Health Insurance Archives - Page 47 of 52

Benefits of Cooking With Kids

When you invite children to cook with you in the kitchen, you teach them lifelong lessons and the ability to make healthier decisions. Kids cooking with their parents/guardians or grandparents has many benefits. Children learn life skills that help build their confidence and a stronger relationship with their parents. It also helps a child develop cognitive and motor skills that prepares them for success academically, and socially.

Making healthier choices

Bringing kids into the kitchen to help you cook teaches them about different kinds of food and their ingredients Giving kids an idea of what ingredients are in their food gives them a better understanding of what is healthy and

Children are more likely to make healtheir eating choices and try new things when they help cook. — *Children are more likely to make healtheir eating choices when they cook with you. They learn to try new things.*

what is not. This also gives you and your kids the opportunity to experiment and try to find healthier alternatives to your favorite snacks. For example, when making ice cream with bananas instead of purchasing it in the store, you cut down on sugar and artificial flavors that are in store-bought ice cream.

Going over ingredients when looking at packaging helps kids understand what to look for and what to avoid. For younger kids being in the kitchen is a great opportunity for them to develop their sense of smell, touch, and taste by experimenting with different foods.A child’s ability to make healthier choices in their adult life starts with their parents and what they are fed at home. Cooking with kids and introducing them to healthy options will help them be comfortable picking vegetables or salads, and trying new things, over always having greasy fried foods. Studies show over time as the kids grow up, they will choose healthier options when they learn to cook with their parents while growing up.

Building Confidence

When cooking, kids have to pay attention to details of a recipe and remain focused to get to the end product. Kids will build confidence and gain independence from learning to prep and cook a meal. After a few rounds of cooking with an adult kids may even have the confidence to want to try and cook something on their own. It is always easy to start with something like a sandwich or a simple snack recipe when they insist they want to do it on their own. Kids get a sense of accomplishment and pride when they complete a recipe and see their completed fully cooked meal.

This is also a good time to teach children about kitchen safety, things such as not touching the stove top, how to use the microwave, and how to safely check hot food. They learn teamwork and how working together to reach an end goal is better than doing it alone. Remember to continuously compliment your child’s efforts, even when they get frustrated. This will help your child keep calm and boost their confidence so they do not want to quit and give up on cooking. Praising your child in the kitchen also helps build a bond between the adult and child and lets them know that you believe in them.

A kid's reading skills improve from from being in the kitchen. They learn different measurements, and to follow steps. — *A kid’s reading skills improve from from being in the kitchen. They learn different measurements needed, and to follow steps.*

Math & Reading Skills Improve

Cooking helps a child understand measurements in a real world setting. Kids who learn things like numbers and measurements in a setting like a kitchen as opposed to just on paper are more likely to pick them up easier and remember them. You can help younger kids learn their numbers by having them count out each ingredient as you gather them and add them to the recipe. Older children on the other hand can work on more advanced skills like reading and fractions in the recipe.

Next time you cook a meal, bring your children in the kitchen to help you so they can begin learning these valuable life skills. Both you and your children will benefit from cooking together. You get to have a partner while cooking who will make the experience more fun, while your children learn to be more confident, enhance their cognitive skills, and use the knowledge to make healthier decisions as the grow into adults.

The Importance of Family Mealtimes

When was the last time you sat down with your family and ate dinner? Is the answer not in a while? Between going to work, taking kids to after-school activities, and making sure their homework is done, there is no time for a sit down meal. Most of the time, a dinner together is the only time of the day to reconnect with your children and spouse. Family dinner is the best time to laugh, talk about your ups and downs of the day, and take the time to listen to each other.

Having dinner together as a family strengthens a family's relationship. — *Having dinner together as a family strengthens a family’s relationship. It is a time to unwind, talk, and listen to each other.*

Stronger Relationship

It goes without saying that an open line of communication is what makes a relationship successful. This goes the same for relationships with your kids.

Something as simple as sitting at the table together and enjoying each other will build a kid’s self esteem. It also builds their sense of belonging, which in turn helps them with their friends and finding out who they are in school. Kids will less likely fall into peer pressure due to not only their high self-esteem, but the ability to come talk with their parents. And as for those who were bullied? Studies show they bounce back quicker. That strong bond between your children you build with them at the dinner table, will follow them through life.

