You cannot buy happiness – not even on ‘Blue Monday’ | Polly Mackenzie

Waking up today, on so-called Blue Monday, the “most depressing day of the year”, you may already be aware that this concept is based on a fraud. An almost deliciously spurious mathematical formula was dreamed up by a PR agency, given the veneer of academic rigour by attaching the name of a lecturer at a further education college, and a media phenomenon was born. More than a decade’s worth of articles and social media memes have at turns reinforced and defied the Blue Monday myth, and it is often now held up as a case study of bad science.

It is, of course, laughable to have a formula where W stands for weather and days-since-Christmas is raised to the power of Q, the days-since-we-quit-our-new-year-resolutions. But the driver behind this mockable maths is a much more sinister lie, one from which many struggle to escape 365 days of the year.

Blue Monday was originally invented for an advertising campaign for Sky Travel. Its sole purpose was to sell holidays with the false promise that spending money would raise flagging spirits. Blue Monday has now been used to sell everything from flowers to Ferraris, takeaways to airport parking. Beat Blue Monday, they tell us (laughing knowingly at the fact that it’s made up): buy something new today.

We’re told every day by advertisers that buying stuff will make us happy. A new pair of shoes will help us to feel better after a breakup. New beauty products will give us a sense that we’re “worth it”. A bigger car will give us social status. New toys will make the children happy. Even loans are sold this way: one payday lender is currently running a campaign with a smiling woman, snuggling a mug of tea and feeling happy thanks to a 1,200% APR loan, an implausible scenario if ever there was one. So it’s no wonder that on Blue Monday, the day our anxieties and misery are supposed to peak, the advertisers scream that the path out of unhappiness is paved with till receipts.

Sometimes the harm this causes is relatively trivial: overconsumption of stuff we don’t need; a bit less money in the bank; a wardrobe that won’t close because we’re not very good at throwing away our throwaway fashion buys.

But the harm can be deadly serious for people struggling with mental health problems. Imagine it: your mood is low. You find yourself crippled by anxiety. You feel like a failure, a burden on your family and friends. This is the moment when a lifetime of being told that stuff will make you feel better takes its toll: in desperation, nine in 10 people with a mental health problems find themselves spending more when they’re feeling unwell.

In my work at the research charity Money and Mental Health, I’ve lost count of the stories I’ve heard that stop me in my tracks. Mothers spending their way through months of postnatal depression – one who bought nearly 100 buggies over four years. A man who tried to buy a villa in a country he didn’t have a visa for, convinced it would turn his life around. A young woman who found buying something online was the only way she could stop a panic attack, so she did it almost every day. A husband who felt such a burden he’d buy endless presents he couldn’t afford for his wife. And many of them tell us that the boxes sit in the living room, unopened, unwanted, but impossible to ignore.

Because buying stuff is just the first part of the cycle. Next comes the guilt. People with mental health problems are far more likely to be living on a low income, and the financial damage that compulsive shopping can do is extraordinary. The boxes – or if they’re actually opened, the new possessions – are a constant reminder of the mistakes made. Too often, people don’t return unwanted goods: nearly half tell us that’s because they just want to pretend it never happened. The guilt brings their mood lower and then buying something for a temporary buzz feels like the only way back up.

We have just launched a new tool, the Shopper Stopper, which is helping people to curb their night-time shopping in particular by allowing them to set the opening hours of online shops. But it’s going to take a wider societal shift to really shake us out of these habits for good.

Comfort eating and substance abuse – other common ways to medicate mood – have physical effects. But the psychological impact of new stuff comes from our culture, not our chemistry. We can, if we change the way we talk about belongings, change the way we all think about shopping. And the people who would benefit the most are those struggling every day to find enough happiness to stay alive, and driving themselves into debt on a doomed quest to find it in a shopping basket. You cannot buy happiness – not even on “Blue Monday” – and the sooner we destroy the myth that you can, the happier we all will be.

