Welcome to this special Saturday publication of ESI Money.
I know that many Americans are considering their healthcare choices at this time of year, so I wanted to get this out to you as soon as possible.
As I noted in an earlier post, I want to offer financial solutions that I believe could benefit my readers. This is one of them.
I know finding affordable health insurance is an issue for many. It remains the #1 question I get through email, even after I detailed how we handled our medical insurance in retirement.
While I was at Fin Con a couple months ago, I met with the people at Medi-Share. I was familiar with the company since we almost selected them. Since that time, I've seen quite a few of my friends select Medi-Share as their insurance solution, so I wanted to find out more about them.
The meeting went well but I was unsure whether or not to offer them as a solution since I had never worked with them. So I hired a writer, my friend, Hank, who has posted here before, to do a review. He is familiar with Medi-Share and I felt would offer better insights into the service.
I know this is not for everyone. There are faith-based elements associated with this insurance alternative that make it unsuitable for some. But I also know that it will work for thousands of people reading this post. So please forgive me if this service is not suitable for you. I'm simply publishing it as an option to consider for those who might fit the criteria and want something like this.
Medi-Share will be much more affordable than traditional insurance options. I detailed the numbers when we selected our insurance and Medi-Share will offer similar savings.
I have talked personally with several members of Medi-Share, some who are close friends, and have not heard one bad peep about the company. To the contrary, they usually get over-the-top glowing recommendations.
Health insurance is a hot topic these days especially now that open enrollment in the United States has started again. While choices for quality healthcare insurance are diminishing and costs continue to rise, more Americans are looking for ways to lessen the burden of healthcare costs. The lack of affordable options has recently made millions look at other choices such as Medi-Share to find affordable healthcare insurance.
Medi-Share is a healthcare sharing membership program in which Christians share their financial resources to help pay for other members' medical expenses. It is based on the biblical principles of Christians helping Christians and applied to healthcare expenses.
For Christians, Medi-Share is an interesting option worth exploring in an effort to keep health insurance costs under control and manageable. Medi-Share isn't health insurance but a potentially affordable alternative. And, its plans count to make you exempt from the Affordable Care Act's individual insurance mandate.
Unlike health insurance, Medi-Share is a non-profit Christian based member healthcare expense sharing program. It's a ministry that allows its members to share in the cost of each other's healthcare needs. Each month, members pay a monthly share similar to a healthcare insurance premium into a general fund. Then, members who have medical expenses use those funds to help pay their medical bills.
It's not health insurance. But, it is a unique replacement to health insurance coverage for many people. In fact, over 300,000 members are currently in the Medi-Share program and have shared over $2 billion dollars in medical expenses with each other.
Medi-Share is a different way to do business, and the program uses different terms for insurance words, like premiums and co-pays, that we're all very familiar with using. While Medi-Share doesn't use the terms premiums and co-pays, they have basically the equivalent of the two insurance payments in the program. The Annual Household Portion is the amount that a household pays upfront towards their eligible medical expenses before during the year before other members can share in the cost of their medical bills. Instead of having a set insurance deductible, each household chooses their Annual Household Portion.
There is a sliding scale and seven different levels for the Annual Household Portion ranging from as little as $500 for young singles to as much as $10,000 per year for families. After you reach your Annual Household Portion through eligible medical costs that you pay, Medi-Share then publishes the remaining amount of your eligible medical bills on the platform so other members can share in the cost.
The standard share amount is similar to a monthly insurance premium. As you can see, the higher you set your deductible, the lower your monthly share cost is in the program. The monthly share cost includes an administrative fee each month as well. Medi-Share adjusts your monthly share cost each year based on the oldest member of your household. Below is a screenshot of what my own personal Annual Household Portion and standard monthly share (monthly insurance premium) would be in the program.
Like traditional health insurance, healthier individuals and families pay a lower share amount that you see listed in the far right column of the table. Healthy monthly share is a term used by Medi-Share to describe the reduced monthly share or discount you can receive if you're healthy. The healthy monthly share can be as much as 20% lower than the standard monthly share. Your household must meet the Health Incentive standards to qualify for the discounts. Like other insurance policies, things like waist measurement, body mass index, blood pressure, and other factors are used to determine your health and ultimately a discount on your monthly share.
When you sign up for Medi-Share, there are a few one-time fees as well as an annual fee that you should be aware of before you join. Applicants pay a $50 application fee that is non-refundable when you initially sign up. And, new members also pay a $120 member fee during the first month of each year of their membership. You can start your Medi-Share plan during any month of the year, but the $120 is an annual fee that reoccurs on your anniversary month.
Medi-Share holds the plan's monthly shares from its members in an account with the America's Christian Credit Union. There is also a one-time fee of $2 to set up your sharing account with America's Christian Credit Union and a reoccurring monthly fee of $3 for account maintenance by the credit union. But, you can save $1 per month of that fee by signing up for electronic statements with the credit union.
Additionally, there are restrictions for joining the program with preexisting conditions and while already pregnant. You can receive coverage for maternity expenses, but you have to be in the program before becoming pregnant. Also, like with most health insurance plans, there are restrictions for joining the program with certain preexisting medical conditions.
Another large factor, both positive and potentially negative is that you have to be a Christian and live the Christian lifestyle to be a member and participate in the program. The program is based on biblical principles. While the savings through Medi-Share can greatly outweigh traditional health insurance, it won't matter if you're not a follower of Christ.
Medi-Share will not cover you for what they consider to be un-Christian like behavior. They won't provide coverage for illnesses and medical expenses that stem from or relate to things like drunk driving, extramarital affairs, unwanted pregnancies, and the like. You have to agree to live your life according to Medi-Share's principles to join. You also have to be a Christian and attend a church regularly.
So, is Medi-Share right for you and your family? Health insurance is not an easy topic to understand, and the costs are enormous. And, they seem to continue to rise every time we turn around. With Congress not inclined to change things anytime soon, it's best to consider all of your options for health insurance and to share the cost of medical expenses.
Medi-Share is a unique program for Christians to help bear the burden of rising medical costs while also sharing in a set of values that we hold dear. There are a lot of benefits and a few drawbacks to using Medi-Share to help defray your family's healthcare costs. Medi-Share can provide Christians a significant amount of cost savings when compared to traditional healthcare insurance. While Medi-Share requires its members to abide by Christian principles, you can be sure that you are helping others and contributing to a cause with people of like mind and spirit as you as well as your family.
[Editor's note/update: I touched upon this in the first comment below, but wanted to add my thoughts up here as I know many people don't read the comments.
The "rules" by the health sharing ministries are the source of much of the angst about them. Many object to the fact that these organizations decide what is and isn't "Christian".
I'm not going to get into that debate — that's for each person to decide for themselves — but I do want to comment on the rules, what they result in, and why they allow for lower premiums.
Now let's consider a person who follows these rules compared to someone who follows none of them (or only a couple of them). The person who follows them is likely to be much healthier than the person who does not. And you know how generally healthier people should be rewarded? They should pay lower medical insurance premiums.
Finally, if you need help getting into these categories or have a longer-term illness that needs help in being managed, Medi-Share has a "health partners" program designed to do that — to help you become healthier, get into the acceptable ranges, and end up paying less for your medical coverage.
I wanted to go through the above to make this point: the rules/qualifications for health sharing ministries virtually guarantees that they have healthier members (on average) versus the general population. I do not know it for sure but my guess would be that this is one reason their premiums are lower — because their population is less expensive to cover.
This is one reason we selected a health sharing ministry. We go to great strides to take care of ourselves and would prefer to pay rates in line with that reality, not be lumped into a program where we are paying more to help subsidize others' poor habits.
For instance, the thought that I'd have any of my money helping support someone who smokes is something I want no part of. I HATE smoking, have seen in my extended family what it does to people, and want no part of it.
If you're interested and would like more information, visit Medi-Share's website.
There they have a video describing how the program works, a bit about the company's stability and history, and testimonials from members.
Whether or not Medi-Share is for you is obviously a personal decision, but one worth considering among the various health care insurance options.
My first question here is how successfully Medi-Share negotiates contracts with various providers, and whether this covers particular areas of the country, or all of them. The big, nationally known insurance companies negotiate contracts with most providers—hospitals, clinics, doctors—so that these facilities only bill a small portion of original cost to patients. To you.
Without the contracts, people may be billed anywhere from three to ten times as much as those using contracts. This is true under both low-deductible and high-deductible plans.
Many people don't know this, of course.
As a lifelong high-deductible patient, our family didn't even bother submitting claims to our insurer. Then one time, our doctor's office insisted on filing with the insurer. When our final bill came back, it was one/third of the original bill—even though our insurer paid not a penny, and we paid the balance.
Before that, we always felt like we were wasting our health-insurance dollars. Afterward—even though we never, ever received a cent of reimbursement from our insurer, over more than 20 years—we realized that our $$$ had been well-spent.
My writing skills are not the best. If what I've said hear is not clear, either about contract negotiations or about bills 1/3rd to 1/10th lower if your doctor/clinic/hospital files a claim for you before they bill you, please ask someone for clarification. If considering Medi-Share, my suggestion is to ask them first.
Obviously, no one would select a service if it saved on premiums but then you had to pay three to ten times more for medical care. If you're still unsure how they would handle it, that's a great question for one of their representatives.
I know for our health sharing ministry, we simply tell our doctors we are "cash pay" and we usually get a good discount. Medical providers are now catching on that it's much less costly dealing with people who pay 1) immediately and 2) in cash and are beginning to pass those savings on to patients.
Let me also so that if you are chronically ill (or know you have some issue that's likely to occur), then a health sharing ministry is probably not for you. In fact, the mere presence of those items would likely disqualify you you from being accepted by one.
