9/11 Anniversary

Let's remember the people who died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and remember the people who serve our country for our freedom!

The United States mark the 13th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack. The National September 11 Museum features artifacts and graphic photos of the attacks, which is now open to the public.

Family members of those who lose loveones in the attack will be gathering on the grounds to read the names of the deceased which is a yearly event. The roll call will pause four times to mark the times when the 1st passenger plane hit the World Trade Center, then the 2nd plane struck. The 3rd pause is for when the 1st tower fell and the last when the second tower fell.

The memorial plaza will be closed to the public for most of the day and available only to family members. It will reopen at 6 p.m., at which point thousands of New Yorkers are expected to mark the anniversary at the twin reflecting pools where the towers once stood.

Healthcare.gov site Still Suffers from Glitch

People can lose their new health insurance policies if they failed to resubmit citizenship or immigration information to the government by the end of next week but with the Healthcare.gov site suffering glitches from time to time, they are having a hard time doing it.

Most of them send the information multiple times just to be sure that they are sent, and others can't access their accounts at all.

310,000 person receive letters from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services asking them to secure a proof of their citizenship or immigration status by September 5 or their insurance will be canceled at the end of the month. Aaron Albright of CMS said the letters were sent to consumers who have no citizenship or immigration documentation with the government. However, agents said that most of the immigrants that they have assisted has already sent the documents during enrollment. 

If you are having problems with Healthcare.gov call (800) 318-2596.

Homeowners who don't have Hurricane Insurance Will have a Tremendous Headache

Homeowners don't have Hurricane Insurance and sustained damaged in their homes due to Tropical Storm Iselle which hit Hawaii will have to dig deep in their pockets to shoulder the repairs. Even if they have homeowner’s policy. Since you cannot purchase hurricane insurance once a hurricane watch or warning is announced. Also, homeowner’s insurance policy does not cover storm damage even if the hurricane status was downgraded to a tropical storm once it reached land. So that means, even if the hurricane is reclassified to a tropical storm three days before landfall, your homeowner’s insurance will not cover the damages sustained.

Check out the full news here: http://khon2.com/2014/08/18/storm-ravaged-homeowners-without-hurricane-insurance-out-of-luck/

Russia Bans Agricultural Imports from US, European Union, Australia, Canada and Norway

Russia on Thursday August 7, 2014 announced that they will be banning imports of agricultural products and food from the United States, the European Union, Australia, Canada and Norway as retaliation to ill-advised Western sanctions against Russia.

Russia Prime Minister Dmitri A. Medvedev said that they will ban importation of pork, beef, fruit, vegetables and dairy products from the European Union, the United States, Canada, Australia and Norway for one year.

Russia is one of the largest market for agricultural exports that amounted to 11.8 billion euros ($15.7 billion) in 2013. That will be a massive lost on the European economy, which is struggling with recession right now.

Russia imported $6.7 billion of meat and meat products in 2013, and most of them were imported from countries that are included in the ban like Denmark (6.6%), Germany (6.4%), USA (5.3%), and Canada (3.8%).

As for Canadian, their $500-million Russian market for pork will be hard to replace. Ireland exported €150m of food and drink to Russia in 2011, and now that market is gone. Irish economy will definitely feel the pain.

European shares dropped as an effect of this ban. In Finland, they are worried that their struggling economy is headed for disaster. 

Russia is still thinking about banning flights over Siberia that will have huge effects on European and American airlines routes to Asia.

Clearly, Barrack Obama and the European Union puppets didn't think this through. Why would you impose sanction on Russia for the Ukraine crisis? US didn't get sanctioned when they invaded Iraq. European Union should have shrugged Barrack Obama's pressure on hitting Russia just because he didn't get what he wants. Barrack Obama is like a spoiled child who throw tantrums when he don't get what he wants, and the European Union leaders are like his nannies who want to please him all the time even though their people will suffer in the end. U.S. Government should just stop sticking their nose on things that doesn't concern them. This is an epic failure on Barrack Obama's foreign policy. If the European Union goes into deep recession, they just have to look at the mirror and blame the gullible moron standing in front of them.

Obamacare Premiums Rising

California officials said that the more than 1.2 million consumers in the Obamacare insurance exchange can expect an average rise in premiums of more than 4.2% in 2015 on California's health insurance exchange.

In other major urban areas will have higher increases than the average, San Francisco had the highest average increase of 6.6%. Orange County is at 6.3%, while Los Angeles was at 4%.

You can check your coverage if it will be affected by the new rates at Covered California's online rate calculator.

The average premium increase for 2015 for the 24 states and the District of Columbia will be at around 7.5% based on the findings and analysis of PwC's Health Research Institute.

Covered California will have 10 insurers next year, including major insurers such as Blue Shield of California and WellPoint Inc.

Insurance Company Refused to pay Operation for Baby's Brain Tumor

Doctors discovered a life-threatening brain tumor in the left temporal lobe of Savannah Snodgrass when she was just 4 months old and she was immediately sent to the Texas Children's Hospital. The doctors decided to observe her since she was too fragile and just too young to undergo a brain surgery. Doctors watch if the tumor is growing. Now the doctors decided to do an emergency surgery last Tuesday July 8 but it was cancelled because Superior HealthPlan Texas HMO, denied their coverage for the operation.