You cannot buy happiness – not even on ‘Blue Monday’ | Polly Mackenzie

Blue Cross" $65 Billion Move Away From Fee-For-Service Medicine

In the most current blow to fee-for-service medication, the nation’s Blue Cross and Blue Shield ideas say they are paying a lot more than $ 65 billion annually — about 20 % of the healthcare declare dollars they pay out — on “value-based” care that rewards greater outcomes and keeps sufferers healthier.

The moves by the nation’s 37 Blue Cross and Blue Shield organizations, a summation of which was announced right now, are the most current push away from the standard charge-for-services approach to medicine that can lead to overtreatment and unnecessary medical exams and procedures.

The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, which is the trade group and lobby for Blue Cross plans, mentioned its member programs have a portfolio of much more than 350 “locally-created, value-based mostly programs in 49 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico.” These far more accountable contracts are with a lot more than 215,000 physicians, the association said.

The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association says the contracts with companies are taking on numerous types. They incorporate “pay for efficiency plans,” “episode-primarily based payment plans,” “patient-centered health care homes” as nicely as so-named accountable care organizations (ACOs), a rapidly emerging overall health care delivery system that rewards physicians and hospitals for doing work collectively to enhance high quality and rein in fees.

“Studies estimate that 30 cents of every single healthcare dollar goes to care that is ineffective or redundant,” Scott Serota, chief executive officer of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association said in a statement. “With the nation investing $ two.eight trillion on healthcare every single yr, The Blues think we need to lead in bettering care while assisting to deal with expenses.”

The Blue Cross strategies are the most recent of a parade of health insurance coverage organizations touting their moves away from charge-for-support medication as much more Americans appear for cost-effective overall health care coverage, especially the 8 million folks who purchased ideas on exchanges beneath the Reasonably priced Care Act. Blue Cross ideas are huge players on government-run exchanges below the well being law.

Blue Cross rivals like Aetna Aetna (AET), Cigna Cigna (CI), Humana Humana  (HUM) and UnitedHealth Group (UNH) are also rising the amount of worth-based contracts they have with doctors and hospitals. These insurers, which are publicly-traded, are very likely to update their efforts throughout second quarter earnings reviews over the up coming month.

UnitedHealth, for illustration, has mentioned it expects accountable care contracts to a lot more than double from $ 30 billion annually right now to $ 65 billion by the end of 2018. And Aetna has said much more than 20 percent of its health-related charges will come from value-based mostly contracts this yr.

The insurers say value-primarily based contracts are regional in nature and there is not a a single-size-fits-all approach to worth-based mostly care. Says the Blue Cross association’s Serota: “We’ll carry on to broaden locally-delivered, nationally-leveraged worth-based applications with the needs of patients in mind.”

Asking yourself how Obamacare will influence your wellness care? The Forbes eBook Inside Obamacare: The Correct For America’s Ailing Well being Care Technique answers that question and far more. Accessible now at Amazon and Apple. 

Blue Cross" $65 Billion Move Away From Fee-For-Service Medicine

Meals Waste Fuels Growth for Biochemical Maker Blue Marble

Blue Marble Biomaterials is out to exchange petroleum-derived chemicals in the meals, beverage, and personalized care markets with natural, organic biochemicals although guaranteeing aggressive and secure charges. Food waste, a major feedstock for their goods, fuels their speedy growth and worldwide growth.

Final quarter marked the launch of their very first revenue cycle for the 7 12 months-previous Missoula-based Blue Marble Biomaterials, a subsidiary of Blue Marble Power. In the past sixteen months, they have grown from 9 to 24 workers, improved their daily processing capability from three to fifty-five tons of feedstock, and now count dozens of new clients.

Using a procedure that mimics nature, they aim to be the normal option to Dow Chemical. “Nature is really efficient—it does not produce waste,” mentioned Colby Underwood,Blue Marble’s Chief Business Officer and Co-CEO. “We imagined about how to replicate nature, how do we cease employing waste in our provide chain, how do we turn into a a lot more effective species by minimizing the sum of so named “waste” we’re throwing away every year.”

