Healthcare Gap in US impoverishing families

Having lived in the US for over 4 years I have come to understand several nuances of this society and culture. The infrastructure such as roads, parks, libraries, sporting arenas, etc are astounding and accessible to everyone. These are important amenities for the citizens but there is one more important need that remains largely unfulfilled is healthcare. There is pretty much no government hospital in the US. If you are one of the 50 million odd people who don't have health insurance then god help you if you fall sick. A simple emergency room visit could run into couple of thousand dollars and that is serious money for the average middle class family in the US.

While browsing the internet I came across an article titled Iconic skier’s death points out U.S. health gap which gives some hard facts about the health gaps in the US. According to the article over 700,000 families file for bankruptacy in the US every year because of healthcare bills. This includes several senior citizens who don't have any income other than social security and savings, they end up having to sell/ mortgage their homes to pay medical bills.

When I studied psychology we were taught the Maslow's hierarchy of needs in which the most basic need for every living being is physiological needs and then followed by safety. The safety is addressed pretty good with a efficient law enforcement and defence sectors. But the physiological needs unfortunately is not being addressed by the society in the US. If you don't have money and/ or insurance you are simply doomed to lose everything in case you have a health emergency.

Your Messy Cubicle can win you $1200 Office Makeover!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Contest Factory for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Do you think your cubicle/ office space is the worst in the world? Can you prove it by making a video showing what makes it the most pathetic cubicle? If you can do it, you have a chance to win a $1200 office make over.

Yes it is true, you can enter the Pimp My Cube Contest on Contest Factory and if you are the winner you will get a $1200 office makeover. How do you go about it? It is pretty simple, all you need to do is to make a video of your office/ cube and explain to the world why it is a horrible place to work. The next step is to upload it on Contest Factory website and invite your friends, family and associates to login and vote for your video.

Everything you do on Contest Factory site will earn you sweepstakes entry points. Contest Factory judges will watch all the videos and select the grand winner as per their criteria which includes the maximum number of votes, best video and most compelling story.

Now for the prizes the grand prize is valued at $1200 and can be used to upgrade your office/ cube with one of the three packages that include: a brand new high end computer system, or new office furniture and decorations, or you could even get a high end entertainment package which includes a stereo, espresso machine, etc.

The contest ends on January 31, 2012. If you are worried that your video may not be the best to win $1200, there is a second sweepstakes prize of $200 gift card which will be awarded to a randomly chosen winner.

So now don't delay your contest entry, there is very little time but enough to make you a winner. As I said before just make a video of your pathetic office, upload it and invite everyone you know to vote for it. You may be the winner of $1200.

Happy Republic Day 2012

Image by Akshay Shah via Flickr

Today's is India's Republic Day - the day when India became a sovereign republic day with its own distinct constitution. India's Republic Day Parade is one of the most famous events that takes place in the Capital. I have never attended one in person but I have watched the live telecast on TV several times in my life when I was in India.

Next time I am in India I hope it is during this time so I can go to Delhi and watch the parade with my own eyes.

Alone in this world

Alone in this world

Image Courtesy Internet

Why do I feel alone?
Whether I am one
or I am with someone
I still feel lone

I am sure there are
souls who feel similar
as if they were alone
despite surrounded by millions

I wonder why??

Upgrade your cellphone and get paid for it!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Cellitused, Inc. for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

What would you say if you were offered money to give away your old cellphone and get a new and modern one? That would be great isn't it, you don't have to wonder what to do with your old phone nor do you have to accumulate unnecessary things at home. This is exactly what Cellitused.com is offering to do.

Under their new plan known as "Get Paid to Upgrade!" the company is offering you a unique opportunity to upgrade and get the most modern cellphone without worrying about how to dispose your old one. Moreover they are actually showing you a way to make money off of your old, used cellphone.

