Health Insurance Buyer’s Guide

Buying Shopping for health insurance can leave many people confused. Knowing which insurance company to choose or which insurance plan is the best may seem daunting impossible. But once you know the basics of health insurance, choosing the right health insurance plan is simple easy.

This article will provide some of the most basic and helpful tools and explanations for health insurance shoppers. First, it is important to learn about helps to understand the different types of health insurance plans and their benefits and drawbacks. Plans differ in the amount you pay out-of-pocket, which doctors you can visit, and how the your insurance bills are paid. Besides just helping you choose the most efficient and cost-effective plan, we’ll teach you about another way you can save on health insurance: a Health Savings Account. Additionally, it is important to learn about dental insurance as well. Many health insurance plans do not include dental insurance under their benefits, so we’ll go over how to shop for and obtain separate dental coverage. Then it is important to learn about ways you can save on health insurance. There are several ways you can save including Health Savings Accounts and Discount Cards. LastlyAnd finally, don’t forget to compare plans before you make your decisionwe’ll explain why it’s so important to put your new knowledge to good use by comparing health insurance plans.

Types of Health Insurance Plans

Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) Plans

Generally, HMOs have low or even no deductible and the co-payments will be relatively comparatively low as well. You pay a monthly premium that gives you access to coverage for doctor appointments, hospital stays, emergency care, tests, x-rays and therapy. You will have to choose a primary care physician (PCP) within your insurance provider’s network of physicians, and in order to see a specialist you need to receive a referral from your PCP. Under an HMO plan, only visits to doctors and hospitals with the insurance company’s network of providers are covered; you’ll have to pay for visits if you go to an out-of-network doctors or hospitals your insurance will not cover the costs.

Preferred Provider Organization (PPO)

Plans Under a PPO plan, you will use the insurance company’s network of doctors and hospitals for any services or supplies you need. These healthcare providers have been contracted by the insurance company to provide services at a discounted rate. Generally, you will be able to choose doctors and specialists within this network without having to choose a primary care physician or get a referral. Before the insurance company will start paying for your medical bills you will usually need to pay an annual deductible. Also, you may have a co-payment for some services or be required to cover a percentage of the total medical bill.

Point of Service (POS) Plans

A POS plan is a combination of the features offered by HMO and PPO plans. You are required to choose a primary care physician, whose services are not usually subject to a deductible, but your PCP can refer you to out-of-network specialists whose services will be partially covered by your insurance company. Additionally, POS plans usually offer coverage for preventive healthcare, which includes regular checkups. Your PCP will be able to give you referrals for any specialists. If these specialists are out-of-network you will need to pay out-of-pocket and then apply for reimbursement from the insurance company. With a POS plan you will benefit from some of the savings of an HMO and will have greater flexibility in choosing healthcare providers, similar to PPO.

Dental Insurance

It is important to get a dental insurance plan along with your health insurance plan. In order to keep your teeth and gums health you need regular visits to the dentist. Without dental insurance, the cost of dentist appointments will be much higher making it difficult to keep up with the payments. Dental insurance is similar to health insurance in that each month you pay a premium, which entitles you to certain dental benefits. Benefits include checkups, cleanings, x-rays, and other dental services. There are plans that may cover dental implants, oral surgery and orthodontia, but they will be more expensive. Like health insurance, plans are categorized into indemnity and managed-care plans. If you choose an indemnity plan you will have a broader choice of dental care providers to choose from. You won’t have to choose one primary dentist and generally, you won’t need to acquire referrals. In order for the insurance company to cover your dental expenses you will need to send them a claim before they reimburse you for covered services. As a result, you will have to pay more out-of-pocket with an indemnity plan, but you will have more flexibility in choosing which dentists you visit. On the other hand, managed-care plans will provide you with a dental provider network and you will need to visit dentists within this network in order to get coverage for these services. With a dental care network, the insurance company has arranged pre-negotiated rates that you will receive when you visit these dentists. With a managed-care plan, the dentists will submit the claim for you, lowering your out-of-pocket expenses.

Save on Health Insurance

Health Savings Account

Health Savings Accounts (HSA) are tax-free savings accounts designed to help consumers pay for healthcare services while limiting premium expenses for unwanted benefits. The plans have lower premiums and higher deductibles than other insurance plans because they offer fewer benefits and require you to use the money in your HSA to pay for certain qualified medical services. However, if you don’t need to visit the doctor frequently and don’t anticipate requiring regular medical attention, HSA plans are a cost-effective method of insuring against the worst without paying for coverage you won’t use. In order to open an HSA, you’ll need to have an HSA-compatible health insurance plan. You may only use the funds in your HSA to pay for qualified medical expenses. Usually, your HSA plan will have a deductible that, once met, requires your insurance company to pay for any additional qualified medical expenses for the rest of the year.

