Alliance For Affordable Services
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Alliance For Affordable Services
Alliance for Affordable Services, founded in 1981, is a national organization which uses group buying power to negotiate discounts on personal, professional and health care benefits and services for tens of thousands of members in the United States. Before 2010 it was controlled by HealthMarkets. Services Continuing education is a key focus of Alliance. Specifically, Alliance supports an annual scholarship program offering merit-based scholarships to Alliance members and their legal dependents. The scholarship program started in 1996 and has awarded over $2.5 million in scholarships to help more than 1,700 high school graduates and college students pursue undergraduate degrees. The Alliance College Guide is an online resource containing information on preparing for college, selecting a campus, the admission process and tuition funding options. Beginning in 2012, Alliance introduced the Career Education Grant (money) program to provide its members another option for postseconda ...
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Organization
An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an entity—such as a company, an institution, or an association—comprising one or more people and having a particular purpose. The word is derived from the Greek word ''organon'', which means tool or instrument, musical instrument, and organ. Types There are a variety of legal types of organizations, including corporations, governments, non-governmental organizations, political organizations, international organizations, armed forces, charities, not-for-profit corporations, partnerships, cooperatives, and educational institutions, etc. A hybrid organization is a body that operates in both the public sector and the private sector simultaneously, fulfilling public duties and developing commercial market activities. A voluntary association is an organization consisting of volunteers. Such organizations may be able to operate without legal formalities, depending on jurisdiction, includ ...
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Group Buying
Group buying, also known as collective buying, offers products and services at significantly reduced prices on the condition that a minimum number of buyers would make the purchase. Origins of group buying can be traced to China, where it is known as Tuán Gòu (), or team buying. In recent times, group buying websites such as Pinduoduo in China have emerged in the online shopping business. Typically, these websites feature a "deal of the day", with the deal kicking in when a set number of people agree to buy the product or service. Buyers then print off a voucher to claim their discount at the retailer. Many of the group-buying sites work by negotiating deals with local merchants and promising to deliver a higher foot count in exchange for better prices. History In 2000, with financial backing from Microsoft, co-founder Paul Allen started an e-commerce start-up called Mercata with a business plan dubbed "We Commerce". The website offered high-end electronic deals to shoppers onlin ...
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Health Care
Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health professionals and allied health fields. Medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, midwifery, nursing, optometry, audiology, psychology, occupational therapy, physical therapy, athletic training, and other health professions all constitute health care. It includes work done in providing primary care, secondary care, and tertiary care, as well as in public health. Access to health care may vary across countries, communities, and individuals, influenced by social and economic conditions as well as health policies. Providing health care services means "the timely use of personal health services to achieve the best possible health outcomes". Factors to consider in terms of health care access include financial limitations (such as insurance coverage), geo ...
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HealthMarkets
HealthMarkets, Inc., formerly known as UICI, is headquartered in North Richland Hills, Texas. History HealthMarkets was founded in 1983 by Ronald Jensen under United Insurance Companies, Inc. (UICI) Through its focus on the then-untapped market of self-employed workers, the company was able to grow earnings by more than double between 1984 and 1985. In 1986, UICI made its first public stock offering. In October 2004, The MEGA Life & Health Insurance Co, a subsidiary of UICI, acquired HealthMarket Inc, which was a small business insurer. Then, in 2005, a group of private equity investors headed by The Blackstone Group acquired HealthMarkets Inc, moving the company from public to private owned. The MEGA Life & Health Insurance Co. brand was officially renamed to HealthMarkets Inc to convey its new consumer focus. Between 2008 and 2010, several lawsuits were filed against HealthMarkets, Inc., resulting in the Company paying millions of dollars in settlements. The company had concea ...
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Scholarship
A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholarship criteria usually reflect the values and goals of the donor of the award, and while scholarship recipients are not required to repay scholarships, the awards may require that the recipient continue to meet certain requirements during their period of support, such maintaining a minimum grade point average or engaging in a certain activity (e.g., playing on a school sports team for athletic scholarship holders). Scholarships also range in generosity; some range from covering partial tuition ranging all the way to a 'full-ride', covering all tuition, accommodation, housing and others. Some prestigious, highly competitive scholarships are well-known even outside the academic community, such as Fulbright Scholarship and the Rhodes Scholar ...
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Grant (money)
A grant is a funding, fund given by an end entity grant – often a Government, public body, charitable foundation, or a specialised grant-making institution – to an individual or another entity (usually, a non-profit organisation, sometimes a business or a local government body) for a specific purpose linked to public benefit. Unlike loans, grants are not to be paid back. European Union European Union grants The European Commission provides financing through numerous specific calls for project proposals. These may be within Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development, Framework Programmes. Although there are many 7-year programmes that are renewed that provide money for various purposes. These may be Structural Funds and Cohesion Fund, structural funds, Youth programmes and Educational policies and initiatives of the European Union, Education programmes. There are also occasional one-off grants to deal with unforeseen aspects or special projects and theme ...
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Small Business Innovation Research
The Small Business Innovation Research (or SBIR) program is a U.S. government funding program, coordinated by the Small Business Administration, intended to help certain small businesses conduct research and development (R&D). Funding takes the form of contracts or grants. The recipient projects must have the potential for commercialization and must meet specific U.S. government R&D needs. Funds are obtained by allocating a certain percentage of the total extramural (R&D) budgets of the 11 federal agencies with extramural research budgets in excess of $100 million. Approximately $2.5 billion is awarded through this program each year. The United States Department of Defense (DoD) is the largest agency in this program with approximately $1 billion in SBIR grants annually. Over half the awards from the DoD are to firms with fewer than 25 people and a third to firms of fewer than 10. A fifth are minority or women-owned businesses. Historically a quarter of the companies receiving gra ...
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Small Business Technology Transfer Program
The Small Business Innovation Research (or SBIR) program is a U.S. government funding program, coordinated by the Small Business Administration, intended to help certain small businesses conduct research and development (R&D). Funding takes the form of contracts or grants. The recipient projects must have the potential for commercialization and must meet specific U.S. government R&D needs. Funds are obtained by allocating a certain percentage of the total extramural (R&D) budgets of the 11 federal agencies with extramural research budgets in excess of $100 million. Approximately $2.5 billion is awarded through this program each year. The United States Department of Defense (DoD) is the largest agency in this program with approximately $1 billion in SBIR grants annually. Over half the awards from the DoD are to firms with fewer than 25 people and a third to firms of fewer than 10. A fifth are minority or women-owned businesses. Historically a quarter of the companies receiving g ...
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United States Senate Committee On Finance
The United States Senate Committee on Finance (or, less formally, Senate Finance Committee) is a standing committee of the United States Senate. The Committee concerns itself with matters relating to taxation and other revenue measures generally, and those relating to the insular possessions; bonded debt of the United States; customs, collection districts, and ports of entry and delivery; deposit of public moneys; general revenue sharing; health programs under the Social Security Act (notably Medicare and Medicaid) and health programs financed by a specific tax or trust fund; national social security; reciprocal trade agreements; tariff and import quotas, and related matters thereto; and the transportation of dutiable goods. It is considered to be one of the most powerful committees in Congress. History The Committee on Finance is one of the original committees established in the Senate. First created on December 11, 1815, as a select committee and known as the Committee o ...
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