IMO, a health sharing ministry like Medi-Share, Samaritan Ministries, etc. is designed to cater to people who are generally healthy (their rules virtually guarantee this). That's one reason premiums are so low — because the pool is in pretty good health, especially compared to the general population.
For that reason, my suggestion is that these ministries are best used by a healthy person/family who takes care of themselves, has occasional medical needs, and needs coverage just in case the unexpected happens.
I would be very interested in the flip side. What happens when there is a catastrophic medical event with a person in the hospital and needing to be placed in rehab (Physical, Occupational, and Speech Therapies). My understanding from Social Workers is it is challenging for them to find rehab facility that will take someone with this type of insurance. Then there are also catastrophic medical events for people who live healthy lifestyles from Cancer treatments to very bad car accidents which can be just random bad luck of the life draw.
Medical events are my 9-5 work world with me being one of the people that make the recommendations on where a patient needs to be discharged to so I am focused on having the best type of several insurances to have personally in order to have shot at quality care. I know firsthand from work environment the places people have to go to otherwise.
This is a good question as well. Instead of answering every question someone has on this post (I'm not a medical advisor, after all), my suggestion is to 1) visit their FAQs page (which covers questions like this), 2) request additional information from them, and 3) call them up and ask them specifically to address the questions you have. That's what we did when we selected a health sharing ministry — we did a lot of research. I suggest you do the same.
IMO, it's worth going through this process as the costs are so different. Just like you would with any other purchase, do some comparison shopping. Ask the questions. Do the research. Then decide what works for you.
My guess is that any question asked on this post will have been asked by hundreds (thousands?) of others as they consider their options as well, and for some reason, 300k people have selected to go with Medi-Share. Somehow they got past all the questions and decided to join.
I understand that a health sharing ministry is 1) a newer concept and 2) different from the norm. I also understand it's not for everyone. In fact, I'd say at this point in time, it's probably not for most people. But as I said above, finding health coverage (especially in early retirement) is still a HUGE question I get almost every week, and this could be a solution for many having that question.
We talk every day on this site about making different choices than the pack. We talk about what we are doing to become financially independent and retire early. Most people are not willing to make or even consider those. So why wouldn't we apply the same principle of going against the pack when considering medical insurance? I'm not saying you have to decide to go with a health sharing ministry, but isn't it prudent to at least look into it?
Finally, it does not matter to me what anyone selects for their medical coverage. As I said at the top, I think this could be a good solution for some, as it has been for us, and I wanted to share it with everyone for consideration.
People outside the medical and insurance fields are surprisingly under-informed about many aspects of the field. Many of us operate as if we will somehow know when we're going to really need insurance — a "catastrophic event"—and get the right, necessary form of insurance just before then.
I'm disappointed by the hands-off posting of this shortsighted Medi-Share review here. Our society is rife with the kind of flattery that encourages each of us to consider selves "above average." Few areas where this matters more than in the sadly inadequate field of healthcare insurance.
I appreciate Debbie's brief comment here. Wish I could be so succinct!
First of all, this is meant to be an introduction to a topic, not a comprehensive review. It's meant to open up a topic for consideration that many do not know about. from there, people can consider what appropriate next steps work best for them.
Second, by pure stats, 49.9% of the people are "above average" for any given measure, so we're not talking about an insignificant number of people.
Third, after 12+ years of blogging over two sites, my experience is that when someone comments for the first time on a regular post and that comment is 1) very negative, 2) ignores much of what has been said in the post and the comments, and 3) puts up straw man arguments like paying 3-10x for medical service without an insurance company, then they likely have some sort of ax to grind — whether it's because they work for the insurance industry, have a specific political point of view they want to advance, or simply don't want to consider new alternatives. Looking at your comments above, you could fall into all of those categories.
Fourth, what is not speculation is that there is massive savings in premium costs between health sharing ministries and most (all?) plans under the ACA. I detailed my specific ones in the previous post I did (these are FACTS, actual quotes from sites/companies, not speculation). This is most likely due to the populations of health sharing ministries being healthier than average, as noted above.
One approach given this cost difference is similar to the philosophy of "buy term and invest the difference." A person could join a ministry like Medi-Share while also saving/investing the difference between it's premiums and ones from an ACA plan. This excess could be used to cover expenses over time (if needed) and if not needed, then kept for yourself.
Fifth, buying insurance is a personal decision with many factors. Do you want to insure against every possible outcome? That's fine, but your costs are going to be higher. Are you willing to take a small amount of risk that's unlikely to happen? If so, then your costs will be lower. Everyone needs to decide for themselves and that's why I'm opening up this idea — to give more people the option to consider. Is there really something wrong with that?
Finally, buying insurance needs to be part of an overall financial plan, not just done in isolation. There are a ga-zillion factors to be considered and everyone has to take their own special circumstances into account before deciding what is right for them. There are tons of people reading this right now who might view a health sharing ministry as a viable answer to their insurance needs (like me). Please try to let them investigate the possibilities and research the best options themselves without fear-mongering.
Is there a maximum that these sharing ministries will cover either in a year or lifetime?
As noted above, I'm not an expert in this area. My intention is to introduce the concept and let people who are interested in more information begin doing their own research.
If your question is not answered there, I suggest you contact Medi-Share directly through their site or by phone.
It depends on the ministry. Medi-Share has no limit. Samaritan Ministries does, though you can increase the limit by making a higher payment each month. However, they have no unlimited option, which was one major reason I went with Medi-Share; I have a cousin who ran up huge bills battling breast cancer, and the daughter of a friend has had both a heart and a kidney transplant, so a limit like $125,000/year seems very dangerous to me. To my mind, the greatest value of insurance is for catastrophic events, not the everyday stuff that I can plan and save for. While Medi-Share "isn't insurance," it functions basically the same as insurance in my life. I've used it for a year, and haven't reached submitting a bill for sharing yet, but I'm literally saving 75% off what an Obamacare policy would have cost me, so that way more than covers the preventive services Medi-Share doesn't.
As previously mentioned, these are additional reasons the coverage is relatively affordable.
I think it's a great program and thanks for sharing, ESI.
I read through the FAQ's and it an interesting program.
Did you get the sense on how often one is supposed to be attending church to be eligible?
The FAQs say "regularly". The specifics would need to be answered by them.
This point was specifically what I was pointing to. Our lengthy experience was the opposite. We were greatly surprised. Maybe ESI and its reviewer are correct, and "Medical providers are now catching on…" That would be great. It certainly has taken them a long time.
A number of aspects of healthcare and insurance fly under the general radar. I pointed to one basic aspect that we learned late in the course of our medical histories—and surprised us, given that we do work peripheral to the healthcare-insurance industry.
Debbie's point struck me as a cogent one also to bring, early on, to the discussion. From the reading of the whole, I'd say it is neither she nor I who have the axe to grind here. Other than the one that motivates this site: to bring fresh insight to financial matters that many of us don't know about.
In my follow-up post, I asserted that one from our host had disappeared. This was not the case. Whatever happened with my browser and this thread of comments, the relevant post does still appear.
My bad. For which I apologize.
I have recently signed up with Medi-share after considerable research into Medi-share, Liberty, Samaritan, and Christian Healthcare Ministries.
I have no experience yet as we just signed up and won't start coverage until the new year.
I do have some numbers that may be of interest to people though in thinking through some of these choices.
It is true that insurance providers do buy down the rates. As to the 3-10 numbers quoted above though those appear to be excessively high. I notice he mentioned at the end that the insurer was Medicare. Medicare rates are excessively low. For example Liberty Health Share will pay bills at 150-170% of Medicare rates. No private insurance company gets Medicare rates. NONE. If they did the hospitals would all be out of business. Medicare rates are money losing rates. The rest of the health care market subsidizes Medicare rates.
I currently have COBRA insurance from my former employer whom I left about a year ago. It is spectacular insurance. It pays for things that many other insurance plans we know people have don't pay for. I went back through the past 2 years of bills and compared what was billed to what was actually charged after insurance negotiated rates were used to buy down the cost. In most cases the rates were reduced ranging from about 10% to 70%. The most common reduction was in the 30-40% range so in that case a $100 bill got reduced by about 1/3 to $65. Once in a while it got reduced 2/3 to about $35. Never did it get reduced 90% to $10.
Now with Medi-share they are a member of the PHCS PPO network. With that network Medi-share is working with the medical providers to pay your bills and to buy them down via the pre-negotiated rates of that PPO network. How good is that network? As with any network it is going to be a limiting factor. I checked and every hospital within 30 miles that we would use is in the network and probably about 1/3 to 1/2 of the doctors we might want to use are. So for doctors we see it might be a bit limiting. You don't have to stay in network but you would not get pre-negotiated rates and would have to work on discounts yourself then and medi-share may only reimburse for amounts that meet the customary and reasonable amounts used by other insurance type agencies. Those are choices you would make.
It's also worth noting that the procedure mentioned above was a colonoscopy. Almost none of the medical sharing ministries pay for routine procedures. They do not pay for check-ups, physicals, routine examinations, mammograms, colonoscopies, etc. These are consider health maintenance and are not things the medical sharing ministries share in. You manage and pay for your health screenings yourself. (It is worth noting that Liberty does appear to pay for some routine screenings, none of the others appear to.) Some people consider this a major gap in this kind of coverage. But it is all explained in the guidelines and you just have to know what you are signing up for.
Medical sharing is designed to share costs from accidents, disease, and injury. They are not designed to share costs for routine care or for chronic conditions. For example they are not going to pay for your diabetes shots for the next 20 years and they are not going to pay for treatment drugs to deal with chronic on going pain from rheumatoid arthritis or something like that for the next 20 years. Some people consider this a major gap as well. And for some it might be. Again, you have to know what you are signing up for and be ok with it.
The real key to understanding this is to understand that when you ask for a product that pays for everything like that you have to pay in enough premiums to cover all those costs for all the other people who are using the insurance regular to get those kinds of services. And you are generally paying for people who tend to be on average sicker as well. The two of those things drives up costs considerably.
