Happy New Year!
How to Make a New Year’s Resolution – and Stick to It
How was your Christmas? I had a good one. The next holiday on the calendar is not just a day, but the new year. 2019 is right around the calendar. Turning the page for a new year is a big event. Even if you just stay home and watch TV, a new year is always a chance to start fresh, start new, and enjoy the positive change that a new year could bring.
Are you making a New Year’s resolution for 2019? Maybe you haven’t even thought about it, and you’re still reveling in the fun of Christmas. But, it’s my opinion that the more thought and planning you put into your resolution, the more chance you have at making your resolution a success.
And maybe this year, if you haven’t made a resolution yet, that’s a good thing. Because, in my experience, if you want to make a New Year’s resolution and stick to it, you might want to begin first by creating your resolution a little bit differently than most people do. Check out my tips here.
Merry Christmas!
What if the Affordable Care Act goes away?
Do you rely on the health care marketplace to meet your medical needs? A Texas judge recently ruled that the Affordability Care Act (ACA) is unconstitutional. Regardless of how you lean in politics, you can probably agree with me that the cost of health care just keeps going up and up… so it can be nice to know what your alternatives are if you do rely on the ACA for your healthcare. Or, maybe you missed the December 15 deadline for enrollment and you do not qualify for the special enrollment period, and you’re scrambling for what you’ll do come January 1, 2019. What can you do to cover yourself now for your healthcare for next year? Check out these great alternatives.
Health Care Sharing Ministries
The key word here is “sharing” – if you google exchange instead of sharing, it will give you the information on the Affordable Care Act’s health care marketplace. Health care sharing ministries are an alternative to traditional health insurance, but they are not the same as health insurance. Some of the programs you can look into to see if they meet your needs include:
- Samaritan Ministries
- Christian Health Care Ministries
- Altrua HealthShare
- Alliance of Health Care Sharing Ministries
- Liberty Health Share
- Medi-Share
- MCS Medical Cost Sharing
Perhaps the biggest difference between traditional insurance and health sharing ministries is that members of health care sharing ministries share a set of similar faith beliefs. Based upon that, there are certain medical procedures that will not be covered. Some health care sharing ministries may require church attendance as a requisite for being in the program. Others provide an online prayer board where members can provide support for one another. All these things make health sharing ministries extremely different from regular insurance.
Members of health sharing ministries might pray for each other during their times of illness, sharing their well wishes on an online prayer board.
(Praying Hands by Albrecht Durer)
Charitable Pharmacies
If you have a chronic condition that requires medication, a charitable pharmacy could be a source for you to obtain medication at a reasonable rate until you find a more stable alternative. If there’s a St. Vincent dePaul in your area (they’re known for operating thrift stores), check and see if one of their programs is a charitable pharmacy. It probably won’t be advertised very blatantly, but if they have one, it could be a great help.
Other pharmacies that can help may operate in hospitals. These aren’t labelled as charity programs, but hospitals affiliated with the state or city are probably more likely to have a discount program, if you qualify. You won’t be able to just walk in and get free medication from the get-go, you will most likely have to apply, then be accepted.
Patient Assistance Programs
These are similar to charitable pharmacies and they can be a Godsend if you have a chronic condition. The Partnership for Prescription Assistance is an online index that allows you to search by condition or drug name for agencies that may be able to help.
About This Blog: Please feel free to share any information from this site, in part or in full, giving credit to the author and providing a link to this website. Fearless Faith is a blog dedicated to family, faith and frugality. All views are the author’s own and content is copyright of the author unless otherwise indicated.
EASY Last minute Christmas gifts
Today is December 17 – Christmas is roughly one week away! And believe me, I do enjoy my plotting and planning when it comes to gift giving for the holidays.
Photo courtesy MBisanz via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
It’s all in good fun, of course, planning what to buy and what to give, and maybe even sneaking in a gag gift here or there.
But sometimes the days just sneak up on you and before you know it, you’re in a position where you’re trying to figure out what to buy at the last minute. Maybe you’re not even buying a last-minute Christmas gift – maybe you’re celebrating Hanukkah a week or so late – pushing out a get together after the actual celebration has passed, and you STILL haven’t bought your gifts!
So, if you’re in a pinch trying to figure out what to buy, check out these easy last minute Christmas gifts that could work for several people on your list.
About This Blog: Please feel free to share any information from this site, in part or in full, giving credit to the author and providing a link to this website. Fearless Faith is a blog dedicated to family, faith and frugality. All views are the author’s own and content is copyright of the author unless otherwise indicated.
