Recycle Ink cartridges and Cellphones

Today is Earth Day. ...And, among so many things that we can do for our beloved earth and its environment, we can at least start with some small steps first.

Please care to recycle your old cell phones and empty printing cartridges and help in keeping thousands of tons of potentially hazardous plastics and metal out of landfills and incinerators per year. You may find the following facts interesting:

o 78% of homes have inkjet printers.
o Only 5% of inkjet cartridges are recycled.
o 300,000 cartridges end up in a landfill each year.
o 5000 tons of plastic and metal goes into landfills each month from ink cartridges and cell phones.
o It takes 1000 years for industrial grade plastic to decompose.
o There are approximately 200 million cell phone users in USA.
o 18 months is the average life of a cell phone.
o 140 million cell phones were disposed of last year.

You may earn cash or make a fund-raiser campaign, while recycling ink cartridges or cell phones by using the service of freerecycling.com or fundingfactory.com among others. Office product chains like 'Office Depot' or 'Staples' also give you $3 coupon in exchange of a cartridge. To get more comprehensive information about recycling various potentially hazardous products, visit the non-profit organization, Earth911.org.

E-visits : Health Care Goes Online

In many cases of illness, the best care still calls for actual human touch. Still, in some special situation, if you're sick, you may not feel like wasting time in a doctor's office waiting room. And here comes a solution for such cases.

With the penetration of internet into all aspects of our daily life, health care couldn't remain aloof from all those advancements. It started with educational programs for degrees in healthcare management and nursing. Nowadays, more and more physicians are conducting online exams, and a growing number of insurance companies are supporting the concept. It's projected that one in five office visits could be eliminated through online communication. Recently, some of the biggest insurance companies, including Aetna and Cigna, started reimbursing doctors for E-exams.

The visits utilize questionnaires to help the doctor properly diagnose any problems in the patient. All of it is documented in the patient chart to refer to for future visits and care. The American Academy of Family Physicians also supports the idea, but stresses that only non-urgent medical issues can be handled this way. E-visits are best suited for people with easy to diagnose aches and pains, or for established patients who have previously received care from the physician's practice and now need follow-up visits.

E-visits should be a payable physician service. Usually, the patient initiates the process and agrees to e-visit service terms, privacy policy, and charge for receiving asynchronous care from a physician or other qualified health professional. Thereafter, electronic communication occurs over a HIPAA-compliant online connection, which includes the total interchange of online inquiries and other communications associated with this single patient encounter.

The physician appropriately documents the E-visits, including all pertinent communication related to the encounter. The physician or other qualified health professional has a defined period of time within which responses to an e-visit request are completed.

So, next time you are sick, may be putting your hand on the mouse would be a more convenient idea ....

Tax 2007: New Benefits for Homeowners

Foreclosure Benefit: Before 2007, taxpayers often owed income tax on the value of their home loan after that loan was cancelled through a foreclosure proceeding, otherwise known as "cancellation of indebtedness income." But now homeowners who went through foreclosure in 2007 have Congress to thank for the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007. So, for 2007 tax return, if you had cancellation of indebtedness income on your principal residence (Note: Not investment property), the first $2 million goes income-tax free. For more details, visit IRS webpage on this topic.

Mortgage Insurance Benefit: If you purchased mortgage insurance contract for a home loan in 2007, you may be able to deduct your premiums. You must itemize to take this perk. If you qualify, the value of your insurance premiums is treated as deductible mortgage interest. The benefit starts phasing out if adjusted gross income exceeds $100,000. For more details, visit IRS webpage on this topic.