Produces Productivity

Dinner conversation has great benefits on a young child’s language skills. Studies have shown that when young kids sit at the table for dinner, they learn more words than when being read to aloud. These kids learned approximately 1,000 words more than kids who did not sit at the dinner table with the family. Dinner together also teaches kids manners and social skills.

*Family dinners increase productivity and better grades in school.*

Older kids also benefit from sitting at the dinner table. Studies provided that young aged school kids and teens who ate at the table 5 to 7 days a week, were twice as likely to get A’s and B’s. These kids were also less likely to be depressed, and less likely to use drugs.

Save Money

Do you want to save money? If the answer is yes, then eat at home more! Eating a meal at the dinner table with your family is cheaper than eating out. Let’s do the math for a week of eating out versus eating at home. A meal for a person is about $10. A family of four’s check will be about $40 for the night. Doing this for 5 days a week will cost about $200. However, if you cook a meal at home, it will cost about $20 of groceries to make a meal for 4. This will cost you about $100 for 5 days. You save $100. Win!

Better Eating Habits

Getting kids to eat healthy food, such as vegetables and fruits, is a struggle. It is sometimes such a fight that even I want to just give up, and consider it a loss. But, studies show that kids who sit down and eat with their family are more likely to make healthier choices growing up. Kids will have a lower body-mass index and more controlled weight. This is because home cooked meals are just healthier than restaurants and fast food. I mean do we really need that double cheese gordita crunch wrap supreme? No, it is extremely unhealthy and lacks the nutrients your

child’s growing body needs.

Having dinner with your family helps you all to escape the drama from the day. Home is a safe place for you and your family, and the dinner table is where you can let loose and relax with them. Make a rule to unplug and put away the technology at the table, and plug into each other. If it may seem like it is too hectic to fit in, try to plan ahead meals, and have your kids help you cook. It can be a fun bonding experience.

Healthcare Rates to Rise in 2019

In 2017 when President Trump did away with cost-sharing subsidies, it forced insurers to raise premiums. The cost-sharing subsidies helped pay back insurers for giving customers lower premiums due to their income status. Due to the halt in the subsidies, health insurance premiums have been rising. Mainly for those who have to buy their own insurance, approximately 34% in 2018 for silver plans. Insurers are now brainstorming what they will charge and if they want to participate in the ACA exchanges for 2019.

Insurers have been participating less and less in the market exchange, leaving customers with fewer choices. If more insurance companies decide to pull out of the exchanges, it will mean that customers will have even fewer choices available to them, at higher costs.

Health Insurance rates are increasing next year — *Health Insurance premiums and deductibles are increasing next year*

Premium Increase

Premiums will continue to keep growing without the cost-sharing subsidies to help with the costs impacted on insurers. The hike in premiums could be as much as 30% for 2019. It is projected that those that will be impacted the most are those who make too much money to qualify for premium support subsidies.

Eyles and Ceci Connolly, president and CEO of Alliance of Community Health Plans both voiced their disappointment of Congress failing to take action to fund cost-sharing subsidies.

“What’s happened is that several pieces of the puzzle have been pulled away. It is hard for me to isolate CSRs, what we are looking at now is a puzzle that is falling apart piece by piece,” Connolly said. “Losing the individual mandate, losing the cost sharing reduction subsidies and losing any hint of reinsurance, not to mention the risk corridors that were already gone, you’re just running out of options to manage the cost of this program.”

Funding

Midterm elections are approaching which brings up the issue of health care. While both political parties will be criticized, the polls have shown that voters hold Republicans more responsible for the high costs. Both parties have come to an agreement to include health insurance funding in the spending law. However, they could not agree on the details of what to fund exactly. Republicans are pushing for abortion restrictions stating insurers can cover abortions but cannot use federal funding for them, while Democrats do not agree.

Lawmakers are hoping the stabilization effort of adding funding to the bill will offset the costs of insurance. Health-policy experts disagree on how much it will help. Health experts state that the higher premiums will be offset for people by other subsidies they will be qualified for.

Republicans are not thrilled to stand behind the idea of the stabilization funding. They view it as saving the insurers of the health law, ACA, which they promised voters they would repeal. They blame the ACA’s regulations which stopped competition and drove up premium costs. Congress is leaning towards unlikely passing the stabilization bill.

Insurers are expected to announce the premium price hike sometime in the fall.

