The ABCs of Health Insurance

As uncomfortable as it is, the health insurance is one of the issues that we all must ponder on sooner or later. With the uncertainties of life, considering the prospects of health insurance, its pros and cons and finally, opting up for one is sometimes a difficult choice.

In Australia, health care is universal, meaning that the government takes care of a large percentage of the medical bills in public hospitals through Medicare - Australia's public health care system. The mode of coverage is expressly provided under Medicare benefits schedule, and in most cases, the residue of the medical bills is settled by the patient. In most instances, 100% of inpatient costs are covered by the government, and 75% are covered for general practitioner, whereas 85% of specialist services are covered.

There is the government-owned insurer called MediBank private. As a matter of fact, there are about 3,000,000 million Australians that are insured with Medibank. At Medibank, you can access three main types of medical covers. They include: hospital cover (where the services could range from basic to comprehensive hospital cover), extra cover, and Ultra health cover.

Nonetheless, life insurance is a broad field which cannot be left in the hand of the government alone, because it goes beyond just settling medical bills. As such, Medicare does not cover everything, and that is why people are strongly encouraged to look for private health insurance cover as well. That is why there are private health insurance companies, which are mostly run by private investors. There are about 36 registered private health funds in Australia registered under Private Health Insurance Act 2007.

The Australian government strongly encourages people to take private health insurance cover by offering the following incentives:

1. If you take a life-time health cover after 1st July following your 31st birthday, you are subject to a penalty of 2% premium loading per Annum. The loading premium runs for ten years, and only applies to hospital covers.

2. There is an arrangement where those who earn above certain taxable income bracket (above $80,000 as was the case in 2012) are forced to pay 1% surcharge aside from the 1.5% medical levy they have to pay if they don't hold a Medicare card. also, those who are entitled to reciprocal Medicare card, but don't have Australian domestic health insurance are also subject to the above levies. This is a federal government's initiative to encourage people to take health cover if you want to avoid paying the above levies.

3. The federal government offers what is known as private health insurance rebate. Those who have taken an Australian domestic health insurance and are eligible for Medicare can claim the rebate. The rebate is designed reduce health insurance premiums which cover hospital cost and other miscellaneous costs.

The question many people tend to ask is: why take a private health insurance cover, whereas Medicare cover exists?

To answer this question, you need to understand that Medicare only takes care of public hospital bills and not private hospitals. Moreover, Medicare does not cover auxiliary costs like ambulance transport, dental care, optician fees, physiotherapy costs, and so on. It is only private health insurance that can offer you the options which suit you and your needs.
What about temporary health cover?

Temporary health cover exists for visitors who hold temporary visas such as students, business people, and contract employees from overseas. Such visitors are normally asked to consider taking Overseas Visitors Health Cover (OVHC). Some visas such as Visa Subclass 457 require you to take an insurance cover before you can obtain it. On the other hand, overseas students in Australia are required to take Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC) during their visa application.

In addition, visitors from some the following specific countries are under reciprocal health care with the Australian government. They include:

1. United Kingdom
2. Sweden
3. Belgium
4. Finland
5. Italy
6. Malta
7. The Netherlands
8. Slovenia
9. The Republic of Ireland
10. New Zealand

Under the reciprocal health care arrangement, the visitor is entitled to receive free emergency medical attention in public hospitals. Otherwise, for any other benefit, the visitor should seek Visitors Health Cover (OVHC).

However, reciprocal health care arrangement for visitors from the above mentioned countries does not include students from those countries, because students are covered under Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC).

In the end, whichever health cover you want to take, take some time to understand whether it will be able to cover your needs. Study the options carefully, bearing the future in mind. After all, choosing the right health insurance will provide the coverage in case of predicament.

Tim Phillips enjoys spending his time reading about ways of making our life simpler. As a blogger, he likes sharing his knowledge about health insurance and other financial issues.

5 Things You Need To Know About Starting Your Own Business

If you are among the many fledgling entrepreneurs who are going to soon be setting up shop as a business owner soon, you probably have all manner of hopes and dreams for you enterprise. Unfortunately, many new businesses fail within a year after first opening their doors. This is sometimes a result of not enough planning, but more often than not, it's more the result of not the right type of planning. If you want to give your business a fighting chance to succeed, you should make certain that you've got your bases covered. Following are five things that you need to know before starting your own business.