Some of us are early adopters and want the latest technology. Now that the iPhone 4s is here I am sure lot of us want to upgrade from our old 3g and 3gs to get this brand new model with a robotized talking voice. You can easily Sell Your iPhone to Cellitused.com and upgrade to the phone of your choice.

By upgrading your cellphone you will be doing mother earth a great favor too. Cellphone manufacture involves loads of different hazardous chemicals such as arsenic, antimony, mercury, etc. These chemicals can pose serious environmental hazard. By selling your old cellphone you are contributing to minimize this risk.

Not only cellphones you can recycle your old electronic devices at Cellitused.com. You are assured of a great cash price on Cellitused.com for your old electronics. Founded in 2006, Cellitused has been in the business buying and selling used cell phones, ipad and other smartphones. You can sell even broken ones and make extra cash and also save the environment.

This is what I call a "double whammy"

A Friend

When I was happy and laughing
The whole world was with me
When I was sad and grieving
There was only one by my side!

When I was rich and famous
Everyone wanted to meet me,
Know me, & spend time with me,
Only to boost their egos

But when When the wealth and notriety were gone
With them went everyone but one
The one who has been with me as god's boon
More in times of sorrow than in joy

That is you none other than
My friend - the one who is always there
as a pillar of support
like the northern star to a navigator

Settling Into Academics...

Image via Wikipedia

School started a week ago and I am slowly but surely getting settled into the final leg of my degree program. Boy this is one event I am looking forward to... graduating soon. The past few semesters have been pretty rough and many a time I have felt Tom of, Tom and Jerry cartoon show - running after an elusive target and getting beaten up left, right and center. I hope this will be the end of all this and I will get to turn things around and make academics like Jerry pictured in this cartoon.

That would definitely be a day to celebrate for me, because I would have conquered my degree and not vice-versa. Anyway I will be blogging sporadically, now here and now not here.....

It is Back to School Time

School started yesterday and I am back feeling like being hit by an express train. It will take a few days, maybe couple of weeks to get used to the new rigor, but I will get there....

Right now I feel like this :)

Image Courtesy: Internet

Sankranti Comes every year

Image via Wikipedia

Sankranti or Pongal popularly known as the harvest festival in India has come and gone. It was probably celebrated with pomp and show in parts of India. I have no idea what happened, in fact I almost forgot the festival, I was at work. Here in America unless you are closely connected to the Indian Hindu community it is very easy to miss our festivals and cultural events. I am one of those non-temple Hindus and I am not connected to any Hindu community or group hence I miss most of the festivals.

I truly miss the festivals that I reluctantly celebrated in India. Now having gone without celebrating most festivals for the past 4 years, I wish I had gotten involved more seriously when I was in India. I wonder if the time will ever come again when I will be actually celebrating all the festivals in my life.... only time can answer this question.

Exclusion of Walgreens by Express Scripts affects thousands!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walgreens for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

"When elephants fight it is the grass that suffers" goes the adage. That is what seems to be happening in the prescription drugs arena. Recently the healthcare middleman Express Scripts Inc decided to exclude Walgreens from its network. This move will impact thousands of patients who need prescription drugs on a regular basis and also others who might need prescriptions filled.

How is this move by Express Scripts going to affect the consumer? Well let me start by telling you about Express Scripts, the healthcare middleman. This company is the liaison between pharmacies and the people who pay for healthcare plans - employers, insurance companies, etc. Express Scripts negotiates rates on both sides keeping the other oblivious of what rates they are paying or receiving.

This empowers them to keep enormous profit margins instead of making a modest commission which middlemen are entitled to. How does it affect consumers? Express Scripts can charge high to the employer and pay low to pharmacies which will make it very difficult for the latter to be viable and may even lead local community pharmacies to close down. Express Scripts can implicitly dictate where a consumer needs to go to buy drugs. With the agreement between Walgreens and Express Scripts falling apart consumers of the former will be forced to change their pharmacies and some will even have to drive farther to access the entity approved by the latter. This will end up causing immense hardship and inconvenience to the consumer.

