Seriously, has anyone ever turned down a chance for an amazing deal? My heart races when friendly baristas bump me up to a grande. I live for product samples at beauty and health expos.  And don’t even get me started on my quests for cheap and chic clothes at the thrift store. Maybe the best things in life can’t always be on the house, but it’s great when they’re affordable. President Obama and his administration realize that too.

On Friday, March 16, the Obama Administration issued a few clarifications to the Affordable Care Act’s consumer protections for student health plans. Are you scratching your head? Let me make it simple—beginning in the fall, all out-of-pocket birth control costs will be covered (meaning no copays or deductibles) by most* of the health insurance plans sold to students by their college or university. Of course, your student insurance plan isn’t free—you still have to pay a premium—but with the new policy eliminating those extra costs at the clinic or pharmacy, I think it’s a pretty good deal. And if you’re still on your parents’ insurance (which, also courtesy of the Affordable Care Act, can now cover you until you turn 26!), you may also get this benefit—though for some, it might not be until January 1^st of next year. Eventually, almost all health insurance plans will do the same thing.

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Mike and Pauly: Bankrolling the health care bill?

The health care bill passed this week (Liberals: Yay! Conservatives: Booooooo!), and after all the proverbial dust had settled (and all that really mature name-calling came to a screeching halt) we were left wondering:

How are we going to pay for this?
It’s gonna cost some serious money to provide insurance for all those uninsured people in this country, so where is it all going to come from?

Apparently, the Jersey Shore.

Yeah, most people don’t realize this, but to cover the cost of the new health care plan the government will now be charging is a 10% tax on indoor tanning. Read More »

This Sunday marked a turn in history far more epic then my Sunday’s fate (which was spent spiraling out of love with Midterms).  Yes, far away in Washington, the House finally voted to provide medical coverage to millions of uninsured Americans! And much like any decision out of D.C., this one has some major dispute. Democrats see health care and insurance as a “right, not a privilege” that will improve the quality of American life, whereas many Republicans believe the health care reform will “increase the costs of doing business, and coverage to a million Americans will not curb costs.”

But regardless of the clashing viewpoints of each party, the biggest question on everyone’s minds is: what does all this mean for us? The line often gets hazy in the midst of a constant political party clash and it’s hard to really understand what’s going on, so I’ve decided to break it down for you busy (and/or lazy) college students. Consider this your Cliff’s Notes version of Obama’s health care plan:

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To say I live a blessed life is a gross understatement. I live a great effing life, and 2009 was no exception. I had a fantastic year full of old friends and new, family, road trips, good…bedmates, and some really exceptional sale purchases. Yeah, 2009 was one of my best years yet (well, out of college, so I’m not quite sure what that’s worth) and I’m sorta sad to see it go.

But I’m also really excited for 2010! And not just the super adorable outfit I have picked out for NYE. A new year (and a new freaking decade!) brings a fresh start and new adventures. It’s a chance to say “TTFN” to the bad – like Tila Tequila, my muffin top, and Hipsters with skinnier legs than me – and “Holla back at me” to the new. Like a working economy, perhaps? Gay marriage? Fat free, calorie free Dairy Queen Blizzards? A girl can dream.

As we creep dangerously close to 2010, I asked the CollegeCandy writers what they are most excited to leave behind in ’09. What about you? Share yours below!

Kim – Stanford: I cannot wait to leave behind the drama that is Tiger Woods. Why is everyone so shocked that a very rich and successful pro-athlete who travels all the time cheated on his wife? That’s just obvious.

Teresa – UCSD: My fake ID!

Megan – Penn State: Definitely the crappy boys of 2009. Hopefully 2010 brings me no heart-breakers or creepers!

Erica – Kent State: Working at the Financial Aid office in the file room at 9 a.m.–ALONE– four out of five mornings of the school week.  Pure torture. Read More »

Yeah, that's my life savings right there.

Because I’m making six pennies a year in my job after taxes, I follow a very strict budget that allows me to afford a moderate amount of food and a moderate amount of fun. There is no room for a savings plan in my budget so I just figured if I was extra careful nothing would ever go wrong.

Then last week everything went wrong.

I spilled sangria (or water according to the troubleshooting report I made to Apple) on my laptop, I dropped my straightener one time too many and it broke, and I found out my parent’s insurance company is onto me no longer being a student and has dropped me. For those of you non-accounting majors out there, that’s about 5 billion dollars worth of problems.

I had a minor panic attack. And by minor I mean I opened my window, stood on the ledge for a few moments, and thought about who I would haunt if I came back as a ghost. Then logic hit me and I realized that because I’m only one floor up I would just break a bunch of bones, sending me to the hospital and making my lack of insurance problem even worse.

So instead of jumping I thought of my other options. Luckily my grandparents who live in the city had a laptop I could borrow until I figured you out what to do about my laptop-turned-coaster. Unluckily it was designed for the partially blind. I’ve seen desktop computers more portable than this laptop. Hell, I’ve seen elephants smaller than this thing. The screen was about a football field long and the font was visible from space. This proved to be more than an inconvenience when I was blogging at WiFi cafes.  I was writing about STDs for one blog and let’s just say the employees at the cafe did not enjoy being able to read about gonorrhea while serving coffee. So not only did I have to blog from home all week, but I’m pretty sure I’m on a sex offender list now. Read More »

I got a job!!!