Her mom Tessa Snodgrass, 38 is a retired U.S. Army major, she received the letter of denial from their HMO. She told Fox news that her baby was having seizures that started last March, and was brought to the hospital after having 15 seizures in a 24-hour period.

This is a really sad news, shame on the Superior HealthPlan for making it difficult for their members to get treated. The mother said that the company's reason for denying their claim is that the Texas Children's Hospital is an out-of-network provider and they need to transfer to a new hospital in Austin, Texas which is an hour drive. This is just ridiculous. I hope the HMO company come to their senses and make things right for this angel.

Read the whole story here on Fox News.

Cars that tops the JD Powers 2014 Initial Quality Study

Highest ranked small car: Hyundai Accent

Highest ranked small SUV (tie): Kia Sportage

Nissan Juke (tie)- Highest ranked small SUV

J.D. Power and Associates conducted released their 2014 Initial Quality Study on vehicle brands and Porsche topped the list. They have also noticed the increasing number of issues in all cars overall due to new technologies.
The survey ranks brands and individual models in terms of the number of problems a vehicle incurred per 100 within the first 90 days of ownership, the fewer the better. The survey is the auto industry's number one guide for new cars quality and meet customers expectation.

Porsche which is number 1 had 74 problems per 100 vehicles within the first 90 days of ownership, followed by Jaguar in second with 87 problems. The third is Lexus with 92, and then Hyundai with 94.

You'll noticed that Hyundai has improved tremendously taking the number 4 spot, they were at 10th in 2013. Also Hyundai is considerably cheaper than the high end brands in the top 3. Hyundai’s philosophy has paid off, "Go after the big ones; make measurable improvements."

Dave Zuchowski the CEO of Hyundai Motor America said that, their stunning climb in the survey “speaks to our long-term commitment to quality.” Hyundai vehicles got 3 top awards on the JD Powers 2014 Initial Quality. Hyundai Accent got the highest ranked small car, Elantra got the highest ranked compact car, and their Genesis sedan bagged the highest ranked midsize premium car.

2014 BRAND RANKING

*Average problems per 100 vehicles of brand's whole line:

1. Porsche 74
2. Jaguar 87
3. Lexus 92
4. Hyundai 94
5. Toyota 105
6. Chevrolet 106
7. Kia 106
8. BMW 108
9. Honda 108
10. Lincoln 109
11. Audi 111
12. Chrysler 111
13. Cadillac 115
14. Mercedes-Benz 115
15. Volvo 115
16. Ford 116
17. GMC 116
18. Ram 116
19. INDUSTRY AVERAGE
20. Buick 120
21. Nissan 120
22. Dodge 124
23. Land Rover 127
24. Infiniti 128
25. Volkswagen 128
26. Acura 131
27. Mini 133
28. Subaru 138
29. Mazda 139
30. Scion 140
31. Mitsubishi 145
32. Jeep 146
33. Fiat 206

BEST INDIVIDUAL MODELS BY TYPE

Small car: Hyundai Accent, Mazda2, Kia Rio
Compact car: Hyundai Elantra, Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic
Compact premium car: Lexus ES Acura TL, Acura ILX (tie), BMW 4 Series (tie)
Compact sporty car: Mazda MX-5 Miata, Volkswagen GTI, Scion tC
Compact premium sporty car: Porsche Boxster, Porsche Cayman, Nissan Z
Midsize car: Chevrolet Malibu, Hyundai Sonata, Toyota Camry
Midsize sporty car: Dodge Challenger, Chevrolet Camaro
Midsize premium car: Hyundai Genesis, Lincoln MKS, BMW 6 Series (tie), Lexus GS (tie), Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class (tie)
Midsize premium sporty car: Porsche 911, Jaguar F-Type
Large car: Kia Cadenza, Nissan Maxima, Toyota Avalon
Large premium car: Porsche Panamera, Lexus LS, Hyundai Equus
Small SUV: Buick Encore (tie), Kia Sportage (tie), Nissan Juke (tie)
Compact SUV: GMC Terrain, Chevrolet Equinox, Toyota FJ Cruiser
Compact premium SUV: Infiniti QX50, BMW X3, Audi Q5
Compact MPV: Mazda5, Kia Soul, Ford C-Max
Midsize SUV: Ford Edge, Hyundai Santa Fe (tie) Nissan Murano (tie)
Midsize premium SUV: Lincoln MKX, Porsche Cayenne, Infiniti QX70
Midsize pickup: Honda Ridgeline, Nissan Frontier (tie) Toyota Tacoma (tie)
Minivan: Chrysler Town & Country, Toyota Sienna, Dodge Grand Caravan
Large SUV: Chevrolet Suburban (tie) GMC Yukon (tie), Chevrolet Tahoe
Large premium SUV: Infiniti QX80, Cadillac Escalade
Large light-duty pickup: Ford F-150, Toyota Tundra, Ram 1500
Large heavy-duty pickup: Chevrolet Silverado HD, GMC Sierra HD