Foodies, listen up: There are a variety of foods and beverages that can actually help you reduce stress and unwind.

An article posted this month on BodyBuilding.com, “5 Dietary Strategies to Ease Stress,” details the five best foods to eat to beat chronic stress.

Of their top picks, my favorite is number five: magnesium-rich foods. Whenever I go through a particularly stressful period or have a busy day at work, I make sure to get some extra magnesium in my diet to help stay focused and relaxed.

By the way, I definitely recommend a stress-reducing meal before taking a life insurance exam. Every little bit helps.

Foods high in magnesium include almonds (my personal favorite), cashews, halibut, tomatoes, spinach and tofu.

For the other four stress-busting foods, you’ll have to check out the article.

Oct. 14–REPORTING FROM SACRAMENTO – Two state assemblymen not much known beyond their districts are vying for a statewide office that has ample authority over automobile, home and life insurance coverage and is getting more power from the landmark federal healthcare law.

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FOR THE RECORD:

Insurance commissioner: An Oct. 14 article in Business said Harvey Rosenfield of advocacy group Consumer Watchdog personally endorsed Democrat Dave Jones forCalifornia insurance commissioner. In fact, Rosenfield has not endorsed any candidate in the race.

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The winning candidate for insurance commissioner — either Democrat Dave Jones ofSacramento or Republican Mike Villines of Clovis – will have a chance to help set up state programs as part of President Obama ’s national healthcare overhaul.

The commissioner runs the California Department of Insurance, which oversees a $124-billion market. As one of the larger state agencies, it has an annual budget of $150 million and 1,100 employees.

And because the agency licenses 340,000 insurance professionals and more than 1,500 companies to ensure that customers are treated fairly and claims are paid on time, both candidates have said they won’t take campaign money from the industry.

How the commissioner regulates the insurance industry affects business and individuals “every day,” said Mark Savage , a senior attorney at the West Coast office of Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports magazine.

Modern market economies depend on affordable and available insurance to help people deal with risk and plan for their future, Savage said.

As candidates, both Jones and Villines tout their pro-consumer credentials. But just what that means is a function of their opposing political philosophies.

Jones, an activist lawmaker, said he would be a strong regulator who would keep insurers on a tight leash. “The biggest issue is making sure that California consumers andCalifornia businesses are protected against abusive insurance industry practices,” he said.

Villines wants to limit government intervention in the market and use his office to bring down costs by fostering competition. “If the costs are too high or the providers too few,” he said, “the businesses that are now struggling to keep their doors open in this economy will have one more reason to move their jobs to another state.”

Jones’ and Villines’ views particularly diverge on health insurance, though both support a new California law that creates a state-run exchange to provide coverage for people who can’t get private insurance.

Jones would go further to keep a lid on rates and provide support for the state’s 6 million people without health insurance. In the past, he has authored bills — never passed — to create a Canadian-style, government-run single-payer system.

This year, a Jones-sponsored bill signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger bans price discrimination against women in the individual health insurance market. Villines opposed the measure because he said it would increase costs.

Jones also wants to curb skyrocketing premiums for individual health insurance with proposals to give the commissioner the same power to approve healthcare rates that the commissioner now has over most types of property and casualty insurance.

“I believe this is one of the missing pieces of U.S. health reform,” he said.

Villines supports creating a strong, government-backed healthcare safety net to care for people who need help, while maintaining “a vibrant private sector” for for-profit companies. “We shouldn’t be afraid to have more people insured,” he said.

Villines also would monitor insurers closely to make sure they only cancel a sick person’s coverage if the companies can prove that the insured submitted a seriously fraudulent application.

But overall, Villines said, he opposes the president’s health insurance plan, especially its mandate that all individuals participate in the program.

With less than three weeks until election day, the leaders of three major consumer organizations have endorsed Jones.

Harvey Rosenfield , author of Proposition 103, the 1988 initiative that created the job of elected insurance commissioner, personally endorsed Jones. His Santa Monica group, Consumer Watchdog, is prohibited by law from making similar endorsements.