Healthy Eating Tips

In order to stick to a healthy diet, it is important to consume the right amount of calories for how active you are throughout the day. You must have a balanced diet so that your body receives all the nutrients necessary with the energy you use. It is recommended that men eat around 2,500 calories a day, while women should have 2,000 a day. Here are a few eating tips to focus on every day.

Eating breakfast is important to kickstart your metabolism for the day. — *Eating breakfast is important to kickstart your metabolism for the day, it also gives your brain fuel.*

Do Not Skip Breakfast

It is always said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and that’s because it is. Eating breakfast is what kick starts your metabolism for the day and helps you to lose and/or maintain weight. Research has actually shown that people who eat breakfast regularly are less likely to be overweight.

Eggs with whole grain toast or a low-sugar cereal with fruit is a nutritious healthy way to start the day.

Eat Less Salt

Too much salt can raise your blood pressure which makes your heart pump more than normal. This can lead to heart disease or a stroke. Reading food labels is a good way to cut down on your salt intake. Foods that we eat already such as bread and sauces contain salt in it.

More than 1.5 grams of salt over 100 grams means that the food is high in salt. You should try to limit your salt intake to no more than 6 grams a day.

Drink Plenty of Fluids

*Make sure to keep yourself hydrated so your body can replenish your cells.*

Getting enough liquids in a day is important to stay hydrated and help flush out your system of toxins. It is recommended that a person drink 8 glasses of water a day in addition to the fluid we get from the food we eat.

Avoid sugary soft and fizzy drinks, and unsweetened fruit juice and smoothies because they are high not only in sugar but in calories as well. Stick to a cup of teas, fruit juices, smoothies or vegetable juices. However, water is the most essential for your health.

Eat More Fish

Fish offers a lot of protein, vitamins, and minerals, which is why it is good for your body and health. They contain a lot of omega-3 fats, which is essential for heart health, preventing heart disease. You should try to eat at least 2 portions of fish a week, one oily fish and one non-oily.

Some oily fish include salmon, mackerel, trout, herring, fresh tuna, sardines, and pilchards.

Non-oily fish include haddock, plaice, coley, cod, canned tuna*, skate, and hake.

*Canned fish contain a lot of salt, so be sure to keep an eye on salt intake to a minimum.

Eat Plenty of Fruits & Vegetables

Doctors recommend that we eat at the minimum five servings of fruits and vegetables a day. A lot of people do not accomplish this because it may seem to be too much. You can easily eat a banana or blueberries in the morning with your breakfast. And as far as the rest of the day, unsweetened fruit or vegetable juice/smoothie counts as another serving, and at lunch and dinner try to have a cup of vegetables, raw or cooked.

Watch Starchy Carbohydrates

Starchy carbohydrates such as potatoes, rice, bread, and pasta should make up over a third of the food you eat. A lot of people are scared to eat carbs and cut them out of their diet completely to lose weight, but these carbs are important. They can help you feel fuller for longer, just be sure to try to choose whole grain for a healthier option.

You should aim for at least one starchy carbohydrate each meal, but make sure to keep an eye on what you put on these starches, Calories add up quick when you add butter to bread or creamy sauces on pasta.

Achieving these helpful eating tips and turning them into habits will help you live a healthier life. Over time of choosing wisely what you eat, it will become a habit to make healthier lifestyle options, which in turn is best for heart health, body, and weight.

Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JP Morgan Team Up To Repackage Healthcare

In January, three major corporations- Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase, announced they will join forces to form an independent healthcare company for their employees. They are offering a “not-for-profit” system for their own employees, with the potential to be extended to all Americans. They are hoping this will lead to lower healthcare costs and better medical outcomes for their employees.

These companies' ideas of merging are to save money for employees when it comes to health insurance costs. — *The ideas of merging are to save money for employee’s health insurance costs.*

Why The Alliance?

The alliance between these companies is due to the frustration of businesses with the nation’s healthcare system and costs for medical treatment. In an interview with Business Insider, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said “Look, America has an issue, OK? We spend 17% of our GDP in healthcare. You know we have the best of all worlds, some of the best healthcare in the world. And the worst of all worlds. We don’t do very good preventive medicine. It costs too much.”

The companies are self-insured employers. This means that when an employee goes to the doctor, the employer is paying the bill instead of a health insurance. The goal is to help make their employees healthier, therefore reducing healthcare costs. JPMorgan has lowered deductibles for employees making less than $60,000 a year, and even lower depending on how healthy their lifestyles are. “If you do your wellness stuff now, if you take care of yourself, if you don’t smoke, we give you benefits and the deductible effectively goes to zero,” he said. “So we’ve kind of really made it easier for folks to get proper medical care.”