Dental Insurance

Health insurance typically does not cover dental services, but in order to keep your teeth and gums healthy, you need regular visits to the dentist. Without dental insurance, regular dentist appointments can prohibitively expensive. Make sure your mouth is covered by shopping for both health and dental insurance. Dental insurance is similar to health insurance in that each month you pay a premium, which entitles you to certain dental benefits. Benefits include checkups, cleanings, x-rays, and other dental services. There are plans that may cover dental implants, oral surgery and orthodontia, but they will be more expensive. Like health insurance, plans are categorized into indemnity and managed-care plans. If you choose an indemnity plan you will have a broader choice of dental care providers to choose from. You won’t have to choose one primary dentist and generally, you won’t need to acquire referrals for special services. In order for the insurance company to cover your dental expenses you will need to send them a claim for reimbursement. You’ll end up paying more out-of-pocket with an indemnity plan, but you will have more flexibility in choosing which dentists you visit. By contrast, managed-care plans limit you to the doctors and services within a dental services network, and you will need to visit doctors within this network in order to get coverage for their services. Within the dental care network, your insurance company has arranged pre-negotiated rates that you will receive when you visit dentists in the network. Your dentist will submit your insurance claim for you, keeping your out-of-pocket expenses lower than with an indemnity plan.

Compare the Plans

Comparing insurance plans is an important step in buying health insurance. It will save you money in the long run if you take the time to compare premium prices, out-of-pocket costs, plan benefits, the network of physicians available with different plans, and the quality of insurance providers. If you have a favorite physician, make sure your health insurance covers visits to him or her. If you don’t need to see the doctor very often, don’t pay a high premium for low office visit copayments. Health insurance plans are designed to address specific healthcare needs, and you’ll save money and get the most effective coverage by comparing plans to find the health insurance plan that best fits your budget and lifestyle.

Study to Investigate Perception and Role of Teachers,Parents,Management About Religious Education

Introduction:
One’s education is not complete without a study of comparative religion or the history of religion and its relationship to the advancement of civilization. The purpose of this study is to foresee the perception of teachers, parents and management about religious education at primary schools. Religion and beliefs gives awareness of our norms and values. Religious education teaches the ethics of living a peaceful and loving life. It teaches individuals, families, communities that how they should take decisions for living a better life full of peace and harmony. Patrick (2006) said that religious practice benefits individuals, families, and communities and thus the whole world.

Religious education is very important for students at early ages. It teaches them how to response others and tells them ethics of living a better life. Religion plays a significant role in history and society as well, study about religion is essential to understand both the nation and the world. It also makes great beneficence to other parts of school syllabus such as liberty, civil, crafts and disciplines for supportable development. John et al (2003) mentioned in his report that the curriculum needs to cater the child’s affective, aesthetic, spiritual, moral and religious needs in order to develop the individual’s full potential. RE plays specific role in developing spiritual and moral values of a child as well as to be aware to knowledge of God.

Literature Review
Religious education make student broad minded but it happens when teachers teaches them with these clear concepts and practices about how to practice these thoughts as well as to communicate and deal with others in adverse community. Religious Education teachers need to have in depth knowledge of content and pedagogy as well as need to have quality assessment skills to deliver effective instructions as they are the pillars of teaching process. Dinama et al. (2016)

Liagkis (2016) supported the concept that pedagogically, all instructions are determined in the curriculum sequentially but religious education teachers are responsible to deliver effective teaching to learners to make them able to practice

Geoff Teece (2009) proposed an article on learning about religion and learning from religion or religious education. In this article researcher said there is a lack of clarity in terms of learning and actually mean from the religion. Researcher also argued that the term religion is understood by applying a second order explanatory frame work that actually refers to the concept of study of religion such as rituals and myth. Religious education or religious instruction was a serious concern in education system.

To figure it out Gardner (1980) gave a solution that, not to make students committed towards any of the religion and instead of this teach about the events and lifestyles guided in different religions. The question arises after this given solution that is it appropriate to grow students up with the brought minds in sense of their beliefs in educational scenario? Or is it better not to go against the grain and follow the traditional style accordingly? The explorers of these questions were Gardner (1993) & McLaughlin & Hare (1994)

Leahy & Laura in 1997 gave their notion that religion is not restricted to be taught in inflexible environment. Religious concepts can be integrated in other subjects of curriculum to enhance knowledge (P.329).

