Category: News You Can Use

It’s never too soon to create a financial plan

~ susie
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Assuming you still have a job and you’re not slammed with an emergency bill, that is:

The month of May was Disability Insurance Awareness Month. Among other things, it highlighted the importance of every working person having a financial plan that made allowances for things like long-term disability. One out of every four 20-year-olds in the workplace today will experience a sickness or health condition that keeps them from working. But at least 51 million adults in the United States do not have any plan other than receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). And that could be a problem for them later.

Not having money set aside for a medical emergency can leave people in a financial crunch. And the odds that is going to happen is better than most people think. In the first four months of 2018 alone, 1.5 million Americans experienced a disabling injury or illness that kept them from work. And nearly half of adults in the country do not have the financial means to pay the bills if something happened to them and they could not work for even a few months. Unfortunately, most long-term disabilities keep a person from working for a year or more.

“Only one-third of employees have long-term disability insurance through their employer,” says Alexandria personal injury attorney David Laborde of Laborde Earles Law Firm. “While SSDI can help, it likely will not be enough to cover someone’s full expenses when they are no longer able to work.”

While it may seem hopeless and discouraging to those that do not have long-term disability insurance through their employer, there is a solution. That is to simply create a financial plan that can step in when unfortunate circumstances arise. That can be a simple plan that sets aside some money every month, or it can include making a small investment in supplemental long-term disability insurance.

Disability Insurance Month may already be over, but that does not mean that people should stop thinking about their financial future. The time to create a plan is now, before an extenuating circumstance arises. That way if the time does come, people can focus more on their own health and wellness instead of worrying about how they are going to pay the bills.

FDA: Breast implants can cause rare type of cancer

~ susie

Best Breast Augmentation in las Vegas

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently announced that breast implants can cause a rare form of cancer. The agency is currently reviewing more than 350 reports it has received that link both saline and silicone breast implants with anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL), a non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The FDA reports that there have already been nine deaths linked to the breast implants.

According to national statistics, breast implants is the second most popular cosmetic surgery. Liposuction is number one. There are more than 300,000 procedures performed each year.

In 2011, the FDA concluded that half of all women who get implants after a mastectomy and 20 percent of women who get implants for cosmetic reasons need to have the implants removed within 10 years.

It was also the same year that the FDA began receiving reports about the possible link between ALCL and breast implants. As the agency was investigating the increasing number of reports being filed, the World Health Organization (WHO) also began to study the possible link. WHO has confirmed that breast implants cause ALCL in a recently published report.

According to both the FDA and the WHO report, it can take approximately 10 years after an implant procedure for the cancer to begin developing. Typically, the cancer stays in the area of the implant, but it can break out and metastasize.

The FDA reports that there appears to be more of risk of developing the cancer for women who received textured implants compared to smooth implants. The first indication there may be an issue is if pain and swelling develops. Treatment involves removing the implants and following up with radiation and chemotherapy.

Upon hearing of the FDA announcement, Attorney Boyk commented, “There have been so many medical issues over the past several years for women who have had implants, including cancers and autoimmune diseases. Any woman who is considering this surgery really needs to do through research and find out all the risks truly involved. Anyone who has had issues with breast implants, or any other type of medical device, should seek medical treatment right away.”

‘The problem child of seasonal flu’: Beware this winter’s virus

~ susie

Repeated influenza vaccination helps prevent severe flu in older adults

People in public health hate H3N2 flu seasons, like the one gripping most of North America right now. So do folks who work in hospitals and in the care facilities that look after the elderly. To put it flatly, H3N2 is the problem child of seasonal flu. It causes more deaths than the other influenza A… Continue reading “‘The problem child of seasonal flu’: Beware this winter’s virus” →

Lumber Liquidators to pay $36M to settle lawsuits over toxic flooring

~ susie

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Lumber Liquidators has agreed to pay $36 million to settle two class-action lawsuits that accused the company of selling flooring with dangerous levels of toxins between 2009 and mid-2015. The largest specialty retailer of hardwood flooring in North America was taken to task during a 60 Minutes expose in 2015 for selling Chinese-manufactured laminate flooring that contained close to 20 times the amount of formaldehyde allowable by law. Continue reading “Lumber Liquidators to pay $36M to settle lawsuits over toxic flooring” →

How to shoot the best video on your smartphone

~ susie

Someone’s already showing off the iPhone X out in the wild

Release your inner Spielberg. Lights, camera, phone. lifesimply.rocks/Unsplash We all wield the miniature computers in our pockets to shoot endless photos…but what about video? While many of us do capture clips—spurred by improving camera quality, increased storage capacity, and the rise of “stories” formats on platforms like Snapchat and Instagram—the quality of these videos still tends… Continue reading “How to shoot the best video on your smartphone” →

Public service announcement

~ susie

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This is the optimal week to get a flu shot. Your insurance probably covers it, and you can go to any local chain drugstore.

I’ve gotten a flu shot every year since that time about 15 years ago the flu turned into bronchitis, and then to pneumonia. God, did that suck. I couldn’t work for a month, and I was so, so sick. Plus, I hated that freaky crackling noise your lungs make when they’re under water. I never want to go through that again.

So I’m motivated. You may not be. But if you are someone who doesn’t have a problem with flu shots, go get it soon. I’ve already heard of three cases of flu in the past month, and it sounds like a bad one.

Equifax dumped stock before they announced security hack

~ susie ~ 3 Comments

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Earlier today the news broke that Equifax had been hacked and data belonging to 143 million people was stolen, beginning on July 29th of this year. Not just any data, either. According to the Equifax release, Social Security numbers, drivers license numbers, and dates of birth were among the data grabbed. Nearly 200,000 credit card numbers… Continue reading “Equifax dumped stock before they announced security hack” →