ANSWERCREW Question for a
Healthcare Insurance Professional What changes to health care do I need to be aware of in 2013? Changes in Healthcare There are three important facets to the new healthcare law: guaranteed issue, individual mandate, and subsidies. Guaranteed issue means all people regardless of health are eligible for coverage and will not be charged higher rates for preexisting conditions. The individual mandate requires most Americans to buy coverage. Premium subsidies are based on income from the previous year and projections for the current year. To comply with the law, new plans must pay towards the following: Hospitalization, Emergency Services, Laboratory services, Maternity Care, Mental Health/Substance abuse, Prescriptions, Rehabilitative needs, Preventive/Chronic management, Ambulatory services, and Pediatric services (including oral/vision). There is no lifetime maximum for services. Large group, self-insured, and grandfathered plans are excluded from these guidelines for 2014. Analysts are predicting benefits will come with a 3 to 50% increase in premiums. To combat this, the healthcare mandate has the Medical Loss Ratio. This requires that 80 to 90 cents of every premium dollar must go to medical costs. If carriers fail to meet the ratio, they send a refund the next year. If you want to avoid making changes, you have options. Any plans in effect before March 23, 2010, with no changes in coverage made since that date, are grandfathered and eligible to be kept indefinitely. For small groups with plans effective after March 23, 2010, many carriers are allowing them to renew their existing plans effective December 2013 to December 2014. If you already have affordable coverage through a large employer, it is a good idea to have a plan B. While large companies with 100 or more employees must offer health coverage, it is only to full-time employees working 30 or more hours a week. Groups 50–100 (varies by state) are not required to offer coverage. Christopher L. Crow, PLCS
Question for a
Gardening Expert What are the benefits of growing your own produce from seeds? Growing from Seeds For those gardeners who enjoy variety in their produce, you can enjoy growing many different types of plants and be selective in both quantity and quality. Settlers arriving on the Mayflower came with little or no knowledge about farming, but were befriended by Iroquois natives, who taught them local farming methods. The primary crops were corn, pole beans, and squash, now known as the three sisters. In North America, gardeners are very fortunate to have fresh, high-quality seeds every growing season. Seed packets proliferate in many stores. These packets are an educational tool. On the back, is information about the seeds, from germination rate to number of days to harvest. If you look at the reverse side of a tomato packet, you’ll see you have some 25 to 30 seeds inside. Question: How many Cherokee Purple tomatoes do you want to grow? And what about other varieties of both heirlooms and hybrids? In my research, I have discovered a nonprofit organization in East Meadow, New York, called WinterSown. For a selfaddressed, stamped envelope, they will send you a variety of seeds. Each packet contains only seven to twelve seeds. Now you can experiment with many different types of plants, including tomatoes. For generations, farmers have grown crops and saved seeds for the next growing season. This system is being sorely tested by some large corporations such as Monsanto and DuPont. Once you buy their GMO (genetically modified) seeds, you will have to buy new ones every year and not be able to save them. Heirloom seed companies are trying to negate this practice. One of them is the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed company in Mansfield, MO. The country of Norway took note of the devastation of seed repositories around the world by both military forces in Afghanistan and a cyclone in the Philippines. Norwegians took the initiative to build the Global Seed Vault on a remote island called Svalgaard in the Arctic Circle. Tons of seeds from all over the world are kept under refrigeration until such time that a country loses its crops. I learned to keep my seeds refrigerated, which maintains their viability for some years. Keeping abreast of gardening processes in our area is a regular educational process. For one event, I offer a Seed and Plant Exchange twice a year. Some 83 avid gardeners attended the spring workshop, learning how to become more successful in their gardens and then taking advantage of the more than 100 seed packets offered free. At the close, no seed packets were left. A garden tip about weather is in order. Like many of you, I become impatient to begin my garden in the spring. This year, my tomato seedlings were ready to plant and the time was appropriate, I thought, in late March. Then I was blindsided by a freeze, which took them all. I am in the process of assembling more plants and getting ready to re-plant. Watch the weather. Resources: Your public library, Garden clubs, Master gardener groups, A new book entitled, The Heirloom Life Gardener by Jere & Emilee Gettle, co-founders of Bear Creek Heirloom Seed Co. Norm Park, Ed.D., expert gardener
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