Category Archives: general

Survey: 45% of Americans would prefer to skip Christmas – Business on NBCNews.com

Despite a whittling away of consumer debt that has been underway since the recession, many Americans are still entering the holiday season unprepared to cope with the expenses that crop up around this time of year.

Think Finance, a provider of payday loans and other financial services for consumers with limited or no access to banking services, recently surveyed 1,000 Americans across all income levels who use various forms of alternative financial services — including payday loans, prepaid debit cards and direct deposit advances.

via Survey: 45% of Americans would prefer to skip Christmas – Business on NBCNews.com.

More Americans now commit suicide than are killed in car crashes as miserable economy takes its toll

The results were compiled using National Center for Health Statistics data gathered from 2000 to 2009.

Researchers noted a 25 per cent decrease in fatal car accidents, medicalxpress.com reported, while deaths from falls rose 71 per cent, poisoning 128 per cent and from suicide 15 per cent.

Higher automobile standards were credited for the decrease in deaths on the road, with harsher penalties for underage drinking and failing to wear seat belts named as contributing factors.

Previous research has suggested that suicide rates go up during recessions and times of economic crisis.

‘Economic problems can impact how people feel about themselves and their futures as well as their relationships with family and friends,’ Feijun Luo of CDC’s Division of Violence Prevention told Bloomberg.

‘Prevention strategies can focus on individuals, families, neighborhoods or entire communities to reduce risk factors.’

Suicide is now the most frequent cause of injury deaths, followed by car crashes, poisoning, falls and murder.

The study also looked at gender and race, concluding that fewer women died from the four main causes than men.

Hispanics were discovered to have fewer car crashes and suicides than whites but a higher murder rate.

In 2009, more than 37,000 Americans took their own lives, a number that the government and private groups such as Facebook are fighting to lower.

A suicide prevention program is being launched under the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act, backed by $56million of federal money.

The Act was signed by George Bush in 2004, in memory of suicide-victim Garrett, son of former U.S. Senator Gordon Smith.

read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2207089/56-million-suicide-prevention-programme-launched-study-reveals-Americans-lives-die-car-crashes.html
also, see http://reagu.hubpages.com/hub/Becoming-a-Medical-Coder