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“My mom says that they pay their taxes so other people can use Obama care to get insured and that it isn't helping the middle class families who are suffering since the cost of medical insurance has risen. Is this true?? Why is it considered bad??”Thank-you for your question and the A2A.Yes, your parents pay taxes, and yes some of those tax dollars—along with everyone else that pays taxes—are used to subsidize, that is to say lower the cost to the policy holder, premiums paid to a private, for-profit, company whose business is selling health insurance policies.While, your mom is correct in saying that heath insurance premiums (“…the cost of medical insurance…” has continued to rise post-ACA (or Obamacare—same thing), it has risen less than it did pre-ACATwo reasons, like it or not, that premiums in general and the ACA in particular have risen is because a) we have not addressed the underlying cost of healthcare —it is expensive and continues to cost more—and b) the uncertainty brought on by the current attempts to repeal or repeal and replace with a new plan that removes both the individual mandate to obtain health insurance (which is why insurance companies went along with removing restrictions/sanctions for people with pre-existing conditions such as diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure, etc.) along with threats to unilaterally end the subsidy payments altogether have companies opting out of the ACA marketplace or raising premiums to offset the potential losses. They are in business to make money, not provide healthcare. Insurance is simply the product they sell.But, and your mom is not alone in this, arguing that tax dollars used to subsidize the cost of ACA health insurance is bad or even an aberration is incorrect.Consider these points:Your parents pay a specific Medicare tax used to pay for Medicare hospitalization (Medicare Part A)Part of the general income taxes are used to subsidize the cost of Medicare premiums for Part B (outpatient care) and Part D (prescription drugs)Your parents pay a specific tax to Social Security which is used to provide Social Security benefits to current retireesPart of general income taxes are used to pay for Medicaid which provides heathcare access for the poor (really poor) and —here is the kicker— both healthcare access and other support for disabled children and adults allowing them to live and work in their communities as opposed to being confined to an institution (also a public, taxpayer supported expense).If your parents have employer sponsored health insurance then there are additional tax subsidies that are provided to themTheir employer is able to deduct the cost of the premiums (average for 2016 is just over $18,000 per year for family coverage)Your parents most like pay for their share of the total premium cost (average is 25% of the total cost) pre-tax. This means that the money they pay in premiums is deducted from their income and is not considered when calculating income taxesEmployer provided benefits are taxable for income purposes, unless the benefit is specifically excluded. After WWII, as more employers began offering health insurance as an employee benefit, Congress enacted a law which exempted the value of health insurance from taxation.Each of these amounts to a HUGE tax subsidy which pretty much dwarfs the subsidy to ACA participants.One last thing. There is much risk in life and you can only do 3 things with risk:Ignore it and hope it never happensMitigate it (wear seat belts when in the car, wear a helmet riding a bike or motorcycle, etc.)Transfer it by purchasing insuranceWhen you purchase insurance, you give money to the insurance company in the form of premiums. The insurance company puts most of those dollars into a pool that is used to pay claims of other policy holders. If your parents suffer a loss (get sick and see a doctor, their car is stolen or in a collision, your house is broken into or damaged in some way), then they can file a claim and their loss is covered as allowed by the policy. The key point here is that this is how insurance works—everyone’s premium contribution is placed into a common pool and then pays for everyone else’s claims.I would agree that the middle class is suffering, but I would disagree that the ACA (Obamacare) is a cause. In fact, the ACA has helped many Americans by allowing them the option to obtain health insurance, and this access to healthcare. This is critical since health insurance is all to often the gateway to health care and lack of insurance can saddle middle class American’s with enormous medical bills that they cannot repay:

Warning: Long AnswerFirst of all, I want to begin by saying that this is my personal opinion. From my perspective, there are many reasons why you shouldn’t get married from the perspective of both genders. The main reasons are that there are not a lot of benefits to being married and that it is no longer necessary or sensible today. The cold, hard truth is that marriage is not all it’s cracked up to be. As a young and single American guy, here are some of the reasons why I will never get married. Most of these points also apply from the perspective of a woman.It diminishes your freedom, friendships, respect, money, space, and sex life. You won’t be seeing your friends nearly as much as you used to, especially if you have kids. There’s a reason why people wear the same clothes to weddings and funerals. You can no longer come and go as you please or make any purchases or decisions without the consent of your partner. Personal space no longer exists and people will look at you differently now that you’re married. Also, sex gradually becomes less frequent and exciting over time