Debt Consolidation Loans

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As President Barack Obama prepares to address the nation tonight, a new survey provides a boost to his claim that the health care system is at a perilous place and in need of reform. Since September of last year, nearly five million adults have lost their insurance.

A survey of more than 29,000 individuals in June by Gallup shows that 16 percent of Americans over the age of 18 are currently without health insurance. That number reflects what the survey’s authors describe as a “small but measurable uptick in the percentage of uninsured adults.”

Indeed, the average number of uninsured adults recorded by Gallup in 2008 was 14.8 percent. In September 2008, the monthly total recorded was at a yearly low of 13.9 percent.

While the difference in percentage may seem small, the aggregate number of additional uninsured is vast.

According to 2007 U.S. Census data, the population of those 18 years or older stood at 228,196,823. By using that figure, in September of 2008, the number of uninsured adults would have totaled approximately 31.7 million. Today, the figure stands at 36.5 million — meaning that 4.8 million adults have, in less than a year, lost their insurance coverage.

That said, the percentage of uninsured adults stood at 16.6 percent in May 2009, meaning that the situation has improved slightly but still remains dire.

Digging deeper into the numbers, one gets the sense of just how tricky a political situation the health care debate poses for both parties. The demographic that stands to gain the most from an increase in insurance coverage happens to represent the fastest-expanding voting bloc. More than 41 percent of Hispanic Americans are uninsured, Gallup reports, which is by far the largest segment of the U.S. population. The next highest groups are those who make less than $36,000 a year (28.6 percent uninsured) and those aged 18 to 29 (27.6 percent).

It is hard not to see the benefits for the political party that steps up to help resolve the health care problems of millions of Hispanic and young Americans. Just as, conversely, it is conceivable that the party that is blamed for obstructing comprehensive reform could suffer serious consequences at the polls.

It should be noted just how comprehensive the Gallup is in recording this data. Officially titled the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, the study involved conducting at least 1,000 tracking interviews each day and 178,000 since the beginning of the year. The maximum margin of sampling error is plus-or-minus one percentage point.

The average person who consolidates debts also winds up in debt again. The only way to get out of debt forever is to change the way you view money. If you had no debt prior to a major financial downturn, then you can get debt relief help through debt consolidation, debt settlement, credit counseling, or bankruptcy.

If your debt is a result of overspending, you will need to make changes to your spending habits.

Determine How You Got Into Debt
Debt happens to everyone at some point, and it isn’t necessarily bad. A mortgage or student loan is generally considered good debt because it’s a real asset or an investment in your future.

Bad debts from credit cards, medical bills, and personal loans are the kinds you should worry about. The four main causes of bad debt are:

• Family death or major medical emergency/illness
• Divorce
• Job loss
• Overspending

If you had no debt prior to a major financial downturn, then you can get debt relief help through debt consolidation, debt settlement, credit counseling, or bankruptcy.

If your debt is a result of overspending, you will need to make changes to your spending habits.

Find Your Spending Triggers
Asking yourself why you spend more than you make is the first step to debt relief. Do you buy necessities like food, shelter, and reasonable transportation, or do you buy things you want at the moment like a new CD or an expensive dinner?

If you make enough to live on, but overspend on things you want, you can only find permanent debt relief by uncovering your spending triggers. Common reasons for overspending are:

• Maintaining an image or lifestyle
• Instant gratification
• Feeling of power or self-worth
• Avoiding feeling poor or deprived
• Stress relief (Retail Therapy)
• Credit doesn’t feel like cash

To pinpoint your spending triggers, keep a spending journal for one month. Record everything you spend, what you bought, how you felt at the time, and why you wanted it. At the end of the month, review your list. You will be able to see your triggers in the list.

For example: “$1.00, lottery ticket, felt excited and hopeful, winning would change my life.” The trigger is spending to improve self-worth or to avoid feeling poor.

“$43.54, new red heels, felt like my boss is pushing too hard, wanted to treat myself.” The trigger is stress relief or wanting to feel powerful.

Change Your Money Views
Changing your money views is the third debt relief step. Money itself is neither good nor bad. The trouble comes from how you feel about money. Spending makes you feel good about yourself, satisfies a desire, or relieves your stress at the moment, but then you feel worse when the bill comes or you can’t pay your other bills.

Emotional Spending
If you’re an emotional over spender or spend because you have the money or it’s coming soon, it’s time to cut yourself off. Spend as little money as possible for one month. Don’t shop, go out to dinner, or go places where you can spend money. Bring your lunch to work with you to save money.

When you must spend money for things like groceries or gas, take only the amount of cash you’ll need. The rest of the time, carry only $20 in case of a true emergency.

At the end of the month, look at how much more money you have than you usually would. How good does that feel? If you saved enough to pay down some debt, how much better does that make you feel?

Credit Spending
If you overspend because credit doesn’t feel like cash, spend only cash for one month. Remove the checks and credit cards from your wallet. Once you see how much money you’re actually handing over, you’ll spend less.

Make the Change Permanent
Permanent change is the final debt relief step. At the end of the month, keep going. Allow yourself to buy the things you need, but ask yourself if you’re buying it to feel better or if it’s a necessity. Think about a purchase for a day or two, and then buy it if you really need it.

Once you change your money views, you can find additional debt relief help from a credit counseling service, consolidate credit cards, or create your own credit card debt relief system to help you get out of debt and stay there.