What is the California Medicare Birthday Rule

The California Medicare Supplement “Birthday Rule” is a special rule that applies to all medicare suppement policy holders in California .  California law states; you have 30 days from the date of your birthday to change your Medicare Supplement plan to a company with the same plan or one with less benefits . 

The change is guaranteed, meaning regardless of your current health status, the new California Medicare Supplement company cannot deny your application.

There is no benefit to stay with any company that charges you too much.  All medicare supplement plans are standardized .  If the benefits are the same regardless of the company you are with , you should take full advantage of this unique California law.

What is the Medicare Supplement ”Birthday Rule?”

If a person already has a Medicare Supplement plan, they have 30 days of “open enrollment” following their birthday each year when they may buy a new Medicare Supplement policy without a medical screening or a new waiting period. 

The new policy must have the same or lesser benefits as the old policy.  This rule is only for Medicare Supplement (Medigap) policies.  Medicare Advantage plans (HMO & PPO) have different rules that apply to their open enrollment options.

The two best times to purchase a Medicare Supplement policy is during the “Initial Enrollment Period” which is the six month window when you are new to Medicare Part B, or when you leave your employer health insurance plan .  The other time is during the Medicare Supplement ”Birthday Rule.”  both are Guaranteed issue is situations.  You can also opt not to wait for your birthday and apply for a new company at anytime during the year . 

Not taking advantage of these open enrollment opportunities means you must answer the “Health Questions” on the application, and your approval is based on your current health status.  Minor health concerns will not necessarily mean you will be denied covarage under a new company .  If you have an ongoing health condition you can apply for coverage with a different company outside of the birthday rule, simply to see if the company will approve you.  If you are accepted, you can make the change right away.  But if not, you know you can still make the change 30 days following your birthday .

It is wise to compare plans every year as your birthday approaches.   Take a few minutes to compare medicare plans and prices online and see if it is worth making a change.  In most cases you can get a quote and complete the application is about five minutes or less .

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Florida Insurance School finds influx of Real Estate Agents

As a blogger for an Insurance School Florida or Nationwide, I have seen the successful transitions of Real EstateAgents to Insurance Agents.  A site called School Insurance Florida followed the career paths  of Real Estate Agents and Mortgage Brokers.   Across the US  they have seen their income shrink  for the last 3  years.  Gone are the days where they’d get multiple   phone calls  a day for million dollar properties.

 I have witnessed Edit this text  some of these agents find great success as Insurance Agents.  They had to weigh the benefits of staying in a market that is  still reaching bottom  .  The prices of houses  have fallen so far that they were  even pleased  to get work on a $25,000  home  .   Three  years ago they would have  scoffed  at that prospect.  Now many of their  colleagues and friends   areunemployed .  Sure the Real Estate Market will eventually correct itself , but hanging onto that license for dear life  will not  change the fact that it’s going to be a scary ride.  Bills  are due now.  Compare Salary.coms average salary that shows that Insurance Agents make more than Real Estate Agents and Mortgage Brokers.

The good news is that the same skill set to sell  houses  and mortgages apply  to Insurance.  You use your networking skills to bring in new clients, you get people off the street walking  through the door, you can have a farm area, and you follow-up with clients in the same way.  The transition is  seemless .  All you need is a  week-long  course  or online course  and you can start making more than those people who are clinging on the Real Estate Industry.  If you still want to do  Real Estate you can do both as you are an independent contractor and there is no conflict of interest.  Do a little house-hunting for extra cash, but cash-in on the  rock-solid stability  of the Insurance Industry.

People need Health, Life, and property insurance.  So while very few people are selling a lot of homes  , the owners of those homes need Insurance.  Money  maybe very   tight with consumers but Insurance is a necessity.  Anewer  home can be a luxury.  Take  your bet on the necessity.

I own a Florida Insurance School that offers Nationwide pre-licensing .  Some  of our most successful students have been from the Real Estate Industry.  They enjoy cheap Insurance Continuing Education and are reaping benefits during this  Down Market.

 Real Estate will always be there when the Market rebounds   So get out there and sell .