with the same person because the fact that you are entitled to only one sexual partner for the rest of your life will diminish the excitement and pleasure that made it good. It is not a good idea if you value freedom and privacy.More than 50% of marriages in the United States will eventually end in divorce, and 70% of divorces are initiated by the wife. By those odds, would you buy a car if the brakes only worked half the time?I do not want to have children! Don’t get me wrong, kids are adorable and I have nothing against them, but they’re exhausting to take care of, especially when they’re very young. All of your attention goes from your spouse to your child/ren, which significantly reduces marital satisfaction. You will change into a completely different person if you become a parent. Also, kids are very expensive to raise. The average cost of raising a child in the U.S. from birth to age 18 is about $250,000 and that doesn’t even include college (university). Besides, this is a very big and scary world we live in. Would you really want to bring a child into this world? Even if you really want to, there’s nothing wrong with that if it is your dream, but you don’t need to be married to do so. But again, don’t let society pressure you into feeling like you have to. If you really want a family and/or a significant other, do it because you actually really want it, not because you have been led to believe that it is something that you are expected or obligated to do at a certain point in your life, if your parents want grandchildren, or if people keep asking or pressuring you. Too many people only do this because they have been told to believe that it is the ultimate gateway to a fulfilling life, which is not always the case. Do whatever you want, regardless of what society tells you.I am not religious! Religion is beginning to lose its threshold and influence, and marriage is very much considered a religious ceremony. There is a correlation between the decline of marriage and the decline of religion. It may still be important to the devoutly religious, but I am not among them and do not recognize that same importance.The history of marriage is quite sexist! In the past, women and children were actually considered property of their husbands and were not allowed to speak or have opinions. Remnants of this are still evident today, such as the bride’s father walking her down the aisle and passing her off to the groom. As well as the wife taking her husband’s last name, symbolizing that she belongs to him. Mildly sexist undertones are still present in a tradition that we have preserved for too long.Marriage is very expensive! An engagement ring costs 2 months salary at a bare minimum, the average wedding is over $30,000, and a divorce can cost even more than that. Imagine wasting all that money and making a huge investment into a big venture such as marriage if it isn’t even guaranteed to last.It is on the decline! Less people than ever are getting married and the numbers continue to steadily drop. Young adults today are more focused on their careers and personal success instead of fulfilling the role of a spouse and parent. It is estimated that up to 1/3 of millennials will never be married. 50 years ago, nearly 75% of American adults were married. Today, that percentage is nearly 50% and it’s only getting lower.Happily ever after does not exist! At least not in the way we have been led to believe. Life is not a Disney movie. There is no such thing as “happily ever after.” Movies, TV, and Social Media have risen people’s expectations of a relationship to unrealistic extremes. The idea of “happily ever after” implies that the couple lives the remainder of their days in constant happiness, which is utterly unrealistic. Every relationship has moments of joy, tears, and hardships. A lot of these Hollywood movies place heavy emphasis on the honeymoon phase, which is a period of time at the beginning of a new relationship where the two lovers are infatuated with each other and blind to their flaws and insecurities. They don’t show the wear and tear that comes with real relationships and give false impressions and ideas of relationships by not doing so.Marriage is obsolete and outdated! It is the relic of a bygone era that has been upheld into a new age where it is no longer useful or sensible. All of the incentives that people had to marry are now obsolete because you can have a committed relationship and get regular sex without being married. You can also get hospital visitation rights and tax breaks through other legal means. Back during the traditional era, women were not allowed in the workforce and needed a man to provide them with financial security. At the same time, men needed a woman to raise children and make dinner while they went to work all day to provide for themselves and their families. The age of the nuclear family is over. We are now living in the progressive era of gender equality. For the first time in recorded history, there are more women than men in the workforce and more women with degrees than men, and that’s a testament to improving gender relations. Today’s women are driven and ambitious, and do not need a man to provide for them when they are perfectly capable of providing for themselves.Divorce has serious repercussions for men! Men who want to get married need to understand that they are making themselves vulnerable to a very broken legal system that can financially ruin them. Thanks to the outdated divorce laws in the United States, getting married is like playing Russian roulette financially speaking. Men risk losing (at least) half their savings and being required to pay alimony and child support (if he has children) to his ex-wife, despite the fact that she is no