Another large segment of the population that will be affected by this agreement is our service personnel. Our brave men and women soldiers and members of the armed forces are provided healthcare and prescription drug service by Tricare, a client of Expres Scripts. Now these people are also affected due to this spat.

During negotiations with Express Scripts, Walgreens offered a guarantee that they would match the rates of all other pharmacies in the network, but even then there was no deal forthcoming. This will affect our veterans, serving members of the forces and their families. All because Express Scripts has not been able to make a deal with Walgreens.

As a responsible company Walgreens has begun to offer consumers help with their prescription with programs such as the membership to its Prescription Savings Club at Walgreens at a discount. This will enable consumers to still be able to get their prescriptions filled at Walgreens at the same or lower costs to Express Scripts rates.

If you are one of the affected due to this split I would encourage you to take up a stance. Contact your local media, newspaper, television channel, or radio station and voice your opinions. If you are into social media support Walgreens by liking Walgreens on Facebook, following Walgreens on Twitter, etc.

If you have been a Walgreens  customer for several years, you need to be worried.

American Solders Actions Cause Outrage in Afghanistan

Taliban: Peace talks not harmed by urinating-Marines video I was surprised to see this video on MSN.com. The video shows American soldiers urinating on corpses dead Taliban fighters. Of course everyone in the so-called civilized Western world is outraged that their soldiers have indulged in such demeaning actions. Afghanistan authorities are also angry, they have called for action from the US and asked for the concerned soldiers to be punished after investigation into the incident.

This video comes at a bad time when US is preparing to negotiate with its protege - The Taliban. I call the Taliban as US Protege because it was the brainchild of American congressman Charlie Wilson who funnelled billions of dollars in the late 1970s and 1980s to arm Taliban fighters (then called Mujahideen) so they could defeat Soviet Union. Now the Taliban has come back to bite the hand that fed it - the US.

It is true that anyone would be outraged to see someone urinating on dead people, even if they were bad people. I definitely believe that they have a right to be angry and the guilty people must be punished. But let us take a step back and examine what the Taliban were doing with their prisoners. It is well known they used extreme methods of torture such as gouging out eyes, cutting off ears, nose and decapitating them etc. Bloody methods of torture and now this incident has them up in arms and has made them very angry. What about the families of those whose bodies that were returned by them without ears, nose, eyes, etc? Did they apologize or were they even mentioned in the media?

If America were to apologize for the actions of its soldiers in front of Tailban leaders, it seems like the world's superpowers are kneeling in front of a rowdy, rogue entity whose sole aim is to kill everyone who doesn't agree and follow its ideology. This video which I hope is the plant of a mischief monger and not true comes at a bad time in the world history. This might just be the fulcrum needed to pivot Taliban back to power in Afghanistan and then all the war effort of the past decade will be in the naught.

Only time can tell what will happen.... I hope whatever happens leads to a more peaceful and verdant world.

My Frustration with misuse of "Indian"

Indians are ONLY from India - The rest are all MISTAKEN IDENTITIES.
 
Christopher Columbus made a mistake in 1492: He identified "Native Americans" as "Indians".

Over five centuries now, Americans have still not corrected the error.
 
I am from India and proud to be Indian - Have pride in your national identity, stop piggy backing on ours.
 
Don't call me "Asian Indian" or "East Indian" - I am INDIAN.
 
People who are not from INDIA and call themselves INDIAN are either stupid or lieing.
 
Native Americans are NOT and they don't deserve to be called INDIAN. Cherokee, Navajo, Hopi, Pueblo, Shawnee, whichever nation you belong to... be proud of your identity.

My Best Friend

image source Internet

My blessings give me
Lots more than I think I deserve
And best of all of them is
the blessing of a best friend...