Rick Sabian

Insurance License Florida

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In Just Five Seconds, You Can Save Money On Your Dental Insurance

Everyone you see today that has a good set of teeth must have committed years taking care of them.  Someone with a good set of teeth obviously uses good toothbrush, toothpaste and most probably has dental and health insurance plans, because they care about their good health continuing.

The great pain we go through when we get a bad tooth can be lessened with the right dentist.  Good dentists don’t come for peanuts; you’ve got to pay good money for their services.

The importance of getting a dental plan becomes glaringly clear in such moments. It gives your teeth all the dental cover it needs without breaking the bank.

Who says you must be in a particular state in the U.S before you can get the right dental insurance? Simply using a search engine like Google.com can reveal all the necessary information you need.

If you are among those that just don’t fancy searching for information on the Internet, you can get online dental insurance finders to find the right insurance for you. The importance of these online dental insurance finders is that they have close relationship with the top dental insurance companies, so they can get you the best and most affordable dental insurance cover.

Of course there are free online dental insurance services, but I recommend paying the small fee asked by the paid ones — this is becoming pound wise as well as penny wise.

Ignore the small fee charged by the online dental insurance finders because it’s nothing compared to the value of what they give out. They give you access to unique dental data and cheap dental plans that otherwise would be hidden from you.

If you need to do a dental insurance comparison, then look for websites and resources that offer this on the Internet.  You will get cheaper insurance package if you commit the time and energy required.

First ask around to know whether the online dental insurance finder has a good reputation before you get involved.

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Medicare Advantage Gets Cuts From Health Reform Bill

From the date health care reform was signed , we’ve been receiving a steady stream of messages from seniors who are uneasy about what is going to happen to their healthcare under healthcare reform: Is Medicare Advantage going away? When will the doughnut hole disappear? Can I add my grandchild to my health insurance policy? I don’t qualify for Medicare yet; can healthcare reform help me find affordable health insurance?

We hear you and we understand … you love your Medicare Advantage and you don’t want it to go away under healthcare reform. Don’t worry! Medicare Advantage isn’t going anyplace under healthcare reform, but there will be a few changes that you should keep in mind as you plan your health insurance coverage .

What is Medicare Advantage?

Medicare Advantage plans offer seniors their Medicare benefits through private benefits instead of through the original Medicare Part A and Medicare Part B. Although Medicare Advantage health insurance plans are required to offer health insurance benefits at least as comprehensive as traditional Medicare, the benefits they offer do not have to exactly the same . For example, a Medicare Advantage health insurance plan offer less in some benefits, such as skilled nursing facility care, but it may balance that out with lower co-payments for doctors’ visits.

In addition, in establishing the Medicare Advantage program , the federal government has provided subsidies to health insurance plans which offering Medicare Advantage. Some Medicare Advantage plans have used these federal subsidies to restrict patient out-of-pocket costs, but many health insurance plans have used the supplemental funds to provide seniors with additional benefits such as dental insurance, vision care, gym memberships and other benefits not offered by Medicare . It’s estimated that these subsidies were approximately $1,100 per Medicare Advantage member last year.

The low premiums are a key part or what make Medicare Advantage plans highly attractive as a health insurance option.

How Will Healthcare Reform Change Medicare Advantage?

First of all, we want to make this clear: Healthcare Reform is not doing away with Medicare Advantage program.

However, healthcare reform does change the way that the federal government reimburses Medicare Advantage plans . Most importantly, it does away with the subsidies which the federal government first used to establish the Medicare Advantage program ten years ago and which many Medicare Advantage health insurance plans use to offer their supplemental benefits.

These subsidies (which added an additional $14 billion to the Medicare program last year alone) will gradually be reduced until they are eliminated altogether. In 2011, these Medicare Advantage subsidy payments will be frozen at 2010 levels. After that, Medicare Advantage subsidy payments will be reduced an average of 12% per year until they are brought in line with traditional Medicare payments. It’s estimated that these reductions will be the equivalent of about $200 per Medicare Advantage member per year. According to the Congressional Budget Office, by 2019, Medicare Advantage plans will receive a total of $136 billion less than they would have received without these healthcare reform changes.