longer married to him and regardless of her employment status or income. You could sign a prenup, but they are not always reliable 100% of the time and asking to sign one usually communicates a sense of distrust to the other spouse. These laws were written during traditional times when women relied on men for financial security. In today’s gender equal society with more working women than ever before, these laws are outdated and no longer necessary. I can see why child support is still necessary, but I can’t say the same for alimony and half of the other person’s savings. It is also much harder for men to gain child custody seeing as how they are only granted custody 20% of the time. I don’t plan on having children, but I can’t imagine how painful it must be to have your child taken away from you and only being able to see them a fraction of the time. That’s not only bad for you, but for your child(ren). Divorce is also a heavy burden to bear emotionally speaking. After a divorce, men’s rates of substance abuse, depression, and suicide rise dramatically. Because of this, many men have begun to boycott marriage after realizing that there is no reward but only a huge risk that is not worth taking.Your feelings change! Many people still get married and 88% of those who do choose “love” as the top reason for doing so. However, what many don’t realize is that the feeling of being in love hits hard at the beginning of a relationship but gradually fades over time. This is why people say that after marriage, their partner’s “true colors” come out. Scientific research also confirms that your feelings are almost certain to change. You will not feel head over heels in love with your spouse all the time, that infatuation is only temporary. You don’t stop having crushes or noticing other people just because you’re in a relationship. Just because 2 people are infatuated with each other on their wedding day does not mean that they will feel the same way in 5, 10, 20, 50+ years. What many people fail to realize is that love is not enough to make a relationship work. Long term relationships take conscious work and effort to remain exciting and healthy past the honeymoon phase. Once the spark dies and their relationship is no longer exciting, too often they don’t put in the work to keep it healthy and eventually grow bored and resentful, leading to a divorce. After all, we aren’t taught about how to be married in school.It is about making money! The wedding industry, divorce attorneys, and jewelry industry have hijacked the ideology of marriage and turned it into a profit generating opportunity. Think of all the things you spend money on to pull off a wedding: The rings, the venue, a dress that will never be worn again, the cake, the DJ/Band, the photographer, the decorations, the food/vendors/caterers, etc. It all adds up to a hefty tab. Then in a few years when the couple decides that it isn’t going to work and they’re not willing to keep trying, they pay thousands more for an attorney to get divorced. It is a capitalist, money making industry and they milk the life out of it. In a country with such high living costs and disproportionate wages, it is a huge waste of money when thinking rationally from a financial point of view.It is a false promise! During the ceremony, you make a vow to be with someone for the rest of your life with the promise of staying together forever. That is not realistic at all. It is not wise to make promises that you are unsure you can keep. Marriage provides a false sense of security in the sense that your partner will never leave you, despite the fact that divorce is always an option and the future is highly unpredictable. It does not place a magical barrier around your relationship to prevent cheating or breaking up. If you want a relationship to last, it needs repetitive work and effort, not a binding legal contract. Which leads me to my next point:You don’t need a legal document to define or validate your relationship! If you have a wonderful, healthy relationship already, then you don’t need to get married to make it any better or more “real.” After all, why fix what isn’t broken? As long as you are both committed to each other and nurturing your relationship, then that’s what is going to make it last. Some people get divorced after less than 1 year of marriage, yet some people stay together for decades without ever getting married. If anything, marriage just takes a healthy relationship, complicates it, and makes it harder to leave without providing any worthwhile benefits. Plus, the amount of time and energy you invest into a relationship is already a more clear indication of commitment than a shiny rock or a big party.You can have all the benefits of a long term relationship that marriage would have you believe it promises without actually getting married! There are a lot of good things about having a romantic partner if it is what you desire. If you still long for a lifelong, romantic partner, you can still have one and live together without ever tying the knot. You can cohabitate (live together) without getting married and still have a wonderful relationship. Cohabitators are actually found to be happier and more sexually active than their married counterparts. If you are not legally obligated and entitled to stay together with one person for the rest of your life, you are less likely to take your relationship and your partner for granted, which leads to a healthier and stronger relationship in the long run.You do not need to be in a relationship if you do not want to be! If you are happy being single and are in touch with your freedom and individuality, then good for you. Many singles lead very fulfilling lives without a partner and are their best selves when a