Posts Tagged ‘health care coverage’

Pets and Allergies

Wednesday, April 14th, 2010

Pets and allergies for some reason seem to go together. How sad when you have a family and everyone agrees they all want very much to add a pet to the family and when you do the war of the allergies takes over. The allergies stem from the animal dander and not all the health insurance in the world is going to stop this from happening.

However, there are some allergies, like asthma, that are now considered a pre-condition. If your child or children are developing an allergy to the pet dander, do you then return the pet? Probably not, but this is becoming an issue for the health care industry to pay attention to. There are a few steps you can try to help alleviate this issue with the help of the health insurance community.

1.    Discuss the allergy symptoms with your medical health care physician

2.    Bathe your pet regularly to reduce the pet dander

3.    Refrain from allowing your pet to enter the bedroom for an allergy free night

4.    Thoroughly vacuum carpeting and flooring regularly

5.    Clean and dust regularly

6.    Consider using a vacuum with a HEPA filter to pick up pet dander

First, you must figure out how to relieve the symptoms of the allergy and this is a logical topic to discuss with your medical health care physician.

There are many over the counter medications that are mild that you could try to see if they eliminate the itchy eyes and runny nose after consulting your medical health care physician. However, if the one member of your home who is allergic to pet dander is a child, it is a wise idea to discuss this with your pediatrician. If your child is older then discuss this with your medical physician and even your affordable health insurance carrier.

Sometimes you will need a prescription medication for allergies, specific to pet dander and then you will need to talk with your health insurance provider to find out if they will cover the prescription. The reason why you need to find out is that if the prescription is an expensive one, you must continue to purchase a new supply each month.

Always take care though, do not mix medications when you are not sure if they are compatible. You can always consult your medical health care physician when you are not sure, especially when children are involved. You can also consult with your low cost health insurance provider to ask if they have a pamphlet for more advice to protect the children and reduce the susceptibility of pet dander allergen.

The health insurance providers usually have information they will be more than happy to pass along to you to help with the necessary adjustments of introducing a new pet into the home. Good, sound advice is what you really need most right now and they just might have what you are searching. Once you are able to grasp a new workable system you will soon find the allergy will begin to subside, but never allow yourself to let down your guard.

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Lower Insurance Premiums

Monday, April 12th, 2010

Shopping around for medical health care is so time consuming that many people who begin with good intentions end by walking away and giving up. However, if you prepare ahead of time and have a better understanding of what you are looking for the search becomes easier.  There are a few things you can list and then take them one by one until you locate the right health insurance plan that will suite your needs.

It is at this time that you will pick up the telephone and set up an in office appointment to discuss the details further and collect some information. A few of the ways to lower your medical health insurance premiums are:

1. Always do your best to remain healthy and refrain from unsavory habits

2. If you are a smoker now it a great time to stop

3. Consider a high deductible in order to lower the average monthly cost for health insurance

4. Change your co-insurance ratio when it is possible

5. Consider combining a Health Savings Account or HSA with a high deductible medical health insurance plan for better planning

6. Consider a major medical catastrophic plan to help defray cost

7. Consider eliminating anything that poses a significant risk

8. Consider a health insurance plan with an in network medical physician

9. When both spouses have group health insurance through their place of employment discuss which insurance plan covers more for less money

10.                   Go over your insurance plan annually to check for any changes to the policy

11.                   When you are dissatisfied with your employer sponsored group health insurance add a suggestion in the suggestion box

12.                   Try to be pre-emptive and think ahead for what your family needs will be

These are all suggestions to help you when you make that appointment with a health insurance provider in order for you to receive the type of insurance policy that will best serve you and your family. In turn, doing your homework also aids the insurance provider put together and offer you an insurance policy that is closest to what you are searching. One of the high sides is when you and your spouse are both employed.

When you both carry medical health insurance coverage, it does give you the opportunity to find the time and compare both medical health insurance policies to see which one really costs less and offers more beneficial coverage at the same time. This will afford you the opportunity to drop the health care plan that cost more while continuing with beneficial coverage for yourself, your spouse, and your children.