So to that point lets get to some numbers.
Annual Family Deductible : $3,000.
Percent paid after deductible : 90%.
Premium: $1,350 per month (this includes a 2% administrative fee that companies are allowed to charge when a former employee uses COBRA to retain their previous insurance).
Max Annual possible costs with premium and out of pocket = $21,000 if you have $23,000 of medical bills.
As you can see even though this insurance pays pretty quickly and has a low max out of pocket it is still not exactly cheap. It costs $16,000 per year. That's a lot of money but it pays for literally everything and doesn't leave many costs to us.
But that being said I don't want to keep paying that premium. I need to make a change. Since I live in MN I have the option of going on the MN ACA exchange known as MN Sure to purchase an ACA compliant policy. What do those policy numbers look like. There are actually a number of options on the MN exchange but they are all very similar so I am just going to show one example policy (From the same insurance company that provides the COBRA insurance I am currently on but I can't purchase a policy remotely as good as the one I have from my employer via COBRA).
Annual per member Deductible : $6,000.
Annual per family Deductible: $12,000.
Percent insurance pays after deductible : 20%.
Member max out of pocket: $6,650.
Family max out of pocket: $13,300.
Max Annual possible costs with premium and out of pocket = $29,300 if you have $13,625 of medical bills spread across two people.
For the record the silver policy lowers the deductible to $4,000 for family but still has max out of pocket at $13,000 and only pays 40% of the costs beyond the deductible and increases the premium to $1,514 for that so you are up over $18,000 for premiums in that case. You could actually face max costs in that case of over $31,000.
These are astronomical numbers to potentially face and be considered insured. You are facing $20-30K in medical costs annually almost no matter what happens. Calling that affordable coverage seems to me to be insulting. Now if you are low income you will be subsidized perhaps at 100% and then it becomes more affordable. But if you find yourself solidly in the middle class it suddenly becomes unaffordable.
Co-Pay : $35 (medi-share has a $35 co-pay that isn't shared by the plan).
Monthly premium: $250-300 depending if we qualify for the healthy discount which we don't know yet. We are both 47 and rates do go up slightly as you age on Medi-share.
Max annual costs = about $13-14,000 with a few co-pays if we have $10,000 of medical costs.
The truth is that medical care is expensive. Insurance for it is even more expensive. Unless you are getting a subsidy for that insurance, its hard to justify premiums that are 4 times higher with max out of pocket costs that are 2 times higher based on the numbers I presented above.
As far as how we chose Medi-Share. It was close between Medi-share and Liberty. I really wanted to choose Liberty, but it is considerably smaller than Medi-share without as strong a track record and it had a few things in their guidelines that I didn't like the language very well as it seemed a little too vague to me, but that was just my interpretation. I may still consider switching to them in the future, but for now we decided to go with Medi-Share.
The only thing that was certain was that we could not afford to buy ACA compliant insurance.
One other thing, and this may also rub a number of people the wrong way, but if you were to ever develop something that was chronic and was an ongoing issue for a medical sharing ministry you could always signup for an ACA plan during the next open enrollment period. Some people say that is gaming the system, and they may be right. But the fact is that the system is what it is. I didn't create it, the government did. It is unaffordable for me to participate in it while I am healthy, so I opt out. The fact that they let me come back in later, when I may be less healthy is a fact that they specially wanted, and is a benefit to everyone including those of us who had previously opted out.
Thank you for such deep details.
It's now been a year since you chose medi share.. how's it been working for you. My cobra ends in Feb 19 and I'm looking for similiar sharing plan.
I get email notifications of follow-up comments here, but for some reason, they don't show up in my thread. I got one from "Alex," that I can't find or read or respond to directly. So I have to do it here, with regrets and apologies.
In this key regard, my own concern has been answered, and well and clearly.
I obviously made a false assumption in reading the original review: that Medi-Share negotiated no agreements with providers. I apologize for that too-frequent error of judgment.
In terms of "ax to grind," yes, my assumption shows this to be true.
We live in a country that overwhelmingly evaluates healthcare insurance on the basis of how healthy we are and how little healthcare services we have used to date. I read blogs such as ESI's in particular hopes of finding better-grounded alternatives to such common misconceptions. Aspects of the original review raised my "antennae" in regard to this topic. I was disappointed in what I read, seeing it as encouraging that common misunderstanding.
I was mostly mistaken in this appraisal.
1. Be sure your browser cache is cleared. You probably did this already but you would be surprised at how it's often the answer when people have these issues.
2. When you get an email notice that a comment has been posted, there's a URL given for that specific comment. Click on that and it should take you right to the comment.
Meeting with a financial planner to buy health insurance is an option, although many use insurance agents that provide the comparisons of costs versus plans versus benefits and usage.
I think it is great that the Ministry plans have been offered as an option for others to investigate. I know some young people on the Ministry plans and they have had an excellent experiences. Shopping for insurance has become so costly with increasingly limited benefits and limited provider choices as networks continue to get skinny. In our area if a doctor sees a patient with a high deductible they often are making the patient pay part or all of the high deductible before they will see that patient. Also may people now have stopped going to doctors because even though they have insurance they cannot afford the high deductibles and copays and out of pockets so once again, they have insurance but limited access to medical insurance. We are going in a circle with medical insurance and now even the middle class is getting squeezed.
The Ministry plans do not have to play by all the rules/regs as Obamacare/ACA plans so they don't have to offer all the services. Cheaper that way. But with that said they don't really qualify as having insurance so at some point the IRS can determine to penalize them for not have insurance. So far that has not happened.
Buying insurance is like grocery shopping or car buying. You can go to either Krogers or Aldis. You can buy a Toyota Corolla or a Mercedes. I am glad in medical insurance you have those choices and this blog has pointed that out.
Concierge plans have been a big new hit in my area. For those that can afford it. Also many just refused to buy insurance and are "self insuring" and willing to pay the cheaper penalty. Buy stocks or stuff your $ in a mattress–you could win either way. If market drops you lost nothing with the mattress. However if market continues upward you gain a lot. Same with insurance.
I know many people that never bought insurance and have amassed a savings account with hundreds of thousands of dollars in it "just in case". I know others that have paid $24,000 a year for insurance they never used, and others that had a huge catistropic health issue where $24,000 a year was a drop in the bucket compared to what the insurance company paid out for claims.
Are you a risk taker or not, are you healthy or not, do you have a big savings account or not. Aren't you glad you have the options available? I am grateful for the disclosure of the relatively new Ministry plans.
Everyone learns their health insurance plan/benefits one claim at a time. Same as grocery shopping, you learn what stores have the good bargains, what stores sell outdated food, what stores have a good choice of organic, what stores have long lines, and all that helps you determine where you will shop. All about choices and options. It sometimes takes a great deal of time to investigate to be a good consumer. Same with medical insurance. Thanks for providing the info on the Ministry plans.
Actually the IRS cannot choose to just start penalizing people on sharing ministries. The ACA has a specific exemption written write into the law that says anyone who is a member of a sharing ministry that was in existence prior to 1999 is not subject to the penalties of not having an ACA compliant plan.
Before the IRS could start penalizing those on sharing ministries there would need to be an act of Congress that changed the ACA law to remove that exemption.
I don't understand why it has to be Christian based.
My guess is that it got its exemption to the ACA because it is "Christian" based. Not for sure, that's a pure guess.
I put "Christian" in quotes because some of the conditions are tied to Christianity (church attendance, profession of faith, etc.) but others are neutral — not Christian or Christian per se.
For example, smoking (which I do not believe is addressed in the Bible — willing to be corrected here) is a "no" at Medi-Share. Personally, I don't think smoking is un-Christian, it's just a bad health choice.
These are likely Christian because Christian groups are the ones who decided they wanted an alternative to traditional insurance. These were all setup far before the ACA so it wasn't a response to that law. Insurance was already getting expensive long before the ACA and these groups thought they could set up a model based on sharing and living guidelines they believed would lower costs. They believed a Biblical model of living and the lifestyle choices of those who profess to follow Christian principles would result in healthier living and lower costs. That may or may not be true but that is what the organizations who originally set these up believed.
Any non-profit group could have set up their own non-Christian based sharing group. Apparently none did. Only the Christian groups decided to do this so those are the only options available.
Because these groups already existed, had been operating for 15+ years at the time of the ACA and had hundreds of thousands of people who were using them, they lobbied Congress hard and were able to receive a carve out exemption in the ACA. From my understanding Congress didn't want to put the exemption in but it was probably part of some deal making and so the carve out was made as restrictive as possible. As such the exemption only applies to those sharing ministries that already existed prior to 1999. No new groups can be created and receive the ACA exemption unless they are somehow tied to one of the sharing ministries that already existed in 1999 and those are all Christian. That's your government at work. This exemption was given grudgingly and they have no interest in supporting any more of these than they have to. There is no other explanation for such a goofy exemption that is tied to an organization having existed more than 10 years prior to the passing of the ACA.
There is an easy fix though. If Congress repeals the individual mandate then insurance companies could provide any kind of insurance they want and people could buy it without facing a penalty. Any kind of sharing group could be created. The free market could create any kind of insurance / sharing / health payment plans that people wanted and people could choose what they thought was best because there would be no penalty for not choosing what the government told you was best. That's the fix. But as long as the individual mandate requires people to buy government approved insurance or pay a hefty fine then this is the convoluted system we will have. And it's why those of us who can are opting out.
Isn't Medi-share the most restrictive of the ministries?
I.e. if you are out of their "healthy" guide lines not only do you pay more per month, but must also participate in their health coaching plan, and if you are not making sufficient progress (as decided by them) you're kicked out.
I don't know if they are the most restrictive or not, but they do have requirements and if you feel you can't meet/maintain/get to them then the service is probably not for you.
Other ministries have the similar programs. For example Liberty has HealthTrac which is a health coaching program you need to be on if you do not meet their health standards.
I am not as familar with what Samaritan and Christian Healthcare Ministries do in that respect.
Does anyone have experience with how quickly Medishare pays the providers? I've read some reviews that members were pursued by collection agencies and Medishare took quite a long time to play the bills.