relationship isn’t holding them back from what they want. Honestly, there are a ton of benefits and perks to being single that you wouldn’t be able to enjoy if you were married. However, it is different from person to person. Some people long for love and are willing to make sacrifices for it while others aren’t. Regardless, do what is right for you, whether that is being single at heart or coupled up.EDIT 10/16/2019: It won’t necessarily make you happy! From a young age, most people (at least in western countries) are socially conditioned to believe that having a significant other should be an important goal in life and will make you happy for years to come before they are old enough to think for themselves. As children, we hear stories of knights in shining armor winning the affections of princesses and Disney movies flaunting fairytale romance like it’s going out of style. We are raised to believe that being in a relationship is a standard that we should all conform to, that promises a lifetime of indefinite happiness and fulfillment. That you need another person to complete you. Nobody completes anybody! The only person who completes you is that handsome stallion/beautiful fox looking back at you in the mirror. If you want/have a partner, they should compliment you as an individual who is already complete on your own with all your values and talents. If you’re unhappy being single, being in a relationship for the sake of it won’t magically fix that. You have to love yourself before you can love anybody else.In conclusion, I have found many arguments against marriage that exploit its insecurities and emphasize that the cons outweigh the pros by a huge margin. Personally, I do not believe in marriage or wish to be married. I believe that it is an outdated institution that has long passed its prime and needs to be abolished, and that it only causes needless harm to a relationship, especially if it is already a very good one. It’s just another way for the government to make a buck at your expense. If I were you, I would just avoid it altogether and save yourself a ton of money and hardships. But this is just my opinion. Sometimes it works, but a lot of the time it doesn’t, especially today. What’s good for the goose is not always good for the gander. What I’m trying to say is that you should do what you want and what you know is right for you, whether that involves a partner or not. Everyone is different, follow your own path to greatness

Trade Virtual Currencies with your 3D avatar @SnapSwapOf late, there has been a phenomenon that has caught the attention of every trader, broker, or anyone involved in currency market and even the companies like McAfee (software security company). It is the proliferation of virtual currencies over the cyberspace. SnapSwap aims at leveraging the online gamers and enthusiasts who would be more than willing to connect to whole gamut of new players available in the digital arena and would love to spend time with each other.Snapswap was established in May 2012, and develops & operates services in the virtual currency space. The biggest challenge with the use of these virtual currencies is the anonymity of the user. And whenever one is close to identification of users of the same, they change the business altogether. Virtual Currencies as of now are primarily being used in the field of gaming, online gambling and social entertainment. Despite all its fallacies there are people and organizations which are trying to make maximum use of this ‘skeptical’ business opportunity in a legitimate manner.Snapswap promises to provide a safe, fun and easy way to provide game developers with new ways to attract players and generate revenues. How is Snapswap different from others? It is unlike other currencies rather it is a platform that facilitates the trading of online currencies. It is a virtual currency exchange platform. The price of any currency is defined by standard economic principles of demand and supply. The company says it is a registered PayPal member and IMVU (another virtual currency) reseller.Some features of SnapSwap’s Platform:It is quite an interesting way where a user employs an online 3D avatar to his/her credit. Once he/she is interested in any purchase, using PayPal exact amount will be transferred/credited to the avatar’s account (again anonymity of the user is maintained).It works more or less buying and selling of stocks in the trading market. Once the request to buy certain amount of credits is sent through the paypal, the request goes to the market and waits for another player to come and sell on specified price.The process can be initiated by clicking on BUY button and similarly if one wishes to sell credits, one needs to start by pressing the SELL button.Users need to deposit the credits they have and wish to sell in the market. They can also sell the credits at a better offering for which the users need to wait in the online market for a better offer to match the offering they have given/offered to sell.SnapSwap recently became the first gateway for Ripple Labs in the U.S. Users can top up their Ripple wallet with USD via SnapSwap and buy XRP (Ripple Currency). Send a request to [email protected], and users will receive an invoice with bank account info. They can use any online or offline payment service to transfer funds to SnapSwap’s bank account. The USD amount minus standard commission will be posted to your Ripple wallet on the same business day as their transaction is posted to SnapSwap’s bank account. You can read here about Ripple.Though there have been attempts to shut down virtual currency providers of the like of IMVU and Liberty Reserves, one can’t simply do away with them. The only thing that can be maintained is Caveat Emptor!