Although these cuts will not be affecting all plans equally and Medicare Advantage health insurance plans have stated that they will be trying to minimize the impact of these cuts, given their magnitude , it is unlikely that most Medicare Advantage members won’t be affected in one way or the other. However, changes will be gradual and it’s unclear what the long-term effects will be as Medicare Advantage plans continue to compete for business and other healthcare reform requirements (such as having to spend 85% of payments on actual benefits) kick in.

We’ll keep covering these changes as they kick in, so stay tuned!

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A Look at Various Medigap Plans Open to Consumers

Medicare supplemental plans are standardized into 12 particular policies originally described as A through L. Medigap is not sponsored by the us government and is a privately owned company. It’s offered through private companies and provides different combinations of benefits.

Soon after May 31st, 2010, Medigap will prove to add a couple of new plans named M and N. The policies E, H, I and J will never be provided any longer by insurers. In the event you at present use a E, H, I or J policy it’s going to be automatically renewed with no changes in your coverage.

You might need to take into account the new M and N plans since the coverage offers some extra cost-sharing inturn for lowered rates.

The M and N policies are near to the well-liked Medigap policy F. On the other hand, the M plan just insures 50% of the $1,100 allowable needed for Medicare Part A. The Medicare part b allowable of $155 isn’t covered by either M or N policies.

Additionally, the new policy M will not cover any of Part B’s “excessive charges”. The excessive costs help cover additional fees that your doctor charges over what Medicare will accept.

In contrast, policy N will entirely include the Part A $1,100 deductible. There exists a $20 co-payment for visits at the doctor’s office. For a hospital emergency room visit you will a $50 co-payment. A few private providers sell plan N more than plan M. Policy N usually costs as much as 35% lower than the former policy F according to eHealthMedicare.com

If you are planning on changing plans, compare the premium cost savings to the probable out-of-pocket co-payments and insurance deductibles. Even though plan N is less pricey than the former plan F, you’ll be required to pay Part B’s $155 co-payment.

Determine the whole amount for all your co-payments and estimate the optimum number of times that you may visit the emergency room and your physician’s office. Do you want to still be expending less with policy N? Be aware that Part B’s “excessive charges” are insured by plan F but have no coverage under policies M and N. This is important if your doctors have a tendency to charge a lot more than what Medicare will pay for.

If this is your initial time signing up for Medicare Part B, you are able to get any of the policies regardless of what is the state of your wellbeing. Nonetheless, should you not sign up in the open-enrollment time period, you can be declined as a result of an ailment. Some insurance providers will still sell plan M and N no matter your wellbeing, particularly if you previously had E, H, I or J Medicare supplemental health insurance plans.

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Four Secrets To Setting Up Your Pet Health Insurance Marketing Plan

Are you currently in the business of selling insurance for pets? If you are, you need to know the importance of coming up with the appropriate pet health insurance marketing approach. There are plenty of ways to go about such plan. But before you start, you will need to reassess all sorts of things with the intention to concentrate your efforts where it need to be done.

Just like in any kind of business, allow me to share the steps you need to follow to be able to create a marketing plan which will help you grow your business.

1. Understand your target market. You have to first complete a comprehensive market analysis ahead of anything else. Exactly how would you know what must be accomplished if you do not understand who are the people who’ll be interested with what you have got to offer?

If you think that you do not possess the time to get this done, you possibly can rely on a specialist to get this done for you. That individual can conduct focused group conversations. Through such, you will hear from the folks whom you will be marketing your products to sometime soon, the things they desire and how they would like you to handle them.

Random samplings might also help you complete this task. You can actually ask a number of folks a couple of questions. Additionally you can have survey forms done and returned to you. Another place that you need to exhaust for this purpose is the internet. There are tons of pet lovers out there that you may direct your questions to and obtain the answers which may help you to get ready for the next steps.

2. Know with whom you will end up competing with. This can help you prepare for the competition. You can either follow their plan if they are very successful with it. Or you may take an absolutely different way making sure that your company won’t be connected with any of them. You can even use on your sales pitch your knowledge regarding these companies. You shouldn’t badmouth them since this will likely not do you anything good. However, you can give far better offers to your clientele compared to present services that your competitors are making open to the public.