investigators use judgment samples to gain needed information. "
Ellis, Norman Dean, 1933-. The Relationship between Identifiable Attributes and Decision-Making Ability of Purchasing Personnel as Measured by the Results of a Management Game, dissertation, May 1973; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc164597/m1/71/: accessed April 25, 2019), University of North Texas Libraries, Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .


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Steamboat Springs City Council candidates weigh in on several city issues at forum
Steamboat Springs City Council candidates speak during an election forum Wednesday night hosted by Mainstreet Steamboat Springs.
Steamboat Springs — The 11 candidates running for Steamboat Springs City Council took center stage at the Chief Theater on Wednesday to explain why they should be the ones tasked with hiring a new city manager, helping restore confidence in the police department, guiding affordable housing policies and fixing downtown parking problems.
An audience of more than 60 turned out to learn more about where the candidates stand on city issues, ranging from a potential lift ticket tax to downtown parking.
The sight of the largest council candidate field in recent history under the spotlight speaking to a large audience highlighted the level of interest in this year's council election.
"We have an amazing slate of candidates," moderator Tracy Barnett said after opening statements and introductions were made. "We'll see how it all folds out."
Many of the candidates expressed some level of dissatisfaction with the current council and said it was time for fresh ideas.
"I think we're at a crossroads here," candidate Michael Shaler said. "The disfunction of the last couple years needs to be fixed, and I want to be part of that."
Rich Levy said the current council has kicked the can on affordable housing policy, adding it's time for a new council to make decisions.
The candidates also explained what skills they would bring to the job.
Patrick Slowey, a teacher at Steamboat Springs High School, said his 29-year career as an army officer has prepared him well to sit at the dais and solve problems.
Robin Crossan said she helped restore the public's trust in the school board when she was first elected to that body eight years ago and she could do the same on the council.
Candidate Michael Buccino said, as an interior designer, he has the skills to solve other people's problems.
Jason Lacy said his many years as chairman of the planning commission, combined with his financial background, would be a boon to the council.
Tim Kirkpatrick, former owner of Steamboat Flyfisher, said he would be the guy to help build consensus.
Kathi Meyer touted her record of conducting the public's business in public and her 15 years on the planning commission.
Chuck McConnell, a retired chemical engineer who has experience managing small businesses, vowed to bring leadership and experience — which he said he feels has been lacking in recent years — to the council.
And Erin Walker, a development director at Strings Music Festival and one of the youngest candidates on the stage, said it was time to bring fresh perspectives to the council.
At the forum, hosted by Mainstreet Steamboat Springs, the candidates found common ground on several issues.
Most acknowledged access to workforce housing is currently the biggest challenge for local employers.
The candidates expressed support for the current council's plan to invest millions of dollars in downtown infrastructure in the coming years.
And they all expressed concern about a downtown parking problem.
But asked to weigh in on a possible lift ticket tax to fund the local transit system and parking improvements, the candidates began differentiating themselves from one another.
Candidate Heather Sloop, a community affairs and regulatory manager at Southwestern Energy, expressed support for such a tax.
She said it would be shortsighted not to partner with the mountain to fix a downtown parking problem.
About half the other candidates were leery of the tax or opposed to the idea.
Buccino said the city could find other methods of solving the parking and transit funding problems.
Lacy, Buccino's opponent, said the city should keep all options on the table and that he would consider such a tax if there were a clear plan outlining how the funds would be spent.
The candidates are scheduled to appear at a number of other forums in the coming weeks, including the First Impressions forum at 11:30 a.m. September 23 in the Commissioners Hearing Room.
To reach Scott Franz, call 970-871-4210, email scottfranz@SteamboatToday.com or follow him on Twitter @ScottFranz10

