Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/296257627?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Even if you never find yourself in the middle of one of its sleazy scams, auto insurance fraud hits you. Industry experts say it slows legitimate insurance claims, increases premiums and, in some cases, puts innocent victims in danger.
Law enforcement officials say fraud factors into as many as 1 out of every 3 auto insurance claims in New York City. The problem may be even worse in Los Angeles, the city that generates the most questionable claims potentially linked to organized crime, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau.
That trade group tracks fraud for insurers and ranks California, Florida, Texas, New York and Maryland as the top five states for fishy auto insurance claims.
The cost to motorists is tough to pin down because fraud often goes unreported, but it's definitely a "major-league crime involving a wide variety of schemes," says Jim Quiggle, a spokesman for the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud in Washington, D.C.
In New York City alone, officials estimate that fake auto claims add $241 million to premiums. Nationally, experts believe overall insurance fraud costs tens of billions of dollars every year.
Learn how to protect yourself as we uncover the worst auto insurance frauds.
Source: http://www.bankrate.com/finance/insurance/auto-insurance-fraud-schemes-1.aspx
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Across the U.S., healthcare marketers are feeling the pressure to deliver greater returns on marketing investments. Changing economics are front and center, and make a compelling case for the role that marketers must play in an increasingly competitive environment.
Holding on to a narrow view of healthcare marketing as simply promotions sub-optimizes marketing performance and wastes marketing investments. Best practice performers understand marketing as a business?discipline aimed at achieving revenue growth and better business performance.
Success?requires?a purposeful, comprehensive and integrated approach to better understand markets, develop and deliver quality healthcare services, build effective business models, and create loyal customers.
Five essential moves
Creating a marketing or growth-oriented culture may seem formidable in organizations that are operations versus market driven ? and many health systems are just that. However, with increasing recognition by healthcare executives that significant change is required for success under new reform mandates, marketers play a key role in helping organizations understand competitive dynamics, discover new growth opportunities, create new lines of business, and enhance points of competitive differentiation .
Here are five essential moves to effect the change:
Now is the time
For health systems, growth and?profitability are imperative.?New reimbursement methods and emerging business models necessitate a different approach?to customer acquisition, a fresh focus on customer retention,?and a greater emphasis on customer engagement. And the transformation of marketing practice driven by social networking, search and mobile technologies can no longer be ignored.
Now is the time for marketers to assess the role, functions and performance of marketing departments, and move aggressively to transform marketing from promotions-oriented tactics to growth-oriented strategic leadership.? To build powerful, differentiated brands that drive growth, innovation and better business performance. ?To lead organizations in mainstreaming social, search?and mobile technologies that engage customers, build commerce and improve business functions.
Change can be difficult.?Yet, will deliver substantial and long-lasting benefits.
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President Vladimir Putin is moving to redesign Russia's political system by shouldering aside the ruling party that has anchored his power for the past dozen years and creating a new, East German-style Popular Front of all Russians, which would stand above political parties and be led by him personally.
Mr. Putin kicked off an intense round of meetings last week, which is expected to lead to the founding convention of the new Popular Front in early June. In a teleconference with activists, he pledged that the organization and its multitude of street-level members would have direct access to power and policy-making.
"I think that the People?s Front can play a big part here as a broad platform where people with different views and approaches can work out a consensus on resolving our key development problems," Putin told them, according to a transcript posted on the Kremlin's official website.
RECOMMENDED: Vladimir Putin 101: A quiz about Russia's president
In a wide-ranging discussion, Putin outlined his education and labor policies with the activists, and promised to restore the old "Hero of Socialist Labor" award, with which the former Soviet Union recognized workers for special achievements. "I know that the idea has support not just from people in professions like yours, people who use their hands and their heads in their work, but is also supported by key trade union groups in the country," he told them. Before the day was out, he passed a decree making it so.
The idea of a mass popular organization that could channel Putin's will directly into every corner of society, giving him the ability to mobilize Russians and promote his personal policies over the heads of government, bureaucracy, and parliament, has been in the works for a couple of years now.
Experts say the plan partially reflects Putin's frustration with the existing ruling party, United Russia, which won its current majority in parliament through an election widely regarded as fraud-tainted. Pollsters say United Russia's popularity hovers at a still-respectable 40 percent or so, but its negative rating ? that is, people who actively dislike it ? has climbed over the past two years to around 45 percent. According to a February survey by the independent Levada Center in Moscow, 40 percent of Russians associate United Russia with the phrase "party of rogues and thieves," up from 36 percent a year ago.
