US Supreme Court will review the effectiveness of the mandatory purchasing of health insurance ‘The Affordable Care Act’ by the US citizens, a new law signed by the US president.

The law, under which the people of US will have to buy health insurance by 2014 or pay a tax penalty, has been challenged by 26 of the 50 US states, arguing that Congress exceeded its constitutional power and argued that the government should not interfere and force citizens to pay for a product they have opted against.

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WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court, after three days of arguments on President Obama’s healthcare overhaul, appeared ready to strike down not just the requirement that individuals have insurance, but the entire law, invalidating a major piece of domestic legislation for the first time since the Depression.

That prospect, unthinkable to many experts as recently as last week, will not be certain until the justices rule on the case, probably in June.

But the electric set of arguments that ended Wednesday revealed profound skepticism about the law by the court’s five-member conservative majority, which appeared openly hostile to its scheme for mobilizing the federal government to achieve universal healthcare.

In question after question the nine justices revealed themselves as sharply divided as Congress and the American public over the virtues of Obama’s law.

But unlike Congress — whose slim Democratic majority allowed passage of the law in 2010 — the court has a narrow majority of Republican appointees. If un Full post…

The mandatory insurance is imposed by the authorities, and it is designed to protect other drivers than the guilty one. The facultative insurance can cover more risks, and with an insurance of this kind, you will be able to repair your car, to cover the medical expenses for the drivers and other persons harmed in the accident and other legal taxes that might result. However, if you have the curiosity to check the insurance quotes and estimations for cars you will discover that the facultative insurance costs a lot more than the mandatory one.

Sometimes, you can find differences of 20 % and more for the same quotes and estimations for car insurance services offered by different companies. Full post…

Last week our theme was road tripping which was great, so great that it inspired us to put a World First Travel Insurance team together for next year’s Mongol Rally. You heard it here first! Unfortunately, my team name suggestion of Nuns On The Run has been thwarted in favour of something more sensible (probably involving the words World, “First, Travel and maybe Insurance).

So to get us even more inspired and also help me persuade some of my friends to leave their loved ones for quite some time, this week we are off to Mongolia. So start your engines and fasten your seatbelts, this may be a bumpy ride.

Let’s begin at the end with The Start of Something Good with . Any j

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Floridians can expect to see a decrease in their car insurance rates soon because the legislature has finally made changes to PIP insurance.  According to the Sun Sentinels Kathleen Haughney, the no-fault auto insurance changes will take effect over the next year.  In the article, Will revamped car insurance rules cut your rates?, the opinion is that it surely wont happen right away, but it should work down the line.  Governor Rick Scott will sign the law into effect and changes will be made starting July 1, with additional provisions taking effect October 1 and January 1 of next year.

Many experts think it will be closer to two years before significant savings are seen by car insurance companies, but they must cut rates by 10% by October 1 or have a good explanation why they arent doing so.  The no-fault PIP insurance program pays for the first $10,000 of medical treatments after a car accident no matter whose fault the accident was.  PIP rates have more than doubled since 2008 as claims payments have skyrocketed, mostly due to fraud in the system.

The major change this new bill enacts is a time limit on seeking medical treatment after a car accident.  You have to seek medical attention within 14 days of the accident.  They believe this will cut down on the fraud where someone is injured after their car accident, but blames it on the accident for free medical care.  Some of the treatments that are commonly abused will now be banned from PIP coverage.  Two examples are massage and acupuncture.  Chiropractic care that is not for emergencies will now be limited to $2,500 of coverage.  The state will also become stricter with medical clinic licensing and create an organization that fights fraud in the PIP insurance program.

We will continue to watch the effects of this new law fighting no-fault PIP insurance fraud in Florida.

In a surprising result, Michigan State University researchers looking at the effects of diet on bowel disease found that mice on a calorie-restricted diet were more likely to die after being infected with an inflammation-causing bacterial pathogen in the colon.

While research suggests inflammation associated with obesity may contribute to inflammatory bowel diseases such as colitis, the study results revealed a low-calorie diet may actually impair the immune system’s ability to respond to infection, said Jenifer Fenton, assistant professor in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition.

Additionally, the study found no connection that moderate obesity increased the severity of colitis in the mouse model.

“The results are similar to the research from our department that shows consuming fewer calories make it harder to fight off the flu virus,” said Fenton, referring to recent work by colleague Elizabeth Gardner.

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