Give Yourself a Good Start With a Solid Internet Presence

The first thing that most potential customers do when considering doing business with a new enterprise is to check the business webpage. You'll look unprofessional and unprepared if your Internet presence fails to convey a strong message that you're open for business. Under no circumstances should your website appear hastily slapped together or amateurish. Doing business in the middle of the technological revolution means that your Internet presence often forms the basis of your clients' first impressions of you.

You Will Need More Money than You Thought

Most new entrepreneurs grossly underestimate the amount of money that they are going to need to get their enterprises off the ground. This is mainly because inexperienced operators fail to take into account hidden costs and unexpected money-draining expenses. Giving yourself plenty of financial breathing room will keep your business going through those essential-but-rocky first few months.

Don't Expect Instant Results

Give your business a chance to get its sea legs before you expect it to start performing at top speed. Every successful entrepreneur can tell you that patience is one of the most difficult aspects of starting a new business, but it's also one of the most important. Just like you wouldn't nudge a child to grow up too quickly, allow your business the chance to mature at a healthy pace.

Don't Forget the Most Important Thing

We may live in the age of technology, and doing business may be different in many ways than it was for our entrepreneurial fore-bearers, but the main ingredient hasn't changed and never will. No business can exist without customers. Get those customers and cultivate them, and the rest will come more easily.

Get Used to Changing Hats Often

You'll need to use everything you've got to get your business off to a good running start. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that you are too good to wash the windows or mop the floors of your business because you are the owner. Being the owner is precisely whey you should not be above performing these tasks. Switching hats as often as it's called for is one way to make your business thrive.

Advice for People Looking to Make Money from Blogging

When it comes to making money, blogging is commonly thought of as an excellent choice. The problem is that people go into it believing that it is easy and they will make thousands right away. That isn’t the case. Making money from blogging is a long term thing and you need to put effort into it, at least at the start. Here is some advice for those looking to use their writing skills in this way to make money.

1. It Is a Competitive Market : There are so many people now using this method to make money that it is competitive. Blogging used to be something as a hobby but there are now millions of websites online all over the world. Why should someone read your blog over an established one?

That doesn’t mean that you should be discouraged. You just need to remember this to think about ways that your blog is different to everybody else’s. You want to give people a reason to check your blog out and help you earn money, whether through affiliate marketing or AdSense revenue.

2. Making Money Takes Time : People aren’t going to buy a product from you on the first visit. They won’t click an advert for the sake of it, knowing that it will put some money in your pocket. Making money with blogging takes time and you need to give it that. You can help it out though! The best thing that you can do is give people a reason to buy your product.

Email lists are great for doing this. They will give your readers the chance to learn more about you and trust you. The next time you send them an affiliate link, there is more chance that they will click and buy.

3. Pick a Niche for Your Blog : Avoid writing about anything and everything. Find a niche for your blog and stick to that one. Your niche is your topic, which could be technology, business, finance or anything else that you are interested in? Have multiple interests, start a new blog for each one but do it one at a time while you develop a formula that works on the first one.

Having one topic works for numerous reasons. The first is that people are more likely to find out more about everything you’ve written. Your blog posts will interest them in some way after finding one of them. A second is that you will come across as an authority, which is beneficial for your ranking on Google.

4. Think About Your Keywords and Back Links : Keywords are essential if you want your content to rank for something. This is how people will find you! However, there are good techniques that take time to work but will eventually get you on the front page and remain there. The same applies to back linking. This helps people find you but needs to done correctly.

Take the time to learn everything you can about SEO and keywords. There is a multitude of information available online that will help you with this job. As you develop the skills, you will find that your blog ranks higher and more people visit it. This, in turn, helps you increase the amount of money that you will make from it.

Blogging isn’t going to start making you a retirement income overnight but it will if you stick with it. It takes perseverance and hard work but is all worth it in the end. There are plenty of blogging gurus offering their tips for free online to help you!

How to Improve Your Business Cash Flow to Avoid Administration

With so many companies around the world going into administration, it is a worrying time for small businesses. One of the best ways to avoid administration is by making sure your cash flow works for the outgoings that you have. Business finance takes some time to work out but one wrong move can spell disaster. Here are a few tips to improve your cash flow to help avoid administration in the future.