Leahy (1998) considered that should the parents be allowed to take decision about their child’s learning method of religious education by censoring the curriculum of school but she herself deny it because it will spoil the rights of other religious groups and kill the ways for different groups producing social imbalance.

According to John M.Hull there is a part for the school in preparing pupils to take an informed and thoughtful part in a pluralistic culture. When the society contains not one but several religions, the necessity for a thoughtful study of religion becomes greater, not less. (1984, p. 48.)

While standards such as admiration, acceptance, and treating people with kindness are clearly important plus constantly have been, new public currently furthermore prerequisite to understand the causes of, and possible solutions to, complex and global issues. (Nord and Haynes, 1998, p. 36)

Ethical reflection contributes to that understanding by helping young people see that tolerance of others is not enough; that a global, interconnected world calls for harmony by others whose outcomes and futures are intertwined, and that they want to be prepared to turn, not just personally, but also collectively and politically. (Freiler, 2009, p.15)

Susan D. Holloway in his article “The Role of Religious Beliefs in Early Childhood Education: Christian and Buddhist Preschools in Japan”. Off and on in western writing the Japanese are mark out as a non-religious people apart from it Japanese are considered the faithfulness that conflict with Americans. Japanese show up more prepared to put together and meet the doctrine that often appealing Shinto at the beginning and wedding whereas the Buddhism stand with silence/external rest through in spite of circumstances that work to darken the noticeable philosophical contribution of different doctrine, definite direction of Christians ideology and Buddhism are observed that pressure the school of Japanese.

Objectives of the study:
To find out teacher’s perception about religious teaching as an aspect of education.
To identify the role of teachers for children character development.
To find out parent’s perception about religious teaching.
To explore the role of school management for teaching religious subjects in curriculum.
Methodology of the Study:
A quantitative research design was selected to conduct this study. In this study questionnaires were used as a research tool. In the educational research field questionnaires are worthily considered as a popular technique mostly used for investigating the opinions, attitudes, perceptions and preferences.

Questionnaires constitute an important and popular technique that is widely used to study the attitudes, opinions, perceptions and preferences in the field of educational research. Muijs (2004), Reid (2006)

Oppenheim (1992: 100) described questionnaires as: “The questionnaire is an important instrument of research, a tool for data collection. It is considered a set of questions arranged in a certain order and constructed according to specially selected rules”.

[Creswell (2008), Cohen et al (2007), Raid (2006)] all categorized questionnaires information as there are three types of data that may be collected about respondents through using questionnaires including Factual, Behavioral and attitudinal. Demographic characteristics of respondents are covered in factual questions; behavioral questions are used to investigate about the actions, habits, and experiences of participants; and to know about interest, belief, values, opinions and attitudes investigator uses attitudinal questions. In this study research tool is consisted on two elements from mentioned categories including factual and attitudinal questions.

Three questionnaires were designed for each category of respondents. Respondents of the study were teachers, parents and management belongs to primary schools of Karachi. Total number of statements was 10 for each category of respondents. 30-40 minutes time duration was decided to fill questionnaires after the pilot study. Closed ended statements were used in questionnaires and respondents were asked to give their point of view by chosen rubrics of Likert Scale (Strongly Agree, Agree, to some extent, Disagree, and Strongly Disagree).

1. Pilot testing of Questionnaires
Oppenheim (1992: 48) mentioned this “everything about the questionnaire should be piloted; nothing should be excluded, not even the type face or the quality of the paper”. 50 respondents were selected for pilot testing of questionnaires (20 teachers, 20 parents and 10 management staff). Piloting the questionnaires was aimed to ensure the layout of questionnaires, to cater the language difficulties, to check instructions needed to improve and to improve validity and reliability of questionnaires. The feedback received through pilot testing provides the clarity about statements of questionnaire, layout, instructions and validity as well.

2. Sample selection
Teachers, school management of primary schools and parents of primary grade children of Karachi, Pakistan were selected as a population of this study. Sample was selected district wise; there are 6 districts in Karachi namely Central Karachi, East Karachi, South Karachi, West Karachi, Malir Karachi and Korangi Karachi. By using convenient quota sampling technique 4 districts out of 6 were selected including East Karachi, South Karachi, Malir Karachi and Korangi Karachi. Total 200 sample size was selected for conducting this study. 50 samples were intended to select from each district approximately. For desired sample primary schools were selected through searching on internet and developed communication with concern authorities of all schools for asking their willingness to fulfill research needs.

