MINNEAPOLIS & NASHVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

As part of its mission to improve the health of its members through innovative programs and services, UCare today announced a three-year partnership with well-being improvement leader Healthways (HWAY) to offer the award-winning SilverSneakers Fitness Program to 125,000 eligible members in Minnesota and 26 counties in western Wisconsin.

SilverSneakers, the nations leading exercise program designed to keep older adults active and healthy, will be available effective Jan. 1, 2013, to members of UCare plans, including UCare for Seniors Medicare plan, UCares Minnesota Senior Health Options (UCares MSHO), and UCare Connect, UCares Special Needs BasicCare plan for adults with developmental and physical disabilities, and mental illness. Current members of the UCan! UCare Activity Network fitness program also will be eligible to change their fitness option choice to participate in SilverSneakers.

We are pleased to offer approximately 125,000 UCare members the opportunity to improve their health and fitness by participating in the SilverSneakers program, said Ghita Worcester, Senior Vice President, Public Affairs and Marketing, UCare. We work hard to encourage our members to live healthy lifestyles and take advantage of the many health and wellness options they receive through their membership in UCare plans. SilverSneakers expertise, convenient locations, and positive approach to fitness are welcome additions to our preventive health care activities.

Using proven methodologies based upon more than 16 years of science and outcomes, the SilverSneakers Fitness Program increases physical activity in older adults, resulting in higher well-being and lower health care costs. Physical activity can reduce the risk of certain chronic diseases, relieve symptoms of depression, maintain independent living, and enhance overall quality of life.

Evidence also shows that regular physical activity provides important health benefits for people with disabilities, including improved cardiovascular and muscle fitness, improved mental health, and better ability to do tasks of daily life.1 SilverSneakers engages participants in active behavior change through access to a variety of physical activity venues and programming that incorporates physical fitness and social experiences.

UCare is committed to helping people of all ages and abilities overcome barriers to care. By offering the SilverSneakers Fitness Program to their members, UCare is confirming this commitment by providing members with access to a user-friendly, proven solution that provides a unique combination of exercise and social support designed to enhance participant health and well-being, said Ben R. Leedle, Jr., Healthways president and chief executive officer.

The SilverSneakers Fitness Program was founded in 1993 and serves more than 9 million eligible members. The Healthways fitness center network offers convenient access to more than 15,000 participating fitness and wellness facilities nationwide.

About UCare

UCare (www.ucare.org) is an independent, nonprofit health plan providing health care and administrative services to nearly 300,000 members. UCare serves more people from diverse cultures and more people with disabilities enrolled in Medical Assistance than any other health plan in Minnesota. UCare partners with health care providers, counties, community organizations, and other member-directed groups to create and deliver innovative health coverage plans for:

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UCare to Offer Healthways SilverSneakers® Fitness Program in Minnesota and Wisconsin Through 2015

LOUISVILLE, Ky.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

As one of the nationss most experienced Medicare companies, Humana Inc. (HUM) is preparing to address the growing health care needs of the expanding Medicare population.

Humana companies are once again offering a wide variety of cost-effective health plans during the upcoming Medicare Annual Election Period (AEP). Humana will be providing Medicare Advantage (MA) and Medicare Prescription Drug Plans (PDP) to people eligible for Medicare in 2013.

The AEP, when Medicare beneficiaries will select their Medicare coverage for 2013, runs from Oct. 15 Dec. 7, 2012, with coverage taking effect on Jan. 1, 2013. As in recent years, Medicare beneficiaries wont be able to switch plans after the AEP ends (unless they qualify for a special enrollment period), per Medicare program rules.

Medicare Advantage Plans

Humanas Medicare Advantage plans help people get the most out of their health care dollars and include coverage for services like doctors visits, preventive checkups, and hospital stays and many also include coverage for prescription drugs. Most plans also provide benefits such as:

To date in 2012, approximately 1.9 million Medicare beneficiaries have selected Humana individual Medicare Advantage plans for their medical insurance coverage, said Tom Liston, President of Humanas Retail Segment. Humana Medicare Advantage members can rest assured knowing that their coverage continues to be accessible, affordable and meets their individual healthy living and well-being needs. We remain focused and committed to providing value-based health care for our members through an easy-to-navigate, customer-focused experience.

With prescription coverage, health-and-wellness offerings and chronic-condition-management programs available, Humana MA plans offer enrollees many choices including local and regional PPO plans, HMO and Private Fee-For-Service plans.