A friend who is there
During sorrow more than joy
A friend who will do everything
Just to see me smile

A friend who knows without asking
If I am in the depths of sorrow
Or if I am confused out of wits
Or if I swimming in disturbed waters

My life is happy and comfortable
Thanks to my family and job
But thanks to you - my dear friend
my life is more enjoyable

Englishmen Caught Trying to Steal: Of course what else can you expect from the British

I skim over some news websites daily and read articles that catch my interest. I am interested in everything from politics to finance to sports to gender issues to music to movies and everything else. I came across an article on the online edition of Times of India titled "British firm's bid to patent ginger foiled" and naturally I wanted to read more. A decade ago Indian government had slumbered while greedy westerners had attempted to patent rice, turmeric and other items that were grown and consumed in India for thousands of years. Only after a public outcry did the somnolent government move to protest.

This time around the government has surprisingly taken a pro-active stand and protested Nicholas John Larkins attempt to patent the medicinal properties of Ginger in fighting cough and cold. The application for patent was filed in 2006 and it has taken over half a dozen years for the UK Patent office to come to the decision to reject it. I am glad that Indian government is taking some proactive action at least now. I am pretty sure it is some patriotic bureaucrat sitting in Delhi taking action and not the politicians.

After feeling the initial rush of pleasure I reflected on the issue a little bit. First off the article in Times of India is just about 200-250 words. This kind of a victory for India should be highlighted in big bold letters and detailed coverage should be given. By showcasing victories of our nation the media will promote national pride and patriotism amongst its readers. I don't think that is the intentino of TOI, the newspaper is there to make money. If there were any anti-Indian newsreport that would have been highlighted - I am pretty sure of that.

Then comes the audacity of the British firm which tried to STEAL. Well what else can you expect from the English? As a nation they stole from the rest of the world for a long time and even to this date they refuse to return stolen artefacts to the owner nations. Britain is a nation built on the soild foundations of blood and lives of innocent people from every part of the world. There is a saying in Kannada which translates to "The trait one is born with will not disappear even after the person is burned (dead)". This saying when it comes to the trait of stealing is so true for British and they have just proved it once again.

The days when they stole physical wealth from different nations across the world is over. Now they are trying to steal intellectual property and ancient knowledge from developing countries like India. I hope they will now learn a lesson and stop attempting to steal ancient knowledge from others. Instead they can try to create new knowledge by investing in original research.

Happy New Year 2012

 

One Day For the Year to end

Looking back on 2011 and forward to 2012
 
A day that comes once every year
Repeats once every 365 days
Returns every 12 months
Reminds us of a year gone by in 52 weeks
 
Was 2011 a year well spent
To learn new skills and talents
To earn new friends
and nurture old relationships
 
OR
 
Was it a year squandered
On wasteful pursuits?
Damaging activities?
Burning bridges?
 
What was it for you?
A good year 2011
or a Bad year 2011
 
What will it be in 2012
A year of promising future
Or a year of challenges!

Countdown 2011 - Three days to go

In just three days, under 72 hrs we will be saying bye bye to another year. Most people are planning to celebrate the arrival of the new year by attending parties, midnight drinking binges, dancing the night away, etc. What is the big deal about New Year, I still don't understand. Except for changing calendars, what else happens on January 1? Government's don't change; fiscal policies remain the same; elections don't take place; nothing changes in the solar system or in the universe. The earth continues to revolve around the sun. Sometimes I think New Year is just another excuse for people to party and for corporations to sell stuff in the name of new year. Then there is the New Year resolutions, most people in America resolve to exercise more and lose weight in the next 12 months. Who gets to benefit most from this resolution? The people who make and stick to the resolution benefit the most, no doubt, but they are not the ones who derive maximum benefit. Gyms, health clubs, personal trainers, coaches, sports clubs, nutritional supplement manufacturers and sellers, etc are the one's who make the real money at this time of year. People who wish to lose weight sign up for memberships to all these places and buy products, services that they hope will help them lose weight and attain a beautiful body - high school slim - that is what they call. I don't know when humans will give up this frenzy of event-based lifestyles and live according to what they need and when they need.