"The general trend in Russian politics is to establish a kind of corporate state in which political parties play a subordinate role and the national leader is able to address different constituencies directly," says Nikolai Petrov, a political science professor at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow.
"Putin has opted for this kind of amorphous structure, which can enable him to get the electoral results he wants, but will never interfere with his personal power and prerogatives.... We are witnessing a weakening of political parties, and of the political system in general. That means the role of the political class will diminish, and the role of Putin will grow," he adds.
AN EAST GERMAN MODEL
Though the Popular Front concept appears infused with nostalgia for the old USSR ? still a powerful political meme in Russia ? it is not particularly a Soviet idea. In the USSR, a one-party state, the Communist Party played the role of the sun, around which all civil society groups revolved. Some experts believe Putin has adapted his Popular Front scheme from the former East Germany where he served as a KGB spy in the late 1980s. In East Germany, nominally a multiparty and pluralistic state, an overarching National Front served as the instrument of control overall.
Some analysts speculate that Putin may actually replace United Russia, which is led by former President and current Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, perhaps by calling snap Duma elections within a year and throwing his personal weight behind the Popular Front.
Putin recently ordered changes to Russia's electoral rules, to re-introduce a system by which half of the Duma's 450 seats are elected by proportional representation ? in which people vote for a party rather than a candidate ? and the other half will be chosen by first-past-the-post local constituency races. That change, which is a return to Russia's 1990s system, will strongly favor forces that are strong on the ground in localities, as the Popular Front is expected to be, over national-scale political parties.
Ironically, it was Putin himself who abolished local constituency contests a decade ago, and filled the Duma with deputies chosen solely by political parties, back in the days when he was basing his power on a strong majority parliamentary caucus of United Russia.
A POWER SHIFT OR WINDOW-DRESSING?
RECOMMENDED: Vladimir Putin 101: A quiz about Russia's president
"The Popular Front was conceived some time ago, but then political and economic conditions eased, and it was put on the back burner for a time," says Mikhail Delyagin, director of the independent Institute for Globalization Studies in Moscow.
"Now the economy is stalling, conflicts within the elite are sharpening, and we are going to see United Russia scapegoated for all problems. The Popular Front is being created out of the same elites, but some figures will be removed, and new ones will appear. The result will be a new party of power, looking immaculate and stainless, instead of the scandal-tainted United Russia.... It's basically a change of window-dressing," Mr. Delyagin says.
Others argue that Putin's purpose is not to replace United Russia, but simply to diminish its role as the Popular Front, with a street-level and store-front presence in every Russian region, takes on more functions of shaping the country's political realities ? including the selection of candidates for the Duma.
"The Popular Front will be a movement, not a party. It won't take part directly in elections," says Dmitri Orlov, director of the independent Agency of Political and Economic Communications in Moscow.
"The tasks of the Front will be to draw political parties, public organizations, and specific individuals into the authorities' orbit, and to enforce their loyalty. Through the Front, Putin will hold regular dialogues with different social groups and public constituencies; it may become a mechanism for renovating the elites" according to the Kremlin's designs, he says.
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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/putin-trading-own-party-power-164317074.html
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Nearly one in five high school age boys in the United States and 11 percent of school-age children over all have received a medical diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, according to new data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Don't miss these Health stories
Most mothers may be starting their infants on solid foods months sooner than specialists recommend, mistakenly believing their children are old enough to graduate from breast milk or formula? ? but many say they?re simply following doctors? orders.
These rates reflect a marked rise over the last decade and could fuel growing concern among many doctors that the A.D.H.D. diagnosis and its medication are overused in American children.
The figures showed that an estimated 6.4 million children ages 4 through 17 had received an A.D.H.D. diagnosis at some point in their lives, a 16 percent increase since 2007 and a 53 percent rise in the past decade. About two-thirds of those with a current diagnosis receive prescriptions for stimulants like Ritalin or Adderall, which can drastically improve the lives of those with A.D.H.D. but can also lead to addiction, anxiety and occasionally psychosis.
?Those are astronomical numbers. I?m floored,? said Dr. William Graf, a pediatric neurologist in New Haven and a professor at the Yale School of Medicine. He added, ?Mild symptoms are being diagnosed so readily, which goes well beyond the disorder and beyond the zone of ambiguity to pure enhancement of children who are otherwise healthy.?
