Here is an issue that, in the United States, needs no elaboration. Even if you, yourself, do not have a health insurance horror story, most assuredly you have a friend, relative or colleague who does. We're all familiar with these tales by now:
People who lose their health insurance when their employer kicks them to the curb.
Small businesses no longer able to offer coverage to employees because premiums have become unaffordable -- if they can find a company willing to insure them to begin with.
Large businesses unable to complete on a level playing field in the increasingly globalized economy, due to the built-in overhead cost of providing health insurance for employees and, sometimes, retirees.
People without insurance who put off going to the doctor until a health situation reaches the crisis stage, at which point they show up in the emergency room, where they are treated at taxpayers' expense for something that might have been prevented -- or relatively simply and inexpensive to take care of in its early stages.
People who are tethered to unrewarding/unsuitable jobs -- who would maybe like to work part-time and/or start a small business -- because of the need for health insurance.
Your ResourceShelf editors, obviously, are not alone in their deep concern about the health insurance crisis. It quickly emerged a key issue in the 2008 Election. And if you keep up with the papers and reports on DocuTicker, our sister site, you already know that "health insurance" is one of the busiest categories over there.
Obviously, we're not in a position to solve the nation's health insurance crisis. What we can do is offer you helpful information. Like this week's resource, from the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute
The Georgetown University Health Policy Institute has written A CONSUMER GUIDE FOR GETTING AND KEEPING HEALTH INSURANCE for each state and the District of Columbia — fifty-one in all. These Consumer Guides are available at this web site and will be updated periodically as changes in federal and state policy warrant.
The Guides summarize your protections, and so may not answer all of your questions. They are not a substitute for legal, accounting, or other professional advice. Please consult a qualified expert before making any decisions about your own health insurance. The authors, the Health Policy Institute, and Georgetown University specifically disclaim any personal liability, loss or risk incurred as a consequence of the use and application, either directly or indirectly, of any information presented herein.
The guides are organized similarly, including a summary of legal protections, specific information for those in group plans and individual plans, information for small businesses and the self-employed, financial assistance options (federal and state), useful phone numbers and other contact information, and a glossary of health insurance-related terms. Some guides can be browsed online; all are available as PDF downloads.
A family of resources to help information workers be more effective, raise the value of information in their organisations and contribute to success. Read more »
Recently I have found myself cooing over visualisation maps (and heat maps) of health and well being resources. The content rich data is overlayed with mapping technologies, and some interesting themes and patterns are emerging.
A lot of the talk around social media in the last year has been around information overload. Social media has provided us with new and exciting ways to create content. But it has also meant learning new ways to manage and engage with social media tools. Are we teetering on the edge of an information overload precipice?
Information overload is a figment of your imagination. Or a failure of your filter. Or a symptom of your technological submissiveness. Depends on who you ask.
What if you had to sort through 3.5 million articles and social media posts a day and try to pull out the most relevant items for your organisation? What if you then had to cobble it all together into something readable for your top groups and executives in your organisation?
Alacra Compliance saves time by aggregating information from both free and fee-based sources and enabling users to conduct an accurate federated search across these sources (coined “simultaneous search” by Alacra).
FreePint Family
Quilting big data threads
The fallacy of information overload
Information overload: fact, fantasy or filter failure? 
