Switching From Group Health Insurance To An Individual And Family Plan

Once upon a time, just a few years ago, employers almost unbegrudgingly added health insurance to their employee benefit package and as insurance costs began to rise, this perk became highly prized by employees. Everyone was happy. Employers who offered good perks, got to pick from the cream of the employee crop, and employers had their health care costs covered.

Things changed, as all things inevitably do and a darkness covered the land. The American economy slowed; available jobs decreased and health care costs sky rocketed. It has been estimated that employer-sponsored health-care costs rose by 9.3% in 2005, 7.7% in 2006 and 6.1% in 2007.

On average, employers currently pay, $3,785 a year for single-person coverage and $8,824 to cover a family, passing 16% of that premium, to individual employees, and 28% of it to families.

Smaller employers often charge their employees less for single coverage while significantly increasing it for family coverage. Things are expected to get even worse for employees as, according to one survey, 40% of large employers say they are "very likely" to increase the amount of employee contributions to health insurance in the next year.

Back in the days when the Sun shined and birds chirped, no one fortunate enough to receive coverage from their employer would have ever conceived of opting out of their group coverage and buying health insurance on the individual market. The cost of individual health plans were comparatively much too high, but as the skies darkened, as health-care expenses began to grow and companies shifted a greater percentage of those costs onto their workers, individual coverage began to look like a very viable alternative to employer sponsored group coverage.

Many employees are now opting to retain their group health insurance for themselves alone, while moving their family members off of group coverage and enrolling them instead in an individual or family medical plan.

This strategy can save a family thousands of dollars a year, however there are some pitfalls and some major risks here. Do not make this decision without consulting a licensed professional who can warn you in advance of possible trolls hiding under your health insurance policy bridge.

About the Author:
Rick Bronstein, the owner of California Medical Quotes has greater knowledge of the health insurance industry than most people. He should; he's been helping Californians with their insurance needs and problems for more than a quarter century, earning his license while still a Student at UCLA in 1976.

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World of Warcraft - A New Market For Hackers

What is World Of Warcraft? Why is it having such a craze in the international arena? Why do the hackers, professional or amateur, remain attracted to it? The questions all these can be found if we concentrate on the essence of World Of Warcraft. There is no doubt in it that World Of Warcraft is one of the most discussed games in the recent days and has therefore attracted a large number of gamers in the global spectrum.

It is nothing but a pay-to-play massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) and was introduced to catch the attention of the common people who remain interested of the warcraft universe. Nowadays, you may not believe but it is true, that World Of Warcraft has over 9.3 million subscribers, if not more. To many it is the best lively, breathtaking saga of online adventure published hitherto. For this reason it has over 7 million players only. What all you have to do is to simply log on. Once you log on you will enter into a new online world of legends, supernaturalism and unbounded adventure.

This game, quite naturally, is able enough to arrest the attention of youngsters for hours. What is more it changes constantly and on each week there is a new update. There is no doubt that the World of Warcraft is a fantasy game populated with elves, dwarves, and other fantastic characters. The players can select their games according to their own whims.But World Of Warcraft is no longer safe as the new age hackers are targeting it. In the recent days this information has created a storm in the whole globe and it has been found that an increasing numbers of viruses are entering into the domain of this game.

Now why is this being done out of the blue remains a strong question. But without a doubt this perplexed situation has made the users most vulnerable before the hackers. To the latest findings in the last few months there has been an astounding increase in the amount of worms and Trojans and by 145 per cent. These are specially fabricated so that they can invade and set the ruin. It is competent to encroach upon a horde of computers and steal passwords of Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games. But why is this all? Is it profitable?

The first and foremost reason behind this new industry of hacking is that the theft of virtual property and game characters is an efficient business. This is certainly a recent phenomenon since even at the commencement of 2007 there were no universal algorithms for stealing online game passwords. But at the end of the same year there were plenty. This success has resulted into to the emergence of eight to nine new worms targeting MMO passwords daily throughout the globe. Furthermore there is also the appearance of five to six Trojans every hour.

The basic reason behind the attack of Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games is that it brings before a quick and simple financial bonus. The hackers, as a result, become able to sell 'virtual gold\' and items from the game steadily and also can slowly drain accounts, which go on unnoticed. The accounts being linked with the characters have good prices in the black market.

Are you tired of farming for gold in ages to just get a new weapon or mount? The World of Warcraft Gold Secrets will reveal the secrets so you never have to spend so much time to get gold again, or risk your account by buying gold from others. Find out how now!

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