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9 of the Best Foods to Keep You Healthy in the New Year The Mayo Clinic
Whether you believe in having new years resolutions or not, being healthy (especially in the beginning of the new year) is very important. It's especially important to be aware of the foods that will naturally help you stay healthy.
We get asked a lot about healthy eating (even though sometimes it's not our favorite subject) and it seems as though the questions increase during the new year. Most people have resolutions to either get in shape, stay in shape, or just have an over all better understanding of what foods are the best for you. Luckily, I came across a great list from the Mayo Clinic — and it's great to know that most of us are probably eating these items every week!
Apples: Source of Pectin and Vitamin C.
Almonds: Full of fiber, riboflavin, magnesium, iron and calcium. Helps to lower blood cholesterol.
Blueberries: Great source of Vitamin C and fiber.
Broccoli: Packed with calcium, potassium, folate and fiber. Broccoli also contains phytonutrients (aids in prevention of heart disease, diabetes and some cancers).
Red Beans: Contains iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, copper and thiamin. Can help prevent chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and cancer.
Salmon: Known for its Omega-3 Fatty Acids that are known to help prevent sudden cardiac death, decrease triglyceride levels, decrease the growth of artery-clogging plaques, lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of stroke.
Garlic: Natural Antioxidant.
Sweet Potatoes: Full of the antioxidant beta carotene, fiber, vitamins B-6, C and E, folate and potassium.
Wheat Germ: Concentrated source of nutrients, including niacin, thiamin, riboflavin, vitamin E, folate, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, iron and zinc. A super food if you will.
On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act. The law
puts in place comprehensive
health insurance reforms that will roll out over four years and beyond.
Individuals and small businesses can buy affordable and qualified health
benefit plans in this new transparent and competitive
insurance marketplace. Open enrollment begins in the Fall of 2013.
Affordable Insurance Exchanges are designed to make buying health coverage
easier and more affordable . Starting in 2014, Exchanges will allow individuals
and small businesses to compare health plans, get answers to questions, find
out if they are eligible for tax credits for private insurance or health
programs like the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and enroll in a
health plan that meets their needs.
An Exchange Can
Help You
Look for and compare private
health plans.
Get answers to questions
about your health coverage options.
Find out if you’re eligible
for health programs or tax credits that make coverage more affordable.
For individuals and families,
the Exchange is a single place where you can enroll in private or public
health insurance coverage.
For small employers, the
Exchange is a way to level the playing field, where you have better choice
of plans and insurers at a lower cost, the way larger employers do now.
The bulk of the Affordable Health Care Act takes place in 2014, but look for a few changes in 2013.
(CNN) -- Some 50 million Americans still lack health insurance. That will change for the greater majority when the Affordable Health Care Act, or Obamacare, as it's more commonly known, rolls out over the next couple of years.
While the bulk of the law goes into place in 2014, you'll see a few changes this year. However, much of 2013 will be dedicated to health facilities and government offices getting ready for the larger changes coming down the road.
On Thursday, the Department of Health and Human Services conditionally approved eight more states' plans to set up their own health insurance exchange programs. The conditional approvals mean a total of 19 states plus the District of Columbia have the initial thumbs-up on their plans.
Two others, Arkansas and Delaware, have the go-ahead to run an exchange in partnership with the federal government.
States can decide to set up an exchange at any time, but the clock is ticking. States that plan to partner with the federal government need to do so by February 15. People not living in a state with an exchange have access to a federal program. All the exchanges are supposed to be up and running by October 1 of this year.
In a conference call with reporters Thursday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said she was encouraged by the progress states have made so far.
"From the beginning, this process has been guided by our belief that states know their own needs better than anyone else," Sebelius said. "That's why we have worked so hard to give states the flexibility and resources to create and participate in marketplaces that work best for their citizens, and it's encouraging to see so many states moving forward to do just that."
What these exchanges will do is give the uninsured a better chance to shop for insurance in a way that's supposed to take the mystery out of buying a plan. Think of it like an online travel site that pulls information from hundreds of companies, allowing customers to compare the costs of flights or hotels on one easy-to-read screen.
Another advantage to the exchange may be a lower cost for health insurance, according to Jay Angoff. He is the former director of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight at HHS, the office responsible for implementing Obamacare.
"The key issue is not if the state or the fed runs the exchange," Angoff said. "The key is: Will it be a strong or weak exchange, and will it use the bargaining power that it has to standardize the benefit packages and establish a real competitive bidding process that can really drive down rates?
"If the exchanges allow insurance companies to sell whatever they want, if (the state) doesn't negotiate or establish competitive bidding process, it's another case," he said.