All my tears, temper tantrums, panic attacks, stress-induced friend fights, and violent rages towards my parents turned out to be totally worth it. I’m on my way to getting a full time job. And by that I mean that I’m now working three freelance blogging jobs and making enough money to support myself for at least one to three months depending on how long I can sustain myself on a water and table scraps diet.

One blog is about the postgrad realty market, one is geared towards men’s humor, and the last is all about liberating and embracing a woman’s sexuality. So by the time I get done with a week of writing all three, I’ll be the only certified realtor that can make hilarious fart jokes while imparting the seriousness of bra burning. If that’s not a pick-up line in a bar, then cat’s got my tongue (I’m aiming to write for a blog entirely composed of idioms if anyone’s got a lead). Read More »

The week the White House launched a website called Reality Check, obviously aimed at the younger “internet set” to voice its side of the story on Obama’s healthcare reform and answer some of the questions that have arisen. This is one of those issues that I’ve heard about all. over. the place. But the sad truth is, I haven’t been listening much, and either have a lot of other people our age. It suddenly occurred to me that I have heard an awful lot about what our parents and grandparents think on the issue, but next to nothing on it from girls like me.

Are you all like me and just not paying attention, or is it just that we aren’t talking it out?

Well here’s your chance, ladies. If you don’t know what’s going on, it’s time to get informed. If you do, well, duke it out. I want to know what you all think.

But first, we all gotta know what’s up. If you’ve been a little lax in your news watching (like me) or if you just love legalese, here’s the official barackobama.com PDF on the healthcare reform plan. Now, if you weren’t patient enough to wade through all of that (because who is?), I’ve slogged through a lot of the recent news on both sides and here’s the gist: Read More »

Free Viagra for all!

Are fanny packs back?

What’s the deal with BJs?

Kim Kardashian sees marriage in her future.

Celebrity Twitter overkill.

Miss California’s got Sarah Palin in her corner.

Talking sex with your doctor isn’t always easy. Whether you are afraid she or he will judge you,  you just don’t feel comfortable sharing the intimate details of your life between the sheets, or you can’t think straight with a speculum between your legs, many people get tight lipped in the doctor’s office. But that doesn’t mean you don’t have questions.

We took the embarrassment (and speculum!) factor out of the equation and asked you, the CollegeCandy readers, to submit the questions you had regarding STDs and sexual health to our new pal, OB/GYN Dr. Lissa Rankin. Check out the first batch of questions she answered and get the rest of the info below:

1. If you have a high risk strain of HPV and so does your current partner, will my chances of it progressing to cervical cancer increase if we do not use a condom, and just use birth control? I am positive he is also monogamous.

Bummer about the HPV, but rest assured, you’re so not alone. As many as 80% of sexually active young people will test positive for HPV, even in the absence of symptoms.  If you and your partner already have a high risk strain of HPV and you’re both completely monogamous, using a condom probably won’t help you unless there are other strains of HPV or other STDs that the two of you have not already transmitted to each other.  Whether or not your high risk HPV leads to precancerous changes of the cervix, or worse, cervical cancer, has much more to do with how well your immune system functions.  The best thing you can do to avoid cervical cancer once you have high risk HPV is to eat a whole foods, healthy diet, exercise regularly, get enough sleep, take a multivitamin, manage your stress in healthy ways, and generally take good care of your body – all things that strengthen your immune system.  If you have access to an integrative medicine physician or a naturopathic doctor, there are herbal formulas that can help your body naturally fight the HPV.  Read More »

[After my last article about my breast reduction, I got some great responses. If you ever have felt like your ta-tas have gotten in the way of a healthy lifestyle (difficulty exercising, self-esteem hang-ups, back problems), you should definitely consider a breast reduction surgery.

It’s not like a “before” and “after” picture. You don’t just walk into a surgeon’s office and - VOILA! - perfect boobs. Just getting to the actual surgery was a long process.]

I was a late bloomer and I can’t remember a time when I was ever “in-between.” During my sophomore year of high school, I suddenly went from not having to wear a bra to being one of the chestiest girls in my school. Might sound cool, right? Nah. I couldn’t play my favorite sports anymore, I never found tops that fit me properly and, oh yeah, have you ever met boys in high school? They’re not so subtle about pointing out your rack.

My parents and I discussed breast reduction in high school, but I wasn’t ready. Last year, I decided I was ready at age 19 and a sophomore in college. My breasts had gotten even larger after going on birth control and my spine felt like it was about to snap.

The “leg work” for the surgery was tough. I talked to my general practitioner and she agreed that it was a good idea. I got some great references through my doctor and my family’s doctor and eventually found a good surgeon. I went in for a consultation and connected fairly quickly with the plastic surgeon. He explained the procedure and the pros and cons. Read More »