Their timing is right—consumers have grow to be a lot more conscious about the supply of merchandise, governments are investing a lot more in clean technology and creating green-collared jobs, and businesses are moving away from relying on politically unstable regions for power sources. In contrast to the fluctuating price of crude oil or petroleum, Blue Marble can promise pricing for eight to 18 months, making it less complicated for consumers to price range for the future. Underwood said that less than 20% of all chemical offered in the US are renewable or sustainable and that there are forecasts from the USDA that by 2025, 45% of all chemical substances will be renewable.

 “Pink Peppercorn” vs. Petroleum

Petrochemicals are chemical merchandise derived from petroleum and they are everywhere. Thousands of client goods include one particular or much more petroleum derived chemical compounds and most of these petrochemicals are produced by massive companies such as Dow Chemical. They are in our chewing gum, perfume, skin lotions, sunscreen, and beverages. They taste and color our foods and give farmed salmon its pinkish hue.

When foods manufacturers make items from natural matter such as beer, coffee, baked goods, pasta, sauces, cheese, and so on, they also produce what most men and women think about to be waste (feel of the coffee grounds you throw out every single morning right after brewing your pot of coffee). Blue Marble feeds a cocktail of trade secret polyculture bacterial cassettes to that biomass feedstock to generate distinct organic biochemicals.  Blue Marble’s solution line reads far more like a homeopathic catalog than a record chemical substances since their biochemicals derive from organic merchandise like pink peppercorn, cardamom seeds, and Western Red Cedar. The feedstock for these biochemicals is comprised of byproducts that would typically finish up in our landfills, compost centers, or burn piles.

Fermentation Tanks at Blue Marble Biorefinery. Crude oil is designed by stress, heat, biomass and naturally happening bacteria deep underground. “We are essentially replicating what transpires deep in the Earth in our fermentation tanks to create the biochemicals,” mentioned Colby Underwood, Blue Marble’s Chief Business Officer and Co-CEO. (Blue Marble Facebook Page, 5/five/14).

Pivot from biofuels to biochemicals

Blue Marble’s Co-founder and President James Stephens explained he commenced collecting microbes as a teenager and he has tens of 1000′s of samples now. Following operating in numerous biotech companies, Stephens found power generation to be extremely inefficient and imagined “there need to be a way to harness all-natural systems” rather.

He discovered a way. With Kelly Ogilvie, Stephens co-founded Blue Marble Power in 2007 in Seattle. The company started out as a biofuel business, converting algae into biofuels.

“We produced an effective eco-system primarily based approach to make renewable energy making use of algae,” said Stephens. “A handful of many years later, we recognized that the chemical substances becoming created in the method have been a lot a lot more valuable.”

The founders approached Underwood in 2007 to join the group as employee no. 4. Underwood assisted them identify the organization opportunity in focusing on creating biochemicals. In 2008, the business pivoted from creating biofuels to biochemicals.

Stephens created the patented processes that develop the biochemicals as effectively as found the parent bacteria that catalyzes the process. Stephens, who like “any excellent scientist,” has a lab at residence to tinker with experiments, said “there was no Eureka moment” in establishing the technology.

“It has been an incremental approach to learn how to make the chemical substances. Every single biochemical is produced in a diverse eco-technique with 1000′s of various organisms doing work together in a certain way,” said Stephens. “It’s like directing a rain forest.”

Underwood explained, “From our personal investigation, we’re the only organization in the globe to patent this variety of fermentation process to generate GMO free, all natural, drop in substitute chemicals for the flavor, fragrance and personal care markets.”

Meals Waste Fuels Growth for Biochemical Maker Blue Marble

Aetna, Humana, Blue Cross Snag Obamacare"s Bargain Shoppers

Americans purchasing on government-run exchanges for health insurance primarily based on the price of premiums leaned towards strategies from Aetna Aetna’s Coventry business, Humana Humana (HUM) or the array of Blue Cross plans sold by Wellpoint (WLP), according to a new review out this week.