Amy Bach , executive director of San Francisco’s United Policyholders, also personally endorsed Jones. However, Bach noted that Villines canceled three appointments to meet with her.

The Consumer Federation of California in San Mateo endorsed Jones. It gave him a 99% pro-consumer voting record on the group’s “legislative scorecards” and gave Villines a 15% score.

Jones and Villines pointedly distanced themselves from the politically powerful insurance industry by refusing to accept campaign contributions from insurers.

Jones returned $8,400 in contributions collected earlier from insurance companies by his 2008 Assembly committee. In contrast, Villines transferred $54,300 in previous insurance contributions to his insurance commissioner’s campaign, state filings show.

Villines said he had “not taken a penny from insurance companies since I announced I was running” for insurance commissioner in June 2009.

Villines, though, is benefiting indirectly from insurance company financial support.

Various companies contributed to a political action committee controlled by the California Chamber of Commerce. The committee is airing independent television advertisements in praise of Villines and in opposition to Jones.

In September, the committee spent nearly $2 million on a pro-Villines TV blitz. This month it reported spending $280,000 on “media production” for ads against Jones.

Recent campaign finance report showed contributions from insurance companies totaling$1.26 million. The largest was $525,000 from George Joseph , chairman of Mercury General Corp.

Jones said he expected the chamber’s TV campaign against him to cost more than $5 million.

The chamber said its expenditure against Jones was part of its “long history of electing pro-jobs candidates.”

Villines said he had no control over what the chamber did.

For his part, Jones held a fundraiser last month in his hometown of Chicago that was attended by Florida lawyer Norman Taplin and his associates, including former insurance executives and regulators.

Taplin said on his website that “he utilizes his 30 years of experience as an insurance regulatory attorney to give his clients privileged access to the country’s insurance/regulatory decision makers.”

Jones said he received the contributions as part of a larger breakfast fundraiser. He said he was unaware of the background of Taplin and the other contributors until getting an inquiry from a reporter.

On Oct. 7, Jones returned $5,000 in contributions to Taplin and his associates.

http://www.wholesaleinsurance.net/

NEW YORK, Sept. 9 /PRNewswire/ — The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America (Guardian), one of the largest mutual life insurers and a leading provider of employee benefits, announced today the launch of its Life and Disability Insurance Explorer, a new online educational tool to assist people in determining their insurance coverage needs through four simple questions.

The Life and Disability Insurance Explorer is part of a new suite of online tools and resources to simplify the employee benefits open enrollment process, the annual opportunity for employees to make changes to their workplace benefit plans. This fall will mark the first benefits enrollment season for American workers since the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed into law in March, and Guardian’s suite of tools assists employers and their employees seeking simple solutions to optimize their coverage options.

“When it comes to Life and Disability insurance, people have an especially harder time knowing if they are making the right choices, and being overwhelmed often just results in taking no action. Our Life and Disability Insurance Explorer gives people a contemporary way of looking at their financial protection needs,” said Elena Wu, Group Marketing and Worksite Officer, Guardian. “This is a tool that brokers and employers can easily use with employees to help them navigate through all the information out there so they can choose the best benefits plans for their needs. It’s an innovative way to learn about the kinds of coverage out there that add value and simplify the process for employers.”

Guardian’s web-based Life & Disability Insurance Explorer asks four simple questions such as, “What do you eat for dinner?” and translates that into a personal recommendation for insurance protection. The Life and Disability Insurance Explorer can be accessed at About Employee Benefits, Guardian’s online employee benefits resource center.

Launched in July 2010, About Employee Benefits was designed to help employers and brokers maximize employee benefits offerings by making information about industry trends, insights into perceptions and behavior and real-world benefit strategies easily accessible. Highlights include:

  --  Proprietary Research Reports - Based on market research with benefit
      decision makers and consumers, a series of reports that reveal
      insights and trends to watch to help make benefits programs more
      effective.

  --  Legislative Updates - Information about regulations impacting the
      employee benefits industry, including the Patient Protection and
      Affordable Care Act (PPACA).

  --  Case Studies - Successful real-world strategies brokers & employers
      implemented for benefits enrollment, communications and helping
      employees return to work after a disability.