3. Advertise. Spread out the word about you in every way you can. You won’t have to think of a huge amount to be able to carry out this. You’ll find marketing platforms which will not cost much. For instance, you can take advantage of mass prints for materials that will be easy to distribute. These include postcards, flyers, catalogs, brochures and so on. And also make certain you carry a professional-looking business card with you at all times. You do not want to pass up any chances when it comes to marketing.

4. Develop a USP or Unique Selling Proposition for your business. There are many pet health insurance companies out there. But what allows you to stand out from the rest? Give your clients enough reasons to choose you. This will probably come in handy when you are doing your ads. This will guide you on how to go about the details of your materials.

After accomplishing these four actions, you are now done with the first part of your pet health insurance marketing plan. It’s time now to put your materials along with your muscles into action and begin the working hard in order to convince more clients that you’re what they need.

Boris Chistyakov has been writing articles for 2 years. He specializes in various topics. His recent website is about cheap car audio systems

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Compare Medicare insurance medigap insurance policies

So what is the main difference concerning Medicare Supplement Plan A and Medicare Supplement Plan G and also the many other programs? The next few paragraphs aspires to assist you to determine what policy is actually right for you.

The various Medicare health insurance medigap policies all offer the exact same essentials:

* Day-to-day coinsurance you have to pay for hospitalization bills in the 61st through the 90th day associated with any Medicare insurance benefit time period.

* Medicare insurance Part A copayments for virtually any hospital confinement past the 90th day in a benefit phase, up to an extra 60 days throughout your lifetime. (They’re your inpatient reserve times. You may start using these times whenever you require over 90 days in the hospital during a benefit period. By using a reserve day, it can be subtracted out of your life time total and can’t be taken yet again.)

* All Medicare insurance-qualified hospital charges for a time of as much as 365 supplemental days throughout your life time once you’ve depleted all your Medicare insurance hospital benefits.

* The affordable cost of the first 3 pints of blood, or their equal, in Medicare health insurance parts A and B.

* 20 % in the Part B copayments you pay for Medicare-eligible bills for medical services – which includes doctor charges, medical or home healthcare, and specified higher payments for certain services under the prospective payment technique – after you have met your Part B allowable.

Extra Benefits in Plans Policies B through J

* Skilled nursing facility health care: Covers genuine charged charges up to your coinsurance amount from your twenty-first day through the 100th time inside a benefit period for post-hospital skilled nursing facility care suitable under Medicare insurance Medicare part a. This isn’t custodial care. (Available on policies C through J.)

* Foreign traveling emergency: Will pay eighty pct of the billed fees for foreign emergency care that Medicare insurance could have covered if ıt had been supplied in the United states. Care must commence during your first sixty nights outside the usa. The actual calendar year insurance deductible is actually $250. The life time highest benefit is $50,000. (On plans C to J.)

* Part A insurance deductible: Pays the entire Medicare health insurance Part A allowable sum per benefit interval. (Available on plans B through J.)

* Part B deductible: Pays the entire Medicare health insurance Part B insurance deductible amount per calendar year. (Available on policies C, F, and J.)

* Medicare Part B surplus health practitioner costs: Will pay 80 % or 100 percent on the surplus costs, which are restricted by law to fifteen percent above the Medicare-approved total. If most of your doctors take Medicare insurance assignment, you do not have to have this benefit. (There is 100 % coverage in policies F, I, and J and 80 pct coverage in plan G.)

* At-home recovery: Pays for physician-authorized, short-term, at-home assistance with actions of everyday living while recouping from a disease, personal injury, or surgery. Limited to seven trips a week by a skilled health care provider. Will pay real charges as much as $40 a visit, with no more than $1,600 each year. (Available on policies D, G, I, and J.)

* Precautionary health care: Includes a yearly physical examination, specific lab tests, and other preventive measures deemed ideal by your general practitioner. The absolute maximum benefit is $120 a year. (Available on policies E and J.) These services are over and above other Medicare insurance covered precautionary services.