3. Data collection procedure
Researcher visited schools district wise one by one and distributed 250 questionnaires to participants more than actual sample size to get maximum return rate. 30 out of 250 participants did not return their questionnaires. 220 participants returned questionnaires on time.20 questionnaires out of 220 were excluded due to incomplete responses. So finally researcher got desired sample size 200 out of 250. Remaining questionnaire responses was 40 (principals, wise principals), 100 teachers and 60 parents selected collectively. Whereas, 10 (principals, wise principals), 25 teachers and 15 parents were selected from each district.

5. Analysis of Data:

SPSS version 21 was used for data analysis procedure. 5-Likert scale responses were converted into numeric scale 1-5 to enter the data in SPSS. Through using SPSS researcher calculated the frequencies and percentages. After calculation, result is presented through generating graphs showing frequencies and percentages of responses of each category.

Management By Objectives – A New Way Of Management

In 1965, George S. Odiorne completed a textbook titled, Management by Objective. The fact that the term “Management by Objective” has now become common nomenclature to company executives around the country attests to the success of Odiorne’s literary efforts.Management by Objectives (MBO) is a practical application of the reasoning behind the notion of goal-setting theory. MBO is a process in which employees participate with management in the setting of goals or objectives. An essential feature of an MBO program is that it involves a one-on-one negotiation session between a supervisor and subordinate in order to set concrete, objective goals for the employee’s performance. During the session a deadline is set for the measurement of accomplishment, and the paths to the desired goals and the removal of possible obstacles are discussed. After an established period of time has elapsed (typically six months or year), the supervisor and subordinate meet again to review the subordinate’s performance using the agreed-upon goals as a measuring stick.Odiorne’s concept of management by objective is based on an underlying premise that any system of management is better than no system at all. A secondary premise states that to be workable, any management system must bridge the gap between the theoretical and the practical.Research at such organizations as Black and Decker, Wells Fargo, and General Electric has shown that, on the whole, MBO programs can succeed. Because MBO relies on the established principles of goal setting, it has great potential for improving performance. Real-world constrain however, can sometimes reduce the positive impact of a goal-setting system.The notion that management activity should be directed towards the accomplishment of pre-established goals has considerable intuitive appeal. None of the conditions are at variance with acceptable manager conduct from either a social, legal, or common sense standpoint.Odiorne’s concept of management by objective is based on an underlying premise that any system of management is better than no system at all. A secondary premise states that to be workable, any management system must bridge the gap between the theoretical and the practical. A third important premise establishes that the appraisal of managerial performance is not an activity autonomous from other activities of the firm. In other words, it regards the appraisal process as only one of several sub-systems operating within the confines of a goal-oriented management system.Before proceeding into a discussion of the basic elements of the management-by-objective system several “statements of condition” seem warranted. Each of the following statements relates to the environmental conditions with which managers are confronted and establishes the setting for later determining the practical relevance of the management-by-objective system:A. Because the economic environment within which business firms operate has changed so drastically in recent years, a whole new set of requirements has been placed on companies and their managers.B. The preliminary step in the management-by-objective system dictates that managers identify, in some manner, organizational goals designed to meet the new requirements noted in A, above.C. Immediately following the identification of company goals, management must have available to it an orderly procedure for distributing or allocating responsibilities which are directed toward achieving those goals.D. In the practical world of business management, managerial behavior must become predominant over managerial personality. Furthermore, in the final analysis, results of the behavior (measured against established goals) become the basic criteria for good performance evaluation.E. Total management staff participation in goal-setting and decision-making is recognized for its social and political value even though its impact on production levels may be negligible.F. There exist no one best system of management. Moreover, since managerial activity is dependent, to a large degree, on each manager’s view of specific goals and the total economic system, his actions must be discriminatory.In its briefest form, Odiorne’s decision making system of management by objective contains the following basic elements: (1) Establish an objective before you begin; (2) Collect and organize all of the pertinent facts; (3) Identify the problem and its causes; (4) Work out a solution and some options; (5) Screen options through some decision criteria; (6) Establish some security actions to enhance the probable success of the solution; (7) Gain acceptance of the decision; (8) Implement the decision; and (9) Measure the results. Each of the nine elements shall now be considered in more detail.A positive feature of an MBO system lies in its emphasis on establishing specific measurable goals. In fact, a goal is un-acceptable or inadmissible in an MBO system unless in is measurable You may think that this is impossible for all goals, especially those for those of top-level executives. Although it is difficult to set measurable goals at the higher levels of an organization, it is nonetheless possible. For example, one such quantifiable goal might be that an institutional will be ranked in the top ten by an annual polling of executives in the same industry. 