  --  Interactive Tools & Videos, including calculating a person's chance of
      becoming disabled, to help employees understand what personal
      protection needs.

  --  Tips for making the most of employee benefits, including a quiz and
      downloadable tips sheets, which employers and brokers can leverage
      with employees to help simplify decisions about workplace benefits.

  SUPPORTING QUOTES

“We have found through our research that most employees are poorly informed about the risks they face and confused about how their benefit choices can best protect themselves and their families. Tools like these that engage and educate employees and help them prepare and plan for the unexpected are very valuable at a time when employees are increasingly responsible for benefit decisions which can profoundly impact their financial security.”

- Barry Lundquist, President, The Council for Disability Awareness

“Making the enrollment process as simple as possible is a priority for employers. They’re looking to ensure their employees are getting the information they need to make informed benefits decisions. Employers have increasingly been turning to the Internet for immediate and easy access to the latest information, trends and resources for their employee benefit needs. These types of tools make it easier for them to get the personal attention they need to make informed benefit decisions.”

- Peter Whitely, Broker and President, The Sinclair-Whitely Company, Brentwood, TN

About Guardian

A mutual insurer founded in 1860, The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America and its subsidiaries are committed to protecting individuals, business owners and their employees with life, long-term care, disability income, group medical and dental insurance products, and offer 401(k), annuities and other financial products. Guardian operates one of the largest dental networks in the United States, and protects more than six million employees and their families at 120,000 companies. The company has more than 5,400 employees in the United States and a network of over 3,000 financial representatives in more than 80 agencies nationwide.

For more information about Guardian, please visit: www.GuardianLife.com. For Guardian’s new online resource center for employee benefits, please visit: aboutemployeebenefits.com.

Related Press Release: Diabetes Life Insurance

WASHINGTON, April 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Milliman Inc., a premier global consulting and actuarial firm, today released an analysis detailing the economic burden of type 2 diabetes on major healthcare payers and quantifying the savings that could result from better patient management practices. This study, entitled “Improved Management Can Help Reduce the Burden of Type 2 Diabetes: A 20-Year Actuarial Projection,” was unveiled at the National Conference on Diabetes today in Washington, D.C.

“The expected growth of type 2 diabetes in America and the resulting healthcare costs are alarming,” said Kathryn Fitch, a co-author of the study and principal and healthcare management consultant at Milliman. “We calculated that even modest improvements in diabetes control measures could reduce health complications, deaths and costs, particularly for the elderly.”

Milliman’s study estimated the impact of improving blood glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol control in type 2 diabetes patients. According to the report, fewer than two-thirds of patients meet the target ranges for any of these three measures (A1C <7%:49%; Systolic blood pressure <130:60%; LDL <100:39%)(1). The study found that reducing by half the number of people who are not meeting targets could, by 2031, reduce annual costs from diabetes-related complications by nearly $200 billion(2), reduce diabetes-related complications by 18 percent and reduce deaths from diabetes-related complications by 9 percent(3).

The study noted that the diabetes epidemic will continue to expand, and improving treatment and management practices are vital to reversing this trend. Over the next 20 years, type 2 diabetes cases outpace the growth of the U.S. population, to eventually affect 32 million patients (8.6 percent of the population)(4). With this jump in type 2 diabetes prevalence – and with people who have the disease expected to account for 15 percent of all national healthcare expenditures by 2031(5) – better patient management practices are urgently needed.

The study found that, with our aging society, the elderly will be particularly affected by this epidemic. The share of those covered by Medicare could climb by 7 percentage points to encompass 44 percent of all type 2 diabetes cases(6). However, if a 30 percent reduction in people not meeting targets for blood glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol levels is achieved by 2031, Medicare could save $47 billion annually(7).

*This study was commissioned by sanofi-aventis, U.S. (1) Kathryn Fitch, Kosuke Iwasaki and Bruce Pyenson. “Better Management Can Help Reduce the Burden of Type 2 Diabetes: A 20-Year Actuarial Projection.” Milliman, Inc. New York: March 2010. page 1, table 1.  Source: Milliman Inc.  http://www.milliman.com/

Genworth Financial released survey results today, identifying American’s greatest fears regarding having a long term care illness.