* High deductibles: Provides the identical benefits, but you pay a lower premium inturn for paying out a larger allowable. A allowable is the amount you give with your own money before the policy pays. The allowable sum is set by Medicare health insurance and will adjust on a yearly basis. In addition to meeting the high allowable, it’s essential to also satisfy the insurance deductible for foreign travel emergency and, for those who have a pre-2006 Policy J, the insurance deductible for medicines. (Offered on policies F as well as J.)

Medicare medigap Policies K and L

Basic benefits for plans K and L contain related services as policies A through J, although cost-sharing to the standard benefits is at various stages. Each consists of distinct once-a-year out-of-pocket dollar restrictions. The restrictions apply to the allowable, coinsurance, as well as copayments sums. Should the yearly limits are reached, the provider will pay for those fees for the remainder of the year.

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Which Blood Sugar Meters Does Medicare Insurance cover?

At this time almost 24,000,000 Us residents are afflicted by all forms of diabetes. This means that virtually one in 12 men and women has some form of diabetes. This also shows that therapy for people with All forms of diabetes is now an important matter for medical insurance companies as well as for the government managed health plans including Medicare insurance and state Medicaid programs.

Medicare is made up of 2 components. Part A is the hospital part and covers hospital visits. Part B is the doctor office visit element and pays for needed outpatient visits. Diabetes monitoring items are considered a necessity and therefore are a benefit under Part B. In the beginning of 2005, Medicare began investing in additional diabetic products.

Medicare at present provides free diabetic supplies and items necessary for the day-to-day management of the illness. Diabetics who at present have both Medicare A and B may have their blood sugar metres, testing material and lancets reimbursed at up to 80% after the once-a-year deductible has been paid up. A Great Deal of diabetic supply vendors oftentimes give testing instruments at no cost to diabetics who get Medicare. You should get hold of your physician or Medicare negotiator to determine the specifics of acquiring diabetic equipment for free.

A big total of diabetics will call for a diabetic monitor to keep track of their blood sugar degrees. There is a multitude of monitors handy, changing in capabilities and how it operates. All diabetic monitors deviate greatly, so you require to consult your MD before deciding on the one you require. When choosing a monitor, you should take into consideration how big the monitor is, how fast it gives results, if it keeps a record of results, and how much blood you have to give to get results. And, as you will forever have the cost of testing your blood sugar level, you want to also think about the price of the test strips. More recent types have great characteristics, like permitting you to test in areas other than your fingers, mechanical clocking, and error announcements. If you have problems seeing, you can locate a monitor that speaks directions or has a better screen.

You can even acquire certain monitors without getting a doctor’s blessing. But, if you desire a monitor at no cost, you will most likely be required to get approval from a physician and your health insurance. currently, in excess of 25 kinds of monitors are attainable to diabetics. A few of the favorite types are OneTouch, Accu-Check, and FreeStyle. Any tester being sold must be acknowledged by the FDA. Medicare guidelines can be diverse in each state, so before you acquire a blood sugar monitor, you should contact your Medicare rep to make sure it’s paid for.

Keep in mind that Medicare will still only cover 80 % of the cost of the diabetic testing products and various products linked to treatment. You may be accountable for the remaining co-payment unless of course there is a Medicare supplemental insurance policy.

Since the rate of Diabetes is growing in the United states of america, it’ll remain a challenge for Medicare insurance and medical health insurance programs. This means providers will most likely start spending money on more knowledge programs to prevent the disease together with more programs to treat it with.

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Term Coverage Keeps It Simple And You’ll Save Big

Having Term Quotes Life Insurance is paramount to protecting your family if something every happened to you (the income provider). Your next task is the find Cheap Life Insurance Rates .

Here are several strategies on how to save big on Life Ins Term Coverage :

Do not buy No Exam Term Life insurance

Insurers have recently made this option available to new life ins applicants. You now have the option to not do a medical exam when applying for a life policy.

It may be a little more convenient and you may be insured a little more quickly but your insurance premiums will be much higher for the slight convenience . Getting a life policy with the Medical exam is the better way to go. You are adding risk to the insurance company which translates into increased premium rates AND a limit to how much death benefit you are allowed to have .