Here are some other parts of Obamacare taking effect in 2013:
Preventative services
The federal government is sending more money to state Medicaid programs that offer preventative services for free or at little cost. Services include tests for high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol; many cancer screenings including colonoscopies and mammograms; counseling to help people lose weight, quit smoking or reduce alcohol use; routine vaccinations; flu and pneumonia shots; and others.
Increased Medicaid payments
Doctors that take Medicaid patients get a pay raise. Starting January 1, Medicaid payments in every state were brought up to the same level Medicare pays doctors. Some experts say the Medicare rate is too low, but Medicaid paid even less. While it varies from state to state, primary care physicians see on average a 73% pay bump according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
A pilot program for bundling services
The law sets up a national pilot program that will encourage medical providers to coordinate patient care. Rather than have each service billed separately under Medicare, a flat rate would be paid for an episode of care.
The wealthy face a 0.9% tax increase on the income they earn in excess of $200,000 (for couples filing jointly, it will hit those that make in excess of $250,000). This will help boost the Medicare trust fund.
Medical device tax
A new 2.3% tax goes on the price of medical devices. This doesn't include hearing aids or corrective lenses, but does include devices like defibrillators, pacemakers, artificial joints and others.
Medical deductions
Up until now, Americans got a tax deduction if all their total medical expenses added up to more than 7.5% of what they earn (minus deductions and exceptions). Those expenses now will have to add up to 10% or more for most tax filers.
Cap on FSAs
Flexible Spending Accounts now have a cap. Up until now, employers set the limit on how much employees could set aside from their paychecks tax free to pay for medical expenses not covered by their insurance. The majority of companies set an FSA limit of around $5,000. The government is now limiting FSA's to $2,500.
Health benefits spelled out
W-2 tax forms issued this year for wages paid in 2012 must now include a line on the form showing the benefit employees receive from their employer-sponsored health care. This is supposed to help you understand your benefits better and make health care spending more transparent.
The majority of what happens on Jan. 1, 2013, is tax increases and cuts in tax deductions to pay for the changes coming in 2014.
Most of the really big changes made by the 2010 health law don't start for another year. That includes things like a ban on restricting pre-existing conditions, and required insurance coverage for most Americans. But Jan. 1, 2013, will nevertheless mark some major changes.
One of those changes that will affect everyone with private health insurance actually took effect last September. But most people won't see it until they renew or apply for new health insurance. It's called a summary of benefits and coverage. The idea is to help people actually understand what's in their insurance policies.
"One of the big complaints of people in polls or focus groups is that they just ... don't understand either the coverage or the price," said Jay Angoff, a former official at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services who worked on implementing the health law.
But with the new document, he says, "there's a standard format that allows people to compare benefits to make apples-to-apples comparisons, not just on price but on benefits."
Health plans will also have to provide consumers a glossary of insurance terms if they ask for it.
"It's still harder than some people would want," Angoff says. "It's still a complicated area. But I think HHS has really done a very good job in making it as simple and as meaningful as possible."
Later in 2013 will also bring a key launch date for the law, says Angoff: "Oct. 1, 2013, is when open enrollment begins."
That's when people can start signing up for their 2014 coverage through the new health exchanges, or marketplaces, that the states and federal government are creating. Angoff, who used to head the office that's in charge of building those exchanges, says he's confident that things will happen on time.
"HHS has met all statutory deadlines on this until this point, and I have confidence that HHS will continue to meet those deadlines," he said.
But the majority of what happens on Jan. 1 is to pay for the changes in 2014 — in other words, tax increases and cuts in tax deductions. For example, starting next year, people will only be able to put $2,500 pretax into flexible spending accounts that they use to pay for items insurance doesn't cover.
"For example, if they buy eyeglasses, if they pay copays on drug benefits or to their physician, they can submit those claims and be reimbursed from the pretax dollars," said Marilyn Moon of the American Institutes for Research.
Moon says that while the change may hurt some people with very high out-of-pocket spending not covered by insurance, lawmakers decided this was a fair way to raise some of the money needed to pay for the rest of the law.
"This is a benefit that largely accrues to higher-income individuals who can afford to set aside a certain amount of money every year to pay toward their health care spending," she said.
There's another tax change coming next year for the wealthy. Individuals earning more than $200,000 a year and couples earning more than $250,000 will see a nearly 1 percentage point increase in their Medicare payroll tax. They'll also have to pay a 3.8 percent Medicare tax on their nonwage income. Moon says that represents a big change.
"The payroll tax usually applies only to wages, and now this law will extend it to investment income as well," she said.
Those who take deductions for medical expenses on their income taxes will also see a change starting in 2013. Right now, expenses in excess of 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income are deductible. That's going up to 10 percent for all except the elderly.
It will affect some people who spend a lot on medical care, says Moon. But the new law should also reduce the number of people with those very large bills, "because if everyone has health insurance, many fewer people should have to pay large amounts out of pocket on health care. Ten percent will not affect very many people in the future, one would hope, when they get better insurance coverage."
