Signs of Depression

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has suspended at least two federal meat inspectors following the largest beef recall in the nation's history, a union head said Friday.

People who take a proactive role in their healthcare may be better-informed, but that may not necessarily translate into better health, results of a study hint.

The human brainstem, the most primitive area of our brains, has been notoriously difficult to image because of its small size.

Life insurance major Reliance Life Insurance has launched the first-of-its-kind Reliance Wealth + Health Plan, a unit linked plan coupled with health benefits. The launch was announced by Mr. P. Nandagopal, CEO, Reliance Life Insurance. The Reliance Wealth + Health Plan is the first wealth creation product that also offers comprehensive health coverage as a key differentiator in the domestic insurance market. "The unique proposition of this plan is that it offers complete investment flexibility to grow wealth by investing in different plans and funds and also provides the financial support for managing health expenses. It is in line with our strategy to offer best-in-class products to our customers" said Nandagopal while launching the product. The plan offers the convenience of cashless payments, cover for the entire family under one plan and the option to increase life cover to provide additional security. "With annual premium as low as Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 per annum, the insured can get health and saving benefits and protect himself/herself against high or unexpected medical bills. The plan provides lumpsum benefit to take care of hospitalization expenses, which include daily hospitalization expenditure, intensive care unit expenses and post-hospitalization spending in the form of recuperation benefits", he said. The plan offers enhanced health coverage against life threatening illnesses and major surgeries, with all insured having an option to cover themselves against untoward incidents as well. Likewise that the amount towards medical expenses can be availed a number of times in a year and up to 95 per cent of the fund value can be withdrawn during the policy period. "The policyholder can avail all the benefits with all features of ULIP for maximum flexibility and liquidity, minimizing risk, maximizing returns and averaging cost of units. The plan also contains coverage's with a bouquet of riders available for all lives under the policy and has significantly lower charges and free switches for best risk appetite fund. This is the only plan that provides such additional value with a maturity benefit at the end of the policy term" said Mr Nandagopal. The product is expected to contribute 35-40% of the total sales of the January-March quarter, 2008. ''We expect a significant business growth on the back of this product, as so far people have not been provided with adequate choice of quality insurance products,'' he added.

MUMBAI: Government on Friday extended a five-year tax holiday, currently given only to hospitals in the rural areas, to those across the country, sending the shares of healthcare providers higher.

The Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, in his budget for 2008/09, also proposed an excise duty of 8 per cent for all goods produced in the pharmaceutical sector, down from 16 per cent.

He also proposed to reduce by half the customs duty on certain specified life saving drugs, and its bulk drug ingredients, to 5 per cent. These drugs would also be exempted from excise or countervailing duties.

Hospital stocks such as Apollo Hospitals, Fortis Healthcare and Malar Hospitals were up between 2-6 per cent after the finance minister proposed the tax holiday.

The other drug stocks, which rose immediately after the excise and customs duty cuts, have since fallen or are trading flat.

Aurobindo Pharma was up 1.3 per cent, Cadila rose 2.7 per cent, Dishman was 3.6 per cent higher while Wockhardt was up 1.1 per cent.