1. Lower Your Outgoings: It is actually one of the easiest things that you can do. Look at all the outgoings that you need to make, including rent, gas and electricity and your internet and shop around for somewhere that will offer them for less. Do the same for your supplies and any other outgoings that you have. By finding them cheaper, you will not need as much money to come into your business. This will help you make a bigger profit at the end of the year! If you have contracts with people, consider talking to them about lowering the cost to avoid financial problems.

2. Improve Your Payment System: Accept payments via credit or debit card and improve the way that you handle your finances. One of the biggest problems for some companies – especially the smaller ones – is the way that they handle payments. They agree to invoices being paid after the work is done and then the customers run away. It is expensive to sue and take other legal steps to recover the money and is not always worth the hassle. Instead, change your invoicing by taking 50% of the invoice upfront and the rest upon completion (for example).

3. Change the Dates of Payments: Can you look at changing when the payments go out? This means that you can take more control and make sure the money is in your account before it has to go out. While you may have the option of credit cards or a business loan, they cost extra money due to interest and aren’t financially worth it. Most companies will allow a change in the date a payment is taken.

4. Pay Twice a Month: Instead of paying the full payment at the start or end of each month, look into whether you can make two payments per month. This can help to control your finances more and is often easier trying to get a smaller amount together in time. Even landlords may accept bi-monthly payments on the rent, as long as the full amount is paid each month.

5. Only Pay When You Need: Many people opt for paying a bill early to get it out of the way but this could actually cause problems for your cash flow. Look at the date when the bill is due, note the date on your calendar and then file the paperwork. Only pay when it is due. There are some bills that have no penalty for a late payment so you could opt for that if you really need to – but only if you really must! Those that have a discount for early payment are worth paying on time so that you can save money.

Cash flow is essential. No matter how great your profits are, if you have bad cash flow your business will struggle. Your creditors don’t want to worry that they won’t get a payment from you and are often bigger companies that can use legal methods much easier than you. Take some time to implement steps to improve your cash flow and help your business avoid the prospect of administration or liquidation.

Calculation of interest on amortized loans

Interest is being charged on each payment period if there is no exception. The loan amount influences the interest. For moderate amount, the interest is moderate and for big amount of loan such car or home loan, the interest is charged much. In matters of big amount of loan, the interest is charged with an outstanding amount. As a borrower, you must want to know the calculation of the interest on the loan. Here you get to know more about the details on amortized prnewswire:bad credit personal loans.

Calculation:

As a borrower, you must want to know the process to calculated interest on the financial aid. In fact, you can at least get to wether you are being overcharged or not. The following calculation is generally being used to calculate interest on amortized loan.

The calculation formula is:

P= P. R. (1+R)N / (1+R)N -1 = P. r/n. (1+r/n)n.t / (1+r/n)n.t -1

Explanation of the symbolic terms:

Here the calculation represents p as payment method, n as number of payment per year, t is number of years, N is n.t which is the total number of payments. R equals to annual interest rate, R represents r/n which is the periodic year and lastly P as original principal. This is how you can calculate interest on amortized loans.

Repayment structure: 

For example, you have borrowed loan of 20,000 dollar. You have got the finance with an interest rate of 12% and you will have to repay the loans within three years of time. So, now you want to know your monthly payments. According to the formula your monthly payments would be $664.29. So, you will have to repay 664 dollar each month.

And if you count it for three years you will have to pay $23,914.44 dollar in total. Totally you will have to carry 36 installments. So, if you minus the principal amount from the total amount to be repaired, you will find the total interest to be repaid. So, the total interest is 23,914.44 – 20,000 which is equals to $3,914.44.

Repayment in each month:

However, the borrower would have to repay the loan with the maintenance of so called amortized schedule. According to that schedule, if the periodic monthly interest rate is 12%, you will have to pay 1% interest on the loan amount. 0.1% of the loan amount is $200 dollar only. So, your first month interest would be 664 – 200 which equals to 464 dollar.

After the first month the principal amount gets down. If you count that normally, you will find that the huge principal amount got decreased from 20,000 with a minus of $464 and that equals to 19,535 dollar. So, on the second month the monthly interest on the principal amount is 195.36. so, in times of second payment, the interest amount is 484 dollar. In this way the interest for 36 months would be calculated.

This is how you will have to calculate interest on amortized loan. With all the calculation of each month’s repayment, the lenders generally make and amortized table and then the repayment would be performed by the borrowers. Read news for more information.