Humana MA plans also have annual out-of-pocket maximums in 2013, protecting beneficiaries against catastrophic costs. Humana is committed to informing its members and eligible Medicare beneficiaries of the various benefit and savings options that are available to them for 2013.

Prescription Drug Plans

See more here:
Humana’s 2013 Medicare Offerings Feature Savings, Choice and Preventive Health Benefits

ScienceDaily (Oct. 1, 2012) Whether human or baboon, it helps to have friends. For both species, studies have shown that robust social networks lead to better health and longer lives. Now, a team of University of Pennsylvania researchers has helped show that baboon personality plays a role in these outcomes, and, like people, some baboons' personalities are better suited to making and keeping friends than others.

The research was conducted by psychology professor Robert Seyfarth and biology professor Dorothy Cheney, both of Penn's School of Arts and Sciences. They collaborated with the Arizona State University's Joan Silk.

Their work was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Seyfarth and Cheney, along with their colleagues and students, have spent the last 17 years observing a group of baboons living in the Moremi Game Reserve in Botswana, studying the biological roots of their social dynamics. As with many other primates, baboon societies are strongly hierarchical. Females "inherit" their dominance ranks from their mothers and enjoy priority of access to food and mates. But high-ranking females do not always have greater reproductive success than low-ranking females. This suggests that, when it comes to evolutionary success, the inherited advantage of high rank can't explain everything.

"If you look at a baboon society," Seyfarth said, "and see the ranked, matrilineal families, you would think that whatever traits put an individual at the top of the hierarchy, that's what natural selection is going to favor. But that turns out not to be the case.

"In fact, dominance rank is not as good a predictor of reproductive outcomes as a close network of social relationships and stable relationships over time. So our question became 'What predicts having a strong network?'"

Baboon females actively work to maintain close social bonds, but, like humans, some baboons seemed to be better at it than others. With such traits closely tied to fitness and reproductive success, the Penn researchers wanted to get at the root of this variation.

During seven years of observations in the animals' natural habitat, the researchers measured individual female baboons on their sociability. They measured the number of grooming partners a baboon had, as well her tendency to be friendly or aggressive toward others. They also measured reproductive and fitness benefits they accrued: how long individuals and their offspring lived, as well as their stress levels, as determined by the presence of certain hormones in their droppings.

The researchers found that strength of an individual's social bonds was not fully predicted by seemingly obvious factors, such as the female's rank or the size of the family she was born into.

"Even when a female has a lot of relatives," Cheney said, "sometimes she's a loner, but some females who have no relatives do just fine. It suggests that you have to be both lucky and skilled to have these networks."

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Baboon personalities connected to social success and health benefits

Read an interview with ballerina, Ella Camilleri about the discipline of dance that has helped her to succeed both on and off the stage

Rachel Zammit Cutajar

Mariella Dimech talks about the trouble of burying negative emotions. Though dealing with negative situations may disrupt the balance of a relationship in the long term, she says avoiding them will render the relationship unsustainable.

Lacking motivation to get in the gym? Don Pisani talks about new research that has proved the urban myth that women can actually achieve an orgasm while working out - whether doing abdominal training, climbing ropes or cycling - the "coregasm" is now being accepted in the scientific community.

Whether working out or eating right, taking your body type into consideration is an important part of achieving your weightloss goals. Daniel Petre tackles the two most common body types, big bums and big tummies.

After bikini season, when time for recovery may be more realistic, many will go down the surgical route to get the body they are looking for. Ray De Bono cautions people on the reasons they are going down that route and advises them how to go about it in a safe manner.

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[READ] Health and Fitness September edition online

NEW YORK, Oct. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --CKO Kickboxing, one of the fastest growing health fitness franchises, showed how a powerful brand can help a new fitness franchise get off to a fast start as its new gym in Westerleigh section of Staten Island has signed up more than 350 people already even though their Grand Opening won't take place until Sunday, October 7, 2012.

The new cardio kickboxing gym is located at 1267 Forest Avenue at the corner of Jewett and features 50 heavy bags in its spacious 4,000 square foot facility. The high quality, cross training gym provides a family friendly setting to Staten Island's north shore residents who are looking for an alternative to Pilates, yoga, martial arts and spinning classes.

"We're excited to offer cardio boxing classes in Westerleigh," said John Miceli, owner and partner. "We are building on the CKO brand. We are thrilled with the way things have worked out."

Even before the doors to the gym opened on June 23, 100 people had signed up. Another 150 signed up during the first month.