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: How can I trigger the js function without using onchange or onclick or any solution for this I am trying to retrieve data from a database to Select/Option tags using PHP. Then once someone submits the form, it will update the database, and then it will print onto a letter. Here the data to the option will be retrieved automatically from the database, but the user can also change it to another given option.

        Job Category
        <select name="j_cate" id='job_cate' class="form-control" onchange="changeFunc()" >
            <option> </option>
            <?PHP foreach ($j_categories as $j_category) { ?>

            <option value="<?PHP echo $j_category->id; ?>" > <?PHP echo $j_category->jobCat; ?> </option>

            <?php } ?>
        </select>
        <input type="hidden" value="check" id="my_hidden_field" name="my_hidden_field" />

Here comes the main question.
I want to get the text inside the options as in the main table it has numbers like (1, 2, 3) and the main table linked to another table that has relevant names to those numbers. I have echoed the names as "jobCat" and ids as "id". I want to get only the text part.
For that, I used JS query

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Posts Tagged 'Todd Gilbert'
BREAKING: Delegate Gilbert to be Challenged
April 11, 2009 Craig Orndorff	2 comments
From Winchester Report and Rappahannock News, we have word that Delegate Todd Gilbert has drawn a challenger: Democrat John Lesinski. Mr. Lesinski decided to announce at the Rappahannock Board of Supervisors meeting. So far, only Rapp News has carried the announcement. The announcement was just stuffed into a report on the Board meeting. However, the editors had harsh words for the Delegate, who also happened to be at the meeting to give Board members an update on the legislative work he has done on behalf of the county.
Then, county resident John Lesinski, a Democrat, announced that he would be running against Republican incumbent Todd Gilbert for the 15th District delegate seat. Why Mr. Gilbert would show up at this BOS meeting, instead of all the other ones he didn't attend, seemed only slightly coincidental.
But, coincidence aside, that was not all. Toward the end of the meeting, several supervisors made a point of praising Mr. Gilbert's championing the county in Richmond, and that they were very grateful for all his effort. Not a word was said in support of Lesinski's candidacy even though he is a resident and Gilbert is not.
It's not the sentiments we object to, but the timing and the venue and the appearance that the county Board of Supervisors publicly supports one candidate over the other, and on the day one chooses to announce.
Let's put aside for a second that Delegate Gilbert has a good working relationship with county officials and has welcomed them multiple times in his Richmond office. In terms of his legislative work, he has been a staunch advocate for the tiny county that constitutes just about 10% of his district. He patroned HB936, which allows the sort of cost sharing agreement that the county just entered into with Madison County that will help guarantee up to a quarter of a million more in school funding, and introduced a budget amendment that would have granted $50,000 to the Scrabble School Foundation (although the amendment did not make it into the final budget). Outside of his official legislative duties, he has also been a leader on other issues confronting the county, including fighting Dominion Power on the planned line through the county and fighting against VDOT's plan service cuts in rural areas.
Of course, the paper was the only in the area not to carry the announcement of Gilbert's re-election bid and did not endorse him in 2005, so it doesn't come as much of a surprise. However, before they decide he is not worthy of their support over someone who just moved to the county in 2006 2007, perhaps they should look at the incumbent's history of leadership on behalf of the county.
All that aside, I look forward to a vigorous discussion of ideas between the two candidates. I think we will see a number of contrasts, particularly on the future of Interstate 81. However, for now I can assure you I will be standing behind the principled and effective leadership of Delegate Todd Gilbert.
Disclaimer: I am a former employee of Delegate Todd Gilbert. However, I have received no compensation for this post nor from his campaign or office since April 2006.
Categories: Election 2009: HOD, General Assembly, Local Media, Local news, MSM, The Opposition Tags: John Lesinski, Todd Gilbert
Gilbert on VDOT at Lincoln Day Dinner
As we noted the other day, Delegate Todd Gilbert has been putting more and more fiscal issues of late. You might think this is obvious given the mess Richmond's budget is in and the currently dire economic situation. However, Delegate Gilbert is resisting the siren call of higher taxes as the way to "save" our republic and instead is looking for ways to make government more streamlined and effective.
His current target: VDOT. VDOT has decided to cut back services and close reststops alll up and down the I-81 corridor. Delegate Gilbert believes we're seeing a repeat of 2004, when many departments played games with the citizenry of the commonwealth, with the full cooperation of the Warner administration, to force the General Assembly into raising taxes. From the Daily News Record:
Gilbert, however, said it was the current administration that was playing politics. The delegate, whose 15th district includes parts of Page, Shenandoah, Rappahannock and Rockingham counties, was more blunt in his assessment of the purpose of the proposed residency closings. He drew a comparison to a budget battle in recent years when the Department of Motor Vehicle offices were closed during a debate over raising taxes.
When the debate was over, the offices stayed open, he said.
Instead of a knee-jerk reaction to raise taxes this time, Gilbert said, VDOT is similarly proposing cuts after resisting an independent analysis of its spending practices.
"I am not sure that the motivation behind this plan isn't political," he said during the meeting.
Categories: Blogging/Tech/New Media, Corruption/Government Reform, Election 2009: HOD, Video Tags: Cutbacks, hubris, Todd Gilbert, VDOT
Once again, we scooped 'em!
The Northern Virginia Daily covered the Lincoln Day Dinner–in a pretty bare bones fashion, as they could have done an entire article on the AG candidates.(Note to the editors–next time send Shipley!) However, it's nice that our event is finally worthy of coming out of the shadows on party intrigue and being an open event for all comers to celebrate our principles and support the party.
In the article the Daily announces that Delegate Gilbert is running for re-election–remember who had that news first.
Categories: Blogging/Tech/New Media, Election 2009: HOD, Local Media, Local news, MSM Tags: MSM, Todd Gilbert
BREAKING–Delegate Gilbert Makes Major Announcement
March 15, 2009 Craig Orndorff	3 comments
Last night, 15th District Delegate Todd Gilbert made a major announcement about his future:
That's right, Delegate Gilbert is engaged to the lovely Jennifer Wishon, CBN's Washington, D.C. correspondent. You can see her here in this clip from the other week. Congratulations to Todd and Jennifer–best wishes as you plan and set a date for the wedding.
Oh yes, and Delegate Gilbert will be seeking re-election.
Categories: Election 2009: HOD, Personal, Political culture, Video Tags: Announcement, Todd Gilbert
VDOT: Video Department, Occasionally Transportation
I spent last night with 176 of my fellow Shenandoah County Republicans at our Annual Lincoln Day Dinner. The crowd was the largest its been in years, the food from Shaffer's catering wonderful (as always), and the speakers electric. I'm working on getting some video up, but there's one thing I wanted to comment on while I'm getting some of that up.
As I noted the other day, Senator Mark Obenshain and Delegate Todd Gilbert have been taking VDOT to task for holding rural Virginia hostage in order to provoke legislators into supporting a tax increase, all while the General Assembly has been unable to get an independent audit of the department conducted. Delegate Gilbert devoted most of his speech to the topic, noting some of the waste during the inaugural while calling again for an independent audit.
Well, from Mark Obenshain's office, via Tertium Quids, we have word that VDOT is playing its hand as towards where some of the money is going. It appears that, while making the decision to cut services in rural Virginia, there's plenty of time and money for the department to launch its very own YouTube channel. There, you can watch scenes from the last winter storm (if your local news station and the Weather channel just weren't enough):
Learn about the Norris Bridge Festival:
And watch five years worth of bridget demolitions, both with natural sound:
And set to OPERA!
Look, some of these videos are good public service announcements, but are they really best distributed via YouTube? The video on workzone safety should be required watching for every high school driver's ed class, yet I never recall seeing it. Does VDOT really expect to be able to get the public's attention this way when videos of laughing babies and dancing cats have hits in the millions? A number of the videos are self-serving promotional materials, but should a department with giant orange trucks really have a PR problem? Well, I suppose if it had no idea how to manage it's money it might…..
YouTube doesn't charge a fee, but I'm sure that the videographers who either work for the department or are contracted do. VDOTs maintenance workers are fine, hardworking people who take pride in their work. The problem here is with the bureaucracy. They are making cuts that will cripple rural Virginia, all the while not making such non-essential expenditures clear. Call your Delegate and Senator now and demand an independent audit of VDOT.
Categories: Corruption/Government Reform, Fiscal Policy, General Assembly, State Government, Video Tags: Bureaucracy, hubris, Mark Obenshain, Todd Gilbert, Waste
House Election News
While there's certainly a flurry of activity coming out of Capitol Square today with the end of the General Assembly Session (and it appears as if today will in fact be the end, but more on that later), there's also big news on the election front.
First off, Republican William Fralin of Roanoke will be retiring. This move comes as somewhat of a surprise, as at 46 Fralin isn't exactly an elder statesman in the House, and while Roanoke has (like many of Virginia's cities) been bluing of recent vintage (46.3% for Bush in '04 to 37.5% for McCain in 2008), the outlying territory is red enough that it was still a solid district for McCain. As a relative moderate in the House GOP Caucus (primarily on education and fiscal issues), Fralin could, COULD stand a shot against John Edwards in 2011. That, however, will take time to shake itself out. In the meantime, CraigOrndorff.com can now project that, should he secure re-election in November, Delegate Todd Gilbert of Woodstock will officially be the tallest member in the House of Delegates.
In related news, Delegate Steve Landes will face Democrat Greg Marrow this fall. Landes, who has represented the district for 14 years, has not faced much opposition. However, with a fading red Waynesboro at the heart of his district (63.9% for Bush in '04 to 53.3% for McCain in 2008) Landes may face a stiff challenge, but again, the outlying territory in Rockingham and Augusta counties made this a solid McCain district in 2008. With both Landes and Matt Lohr facing challenges in November, this means that half of Rockingham County's four man delegation is under fire. However, with Chris Saxman's district being based in Staunton (which went from 60.3% for Bush in 2004 to 48.4% in 2008) and Todd Gilbert still under fire from liberal circles for his comments about Barack Obama this past fall, we may very well be seeing challengers for those two as well.
Stay tuned. This is shaping up to be a great political year in the Shenandoah Valley.
Categories: Election 2009: HOD, Election Results, Electoral Trends/Polling, General Assembly Tags: Chris Saxman, House of Delegates, Steve Landes, Todd Gilbert


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Trivial but fun
actually not trivial at all, quite the opposite, with thanks to Alan Pollock – from a wall in Utrecht.
http://www.kibbitz.co.uk – the website for all your unwanted advice…
…According to the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles & Albums, the band's name was a mondegreen from the Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood song, "Jackson", misheard by frontman Paddy McAloon.[1] The correct opening lyrics for "Jackson" are "We got married in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout", which McAloon misinterpreted as 'hotter than a prefab sprout'. However, Allmusic reckons that the prosaic truth is that "an adolescent McAloon had devised the meaningless name in homage to the longwinded and equally silly band names of his late 1960s / early 1970s youth
One thought on "Trivial but fun"
Rick Szur says:
hi Jonathan and Steve, I was the rather opinionated and emotional audience member sitting fairly close to Jonathan. What I wanted to say was that I thought the whole show was a great idea, and was a tremendous opportunity to deal with important issues that just don't get looked at enough – the interminable nature of injustice and whether the Israelis are now the sole perpetrators of this etc etc. What I also wanted to say was: it was too long, did not leave enough room for people (especially those who are on the outside of the debate and ignorant of it, eg those who were still saying 10 minutes from the end, what does Shoah mean?). I think there should have been more jokes, and there should have been more context. In short I think it needs to be edited right down, and for some bizarre reason, I think I could help in this. But whatever, I wish you well with a great idea – I thought the having people eating during the performance really works in particular, best wishes, Rick Szur


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Discussion in 'SocTalk' started by DannyO, Oct 6, 2017.
Dark Knights / Dark Knight Squires / Dark Knight Apprentices are looking for active Ark players.
Mainly based on Ark, the Dark Knights is one of the oldest and most respected top ten societies in the game.
It has been around almost from the year dot, and many of the early players are still in the society today.
This society would suit active higher skilled players of 300k or over.
If interested, contact either Cobra The Dark Knight, or one of our active players.
Once again, mainly based on Ark, the Dark Knights Squires (DKS) Dark Knight Apprentices (DKA) are family society's of the famous and respected Dark Knights, and are excellent society's to join, if you are looking to progress into a top ten society.
DKS - This society would suit active skilled players of around 150k, who crave knowledge and have ambitions.
DKA- This society would new players of around 10k, who crave knowledge and have ambitions.