0r the head coach of a college football team may set a goal of making the top 20 in the Associated Press’s coaches’ poll within the next five years. Some more typical goals would be to increase market share from 45 to 55 percent by the end of the next fiscal year, to increase annual production by 10 percent, or to increase profits after taxes by 3 percent. Some goals can be measured in simple yes or no fashion. For example, the goal of establishing a training program for sales personnel or completing a feasibility study by a certain date can he judged in a simple success or failure fashion when the deadline arises. Either such a project has been completed or it has not.Advocates of MBO believe that everyone in an organization could and should be involved in goal setting This includes all personnel, from the chief executive officer (who may set goals in consultation with the board of directors) to the newest member of the clean-up crew. In practice, however, middle level managers and first line supervisors are more commonly involved in such goal-setting systems.Proponents of MBO systems also believe that supervisors must play a special role in the goal-setting process. Supervisors should view themselves as coaches or counselors whose role is to aid their subordinates in goal attainment. This role of coach/counselor extends beyond merely helping to identify and remove obstacles to goal attainment (for example, using personal influence to expedite shipments from another department). It also implies that supervisor will serve as a mentor-someone to whom subordinates can go with their work-related problems and assume that they will be treated with respect and support.One major obstacle to the success of an MBO program can be lack of support from top-level executives. If key people in the organization, especially the president and vice presidents, do not fully endorse MBO, their lack of support will likely he felt and responded to at lower levels. The net effect will be a decided lack of enthusiasm for the program.Problems may also arise if managers are not interested in having subordinate to participate in the goal-setting process. Some managers prefer to retain an evaluative and superior posture and are uncomfortable with the notion of being a coach or counselor to their subordinates.Personality conflicts between superiors and subordinates are another potential problem for goal-setting systems, as is competitiveness. A superior who feels threatened by talented subordinates may do little to help them be more successful and, consequently, more visible, In addition, subordinates may hesitate to set challenging goals for fear of failure and its consequences.MBO systems also tend to emphasize the quantifiable aspects of performance while ignoring the more qualitative aspects. This is an understandable tendency, since participants in MBO systems are encouraged to focus on such dimensions of performance.Qualitative aspects of performance, which are often more difficult to identify and measure, are likely to be overlooked or de-emphasized. For example, how can the quality of service that an organization provides or an organization’s image in the local community be defined and measured? Because the success of an MBO system rests heavily on the quality of the relationship between supervisor and subordinates, the degree of trust and supportiveness that exists in a work unit is a central concern.For an MBO system to be highly successful, these elements are critical prerequisites, The absence of trust and supportiveness severely restricts the system’s effectiveness. Despite these many potential obstacles, the track record of MB0 has been fairly good, In a recent review of the research literature devoted to MBO, Robert Rodgers and John E. Hunter examined 70 reports that included quantitative evaluations of MBO programs. Their findings showed productive gains in 65 of 70 evaluation studies. The average productivity increase was 47 percent, while cost data showed an average savings of 26 percent. Employee attendance was also shown to improve by 24 percent. Follow-up surveys of the level of top-management support for the programs revealed that productivity increased by 57 percent when top-management commitment was high, 33 percent when commitment was average, and only 6 percent when commitment was low.MBO has passed through several phases since its introduction in the l95Os. Initially, MBO was greeted with much enthusiasm by managers and management scholars, During the late 1960s and early 1970s, MBO appeared, so be “sweeping the nation.” Presently, MBO is viewed more objectively by scholars and practitioners as a tool that can be most effective under specific favorable conditions. It is now becoming passé even to invoke the initials MBO. In fact, the principles and philosophies of MBO have become so emotion-laden in the minds of managers than an organization will often introduce an MBO system under a different label. For example, an organization may establish a program called START (an acronym for Set Targets and Review Them) or GAP (Goal Acceptance Program). The mechanics of such programs are likely to borrow heavily, if not totally, from the MBO approach. In short, the trend is toward putting old wine into new bottles, with recognition that mutual goal setting is not a panacea for all organizational problems under all possible circumstances.This theory is helping in several ways.

Its capability for multiple management levels to set, assign, approve, comment, modify, deny or just view MBO metrics and scores.
Its collaboration of performance metric settings between employees and managers.
Its visibility of MBO status progressing through workflow steps.
It configurable workflows to conform to internal business rules and processes.
It automatically estimates bonus payouts based on objective scores.
It is a simplified process to approve scores and manage updates.