Based on costs they supply in following fall’s open enrollment period for coverage in 2015, this kind of competitive pricing could assist them expand their membership amongst folks getting coverage on exchanges below the Affordable Care Act.

In regions exactly where these firms participated on the exchanges underneath the Inexpensive Care Act, people have been most likely to take into account merchandise supplied by Coventry, the Aetna (AET) subsidiary, which had 54 percent of its programs competitively priced, in accordance to an analysis by Avalere Wellness, a research and advisory services firm on well being policy issues tracking the Cost-effective Care Act.

A plan was considered competitively priced if it was at or under the benchmark prepare, or the “second-lowest price silver program in the area.” For the most part, silver programs cover 70 % of a subscriber’s health-related care expenses, but they could cover much more depending on income-based mostly subsidies.

Avalere vice president Caroline Pearson Pearson, in a statement accompanying the firm’s evaluation stated consumers buying on exchanges are “extremely cost-sensitive.”

For the duration of a parade of very first-quarter earnings conference calls, insurance firm after insurance firm confirmed that the silver strategies had been the going away favourite selection of buyers buying on the exchanges.

Humana had 45 percent of its strategies competitively priced. Wellpoint, which operates Blue Cross and Blue Shield strategies across the nation including people under the Anthem brand,  had 38 percent of its programs competitively priced.

Pondering how Obamacare will influence your overall health care? The Forbes eBook Within Obamacare: The Repair For America’s Ailing Overall health Care Method answers that query and a lot more. Offered now at Amazon and Apple.

Aetna, Humana, Blue Cross Snag Obamacare"s Bargain Shoppers

Blue Cross Says "80-85" % Of Obamacare Enrollees Are Paying out

The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, which represents the nation’s Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans, says “80-85″ % of newly enrolled men and women purchasing ideas under the Inexpensive Care Act are paying their premiums.

The figure was confirmed by Forbes this morning and is slated to be announced later on right now by the Chicago-based trade association for the nation’s Blue Cross and Blue Shield strategies. The final results, which verify from a survey of most Blue Cross participating on exchanges, are as of Feb. one.

The news solutions critics of the health law who have criticized the Obama administration for not telling men and women how numerous of individuals who have signed up are in fact having to pay their premiums. President Obama yesterday announced that more than 7 million Americans have signed up for coverage to programs by way of state or federal marketplaces known as exchanges.

“Across the Blue technique, we are seeing payment from 80-85 % of new exchange consumers,” the association confirmed in a statement to Forbes. “Blue plans continue to enroll men and women who were ‘in line’ as of March 31 and supplying extensive buyer help to them. We want to make certain individuals have access to coverage.”

Blue Cross plans are the biggest players in the work to cover Americans under the health law. A spokesman for Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association mentioned plans are even now enrolling men and women so the benefits are incomplete only for the initial 4 months of enrollment.

Many other wellness ideas run by Aetna Aetna (AET), Cigna Cigna (CI), Humana Humana (HUM) and UnitedHealth Group UnitedHealth Group (UNH) are also participating in the exchanges. Numerous of the publicly-traded well being insurers are anticipated to report their 1st quarter earnings in the subsequent month when they will also disclose payment charges.

Firms that operate Blue Cross strategies are also owned by shareholders like individuals operated by Wellpoint (WLP) but there are also those that are nonprofit and individuals that are mutual programs and as a result owned by policyholders. Overall health Care Service Corp., for illustration, is the nation’s fourth greatest well being insurer and is mutual, owning strategies in Illinois, Texas, Oklahoma, Montana and New Mexico.

“Paying a initial premium is the final stage in enrollment and our Ideas set their deadlines for payment individually and it will vary across the Blue program,” the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association stated in its statement to Forbes. “Therefore, there will not be a final number of who has paid for some time.”

Blue Cross Says "80-85" % Of Obamacare Enrollees Are Paying out