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Achiv
Achiv is situated on the northern coast of Israel, 15 kilometers north of Acre. Achziv is a national park within the municipal area of Nahariya. It is a former town, settled for about three millennia. It was first settled in the Middle Canaanite II period, the Bronze age by the Phoenicians. Described in Tanach, as falling within territory assigned to the tribe of Asher, Joshua 19:29; Judges. 1:31, 'And the fifth lot came out for the tribe of the children of Asher … And the outgoings thereof are at the sea from the coast to Achzibh.' An Arab village, Az-Zeeb, was established on the site during the Mamluk period.
Achziv was originally a Phoenician city (Ekdippa, Έκδιππα in Ancient Greek), Achziv (Cheziv) is mentioned in Jewish rabbinic writings, for example Midrash Vayikra Rabba 37:4. King David added the city into his Kingdom, but King Solomon returned it to Hiram as part of the famous pact. Achziv is also mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud, and by the relating Middle Age commentators, concerning the location of Achziv in regards to historical borders of Israel.
The Assyrians conquered the city at the time of the Sancheriv invasions. During the reign of the Seleucids, the border was established at Rosh Ha'Nikra, just north to Achziv, making it a border city and under the control of Acre. The port named Cziv which is 14km north of Acre, is mentioned by Josephus Flavius, and later by Eusebius. During the Crusader period, the site was known as Casle Umberti or Casal Humberti, after Hubert of Pacy which held the casale and is documented in 1108. European farmers settled there in 1153 under Baldwin III. In 1232 it was the site of the Battle of Casal Imbert between German and French Crusaders as part of the War of the Lombards.
Remnants of ancient Achziv, now known as Tel Achziv, are located on a sandstone mound between two creeks, Kziv creek on the north and Shaal creek on the south, close to the border with Lebanon.
The Arab village of Az-Zeeb was established during the Mamluk and Ottoman periods. In 1946, the Jewish Resistance Movement attempted to blow up the railroad bridge over the creek at Achziv in an operation known as Night of the Bridges. A monument to the 14 soldiers killed there was erected on the site.


Last week, I started sharing my Ultimate Guide to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter -Orlando. Dustin and I got to spend two days at Universal Studios Orlando, mainly to fulfill my dream of becoming a wizard and to celebrate my 10 Years Cancer Free anniversary. It was more magical than either one of us imagined, and we learned a lot about making the most out of our trip in the short time we were there.
If you want to read the first part of the guide (where I covered where we stayed and when we went) you can access that here.
Today, I wanted to share all the ins and outs of Hogsmeade, which is one of the two sections that makes up the Wizarding World of HP. Hogsmeade is part of Islands of Adventure and because we stayed at Cabana Bay, we got in an hour before the park opened!!
Walking into Hogsmeade for the first time is an absolute dream. It looks EXACTLY like it does from the movies, down to the crooked chimneys and snow covered roofs. As you first walk under the arch, you can see the Hogwarts Express, billowing steam. There is usually a conductor standing right by it, so this makes for a great photo op. All of the employees are dressed up in Wizard's robes and stay in character as you talk to them, referring to the muggles visiting the village for the day and making cute jokes at their peculiarities.
After you pass the Hogwarts Express, you literally walk down the cobblestone streets, past the shop windows and doors and are completely surrounded by the music from the Harry Potter soundtrack. You are completely transported! As you turn the corner at the end of the street, you are met with the sight of Hogwarts Castle, complete with the winger boars at the entrance. While the castle is clearly built to scale, the details are not overlooked and it still looks very impressive looming in the sky.
There are several shops along Hogsmeade that you can actual walk inside and do some shopping along with several that just have storefronts!
Zonko's Joke Shop – It's my understanding that this used to be a full shop before they opened up Diagon Alley, but now it's just a window front (and Honeydukes expands through it in the back) because all of the joke products were moved to Weasly Wizard Wheezes. So, don't be dismayed about this; you will still have access to your fanged frizbees and extendable ears, just in Diagon Alley.
Dervish and Bangs – This shop is where you can get all of your "typical" soulveniers, such as shot glasses, keychains, notebooks, quills, etc. It's attached to Ollivanders, so you can also look at the wands!
Ollivanders – This is kind of a shop and a show combined. You can wait in line and participate in the wand selection ceremony, where the Wizard running the shop will choose one person to assist in finding a wand. He will give that person various wands and after they swish them around, some kind of accident will happen until they find THE wand. It's a really fun experience to watch and worth it if the line isn't too long.
Harry Potter and Forbidden Journey 4/5 stars– This is the biggest attraction in the Hogsmeade section of the park and it is housed in the Hogwarts Castle. It's a motion-based ride that incorporates both digital and animitronic elements and follows Harry, Ron, and Hermonie on a broomstick ride gone wrong.
First, I will say that this ride is probably the one that has the worst reputation for motion sickness. My goal was to ride this as soon as possible and before I put any food in my belly so that my motion sickness would be as minimal as possible. Since Dustin and I got into Hogsmeade an hour early (right at 8:00) we got to walk right onto the ride and although I felt a tiny bit woozy, I was able to walk off the ride, drink some water and continue on my morning without feeling awful! The ride itself is truly an adventure and I'm so glad I rode it once to experience things like facing the dragon and dodging the Whomping Willow!
Tip-If you are prone to motion sickness and don't want to actually get on the ride, still walk through the line and wait in the Childswap room for your friends or family. The line takes you through Hogswart Castle and you get to see so many details, including talking portraits and the sorting hat! Since Dustin and I walked right on the ride, we blew past all of these things the first time and I was so bummed! So, we went back at the end of the day when the wait was about 20 minutes and took our time walking through the castle and soaking in every detail.
As you exit the ride, you will come out through Filch's Emporium of Confescated goods. Part of this area is a gift shop, but it also holds some fun details, like the Maurader's Map!
Funny story – Dustin decided he wanted to ride HP and the Forbidden Journey one more time before we left the park for the day. I decided to wait in the Child Swap room because I didn't want to push my luck with my motion sickness and I had a full belly of Butterbeer and Sweets. About 3o seconds after he got onto the ride, it broke down!! They had to stop the ride, turn on all the lights, and figure out what was wrong! Dustin was stuck in the middle of the ride for about 20 minutes, just hanging out! When they finally got it moving again and got him off, they offered for him to get right back on so he could ride it without interuption. Dustin was the LAST person on the ride for the day becasue of that and when we got out of the castle, we were the LAST people in Hogsmeade, because it was officially closed. Instead of rushing us out, the staff let us take our time walking through the village and even helped us take a couple pictures. It was an amazing end of the day to have the whole village to ourselve and to be surrounded by magic and music and snow covered roofs. Hogsmeade never felt more real than in that moment and we are so grateful that the staff were so kind in letting us slowly exit the park!
Dragon Challenge 2/5 stars – This is a true-to-form roller coaster, with two coasters named after the Hungarian Horntail and the Chinese Fireball. Each coaster is slightly different and you can pick which one you want to ride when you get to the end of the ride. My husband LOVED these coasters, but I was only able to ride one as I suffered severe motion sickness from it. It took me over 30 minutes to recover from the motion sickness I experienced from the ride. However, it is still worth it to walk through the line, because it takes you through the story of the fourth book. The inital part of the part is lined with banners for the different champions and you walk past the Flying Ford Angela. Then, you walk through the tent from the first task and see the golden eggs, and proceed through all of the tasks and see the Triwizard cup at the end!
Flight of the Hippogriff – This is a much tammer rollercoaster, aimed at smaller children, so Dustin and I didn't ride it. However, the same goes for walking through the line as the other rides-you get to see a lot of props and set from the movie, like Hagrid's Hut and Buckbeak!
Hogswart Express 5/5 stars – This was SO well done and we were so surprised at how real the experience felt! In order to get to and from Diagon Alley, you first need a Park Hopper Pass (because Diagon Alley is in a different park) and you need to walk through to Hogsmeade Station. As you wait in the line, you'll see a full sized scarlet engine complete with billowing steam pull into the station and you will be boarded into actual train compartments by conductors! After everyone is tucked into their compartments and the doors are closed, you're off! You can look out your train window and see Hagrid waving you off! After, you experience all the sights and sounds of the countryside, complete with Fred and George flying by on their brooms, throwing fireworks at the train!
The details that really got me, though, were the projectors on the actual doors of the compartment! You could see shadows of students moving up and down the corridor and even saw Harry, Ron & Hermonie walk by, talking to each other! You truly felt like you were on the train and it is MAGICAL!
Tip-Make sure you ride the Hogsward Express BOTH ways (From Hogsmeade to Diagon Alley and Diagon Alley to Hogsmeade) because the ride is different each way!! Talk about attention to detail or what?!
Going to the bathroom? Make sure you listen while you tinkle because you will probably hear Moaning Myrtle talking to you through the toilet! Dustin and I both heard her complaining while we took a bathroom break after lunch and came out of our respective restrooms laughing so hard!
Have you Seen this Wizard? Just like in book three, when Sirius was on the loose, there are actual moving flyers from the Ministry of Magic posted around town. They are so perfectly done that you really feel like you're looking at a moving picture of a mad man!
Look for the owls! As we were sitting in the Three Broomsticks having our dinner, I kept seeing movement out of the corner of my eye up towards the roof. When I finally stopped to take a hard look at what it was, I was so surprised to see silhouettes of owls being cast across the ceiling, as if real owls were swooping in and out of the windows at the top!
Explore the hidden Alleyways – You'll find a couple hidden allies in Hogsmeade where you can see more shop windows and even find a carriage with an invisable Thestral trying to pull it out of some mud.
Take the time to tour Hogwarts – If you were like us and got on the ride Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey first thing in the morning (and basically walked right on) go back and walk through the castle. There are SO many details in the ride que, including the Mirror of Erised, the Fat Lady (who will talk your ear off,) the hall of portraits talking to you (this was SO well done, I truly felt like it was real,) the Defense Against the Dark Arts Classroom & Dumbledore's Office. You'll also get a visit from Harry, Ron & Hermonie and Ron may try to perform a spell to make you invisible and make it snow instead! Yes, real snow! Also, since we rushed through the castle the first time we rode the ride, we didn't get the backstory to what the ride was all about. So, it's okay to have to wait in a little bit of a line the first time because the whole trip through the castle sets up the adventure for the ride!
What ride would you want to go on if you could go to Hogsmeade? What other questions do you have about the Wizarding World of Harry Potter?