"People know and trust the CKO Kickboxing brand, especially in the New York-New Jersey region, which has more than two dozen locations," said Joe Andreula, Founder of CKO Kickboxing, one of America's fastest growing franchises according to industry standard Entrepreneur Magazine, which included the kickboxing gym franchise in its Franchise 500 list of best franchises.

"We have grown fast for a few reasons. First, because the CKO Kickboxing workout is an efficient total body workout wherepeople get results.The workout appeals to men and women of all ages.Second, we make sure our members feelcomfortable andthat they belong.Our classes are go at your own pace andwefocus mainly on the fitness aspect of kickboxing asapposed tothe martial art. We ensure all members are taught the proper kickboxing techniques so they exercisesafely and can maximize theirworkout," Miceli said.

He cited strong business training and management support from the franchise as another reason for fast growth.

"We attribute our success to the operating model,our marketing strategy and our members.CKO Founder Joe Andreula and his workout and business model provided the necessary training andoperating procedures to pave the way to becominga successful business," he said.

"We did local print advertisementsin Valpak, Shopaholic and Clipper. However, we feel ourbiggest and most effective marketing contributions are our members. They know how effective the workout is. They also continue to expressto us how theyenjoy their experience in our club, which makes themeager to tell their family and friends.Our member referral system is crucial for our club's success."

Fitness kickboxing has been shown to be excellent forimprovingthe cardiovascular system, strength,flexibility and reduces stress.

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Branding Fitness: New CKO Kickboxing Gym in Westerleigh Section of Long Island Signs 350 Members Before Grand Opening

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n0k7d8io2I

30-09-2012 22:14 As it should be, no one will ever wear No. 20 in Eagles history again. The Eagles retired Brian Dawkins' No. 20 during the nationally televised showdown against the New York Giants on Sept. 30.

Link:
Brian Dawkins No. 20 Retired - Halftime Ceremony 9.30.12 at Lincoln Financial Field-Philadelphia - Video

Dear Dr. Don, My husband is 69, and I am 67. Ninety percent of our nest egg is in the stock market, which is presently doing much better on rate of return than any certificate of deposit or other option. Should we have such a large part of our retirement tied up in the market?

Thanks, -- Wendy Worries

Dear Wendy, Stocks are having a great run in 2012. The major U.S. stock market indexes have reached highs they haven't seen since 2007, before the financial crisis. The Standard & Poor's 500 index is up almost 18% year to date (as of mid-September) and by a little more than 27% over the past 12 months. You're not going to get that kind of yield in a CD.

While your nest egg may be heavily invested in stocks, you need to look at your overall financial picture before deciding you're too much into stocks. Are you both receiving Social Security benefits, or are you eligible to receive those benefits once you file for them? Social Security retirement benefits are like an inflation-indexed annuity payment that you'll receive over time. Do either of you receive a pension? The pension payments may not be inflation-indexed, but they also act as an annuity payment.

What I'm getting at is that you should consider how far your low-risk pension and Social Security benefits go toward filling your retirement needs and how much of a gap must be filled by your retirement nest egg. If the investment portfolio is largely for discretionary spending, you can take on more risk than if there's a large income gap not met by your other income sources. Owning your home free and clear also provides a financial safety net with the option to take out a reverse mortgage.

All that aside, your portfolio is probably over-invested in the stock market. I'd suggest paying for a few hours of time for a fee-only financial planner to review your retirement income sources, your retirement income needs and how your portfolio should be invested to meet those needs over time.

Bankrate's content, including the guidance of its advice-and-expert columns and this website, is intended only to assist you with financial decisions. The content is broad in scope and does not consider your personal financial situation. Bankrate recommends that you seek the advice of advisers who are fully aware of your individual circumstances before making any final decisions or implementing any financial strategy. Please remember that your use of this website is governed by Bankrate's Terms of Use.

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Is My Retirement Bet Too Heavily on Stocks?

(MoneyWatch) If you're like most people who are approaching retirement, you've thought long and hard about the answers to these two questions:

- How much money do I need to retire?

- How can I generate a steady stream of income from my retirement savings that lasts the rest of my life no matter how long I live and what happens in the economy?

These are critical questions for most baby boomers who are planning for a retirement that could easily last 20 years or more. And that leads us to the most important question of all: When exactly can I retire?

These three questions have become particularly significant as companies continue to abandon traditional pension plans, meaning plans in which your employer takes responsibility for funding and paying you a monthly retirement income for the rest of your life. Without these safety nets in place, retirement planning now falls heavily on the shoulders of employees everywhere.

