A new report issued by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research found that access to paid sick days could save $1 billion each year in medical costs. Right now more than 44 million American workers don’t receive paid sick days and even more than that are not allowed to use time off to take care of sick children or family members. “Taking time off work to see a primary care doctor is common sense, but over 40 million Americans cannot do so without losing pay or their job,” said Kevin Miller, Senior Research Associate with IWPR, and an author of the report. “Americans are paying over $1 billion each year in preventable emergency department costs because hard-working people without paid sick days are unable to get the preventative and early treatment they and their children need.”

Around $47 billion are spent on emergency department services each year in the US. If some of that funding was shifted to preventing illnesses in the first place through less expensive doctor’s visits, access to paid sick days would save $1.1 billion each year. About $500 million in these preventable costs are covered by taxpayers with allocated funds going to veterans and low income families. “As high and rising health care expenditures continuing to be a top concern for policymakers and businesses alike, paid sick days is a cost saving solution that should receive serious attention,”  said Claudia Williams, Research Analyst with IWPR and an author of the report.

If an employee has paid sick days they are more likely to go to a doctor during regular business hours. They’re also less likely to put off needed care. Some states are considering legislation that would make sure workers have the ability to earn paid sick time. Some industries are less likely to have paid six days. For instance, two-fifths of private sector employees, including three in four food service workers, three in five personal health care workers and three in four child care workers, do not currently have access to paid sick days.

A massive assessment of high-deductible health plans shows that while they cut health spending they also prompt patients to reduce preventative health care. The study, completed by RAND Corporation, looked at more than 800,000 families across the US and found that when people shift to a high deductible insurance plan of at least $1,000 per person, their health spending declined by 14% on average.

Spending was also lower in high deductible households where health savings accounts were sponsored by employers. Some of the cut backs families experienced were reduced immunizations, cancer screenings and routine tests for diabetes. “We discovered that costs go down dramatically during the first year people are enrolled in high-deductible health plans, as long as the deductible is at least $1,000 per person,” said Amelia M. Haviland , a study co-author and a statistician at RAND, a nonprofit research organization in a news release. “But we also found concerning reductions in use of preventative care. This suggests people are cutting both necessary and unnecessary care.”

High-deductible plans have been gaining interest because they are more affordable than other plans. By 2009, 20% of Americans with employer-sponsored plans had high-deductible coverage. A 2010 study found that more than half of large employers offered at least one high deductible plan to their employees. Officials believe that health care reform will push even more people into high-deductible plans.

So what’s the real cost savings of having a high deductible plan? The study shows that the deductibles had to be at least $1000 in order for the savings to be significant. With high-deductible plans spending was lower both on inpatient care, outpatient care, and prescription drugs.  Rates of mammography, cervical cancer screening, colorectal cancer screening and blood tests were among preventative care that dropped with high deductible plans. “We saw that patients reduced preventive care, and if this persists, it is likely to have health consequences in the future,” Haviland said in a news release. “These cutbacks could cause a spike in health care costs down the road if people end up sicker and need more-intensive treatment.”

Wondering what the best minds in money are tweeting about? Every other Tuesday we’ll fill you in on the conversation with Tuesday Money Tweets. You’ll get the 140 characters (or less!) of the financial wisdom you crave from around the Twitterverse.

@BudgetsAreSexy: I just found $500 worth of clothing to get rid of… should I see how much I can make off Craigslist? (answer: YES!)

@FrugalDad: Save $5 bills as you come across them. If you save just four $5 bills a month, that’s $240 towards next year’s Christmas fund!

@INGDirect: Nearly 80% of all married people hid purchases from their spouse. What about you? (We won’t tell…)

@MoneySmart: Bigger paychecks next year, thanks to the payroll tax cut

@ManishaThakor: 73 is the new 65 – Are you saving enough for retirement?

@Money: Ali Velshi: Get out there now & buy a house already!

@BasicallyMoney: “Canada’s household debt heavy as that of U.S. & represents significant threat to country’s recovery”

@SS4BC: If only I could magically make $10k in a year without doing any extra work…. thinking cap time…

@InvestorJunkie: 10 major price shifts in 2010. Yikes: oil up 25% corn up 53%!

@RamseyShow: Blake: Consumers’ holiday spending tops pre-recession level. Consumers spent 5.5% more this holiday season than in 2009. ~AP

This holiday season will be bleak for two million people relying on unemployment benefits that may soon run out if Congress doesn’t renew them. According to the Associated Press Congress must decide whether to renew unemployment insurance, a benefit that gives nearly five million people who  haven’t worked in more than six months about $310 a week. The extension that Congress granted this summer is set to expire December first.

A bill that would extend them for three months failed in the House. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would bring the issue up again after Thanksgiving in hopes of granting an emergency extension at least through the holidays, according to the Associated Press. Extending the benefits for three months would add another $12.5 billion to the nation’s $13.8 trillion in national debt. “The fact is, we can both provide this help and pay for it by cutting less effective stimulus spending,” said Rep. Charles Boustany, R-La, according to the Associated Press. “That’s what we should be debating today.”

They’ll also be voting on whether to extend Bush-era tax cuts that gave breaks to those with incomes over $200,000 and couples with incomes over $250,000. Those tax cuts expire at the end of 2010 and would end up costing $700 billion over ten years. “I don’t think we want to leave here having fought for tax cuts for millionaires and against unemployment insurance for those that have lost their jobs,” spokesman Robert Gibbs told the Associated Press. “Republicans in Congress are eager to spend lavishly on tax breaks for the fortunate few, but stingy when it comes to helping the middle class make ends meet,” Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass, told the Associated Press.

According to the Associated Press, every recession since 1950 has resulted in extended federal benefits that were paid for with debt. Some fear that if Republicans vote to allow unemployment insurance to lapse during the holidays they’ll receive a negative backlash. “It’s just inconceivable that in the last gasp of this Congress you would turn all your attention to the top 2 percent of wage earners in the country at the same time that middle class families are struggling to hold their families together because of prolonged unemployment,” said House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, D-Calif, according to the Associated Press. Unemployment benefits became more generous under the economic recover act passed last year. People can now receive up to 99 weeks of benefits in most states.

High Point Auto Insurance has teamed up with OnStar, the General Motors-owned communications network designed to keep participating vehicles safe on the road. High Point Auto Insurance has partnered with OnStar to create a new program for promoting vehicular safety among New Jersey drivers, according to an announcement the auto insurance provider made to the press earlier today.

High Point Auto Insurance has already had a long history of championing road safety. The insurer has lent its support to a wide variety of community-based safety initiatives. The most famous of these was the program called Keep Kids Alive Drive 25(R), designed to combat unnecessary traffic fatalities among children by encouraging drivers to adhere to the speed limit in residential zones.

The global insurance juggernaut known as the American International Group is in trouble. AIG, the biggest insurance company in the world, has lost $7.81 billion in the first quarter of 2008, according to its most recent financial report.

This lost comes on the heels of the unfortunate year of 2007, when the company’s stock went down from $70 per share to less than $60 per share. Presently, a share of AIG sells for only slightly above $40 on the New York Stock Exchange. To be exact, its stock went down recently by an entire 2.1% to $44.15 a share, and then decreased by an extra 7.6% during after-hours trading to its present worth of $40.80 a share.

Getting an automobile insurance quote used to be a lot more complicated than it is today. At one time, you either had to visit several company offices to speak with insurance agents, or spend the day on the telephone calling around to various insurance companies inquiring about quotes.