My task each week on SOAPnet's Bank of Mom and Dad is to provide young women with solid advice that will improve their messy financial lives. In return I've received quite the education on some of the reasons we, as a society and particularly women, overspend and compile debt.

With swine flu in full swing, Wal-Mart's punitive sick leave policy is discouraging employees from calling in sick, lest they earn enough demerits to be fired, according to a report by the National Labor Committee.

Wal-Mart employees who miss one or more days due to sickness or other reasons, including caring for a sick child, earn a demerit point and lose eight hours of wages. Employees with more than three absences in a six-month period will be disciplined, and four demerits in six months leads to warnings that can lead to dismissal.

If you lost your job, right now you can get a 65% subsidy from the government to help pay for a continuation of your health benefits under COBRA for nine months. The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act may be a weird name for a bill about health insurance, but it's basically the law that requires companies to let people pay to remain on their group health insurance plans for at least 18 months.

But that could end shortly. Congress passed the 65% subsidy as unemployment rose in this country, but it's due to expire Dec. 31. A bill to extend the subsidy for a total of 15 months was introduced last week by Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Pa. Originally, the subsidy was available for nine months. So someone who began collecting the subsidiary on March 1 would run out of help at the end of November.

Americans are throwing $2.2 trillion at rising health care costs. But experts say there's a way we can cut out as much as $1 trillion. "Take better care of ourselves," says Margaret Lewin, MD, medical director of Cinergy Health.

It sounds simple. Take care of yourself, spend less on health care.

But experts say Americans are missing the mark when it comes to smoking, diet and other lifestyle choices.

This holiday, visions of sugar plums won't dance in the heads of nearly half of America's kids. That's because a new report says these kids might not be sitting down to a holiday feast. Or those who are sitting down to a holiday meal, they will be "feasting" on a paltry one.

"49% of all U.S. children will be in a household that uses food stamps at some point during their childhood," says the author of a new study, Mark R. Rank, Ph.D., poverty expert at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis. A sign Rank says is a clear indication of poverty and food insecurity. "Two of the most detrimental economic conditions affecting a child's health."

My family has been trying for weeks to get the H1N1 vaccine but the few clinics that have been held around the Milwaukee area have been mobbed.

Now we learn that all clinics for the next few weeks are cancelled because there is no vaccine to be had. Even high risk groups such as pregnant women are learning that the vaccine is not available at their doctor's office or anywhere else.

So imagine our surprise when we learned that the H1N1 vaccine is available for prisoners in Wisconsin's correctional system. Apparently, prisoners throughout the system have had access to the vaccine

Huzzah! We have a new record.

Open Secrets reports that lobbyists have dropped more money in the third quarter than during any other quarter since spending disclosures began -- $849 million to be exact. In three months.

Total for the year so far: $2.5 billion. Naturally, the health care sector is leading the year so far with $396 million.

If you've been wondering why the Republicans are insane and why too many of the Democrats are acting like, well, Republicans, this is your answer (I'm looking at you Blanche Lincoln, Ben Nelson, Joe Lieberman and Evan Bayh).

Firstly, as we all know, lobbyists own Congress, but in terms of the big issues this year, ranging from energy to health care, the Republicans are being well-paid to flail and obstruct and generally thwart any efforts for reform.

Meanwhile, some of the Democrats who've muddied and watered-down the health care reform bill are equally as guilty of following orders from the people signing the checks, so they're stalling reform but not with the same fury as the Republicans.

Ten years ago, the health insurance providers and HMOs spent around $20 million on lobbying. This year, they're rapidly approaching $60 million. Just one of the expenses you finance with 30% of your monthly premium.

More good news on this front. The Supreme Court is deliberating the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case to determine whether a corporate-financed anti-Clinton documentary from 2008 is considered political speech. If the Court rules in favor of Citizens United, the Court will effectively give corporations free license to use money as political speech. In other words, the lobbyist scene could end up a whole lot worse than it is right now.

Here's you. You're looking for work and wondering how you're going to buy health insurance for your kids. Meanwhile, more than 13,000 lobbyists are scurrying around the Hill -- coercing your representatives to ignore you. Who wins that tug of war?

Emergency rooms and doctor's offices are flooded with phone calls and patients related to the swine flu. For instance, four hospitals in Onondaga County, N.Y. saw an 11% spike in patients in September 2009 over the same month last year.

And while it's causing a fury in the health care industry, some analysts say there may be a few silver linings to the flu.

It appears out of the ashes of all those sniffles and fevers, the ailing economy is getting an unexpected -- but much needed -- boost from the double flu season. Here's a quick look at a couple unexpected economic impacts of this season's H1N1.

An innocent cough at work is no longer so innocent.

As the swine flu death toll slowly rises, most Americans want co-workers with flu symptoms to stay home. And if you come into work anyway, most of your colleagues will rat you out to senior management, according to a recent survey.

The survey by Mansfield Communications found that 91% of Americans say they want their co-workers to remain at home if they are infected with the H1N1 flu virus.

Would you eat chicken imported from China? Overwhelmingly, 96% of WalletPop readers say they wouldn't touch the stuff.

Now that a 2004 ban on chicken imported from China has been lifted, it could be awfully tempting for some of America's favorite fast-food chains to buy the cheap meat. We asked seven of the biggest fast food chains in the U.S. whether they would buy the chicken when it becomes available. Three said they will only buy American chicken. Three would not say what they'll do. And one, a very big one, left the door wide open.

For the second time in as many weeks, upstate New York's ailing economy got a $100 million shot in the arm. Today, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced a historic nationwide reform of the consumer reimbursement system for out-of-network health care charges. A new not-for-profit company, FAIR Health, Inc., and an upstate research network headquartered at Syracuse University will develop a new, independent database for consumer reimbursement. The team will also create a new website that gives consumers the chance to compare prices before they choose their doctors--something that's never been done before.

Joining Syracuse University in the upstate research network are the State University of New York at Buffalo, Cornell University, University of Rochester, and SUNY Upstate Medical University. The new database will make FAIR Health a center for health care research and an engine of health care reform.

Advocates for lower cost health care have for some time argued that arming consumers with data about the costs of medical procedures would help drive down prices.

Insurers, however, have kept a tight lid on what they pay doctors and other health care providers, arguing that such information is proprietary and disclosure would put them at a competitive disadvantage.

But now a bevy of new Web sites can help consumers learn just how much services costs, reports the Wall Street Journal (subscription required). The sites cull information from a variety of resources, including insurers, government agencies, Internet companies and health-care providers.

The sites, nearly two dozen of them, aren't perfect, the Journal notes, but they can provide a rough idea of typical costs in your area.

Folks living in Mississippi might want to consider changing zip codes. According to a report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Center for Health Statistics, Magnolians have, on average, a 20% shorter life span than the national average.

Mississippi isn't the only southern state you're most likely to die in. Nine out of 10 "death states" are in the south.

It's been clear for some time now that the recession has taken its toll on consumers, leading them in many instances to winnow purchases down to the bare necessities. And the food industry, always on the outlook for a new gimmick to sell its wares, is paying attention.

It's one reason you may have seen the word "simple" or "simply" appearing on more packaging. Marketers such as Starbucks, Kraft and Campbell's are paring down ingredients and using simpler language on their product labels, as a way to appeal to a new generation of thrift-seeking consumers.

It was confirmed a world wide pandemic almost six months ago, and a national medical emergency last week, but where are the shots for the H1N1 vaccine? With widespread infection in 46 states, school closings, and employees missing work, it would be nice to have the H1N1 vaccine about now.

"This is a challenging time," Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a press conference Tuesday. "We wish we had more vaccine available."