And even more teenagers are likely to be prescribed medication in the near future because the American Psychiatric Association plans to change the definition of A.D.H.D. to allow more people to receive the diagnosis and treatment. A.D.H.D. is described by most experts as resulting from abnormal chemical levels in the brain that impair a person?s impulse control and attention skills.
While some doctors and patient advocates have welcomed rising diagnosis rates as evidence that the disorder is being better recognized and accepted, others said the new rates suggest that millions of children may be taking medication merely to calm behavior or to do better in school. Pills that are shared with or sold to classmates ? diversion long tolerated in college settings and gaining traction in high-achieving high schools ? are particularly dangerous, doctors say, because of their health risks when abused.
The findings were part of a broader C.D.C. study of children?s health issues, taken from February 2011 to June 2012. The agency interviewed more than 76,000 parents nationwide by both cellphone and landline and is currently compiling its reports. The New York Times obtained the raw data from the agency and compiled the results.
A.D.H.D. has historically been estimated to affect 3 to 7 percent of children. The disorder has no definitive test and is determined only by speaking extensively with patients, parents and teachers, and ruling out other possible causes ? a subjective process that is often skipped under time constraints and pressure from parents. It is considered a chronic condition that is often carried into adulthood.
The C.D.C. director, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, likened the rising rates of stimulant prescriptions among children to the overuse of pain medications and antibiotics in adults.
?We need to ensure balance,? Dr. Frieden said. ?The right medications for A.D.H.D., given to the right people, can make a huge difference. Unfortunately, misuse appears to be growing at an alarming rate.?
Experts cited several factors in the rising rates. Some doctors are hastily viewing any complaints of inattention as full-blown A.D.H.D., they said, while pharmaceutical advertising emphasizes how medication can substantially improve a child?s life. Moreover, they said, some parents are pressuring doctors to help with their children?s troublesome behavior and slipping grades.
?There?s a tremendous push where if the kid?s behavior is thought to be quote-unquote abnormal ? if they?re not sitting quietly at their desk ? that?s pathological, instead of just childhood,? said Dr. Jerome Groopman, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the author of ?How Doctors Think.?
Fifteen percent of school-age boys have received an A.D.H.D. diagnosis, the data showed; the rate for girls was 7 percent. Diagnoses among those of high-school age ? 14 to 17 ? were particularly high, 10 percent for girls and 19 percent for boys. About one in 10 high-school boys currently takes A.D.H.D. medication, the data showed.
Rates by state are less precise but vary widely. Southern states, like Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, South Carolina and Tennessee, showed about 23 percent of school-age boys receiving an A.D.H.D. diagnosis. The rates in Colorado and Nevada were less than 10 percent.
The medications ? primarily Adderall, Ritalin, Concerta and Vyvanse ? often afford those with severe A.D.H.D. the concentration and impulse control to lead relatively normal lives. Because the pills can vastly improve focus and drive among those with perhaps only traces of the disorder, an A.D.H.D. diagnosis has become a popular shortcut to better grades, some experts said, with many students unaware of or disregarding the medication?s health risks.
?There?s no way that one in five high-school boys has A.D.H.D.,? said James Swanson, a professor of psychiatry at Florida International University and one of the primary A.D.H.D. researchers in the last 20 years. ?If we start treating children who do not have the disorder with stimulants, a certain percentage are going to have problems that are predictable ? some of them are going to end up with abuse and dependence. And with all those pills around, how much of that actually goes to friends? Some studies have said it?s about 30 percent.?
An A.D.H.D. diagnosis often results in a family?s paying for a child?s repeated visits to doctors for assessments or prescription renewals. Taxpayers assume this cost for children covered by Medicaid, who, according to the C.D.C. data, have among the highest rates of A.D.H.D. diagnoses: 14 percent for school-age children, about one-third higher than the rest of the population.
Several doctors mentioned that advertising from the pharmaceutical industry that played off parents? fears ? showing children struggling in school or left without friends ? encouraged parents and doctors to call even minor symptoms A.D.H.D. and try stimulant treatment. For example, a pamphlet for Vyvanse from its manufacturer, Shire, shows a parent looking at her son and saying, ?I want to do all I can to help him succeed.?
Sales of stimulants to treat A.D.H.D. have more than doubled to $9 billion in 2012 from $4 billion in 2007, according to the health care information company IMS Health.
Criteria for the proper diagnosis of A.D.H.D., to be released next month in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, have been changed specifically to allow more adolescents and adults to qualify for a diagnosis, according to several people involved in the discussions.