Try not to focus so hard on the cost because it is the coverage that will be more valuable as the years pass. When you have the responsibility of a family, children continue to grow, and there are always different issues regarding health insurance issues that must be addressed. When you only focus on the average monthly cost for health insurance, you may be hurting yourself and your family rather than helping them.

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The Cost of Obesity on the American Health Care System

Thursday, June 25th, 2009

American cooking it is good. Some people would go as far as to say that no better food can be found anywhere on the planet.   However despite as good as American cooking may be, are Americans eating healthy? The fact is the way Americans eat is causing a health crisis at this time.  All those pastries, and fried foods are literally killing us.  Though it is true that traditional homemade cooking like biscuits and brown gravy has been a main staple in many American homes of the past, the rate of obesity was not as alarming as it is today.  The American lifestyle has changed over the years.  Many homemakers of today also work outside the home and have less time to produce traditional hearty and healthy meals.

More and more Americans are eating out at fast food restaurants or ordering restaurant food in home rather than cooking their own. Greasy fast foods such as French fries and hamburgers, fried chicken, and pizza are affecting the general health of Americans.  In fact most fast foods whatever they may be are saturated with cholesterol. Bad cholesterol – LDL-C is responsible for weight gain and medical conditions including obesity, kidney failure, hypothyroidism, Cushing disease, and more.

Take the bad eating habits of Americans, lack of exercise, and sedentary lifestyles and you have a recipe for disaster. America is an overweight nation and despite the media coverage and warnings given out by various health groups, the situation is not about to change in the near future. Furthermore, approximately 80 percent of the nation’s doctors do not offer dietary services, citing that lack of funds is a major deterrent for the services at this time.

Congress is currently looking at different ways to reform the health care system and they are concerned about the nutrition and dietary needs of Americans.  They are taken the warning from physicians seriously that preventative measures will curtail the possibility of chronic disease resulting from poor eating habits.  Several organizations including the WHO (World Health Association), the American Dietetic Association, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health, all agree that obesity is a chronic disease.

To date the US health care system treats diseases related to obesity but does not recognize obesity as the cause of these various diseases. It does not treat obesity as a disease on its own. Yet millions of Americans are obese and do go to the doctors for various diseases such as type II diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and metabolic syndrome for treatment and medication.

The American Sports Data organization stipulates that the obesity stats were measured at 13 percent in 1962, and by 2000, it has grown to 31 per cent. According to the body mass index, 63 percent of Americans are overweight (over the 25.0 index), and 31 percent are actually obese (over the 3.0 index).  More alarming still, is that childhood obesity is over three times higher than it was just twenty years ago.

Most of the research stats documented are primarily focused on body mass.  Looking at actually body weight, according to the recent findings by IHRSA/ASD Obesity Weight Control Report, they concur that American population is overweight.  They cite that over 3.8 million Americans are presently overweight, with 400,000 individual reaching over 400 pounds. These stats are of epidemic proportions.  The average American woman weight in at 163 pounds indicating that the average American woman is not physically fit and is running the risk of future health problems.

If the stats continue at this rate of growth, the situation with hit crises levels; with about half of all Americans becoming overweight or obese in the next few decades. As it stands, the Surgeon General Report points to 300,000 deaths resulting from obesity related diseases in America each year.

The Centers for Disease Control and prevention cite that chronic diseases of which obesity is included are responsible for a whooping 75 percent of the 2 trillion dollars that the USA is currently paying for health care every year.

Besides the health risks for obese individuals, there is a strain on the health care system and the health insurance companies are also feeling the strain.  Obese people are in a higher risk category than a healthy person and therefore use the benefits more than others.  What this does is to jack up the insurance premiums for all insurers and they are far too high as it is.  Also, some health insurance companies will charge higher premiums for the obese individuals while others will not insure them at all.

Everyone is effective by this growing obesity crisis. It is not limited to obese people.  Average-weight Americans are footing the bill in many cases. All segments of society must intervene to make a healthier America.  Governments, researchers, health care professionals, health insurers, media, social aid, social activist groups, the fast food industry, family, friends and the obese themselves must pool together to find solutions to this growing problem before we eat ourselves to death.

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