Finally, there's a key change made by the health law for 2013 that will affect only the poor. Starting Jan. 1, state Medicaid programs will be required to reimburse doctors who provide primary care at Medicare rates, which are substantially higher. The idea is to get more doctors into the Medicaid program, which will itself expand in 2014.
The Medicaid increase, however, is only for two years.
Editor’s Note: As the year draws to a close, over the next four days, Check Up will be sharing one new Pharma fact a day that was an important breakthrough in the world of pharmaceuticals in 2012. Today, Check Up delves into health care premiums.
This month the CEO at Aetna, one of the US's largest health insurers, stated that premiums for individuals and small businesses are likely to rise by as much as 100% within the next year as a result of the Affordable Care Act.
That should come as no surprise. The very people who wrote the Affordable Care Act work in the revolving door that circulates people between lucrative jobs at major corporations and controlling positions in government where they craft laws and regulations to benefit their once-and-future employers.
On the specific matter of the Affordable Care Act, no one exemplifies this revolving door of plutocracy more than Elizabeth Fowler. This month it was revealed that she is leaving the White House for a senior position at Johnson & Johnson’s government affairs and policy group.
In 2009 Fowler was a top staff aide to Montana Senator Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee that drafted the legislation. She went to that position from Wellpoint, the US's largest health insurer, where she was the VP for public policy. Commenting on her Congressional position at the time, Bill Moyers wrote, "now she’s working for the very committee with the most power to give her old company and the entire industry exactly what they want: higher profits, and no competition from alternative non-profit coverage that could lower costs and premiums.”
As the insurance industry's emissary, Fowler did exactly that, crafting a bill that requires everyone to buy private health insurance without any public alternative to control premium prices. Baucus's staff worked with industry lobbyists to even remove from consideration proposals favored by popular majorities. Measures such as Medicare for all, a public option, and a requirement for drug companies to negotiate prices went off the table. Throughout the entire process of creating the Affordable Care Act, the Senate and the White House steadfastly advanced the profit-making interests of insurers and pharma.
As a reward for her handiwork, Fowler now goes to Johnson & Johnson where, as Glenn Greenwald describes it, she can "peddle...her influence in government and exploit...her experience with its inner workings to work on that industry’s behalf."
New Year brings tax increases to pay for health care law
By Tony Pugh, McClatchy Newspapers
Posted Jan. 02, 2013, at 10:12 a.m.
WASHINGTON — The tax man is coming in 2013. And he’s wearing surgical scrubs and has a stethoscope around his neck.
Five new tax increases take effect on Jan. 1 to help pay for the nation’s health care overhaul.
New provisions of the Affordable Care Act require affluent taxpayers to pay more for Medicare and, for the first time, have their investment income subject to Medicare taxes as well. Also, people who use flexible spending accounts for health care expenses will pay higher taxes. And taxpayers who spend a lot out of pocket on their health care will find it harder to deduct those expenses from their taxable income, raising their tax bill.
Individual consumers won’t be the only ones paying higher taxes. Importers and manufacturers of certain medical devices will face a 2.3 percent excise tax on U.S. sales in 2013.
The new measures are slated to raise $24.2 billion next year and more than $258 billion through the year 2019, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.
Here’s a look at the changes:
CAP ON FSA CONTRIBUTIONS
An estimated 30 million American workers now place a portion of their pre-tax salary into health care Flexible Spending Accounts offered by their employers. The accounts help pay for out-of-pocket medical costs such as co-pays and deductibles that aren’t covered by insurance.
The accounts require enrollees to decide in advance how much money they’ll contribute for the coming year. Most employers capped employee contributions at $5,000. But beginning in 2013, the Affordable Care Act will cap annual employee contributions at $2,500.
The change will raise $1.5 billion in additional tax revenue in 2013 and $13 billion through 2019.
DEDUCTIONS FOR MEDICAL EXPENSES
Currently, taxpayers who itemize their returns can deduct the medical expenses from their taxable income that exceed 7.5 percent of their adjusted gross income. Obamacare increases that threshold to 10 percent in 2013. The higher income threshold means many taxpayers with high medical bills will no longer qualify for the deduction. Seniors age 65 and over and their spouses are exempt from the change until 2016.
The new higher rate will net $400 million in tax revenue in 2013 and $15.2 billion by 2019.
MEDICARE HOSPITAL TAX HIKE
The Medicare Part A tax rate on wages — which pays for hospital, hospice, nursing home and home care services — will go from 1.45 percent to 2.35 percent for individuals with income above $200,000 and families with income above $250,000. Married couples who file separately and earn more than $125,000 are also subject to the tax hike.
