { "node" : "a", "data" : {"sec":"HCMOL on article right rail","slk":"prev","itc":"1" }, "bubbles" : true, "test": function(params){ var carousel = params.obj.getCarousel(); var pages = carousel._pages; // if same page, don't beacon if(("_ult_current_page" in carousel) && carousel._ult_current_page==pages.cur) return false; // keep track of current position within this closure carousel._ult_current_page = pages.cur; return true; } }, "yui-carousel-next" : { "node" : "a", "data" : {"sec":"HCMOL on article right rail","slk":"next","itc":"1" }, "bubbles" : true, "test": function(params){ var carousel = params.obj.getCarousel(); var pages = carousel._pages; // no more pages, don't beacon again // if same page, don't beacon if(("_ult_current_page" in carousel) && carousel._ult_current_page==pages.cur) return false; // keep track of current position within this closure carousel._ult_current_page = pages.cur; return true; } } } } } } })); }); Y.later(10, this, function() {(function() { try{ if (Math.floor(Math.random()*10) == 1) { var loc = window.location, decoded = decodeURI(loc.pathname), encoded = encodeURI(decoded), uri = loc.protocol + "//" + loc.host + encoded + ((loc.search.length > 0) ? loc.search + '&' : '?') + "_cacheable=1", xmlhttp; if (window.XMLHttpRequest) xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest(); else xmlhttp = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP"); xmlhttp.open("GET",uri,true); xmlhttp.send(); } }catch(e){} })(); }); Y.later(10, this, function() {Y.namespace("Media").ywaSettings = '"projectId": "10001256862979", "documentName": "", "documentGroup": "", "ywaColo" : "vscale3", "spaceId" : "7665149" ,"customFields" : { "12" : "classic", "13" : "story" }'; Y.Media.YWA.init(Y.namespace("Media").ywaSettings); }); Y.later(10, this, function() {if(document.onclick===YAHOO.Media.PreventDefaultHandler.newClick){document.onclick=YAHOO.Media.PreventDefaultHandler.oldClick;} }); }); });

iPod Nano's Mediocre Reviews - Business Insider

Apple's latest music player, the seventh-generation iPod nano, is not faring well in reviews.

No one's coming out and saying it, but here's the real issue: The iPhone's combination of classic music features with Internet connectivity and cloud-based synching and storage makes the classic iPod line look clunky, even with a revamped design.

Despite the addition of Bluetooth, the Nano still must be plugged into a computer to add music. (The iPhone and iPod Touch support wireless downloads.)

People also don't like the new Lightning connector, which requires replacing existing cables and docks, and the lack of integration with iCloud, Apple's online email and storage service.

PCMag's gripes with the device: It doesn't record video (a previous version of the Nano did, and video has been a standard feature of iPhones since the 3GS) and it lacks inline playback controls.

Nilay Patel of the Verge gave the device a 7.7/10. That's a solid C.

The newest iPods began arriving at Apple Stores this week.?The new Nano retails for $149. If you're in the market for a new iPod, we think you should opt to pay $50 more and just get an iPod Touch. At least you'll be able to enjoy the App Store.

Don't miss:?Here's The Commercial For Apple's New Colorful iPods >

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/ipod-nano-mediocre-reviews-2012-10

joss whedon ronnie montrose melissa gilbert dancing with the stars dandelion wine cough matt groening brandon phillips

Ryan to Biden: ?I know you?re under duress to make up for lost ground?

As the vice presidential debate shifted to domestic issues, the vice presidential candidates were asked to weigh in on Medicare.

"They got caught with their hands in the cookie jar, robbing Medicare to pay for Obamacare," Ryan said of his assertion that seniors would lose Medicare access under the president's plan.

Biden continued to interrupt Ryan, attempting to argue with his assertions. "That's not true, more people signed up [for Medicare]," Biden said.

Ryan then addressed the first presidential debate, taking an ironic verbal shot at Biden. "I know you're under a lot of duress to make up for lost ground," Ryan said.

"Well, don't take up all the four minutes, then," Biden shot back.

Though for the record, at the time of the exchange, Biden had been speaking for over two minutes longer than Ryan in total debate time.

When it was officially Biden's turn again, he chose to address the debate cameras directly.

"Seniors are not denied choices," Biden said. "All you seniors out there, have you been denied choices?"

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/ryan-biden-know-under-lot-duress-lost-ground-014741509--election.html

mega ball lottery winner lottery numbers mega millions lottery jackpot winning numbers mega millions megamillions drawing

Asia stocks up as US jobless claims fall sharply

BANGKOK (AP) ? Asian stock markets rebounded Friday after the number of Americans applying for jobless benefits plummeted unexpectedly, suggesting the recovery in the world's largest economy might be gaining traction.

Weekly applications for unemployment aid fell to their lowest since February 2008, the U.S. government said Thursday. The positive figures follow a report last week that said the unemployment rate fell in September to 7.8 percent ? below 8 percent for the first time since January 2009.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 0.9 percent to 21,182.77 and South Korea's Kospi rose 0.1 percent to 1,935.53.

Japanese stocks benefited from a slightly weaker yen. The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo rose 0.1 percent to 8,559.13.

Still, other economic developments Thursday prevented bigger gains.

The Commerce Department reported that foreign demand declined for American-made cars and farm goods. German economic researchers predicted the country's growth would slow, and unemployment in Greece, one of the countries surviving on bailouts, hit a record high of just more than 25 percent.