Americans are over five times more worried about becoming a burden on their families than the possibility of dying, according to a survey released today by Age Wave/Harris Interactive, America Talks: Protecting Our Families’ Financial Futures, sponsored by Genworth Financial companies (Genworth).

Link to original Press Release: What Alarms Americans Most About Having a Long Term Care Illness?

About Genworth Financial
Genworth Financial, Inc. (NYSE:GNW) is a leading Fortune 500 global financial security company. Genworth employs approximately 6,000 people with a presence in more than 25 countries. Its products and services help meet the investment, protection, retirement and lifestyle needs of more than 15 million customers. Genworth operates through three segments: Retirement & Protection, US Mortgage Insurance and International. Its products and services are offered through financial intermediaries, advisors, independent distributors and sales specialists. Genworth Financial, which traces its roots back to 1871, became a public company in 2004 and is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. For more information, visit Genworth.com. From time to time Genworth releases important information via postings on its corporate website. Accordingly, investors and other interested parties are encouraged to enroll to receive automatic email alerts and Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds regarding new postings. Enrollment information is found under the “Investors” section of Genworth.com.

HARRISBURG, Pa., March 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell today released the following letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, in which he and the governors of Washington, Michigan and Colorado offer to help defend the national health care act signed into law this week by President Obama:

  March 26, 2010

  The Honorable Eric Holder, Attorney General
  U.S. Department of Justice

  950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NWWashington, DC  20530-0001

  RE: State of Florida, et al v. United States

  Dear Attorney General Holder:

On behalf of citizens of our states, we write to let you know that that we oppose the actions of the state Attorneys General who have filed a lawsuit to challenge the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. We believe their legal efforts will fail in court, unnecessarily delay the urgent need to get our citizens access to health care and waste our state tax dollars. As you prepare and deliver your defense of this landmark legislation, you have our commitment to work with you, at your request, to assist in this effort.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is, in our view, the single most important reform of our health care system in decades. The bill gives American families and small business owners more control over their own health care. It shifts health care decision making authority away from insurance companies to the citizens whose health is at risk. It ends discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions and allows young people to remain covered by their parents’ insurance until age twenty-six. As our states struggle to balance budgets and maintain services, the savings introduced through this legislation are critical to our future.

We are ready to offer you any help you many need and we will stand by your efforts to protect this most historic improvement of health care for every citizen of this nation.

  Sincerely,
  (signed)

  Governor Christine O. Gregoire, Washington

  Governor Bill Ritter Jr., Colorado

  Governor Jennifer M. Granholm, Michigan

  Governor Edward G. Rendell, Pennsylvania

Media contact: Gary Tuma, Governor Edward G. Rendell’s Office; 717-783-1116

Source: Pennsylvania Office of the Governor

$25 billion of the money which the stimulus act appropriated from taxpayers was apportioned to give the unemployed a partial subsidy for their health insurance premiums.

The subsidy covers 65% of an individual’s health insurance premiums for up to nine months, provided that the individual is merely continuing his pre-existing health insurance policy under COBRA.  COBRA is a law enacted in 1986 which allows discharged employees to maintain an employer-sponsored health plan by paying the premiums out of pocket.

Why is this news relevant now if the act was passed almost a year ago? In part, because only those who have lost their jobs since 1 September 2008 or who will lose their jobs by New Year’s Eve (just a few days away) qualify for subsidy.  The clock is ticking.  Why else?  Because Congress is in the midst of considering a bill to extend the coverage from nine months to fifteen and from 65 percent to 75.

Why would they extend the subsidy? Last month (nine months after the original bill was ratified) hundreds of thousands of Americans were still out of work and in a tizzy that the government wasn’t going to keep paying 2/3 of their health insurance premiums.  Laying aside the question of whether Americans ought to be legally compelled to succor their unfortunate brethren, it is apparent, at least, that the word “stimulus” does not aptly describe the Congressional measure under consideration: our unfortunate brethren remain unemployed.