Monthly Archives: July 2015
More Americans than expected forgo health insurance — and pay Obamacare penalties
As many as 7.5 million U.S. taxpayers reported that they owed a tax penalty for 2014 for not signing up for health insurance, the Internal Revenue Service said. That amounted to roughly $1.5 billion in penalties. That was at least 1.5 million more taxpayers than the Obama administration expected to...
A Conversation with Muhammad Yunus: Social Business and Microfinance for the End of Poverty
Professor Muhammad Yunus has long envisioned a world free from poverty. He has worked to deliver opportunities for entrepreneurship to all, beginning with small loans for the very poor through the founding of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. Since winning the Nobel Peace Prize with Grameen Bank in 2006, Professor Yunus...
California may let undocumented immigrants buy Obamacare
California lawmakers and activists are spearheading a first-in-the-nation plan to let undocumented immigrants buy Obamacare health insurance. Supporters say the California proposal, which would need federal approval and couldn’t start until 2017, is the next logical step in expanding health insurance to a population that was intentionally excluded from the...
U.S. Uninsured Rate at 11.4% in Second Quarter
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The uninsured rate among U.S. adults aged 18 and older was 11.4% in the second quarter of 2015, down from 11.9% in the first quarter. The uninsured rate has dropped nearly six percentage points since the fourth quarter of 2013, just before the requirement for Americans to...
How Microfinance Helps Developing Nations
Maxim Zorya had more than a decade’s experience as a registered nurse in his native Ukraine, and then in Israel. But when he and his family made Vancouver their home five years ago, Zorya’s nursing career floundered. In a story too familiar for many highly-trained immigrants, Zorya was told he...