One big unknown is Spain and whether the government of the recession-mired country will ask for a financial bailout.

Last month, the European Central Bank agreed to buy unlimited amounts of debt by struggling European countries to help lower their borrowing costs. But the governments first need to apply for bailout.

Spain has not applied; instead, the government has introduced a series of austerity measures in a bid to bring down its deficit and convince investors it can manage its finances without outside help.

"For the day ahead, attention will likely shift to the US earnings reports, with JP Morgan and Wells Fargo in focus while uncertainty about the Spanish bailout will remain as a significant downside risk in the eurozone, leaving sentiment cautious," analysts at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong said in a market commentary.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.1 percent to 13,326.39. The Standard & Poor's 500 rose marginally to 1,432.84. The Nasdaq composite index fell 0.1 percent to 3,049.41.

Benchmark oil for November delivery was up 34 cents to $92.41 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In currency trading, the euro rose to $1.2939 from $1.2934 late Thursday in New York. The dollar rose to 78.43 yen from 78.31 yen.

___

Follow Pamela Sampson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/pamelasampson.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/asia-stocks-us-jobless-claims-fall-sharply-031259976--finance.html

swain match day nene dark shadows trailer nate mcmillan clooney arrested southern miss

State: never felt Libya attack due to film protest

FILE - In this Sept. 13, 2012 file photo, a Libyan man investigates the inside of the U.S. Consulate, after an attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens on the night of Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012, in Benghazi, Libya. The State Department on Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012 said it never concluded that the consulate attack in Libya stemmed from protests over an American-made video ridiculing Islam, raising further questions about why the Obama administration used that explanation for more than a week after assailants killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans. (AP Photo/Mohammad Hannon, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 13, 2012 file photo, a Libyan man investigates the inside of the U.S. Consulate, after an attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens on the night of Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012, in Benghazi, Libya. The State Department on Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012 said it never concluded that the consulate attack in Libya stemmed from protests over an American-made video ridiculing Islam, raising further questions about why the Obama administration used that explanation for more than a week after assailants killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans. (AP Photo/Mohammad Hannon, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The State Department now says it never believed the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was a film protest gone awry, giving congressional Republicans new fodder for criticizing the Obama administration's initial accounts of the assault.

The State Department's extraordinary break with other administration offices came in a department briefing Tuesday, where officials said "others" in the executive branch concluded initially that the protest was based, like others in the Middle East, on a film that ridiculed the Prophet Muhammad.

That was never the department's conclusion, a senior official told reporters.

The Republican-led House Oversight and Government Reform Committee holds a hearing Wednesday on diplomatic security in the attack that killed U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three other Americans. The attack as become a political football in the final weeks before the election.

The committee's chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., has accused the State Department of turning aside pleas from its diplomats in Libya to increase security in the months and weeks before the attack in Benghazi. One scheduled witness Wednesday, Eric Nordstrom, is the former chief security officer for U.S. diplomats in Libya who told the committee his pleas for more security were ignored.

Briefing reporters Tuesday ahead of the hearing, department officials were asked about the administration's initial ? and since retracted ? explanation linking the violence to protests over an American-made anti-Muslim video circulating on the Internet. One official responded, without specifying, that it was a question for others to answer.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly on the matter, and provided no evidence that might suggest a case of spontaneous violence or angry protests that went too far.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and Republican lawmakers have increasingly sharpened their criticism of the administration's initial explanation of the attack. They said they never accepted the original explanation.

It was a top administration diplomatic official, United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice, who gave a series of interviews five days after the attack that wrongly described the attack as spontaneous.

She said that the administration believed the violence was unplanned and that extremists with heavier weapons "hijacked" the protest against the anti-Islamic video. She did qualify her remarks to say that was the best information she had at the time. Rice since has denied trying to mislead Congress.

A concurrent CIA memo obtained by The Associated Press cited intelligence suggesting the demonstrations in Benghazi "were spontaneously inspired by the protests at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo" and "evolved into a direct assault" on the diplomatic posts by "extremists."

Nordstrom, the former security official in Libya, addressed the diplomatic security issue in an Oct. 1 email to a congressional investigator. He said his requests for more security were blocked by a department policy to "normalize operations and reduce security resources."

A memo Tuesday by the Oversight Committee's Democratic staff provided details of Nordstrom's interview with the panel's investigators. In that interview, Nordstrom said he sent two cables to State Department headquarters in March 2012 and July 2012 requesting additional diplomatic security agents for Benghazi, but he received no responses.

He stated that Charlene Lamb, the deputy assistant secretary for international programs, wanted to keep the number of U.S. security personnel in Benghazi artificially low. He said Lamb believed the Benghazi facilities did not need any diplomatic security special agents because there was a residential safe haven to fall back to in an emergency.

Nordstrom's Oct. 1 memo to the congressional investigator said, "You will note that there were a number of incidents that targeted diplomatic missions and underscored the GoL's (government of Libya) inability to secure and protect diplomatic missions.

"This was a significant part of (the diplomatic) post's and my argument for maintaining continued DS (diplomatic security) and DOD (Department of Defense) security assets into Sept/Oct. 2012; the GoL was overwhelmed and could not guarantee our protection.

"Sadly, that point was reaffirmed on Sept. 11, 2012, in Benghazi."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-10-10-US-US-Libya/id-7765d566f0d64442a36f1597edc57e27

nba playoff schedule rondo morris claiborne mothers day gifts clippers lisa lampanelli lisa lampanelli