The final wording has not been released, but most proposed changes would lead to higher rates of diagnosis: the requirement that symptoms appeared before age 12 rather than 7; illustrations, like repeatedly losing one?s cellphone or losing focus during paperwork, that emphasize that A.D.H.D. is not just a young child?s disorder; and the requirement that symptoms merely ?impact? daily activities, rather than cause ?impairment.?
An analysis of the proposed changes published in January by the Journal of Learning Disabilities concluded: ?These wording changes newly diagnose individuals who display symptoms of A.D.H.D. but continue to function acceptably in their daily lives."Given that severe A.D.H.D. that goes untreated has been shown to increase a child?s risk for academic failure and substance abuse, doctors have historically focused on raising awareness of the disorder and reducing fears surrounding stimulant medication.
A leading voice has been Dr. Ned Hallowell, a child psychiatrist and author of best-selling books on the disorder. But in a recent interview, Dr. Hallowell said that the new C.D.C. data, combined with recent news reports of young people abusing stimulants, left him assessing his role.
Whereas Dr. Hallowell for years would reassure skeptical parents by telling them that Adderall and other stimulants were ?safer than aspirin,? he said last week, ?I regret the analogy? and he ?won?t be saying that again.? And while he still thinks that many children with A.D.H.D. continue to go unrecognized and untreated, he said the high rates demonstrate how the diagnosis is being handed out too freely.
?I think now?s the time to call attention to the dangers that can be associated with making the diagnosis in a slipshod fashion,? he said. ?That we have kids out there getting these drugs to use them as mental steroids ? that?s dangerous, and I hate to think I have a hand in creating that problem.?
Copyright ? 2013 The New York Times
Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653381/s/2a384a2b/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Cid0C51391985/story01.htm
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NASA Earth Observatory
NASA's Aqua satellite captured this image of a dust storm from the Gobi Desert that blew across the coastal plain of eastern China in mid-March 2013. This week, California air pollution watchdogs report dust from that storm reached Owens Valley, on the east side of the Sierra Nevada.
By Samantha Tata, NBCLosAngeles.com
Dust from China's Gobi Desert drifted thousands of miles to hang over a central California mountain range this week, according to the Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District, a California regional government agency that monitors the environment.
The massive dust event on March 10 blew sediment from the Gobi Desert across eastern China, prompting health warnings that pollution levels were dangerously high in the country, according to NASA.
Those particles, which have since dissipated, reached Owens Valley, about 225 miles north of Los Angeles and east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range.
The Air Pollution Control District reported dust was first noticed on March 22. The agency monitors particulates near Owens Lake, which went dry in 1926 after water was diverted from the Owens River to the city of Los Angeles.
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Lily Collins attended Day 2 of WonderCon 2013 at Anaheim Convention Center on March 30 in Anaheim, Calif.
Britney Spears, her two sons Sean and Jayden Federline and her father Jamie were spotted arriving on a flight in New Orleans, La., on March 29.
Diane Kruger posed for pictures outside ABC Studios for an appearance on "Good Morning America" on March 28 in NYC.
Taylor Swift went casual in a black sweater and red pants as she headed out and about in New York City on March 27.
Sandra Bullock gave her son Louis a piggyback ride after picking him up from school in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 26.
Angelina Jolie and the UK Foreign Secretary William Hague visited a rescue camp for women on March 25 in the Democratic Republic of Congo to raise awareness of warzone rape. Jolie, a special envoy for the United Nations High Commissioner, said the issues need a "worldwide focus."
Kim Kardashian stepped out in New York City on March 26 after revealing her pregnancy weight is around 140 pounds.
Jamie Lynn Sigler celebrated the news of having a boy with with a Sally Hansen Nail Color Manicure (in blue) in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 25.
Kelly Osbourne attended a photocall to promote her E! show Fashion Police in Amsterdam on March 25.
Anne Hathaway looked all bundled up as she was spotted out and about with husband Adam Shulman in New York on March 25.
Gwen Stefani and her husband Gavin Rossdale took their sons Kingston and Zuma to a park in Sherman Oaks, Calif., on March 24.
Jennifer Lopez and Casper Smart attended Celebrity Fight Night in Phoenix, Arizona on March 23, where the Moet & Chandon champagne was flowing as celebrities toasted the guest of honor, Muhammad Ali.
Drew Barrymore ran some errands in New York City on March 22. Looking good post-baby!
Ashley Greene was spotted leaving a gym wearing a pink top in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 20.