Why do I feel so much love for someone who has not done one thing to deserve such attention, such excitement, such affection? And if I feel this way, what infinite joy exists in the hearts of my brother Joseph and his wife Carla? No wonder Christ the King came as a baby, to remind the world with every child born every single day that there exists an unlimited love, an all-embracing transformative love, that need not be earned but is bestowed completely from the moment one becomes a son. No wonder Christ the King came as a baby, not to display strength that we may learn to love power, but instead a child, that we may learn the power of love.
I once planted a mango seed. I was a kid, maybe 5 years old, and after eating a mango, I went to the backyard and buried the seed in the soil among the plants. Many months later, while playing outside (I was always outside which easily made me the darkest brother, some would say the darkest mind as well), I noticed a little stem coming out from the soil. I didn't know what it was but being a curious kid I dug around the stem to find the mango seed I had planted with a small stem attached to it on top and little bristle-like roots coming out of it.
The next day, first thing when I woke up, I ran to the backyard to check on my upcoming-mango tree. I saw the little stem and wanted to check on the roots too, so I dug around it, picked-it-up, and buried it again when I was satisfied.
Many years later to today, I still remember what my mom said, "A seed has to be planted for it to grow into a tree." In my excitement to see the seed become what it could be, I impatiently over-checked on its progress, depriving it of its much needed time under the soil, to grow roots naturally, and when ready, to grow-up.
Because I had to keep seeing progress, I ended up preventing the progress. I did not trust that a good seed, in good soil, with simple watering and the sun, would be enough to turn my seed into tree.
In many ways I'm still like that 5 year old (and past dates will say, "You bet!"), still as excited about planting seeds and seeing them grow, and sometimes in my impatience I find myself digging-up the things that need to stay planted and end up ruining them.
But during the times that I have waited, when I stayed planted and trusted, believed that God's seasons were enough to make a good seed in good soil flourish, I've found that growth was inevitable. It was all just a matter of time.
We don't have control over everything but we do have control over something. First, we can control the seed we plant. If you want a mango tree plant a mango seed. You can't get a mango by planting a pear, and you can't have peace if you plant strife, or love if you plant fear, or hope if you plant unbelief. You want something in your life, you have to plant that seed. You want love, go love others. You want hope, bring someone hope. You want peace, plant reconciliation. Whatever it is you want more of plant it.
Second, we control where we plant. Not all soil is good. If you plant love in the heart of a person who continually chooses to hate, the soil of his heart will choke the seed. I'm not suggesting only plant seeds in loving people, I think we need to love all, but just bear in mind that not all soil will lead to a harvest. This is especially critical for our closest relationships, we may plant our best intended seeds and never see what we expect because we planted in the wrong places.
Connected to this, we must keep our hearts soft and be good soil ourselves. How can someone plant seeds of knowledge and wisdom in us if we're not teachable? How can others plant love in our hearts if we're proud and fearful? How can others give us hope if we choose to stay unbelieving? How can we find joy if we remain unforgiving? Won't happen. Our hearts will choke the seeds they plant.
Fourthly, we can water and wait. Watering means doing our part, our only part, in nourishing the seed. Waiting means trusting in the seasons, in their timing and power, that God uses them to turn small things into grander things. Rushing, trying to super-control everything, is like doing what I did as a kid, inspecting my dream to death.
Too many times we inspect our dreams to death. We compare ourselves with other people and wonder why we haven't achieved as much at the same age, or don't have as much, or why nothing seems to be paying-off. Sometimes we quit, then restart, then quit, then restart, and wonder why we're not breaking through. Sometimes we just stop out of frustration and disbelief.
But as my mom said, a seed needs to be planted for it to become a tree.
Plant good seeds in good soil. Since you have a choice, choose well. Since you'll be waiting anyway, make sure you're waiting for something amazing.
And do your part and water. Partner with the seasons God has ordained.
Finally, trust your partner, God, who created Eden through His Word, and can turn the seeds of your life into a flourishing garden in due season for He makes everything beautiful in its time.


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CEE researchers to study Oso landslide
Above, photo credit: U.S. Geological Survey via photopin cc
By Kristina Shidlauski
A deadly landslide swept through Oso, Wash., on March 22 leaving lost lives and extensive property damage in its wake. Although the area has a long history of landslides and was known to be vulnerable to a catastrophic slide, residential development continued despite the risks. This has raised important questions about risk-management and land-use policies in existing subdivisions where geotechnical hazards are present. Funded by a Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) Rapid Response Grant, five University of Illinois researchers plan to visit the site to observe the impact of the landslide, investigate the environmental and geological causes and assess what role, if any, land-use policy may have played in the disaster.
The multi-disciplinary team includes CEE Professors Timothy D. Stark and Gholamreza Mesri, geotechnical engineering; James M. LaFave, structural engineering; and Marcelo H. Garcia, hydrology; as well as Department of Urban and Regional Planning Professor and Head Robert B. Olshansky. To gain a better understanding of the cause and impact of the landslide, they will study and document the slide extent, surrounding conditions, soil type and stratigraphy, groundwater conditions, and river flow and sediment conditions. The researchers will also examine the possibility that construction in the high-risk area played a role in the slide, assess the impact of prior remedial measures, and research state and federal law on zoning, property rights and geologic hazard abatement districts to determine whether creating such a district in Oso would help protect other owners from future landslide threats.
The project has generated interest from other parties.
"Our effort has received a lot support," says Stark. "The Director of Public Works for Snohomish County is facilitating our site access and Daniel J. Miller, a local geologic consultant, is joining our team." Additionally, Professor Oldrich Hungr of the University of British Columbia's Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences is getting involved with the project because of his interest in debris flows and runout distances. One of Hungr's PhD students, Jordan Aaron, will join the Illinois researchers in the field.
Ultimately, the team hopes that the research they perform will help with future landslide detection, prediction and accurate estimation of slide runout distances. Their findings will also lead to recommendations for land-use policies and mechanisms designed to protect humans from multiple natural hazards such as landslides, flooding and excessive rainfall.
The team plans to travel to Oso the week of May 19 for a 2- to 3-day site visit.
The CEE Rapid Response Grant program was developed to facilitate rapid-response, high-impact research related to infrastructure improvement and risk management in the aftermath of natural and man-made disasters. Previous grants have allowed CEE researchers to study tornado damage in Oklahoma and a bridge collapse in Washington.
A follow-up article detailing the research team's visit to the disaster site can be found here.
A story about the research project, along with the team's initial findings, appeared in The Seattle Times on June 1, 2015. Click here to read the story.