“We said, we know we can do more. We know we can do more just thinking through every single part of it,” Dimon continued. “Whether that be giving employers more information on their phones, which could in turn help with their overall wellness. Keeping employees healthier for longer in turn, could cut down on healthcare spending by preventing patients from getting sicker.

If this succeeds, hopefully it paves a way for future healthcare. — *This alliance will hopefully propose a better future healthcare system.*

What This Could Mean

The three companies will no doubt make a big impact on healthcare coverage. Giving incentives for employees to become healthier will not only lower the costs for them but essentially be beneficial for the employees. Lower deductibles and healthier, happier lifestyles would be the outcome.

Amazon has begun making its way into the medical world by launching an exclusive line of over-the-counter health products to hospitals and doctors’ offices.

“Some of the ways Amazon could use its know-how to make a dent in prices: Negotiate rates directly with health care providers and drug manufacturers, use technology to ease consumers’ ability to make appointments or consult with doctors outside of the office and improve access to price and quality information about physicians, procedures and prescriptions to allow consumers to shop around,” said Frederick Isasi, executive director of FamiliesUSA, a health care advocacy group.

If these three corporations succeed in the model they are proposing in order to lower medical costs, hopefully it will be adapted and extended to the rest of the country. This would mean Americans can receive affordable healthcare, which is appealing because the future of healthcare is unsure right now with government reforms taking place. This model may work and it will be interesting to see it unfold in the near future.

What is the Ketogenic Diet?

The ketogenic diet, also known as the keto diet, has recently become popular after being pushed by fitness gurus and endorsed by celebrities. This diet has promised to help detox your body, along with helping people lose weight. It is a low carb, high-fat diet that reverses your body’s functions in how it produces energy. There have been questions regarding whether this will work long term or if it gives short term results that won’t necessarily last.

What is the Keto Diet?

*Keto diet is a high fat and low carb diet.*

The ketogenic diet is a high fat, low carb diet that consists of eating about 80 to 90 percent fat, and very little to no carbohydrates. You can eat dairy, meat, eggs, and vegetables and have to avoid grains like rice and pasta and fruits. This diet closely resembles the Atkins diet and the Dukan diet which are also low to no carb diets.

How does it Work?

When your body produces energy, it usually breaks down carbohydrates that are consumed. The food is broken down into glucose, fructose, and galactose, which is then produced into the body’s main source of energy. With the keto diet, when you eliminate the carbs, your body looks for another source of energy and enters a state of ketosis. When your body enters the state of ketosis, fat is released from cells and turned into ketones. These ketones are what your body will now use for energy.

Side Effects

Your body will experience some side effects when you begin the diet, but over time they will go away. Because your body is making a huge change to find another energy source, you will experience some discomfort. You can experience headaches, nausea, feel tired more often, and have bad breath and not so pleasant smelling urine. This is also known as the keto flu because a lot of the symptoms resemble the flu. You will lose a lot of electrolytes and water weight (from fat cells releasing water) when starting this diet, so it is very important to drink a lot of water.

*The ketogenic diet has been linked to enhanced cognitive function.*

Benefits

All the of the bad side effects will go away after a certain amount of time. There have been links to positive side effects and benefits. Research shows that people doing this diet over time have enhanced focus and cognitive skills. Better mental performance is due to the ketones that fuel your brain, and the increased fatty acids. The keto diet gives you a fuller feeling through the day, helping you to snack less and curb cravings.

The keto diet has been used to treat epilepsy and seizures since the 1900s and still used today. Some doctors use this diet after finding a therapeutic connection for those with cancer, diabetes, acne issues, and even cholesterol and blood pressure issues. Studies show there is less buildup in arteries, helping blood flow better, as well as producing higher good cholesterol and less bad cholesterol.

Is it for me?

As stated, when you first start the diet, you will drop a lot of water weight as your body gets used to the diet and producing energy. If it is more energy you are looking for, this diet will help you feel more energized throughout the day without the crashing. It is important to consult with your doctor before starting this diet to make sure you get all the nutrients your body needs. Your health is most important, so make sure this will not affect it in a negative way, especially if you have cholesterol or heart issues.

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