The Physical exam is easy and quick :

You set the appointment time and location

Medical Specialist does the exam at your location

  • Go through your Application
  • Heart Rate Check
  • Take a Blood Sample
  • You Provide a Urine Sample
  • Whole Process takes 10-15 min
  • 1 Medical Exam and that is it

Know How much Term Coverage You Need

Generate your total for how much your family expenses are to have a better picture of how much term life coverage you really need:

Monthly Expenses :

  • Food/Utilities
  • Mortgage / Rent
  • Automobile Loans
  • College Expenses / Education

Add any other monthly or future expenses

Add the total amounts of these expenses over 20-30 years. This will give you the realistic amount of term life ins that you would need .

It is important not to buy over or under the amount of life ins you actually need.

Having too little coverage will leave your family struggling.

If you are over insured it would be throwing money away paying for premiums. Smarter option would be to save the money or invest it .

Buy Term Quotes Life Insurance in Tier Amounts

Many people are not aware of this but the cost of insurance is set within tier amounts .

For example: One of the tiers is set between $100,000-$249,999 where the cost per thousand dollars of coverage is set to $1.02/$1000 .

By purchasing $250K your cost for every $1000 worth of coverage drops to $0.92 per $1000! This gives you a 10% discount in insurance right away !

Knowing this we recommend you buy life ins in $250K increments :

  • $1-$249,999
  • $250,000-$499,999
  • $500,000-$749,999
  • $750,000-$999,999
  • $1,000,000-$1,249,999

Compare Term Quotes Life Insurance  :

Hands down the best way to find discount life insurance !

Force Life Insurance Companies to compete among other insurers . It is the best way to save . Insurance companies provide their cheapest quotes just to stay competitive. If they don’t then they end up losing business .

You can definitely find inexpensive Term Coverage following the strategies above .

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Paying For Dental Emergencies

 

Find Emergency Dental with AmeriPlan

When you don’t have Insurance at the time of a dental emergency, insurance is ordinarily not an option. Dental Patients can save even more on the dental emergency treatment by joining the discount dental plan before going to the dental appointment. Normally with a Discounted Dental Plan you are able to get in to see the Dentist within 24 hours in cases of dental emergencies.

How Dental Insurance works:

Discount Dental Plans has been around for a long time, but many consumers do not realise the difference between discount plans and insurance. With insurance the patient pays a monthly premium, typically $50 – $150 or more per month. Once the dental procedures are completed the dental office usually bills the dental insurance company for payment. The insured client usually will have a deductible of $100 or more which must be paid out before the Insurance Company pays. Once the deductible is met, the company will typically pay out between 50-80% of the bill, and that will vary depending on the type of dental procedure.

In the Dental Insurance Industry provisions included in the contracts typically exclude dental cosmetics and there may be waiting peried for certain costly dental procedues. On specific dental procedures the may be waiting periods. (eg dental crowns, roort canals). Also with Dental Insurance there are annual limits on your services. Dental Insurance companies must limite the dental services provided in order to be profitable.

An Easier Option:

A solution for consumers is the Discounted Dental Plan. In fact many Insurance companies today are offering discounted plans to their clients. They are less costly to consumers as they pay a lower monthly premium. The dental plan members choose from the Local Dentists contracted to provide discounted dental services to the plan member.

What’s in it for a Dentist to give a discount for their services? They are willing to provide them because the participating member, pays the agreed fee at the time of service. The prompt payment by the patient, eliminates to need to deal with the costly aspects of billing. There is no paperwork. Having plan members referred also eliminates the need to pay expensive advertising costs, as the company sends them a steady stream of new patients.

The Discount Plan concept works so well for the Dentists, that they are willing to provide deep discounts usually between 25-80% in most areas. The exact amount depends on the treatment. It;s a win win situation for both the dental plan member and Dentist.

Solutions with AmeriPlan Dental Program:

1. Investigate Discount Dental Insurance with no waiting period.
2. Find a Dentist in your area able to accomadate dental emergencies.
3. If on the weekend and there are no other options, go to the pharmacy and purchase Ora-Gel for the tooth pain or get to the hospital AmeriPlan room if the pain in the teeth persists.

About the author: Bill Simms is a Benefits Specialist with AmeriPlan since 1997. To get your dental plan today click on the link below or call 1-888-670-5190 Dental and Health Insurance

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