INVESTMENT INCOME SURTAX
Tax rates on investment income will increase from the current 15 percent to 18.8 percent. The 3.8-percentage-point “unearned income Medicare contribution tax” applies to interest, dividends, capital gains, annuities, royalties and other types of investment income. But it only applies on investment income above the $200,000 and $250,000 threshold.
Collectively, the Medicare Part A tax hike and the investment income surtax will bring in $20.5 billion next year and $210.2 billion through 2019, according to government estimates.
MEDICAL DEVICE EXCISE TAX
The 2.3 percent excise tax on medical device sales will affect a range of products, from artificial hips and bedpans to stents and defibrillators. The tax is a tradeoff of sorts for the device industry, which, like insurers and pharmaceutical companies, will see substantial new revenue when Obamacare requires millions of people to start buying insurance in 2014.
But industry officials say the new tax will hurt job creation and investment. Others aren’t so sure because the excise tax can be deducted from a company’s income taxes. One expert said that will make the true impact of the tax more like 1.4 percent instead of 2.3 percent. A research and development tax credit of nearly 2 percent further eases the tax burden on device companies.
Government estimates project the device tax will net $1.8 billion in 2013 and an estimated $20 billion through 2019.
New taxes are coming Jan. 1 to help finance President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. Most people may not notice. But they will pay attention if Congress decides to start taxing employer-sponsored health insurance, one option in play if lawmakers can ever agree on a budget deal to reduce federal deficits.
The tax hikes already on the books, taking effect in 2013, fall mainly on people who make lots of money and on the health care industry. But about half of Americans benefit from the tax-free status of employer health insurance. Workers pay no income or payroll taxes on what their employer contributes for health insurance, and in most cases on their own share of premiums as well.
It's the single biggest tax break the government allows, outstripping the mortgage interest deduction, the deduction for charitable giving and other better-known benefits. If the value of job-based health insurance were taxed like regular income, it would raise nearly $150 billion in 2013, according to congressional estimates. By comparison, wiping away the mortgage interest deduction would bring in only about $90 billion.
"If you are looking to raise revenue to pay for tax reform, that is the biggest pot of money of all," said Martin Sullivan, chief economist with Tax Analysts, a nonpartisan publisher of tax information.
It's hard to see how lawmakers can avoid touching health insurance if they want to eliminate loopholes and curtail deductions so as to raise revenue and lower tax rates. Congress probably wouldn't do away with the health care tax break, but limit it in some form. Such limits could be keyed to the cost of a particular health insurance plan, the income level of taxpayers or a combination.
Many economists think some kind of limit would be a good thing because it would force consumers to watch costs, and that could help keep health care spending in check. Obama's health law took a tentative step toward limits by imposing a tax on high-value health insurance plans. But that doesn't start until 2018.
Next spring will be three years since Congress passed the health care overhaul but, because of a long phase-in, many of the taxes to finance the plan are only now coming into effect. Medicare spending cuts that help pay for covering the uninsured have started to take effect, but they also are staggered. The law's main benefit, coverage for 30 million uninsured people, will take a little longer. It doesn't start until Jan. 1, 2014.
The biggest tax hike from the health care law has a bit of mystery to it. The legislation calls it a "Medicare contribution," but none of the revenue will go to the Medicare trust fund. Instead, it's funneled into the government's general fund, which does pay the lion's share of Medicare outpatient and prescription costs, but also covers most other things the government does.
The new tax is a 3.8 percent levy on investment income that applies to individuals making more than $200,000 or married couples above $250,000. Projected to raise $123 billion from 2013-2019, it comes on top of other taxes on investment income. While it does apply to profits from home sales, the vast majority of sellers will not have to worry since another law allows individuals to shield up to $250,000 in gains on their home from taxation. (Married couples can exclude up to $500,000 in home sale gains.)
Investors have already been taking steps to avoid the tax, selling assets this year before it takes effect. The impact of the investment tax will be compounded if Obama and Republicans can't stave off the automatic tax increases coming next year if there's no budget agreement.
High earners will face another new tax under the health care law Jan. 1. It's an additional Medicare payroll tax of 0.9 percent on wage income above $200,000 for an individual or $250,000 for couples. This one does go to the Medicare trust fund.
Donald Marron, director of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, says the health care law's tax increases are medium-sized by historical standards. The center, a joint project of the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, provides in-depth analyses on tax issues.
They also foreshadow the current debate about raising taxes on people with high incomes. "These were an example of the president winning, and raising taxes on upper-income people," said Marron. "They are going to happen."
Other health care law tax increases taking effect Jan. 1:
- A 2.3 percent sales tax on medical devices used by hospitals and doctors. Industry is trying to delay or repeal the tax, saying it will lead to a loss of jobs. Several economists say manufacturers should be able to pass on most of the cost.
- A limit on the amount employees can contribute to tax-free flexible spending accounts for medical expenses. It's set at $2,500 for 2013, and indexed thereafter for inflation.