Eva Mendes, wearing a brown leopard print dress and brown boots, headed to a taping of "The Late Show with David Letterman" in New York City on March 19.
"The Bachelor" star Sean Lowe and his fiance Catherine Giudici took a stroll at The Grove in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 19.
A makeup-free Cameron Diaz sported black spandex pants as she got some exercise while hiking with a friend in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 19.
Emilia Clarke looked incredible at HBO's Season Three premiere of "Game of Thrones" held at the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood, Calif., on March 18.
Selena Gomez showed off her legs in a a short skirt as she arrived at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City to promote her new film "Spring Breakers" on the "Late Show with David Letterman" on March 18.
Lindsay Lohan was seen leaving the court house in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 18 after showing up 45 minutes late.
"Modern Family" star Sofia Vergara took a taxi to an office building in New York on March 18.
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner took their kids Violet, Seraphina and Samuel to a park in Brentwood, Calif., on March 17. How adorable are these sweet siblings?
Taylor Swift rocked short shorts as she headed to a photo shoot in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 16.
"Jersey Shore" star Pauly D was spotted this past weekend spinning some of today's hottest hits at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Punta Cana's ORO Nightclub in the Dominican Republic.
Jessica Simpson, who recently confirmed she is expecting a boy, shopped at Bel Bambini Baby Boutique in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 15.
Khloe Kardashian left the One The Thirty restaurant in Sherman Oaks, Calif., on March 14. Looking good, Khloe!
Jennifer Garner struck a pose at the Neutrogena Sun Summit (raising awareness on the changing environment's impact on overall skin health) in in New York City on March 13.
Camila Alves rocked a blue leather jacket, black top and black pants as she set out around New York City on March 13.
Breckin Meyer and Mark-Paul Gosselaar filmed scenes on the beach in Malibu, Calif., for the TV show "Franklin & Bash" on March 12.
Pregnant reality star Kim Kardashian headed to an office to film scenes for 'Keeping Up With The Kardashians' in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 12.
Jessica Alba returned to her hotel in Soho in New York City on March 11.
"Pretty Little Liars" actress Shay Mitchell prepped her skin with Bior? Acne Clearing Scrub in the green room in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 12.
Charlize Theron stopped for a sweet snack at Pinkberry with her son Jackson in West Hollywood, Calif., on March 11.
Maxxinista Giuliana Rancic picked up designer finds for spring at T.J.Maxx in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 11.
Ryan Gosling returned to his hotel after attending a press junket in New York City on March 10. The actor's girlfriend and co-star was close behind.
Camila Alves is seen with her kids, Levi and Vida in New York City on March 10.
Isla Fisher took her daughters, Olive and Elula, out for a shopping trip in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 9.
Eva Mendes walked her dog in West Hollywood, Calif., on March 7.
Hilary Duff stopped by Paquito Mas in Sherman Oaks, Calif., to grab some mexican food to go with her baby boy Luca on March 6.
Lea Michele and boyfriend Cory Monteith seemed upbeat as they arrived in New York City on March 5.
"Twilight" star Kristen Stewart was escorted by friends out of the Troubadour in West Hollywood, Calif., on March 5.
Selena Gomez grabbed a lot of attention as she posed on the set of a video shoot in Palmdale, Calif., on March 4.
Rihanna attended the launch of her River Island collection at the Oxford Street River Island store on March 4 in London. She donned a sexy sheer dress, of course.
Newly single Michelle Williams took daughter Matilda Ledger grocery shopping in Brooklyn, NY on March 4.
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West attended the Givenchy Fall-Winter 2013-2014 'Ready-To-Wear' collection show held at Halle Freyssinet in Paris on March 3.
Natalie Portman went casual in an all brown ensemble for a trip to the grocery store in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 3.
Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield strolled through Tribeca on a chilly afternoon in New York on March 2.
Britney Spears was seen playing with her two sons, Sean and Jayden Federline in Santa Barbara, Calif., on March 2.
Jessica Chastain attended the Viktor & Rolf Fall-Winter 2013/2014 Ready-to-Wear collection show held at Espace Ephemere des Tuileries in Paris, France on March 2.
Justin Timberlake and his wife Jessica Biel took an arm-in-arm stroll through graffiti filled Soho together on March 1 in NYC.
Newly engaged "90210" star, Shenae Grimes, got her lips ready for her big day with eos Summer Fruit Lip Balm on March 1.
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/31/pierce-brosnans-first-wife-cancer_n_2988663.html
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