Getting a Second Chance!!!

Once an individual takes to crime, especially murder, it is almost impossible for him/ her to lead a normal law abiding life again. Imagine an individual who has killed about 40 people and still getting a second chance at life? Wouldn't that be something shocking even to think of? Or would it be heartening to think of, saying that the individual is finally reformed after years in prison?

When I was at Bonham, TX recently I came across this story board i.e. the story of a Texas gunman neatly printed and framed, hanging outside one of the quaint downtown shops. The display has the City of Bonham emblazoned, so I am assuming that the city has put it up. The story in the board is self-explanatory for everyone, but I need to explain why I am blogging about it.

As I read it one thing became clear to me, despite the fact that there is so much importance given to life and people today in the US, it was not so in the past. This guy John W Hardin has been referred to as "The most dangerous gunman in Texas" but still his story supposedly endorsed by the city, hangs prominently in the city square. He killed so many people and then turned to religion and law in prison. This enabled him to enter the bar in Texas and become a lawyer and established a practice. It is a different matter that he couldn't stick to law and was killed by a sheriff later.

The point I am trying to make is that even after killing 40 people this guy was given a chance to lead a normal life. Would that be possible now? in any other country? Should it happen? What about the families of those killed by him? How did they feel when he started practicing law? I don't know the answers to these questions but these things continue to bother me...

Have a Messy Office? Enter to Win $1200

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Contest Factory for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Since the economic downturn started in 2008 I have heard lots of my friends saying that their job responsibilities have doubled and sometimes tripled because of lay offs and hiring freezes. As a result their office cubicles, desks are a mess, full of clutter, papers, objects, mail, etc.

I am sure lot of you will say that your office is not in any better shape. Well if your office space is really bad, dirty, or outright pathetic then here is an opportunity to win $1200 in prizes. All you have to do is to shoot a video of your cube/ office/ workspace and explain why you think it is horrible and why you deserve the prize and upload it on the Pimp My Cube Contest website.

That done now invite your friends, family, colleagues, and associates to log in vote for your video. You get points for everything you do, registering, voting, commenting, and inviting your friends etc. If your cube is selected by the Contest Factory judges based on the contest criteria including but not limited to the most votes, best/ worst video and the most compelling story etc, then you hit a jackpot.

The grand prize winner will receive a office update which will feature either a new high end computer system or new furniture (Desk, chair and decorations) or an snazzy entertainment package with high end stereo, espresso machine, etc.

Uploading your video is very simple you can use your phone to do that too. The more fun and witty the better the video will entertain and the higher the chance of winning.

Don't worry if you are afraid your video may not be the best. There is still an opportunity to win $200 gift card. One registered user will be chosen at random and awarded this prize at the end of contest period which runs from 12/5/11 to 1/31/12.

There is not much time enter the contest fast so you have lots of time to promote your video and get as many votes as possible.

Good Bye 2011 - Welcome 2012

2011 is almost over and it seems like only yesterday when it was Christmas 2010. Another year comes to a finish, 12 months of economic upheavel in Europe, 52 weeks of bickering between Republicans and Democrats in the United States, 365 days before the next Presidential elections in which Obama is mostly likely to succeed, not because he has been a gerat president but because there is no other suitable alternative.
 
Wow.... I simply can't believe it another year has come to a close... I am older by a year so is everybody in the world. Did I achieve anything great this past year, well apart from gaining about 10 lbs cumulative weight, and completing 2 more semesters and getting closer to graduation, I don't think I did anything significant this year. In terms of physical activity this past year was a mess, I hope to make next year more productive and lose some of the excess food stocks that have gotten stored in various areas of my body.
 
I know I have promised myself that I would compete in a Triathlon next year. It is not going to be easy, I need to work hard to get there, especially in the area of running. I have to hit the gym or the trail to start running, cycling and swimming on a regular basis. Discipline is the key to achieving all this and that is something very difficult to achieve for people like me.