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Tony Blair to Wade Into Political Fight Over Brexit
Tony Blair during the dedication and unveiling of The Iraq and Afghanistan memorial on March 9, 2017 in London, England.
Jeff Spicer—Getty Images
By Tara John
Updated: May 1, 2017 6:14 AM ET | Originally published: May 1, 2017 6:06 AM EDT
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has announced his return to politics, out of concern at the economic consequences of Brexit.
"This Brexit thing has given me a direct motivation to get more involved in the politics," he told The Mirror, in an article published the day before the 20th anniversary of his landslide victory in the 1997 general election on May 1. "You need to get your hands dirty and I will."
The former leader of the Labour Party does not plan to stand for a parliamentary seat, but says he has been motivated to return to the political battlefield by Conservative politicians who are keen to deliver "Brexit no matter what the cost." That kind of hard Brexit—where Britain loses access to the single market and the customs union— will damage the country's economy, he said. "The single market put us in the Champions League of trading agreements" he told the Mirror, using a soccer metaphor. "A free trade agreement is like League One. We are relegating ourselves."
The 63-year-old's desire to return to politics is also driven by a need to address "a world defined by change," he said, and he hopes to reconnect with voters in a bid to take "an active part" in shaping the "policy debate."
"There are cultural stresses, people are worried about immigration, the way their communities have changed, economic stresses, people are worried about the quality of their job … whether they will have a job" he told the Mirror.
Polls suggest the Labour Party will be beaten heavily in the British general election in June, as Prime Minister Theresa May seeks to consolidate her power ahead of Brexit negotiations.
Japan Sends Biggest Warship to Guard U.S. Supply Vessel


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Timberwolves vs. Bucks: Opportunity keeps knocking in Milwaukee
After a much-needed blowout of the Bobcats on Monday, the Bucks finish their homestand hoping to take advantage of a Wolves club still making due without star Kevin Love.
By Frank Madden Apr 3, 2013, 6:30am CDT
Share All sharing options for: Timberwolves vs. Bucks: Opportunity keeps knocking in Milwaukee
US PRESSWIRE
2012/2013 NBA Season
(36-37-6, 20-18 home)
(17-56, 9-27 road)
BMO Harris Bradley Center | Milwaukee, WI
7:00 CT
FS Wisconsin (Alternate) | 1250 WSSP
Probable Starters
Monta Ellis
Luke Ridnour
Marquis Daniels
Andrei Kirilenko
Ersan Ilyasova
Derrick Willaims
Larry Sanders
Nikola Pekovic
2012/13 Advanced Stats
94.6 (4th)
92.6 (11th)
104.2 (21st)
102.8 (24th)
On the Wolves: Canis Hoopus | Timber Pups | A Wolf Among Wolves
Wolves update. After an encouraging 11/12 season that saw Ricky Rubio debut and Kevin Love reach (more or less) superstar status, the 12/13 iteration of the Minnesota Timberwolves have seemingly been doomed from the start. Rubio's ACL tear last spring cost him the first two months of the season while Love has played just 18 games due to a pair of hand injuries, the latest of which figures to keep him out at least another week.
Rubio's numbers are modestly up from last season, which considering the circumstances is saying something. He's still one of the league's most ineffective scorers (36% overall and 23% from deep), but his dynamic passing (9.9 assists/40) is a sight to behold. Still, the Wolves have been better on both ends with Rubio on the bench, which says as much about Rubio's recovery as it does the relative quality of his backups (Luke Ridnour, J.J. Barea). Not that either of them have been fantastic--Ridnour is hitting just 31% from deep and Barea is at his usual well-below-average scoring efficiency as well (50.5% true shooting)--while Russian import Alexey Shved has put up Rubio-esque shooting numbers as well (37.2 from the field, 29.5% from deep). Shved killed the Bucks with his shooting back when these teams met on November 28 in Minneapolis, but those kind of nights have been few and far between for the 24-year-old combo guard.
On the plus side, Andrei Kirilenko has played well since returning from Russia and Nikola Pekovic has blossomed into one of the league's best (and most meme-worthy) post scorers. Kirilenko still can't shoot, but it hasn't prevented him from scoring efficiently (59% true shooting), while Pekovic is putting up the kind of numbers (16.1 ppg, 8.8 rpg, 56.9% TS, 20.10 PER) that should earn him a big raise as a free agent this summer. He returned from an ankle injury to lead the Wolves with 29 points in a 110-100 win over the depleted Celtics on Monday, which narrowed the seventh seeded Celtics' lead over the Bucks to 1.5 games.
Code Redick. Tobias Harris' emergence in Orlando may forever overshadow J.J. Redick's career in Milwaukee, but Redick at least showed signs of breaking out of his recent shooting slump with a 20 points-on-12-shots effort against the Bobcats on Monday. Redick is still shooting just 32.3% from deep and 42% overall, but you would expect those numbers to improve over a larger sample size. Andrew Gruman has a very interesting piece on Redick's adaptation to life in Milwaukee, including his praise for Monta Ellis and the, um, uniqueness of the Bucks' locker room.
"This locker room is unlike any locker room I've ever been a part of," Redick said. "I mean that in the most endearing way possible. It's an interesting group of characters. There's no comparison, whatsoever.
"It's a group of characters. It's been good at times when we've really locked in and focused. It seems like against some of the better teams we have a better focus. That's just human nature. If you want to be a great team you are good every night. You get up to play everybody. If there's one thing that I've kind of taken away from my 4 or 5 weeks here, it's continuing to work toward consistency. That should be where our focus is the next few weeks."
Brandon. Speaking of chemistry, Brandon Jennings seems just thrilled with his recent drop in minutes, even when it comes in a blowout. Following the Bucks' 29-point win over the Bobs, he lobbed some more passive aggressive commentary at his head coach.
"From where I was looking at, it looked like it was fun," Jennings said after the game. "Monta (Ellis) was out there getting guys involved and we were able to knock down shots.
"It was a fast-paced game. We had 100 points at the end of the third. Everybody was getting easy buckets but we found a way to push through it."
Asked if this is the way the Bucks want to play, at such an up-tempo pace, Jennings said: "You would have to ask (coach) Jim Boylan."
And asked if he was upset about playing time, Jennings responded: "As long as we win, that's all that matters. As long as we win. He (Boylan) makes all the decisions."
Jennings has a point in that Ellis and a number of the Bucks' other starters played deep into the fourth quarter even with the game seemingly out of reach, but then again most of those other guys have outplayed him of late. And all of the Bucks' best lineups feature guys other than Jennings.
Blowout. The Bucks' win on Monday was their first first by greater than 10 points in 30 games, which speaks volumes about their maddening ability to make every game, uh, interesting. Though they beat the Warriors and Lakers by an even 10 points in that span, they hadn't exceeded that margin since blowout out the Pistons in Detroit on January 29.
SANDERS! Larry Sanders has twice recorded career-highs in scoring over the past week, but he's also in the midst of a season-high two-game blockless streak. Something tells me he'll snap that streak tonight, especially given that Sanders blocked a career-high 10 shots against the Wolves back in November.
Sanders has averaged 12.8 ppg/11.7 rpg since the all-star break, and his current numbers (9.9 ppg, 9.5 rpg and 2.9 bpg) give him a chance to become the first guy since 2000 other than Marcus Camby to record 10/10/3 over a full season (Camby did it three times in that span). For more on Larry, be sure to check out Kevin Arnovitz's interview with him over at TrueHoop.
Timberwolves vs. Bucks Gameday: Bucks stumble at home
Bucks vs. Wolves recap: Extra sloppy
Preview: Bucks close homestand vs. Wolves


I seriously need to stay away from blogging, at least for this month to really concentrate on my project paper.
While I'm away from my own blog, I will still be visiting your blogs. Wishing everyone a great weekend.


There is no paucity of special festivals and occasions in our country. From summer to monsoon, autumn to winter season – our calendar remains choc-a-bloc with special events and gifts form a major ingredient there. Our best-seller products like chocolates, cakes, flowers, soft toys, and personalized items are always there to enhance the happiness of your special days! So, make the best memories with these best-seller gifts!


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CKAP4 () – білок, який кодується однойменним геном, розташованим у людей на короткому плечі 12-ї хромосоми. Довжина поліпептидного ланцюга білка становить 602 амінокислот, а молекулярна маса — 66 022.

Кодований геном білок за функцією належить до фосфопротеїнів.
Задіяний у такому біологічному процесі, як ацетилювання.
Локалізований у клітинній мембрані, цитоплазмі, цитоскелеті, мембрані, ендоплазматичному ретикулумі.

Література

Примітки

Див. також
 Хромосома 12

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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Children within every spectrum of special needs and their families are invited to a private photo session at River Park Square, to experience the time-honored tradition of a visit with Santa Claus during dedicated hours. Please reserve your complimentary ticket on Eventbrite - ONE TICKET per group/family, please.
Event will be held in the River Park Square Atrium. Visits with Santa are free. Photo packages that capture holiday memories will be available for purchase at the event.


Which of the following things is common in the vehicles moving on the land and those flying in the air?
Mark the odd one out on the basis of mode of transportation.
The given picture shows the journey of a letter. Which of the following options show the correct sequence of the journey of a letter?