With the demise of pension plans, as an employee you're now much more likely to participate in account-based plans, such as a 401(k), 403(b), 457, profit-sharing or cash-balance plans. You might also have substantial savings in an IRA or regular investment accounts. And some of you might elect a lump sum, rather than monthly income, from a traditional pension plan, in which case you face the same challenges.

The biggest retirement planning mistake of all Planning your retirement: The best ways to generate lifetime income Study identifies major flaw with 401(k) plans

With these types of programs, however, you're on your own when it comes to making your money last for the rest of your life. And when your money is exhausted, there'll be nobody there to bail you out, unless you have very generous relatives or friends. Many surveys show that employees approaching retirement are struggling with these issues and need help.

A tale of two retirees

I'd like to tell you two stories about people I know who've had to manage their own retirement savings. These stories contrast the potential outcomes of the challenge of managing your own savings and offer important insights about the strategies that will help you achieve your retirement goals.

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Your most critical retirement planning challenge

LITTLE ROCK, AR--(Marketwire - Oct 1, 2012) - Most American workers know that retirement is, at least in theory, an option for their lives, but that it is not something that happens all on its own. In order to retire, an individual must plan, save, and invest prudently, often under the guidance of a professional retirement planner. According to a recent U.S. News & World Report article, penned by David Ning, retirement planning is more multi-faceted than many individuals realize. There are numerous portfolio options to consider, writes Mr. Ning, but also considerations about health, family dynamics, and more. The article, which urges pre-retirees to look at their eventual retirement from all angles, has merited a comment from Leek & Associates.

Leek & Associates is a public accounting company based in the Little Rock, Arkansas area. The company was founded in 1987 by Stephen Leek, whose vision for the company is to help businesses and individuals alike meet their financial goals through business valuation, accounting, and tax preparation services. Stephen Leek has issued a new press statement in response to the article from Mr. Ning.

"What a wonderful opportunity we have in our work lives, here in the United States, to be able to consider retirement, since in many countries that is not an option," says Stephen Leek in the Leek & Associates press statement. "To have built the financial portfolio needed even to consider retirement is a testament to one's success, and to years of hard work."

Leek goes on to specify some of the different retirement planning considerations mentioned in the article, which include not just financial concerns, but also concerns about living a healthy and satisfying life even post-career. "There are also the less tangible considerations that Mr. Ning has written about here, those that pertain to the sense of fulfillment one has during the retirement years.Giving back to charitable, educational and ecumenical organizations is high on my list, and staying healthy is a something that should become a daily lifestyle choice in those retirement years."

The Leek & Associates founder concludes with some retirement advice of his own. "I would suggest you consider some cash flowing real estate investments to supplement your income from the stock and bond portfolio, and to address the question of a 'Plan B' should your primary retirement investments not work out," writes Leek. "I personally own some real estate investments and have long advised clients on how to evaluate and invest in them. My Risk/Investment Continuum model can help you enhance your plan."

ABOUT:

Founded in 1987, Leek & Associates is a professional association of certified public accounting firms, its principals devoted to providing high-quality, efficient, and responsive services to business clients throughout the Little Rock area. The firm has been successful for 25 years, which is due to quality of our clients and the competency of our people. The firm provides services to individuals and to non-profit organizations; its services include personal and business financial advisement, management consultation, business valuation, general accounting, and tax preparation. The company is zealous for helping clients identify and meet their financial goals. Leek & Associates was founded by Stephen Leek of Little Rock.

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Leek & Associates: Retirement Planning Encompasses Financial and Personal Preparation

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) In a story Sept. 28 about a state-run retirement program for private-sector workers in California, The Associated Press reported erroneously that the California Secure Choice Retirement Savings Program would be administered by a seven-member board. The board actually would have nine members.

Also, companion legislation signed by Gov. Jerry Brown requires another vote in the Legislature before the program can be implemented and participants can be enrolled.

A corrected version of the story is below:

Calif. creates state-run private retirement plan

Brown signs bill to create first state-run retirement savings plan for private-sector workers

By JUDY LIN

Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) California Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation Friday that will create the nation's first state-administered retirement savings program for private-sector workers, over the objection of critics who said it creates a new liability for taxpayers.

The bill, SB1234, will establish the California Secure Choice Retirement Savings Program for more than 6 million lower-income, private-sector workers whose employers do not offer retirement plans.

The program directs employers to withhold 3 percent of their workers' pay unless the employee opts out of the savings program, which can be done every two years. It would be administered by a nine-member board chaired by the state treasurer. The board would select a professional fund manager, which could be a private investment firm or the state's public pension system, to maintain the money.

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Correction: Private Sector Retirement story