health Archives - Page 18 of 22

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.

Help Your Kids Manage Stress In School

Stress has no age limit, including for children. Kids get stressed out while growing up, especially throughout the school year. You can learn to spot the signs of stress, and help your kids cope with the stress in a positive manner. If not, kids will begin to slack in school, their behavior may get worse, they can become introverted, moody, and may even seek negative influences as coping mechanisms. Noticing these signs is the first step to tackling the issue, followed by some tips to problem solve and manage it.

Unusual behavior in a kid is a sign of stress. — *If your kid is irrationally frustrated or acting out, this may be a sign of stress.*

Spot the Signs of Stress

There are a lot of different signs of stress in kids. Irregular behavior from your kids is the main sign that something is wrong. Signs to look for:

No eye contact
Uncooperative
More meltdowns than normal
Clingy towards you or towards a comfort item such as a teddy bear or blanket
Lethargic
Aggressive
Can not focus on tasks
Introverted or does not want to play with others
Resisting to go to school

You know your own kid better than anyone, so if they start to act unlike themselves, that should be a sure sign that there is something wrong, or they are dealing with stress.

Make Sure They Get Enough Sleep

Sleep is extremely important for growing kids, especially when they are in school learning. If you do not get enough sleep, your brain cannot grasp the information you learn the next day as well as it would when rested. Lack of sleep will also alter a kids mood, becoming more irritable and uncooperative.

Make Time To Play

All work and no play, makes a dull and sad kid. Riding bikes, throwing a ball around, and just being a kid is important. This helps to have some fun without the added stress of winning a sport, or doing it right.

To help relieve stress, allow time for your kids to play. — *It is important to make some time for kids to be kids and play. It helps relieve stress.*

Teach Coping Mechanisms

Kids will often mimic how their parents deal with stress. At times we are guilty of coming home and lashing out or taking out our stress from work on our kids. It is important to take a step back and talk with your children about why you are upset, but put a positive spin on it and teach them to look at things in a different perspective. Teach your kids different ways to relax. Deep breathing exercises can help, or my favorite- write a daily affirmation, because when you think positive, you remain positive.

Limit Technology

As much as kids love to watch TV or be on their tablets, these activities can just increase stress. Try to do more activities as a family or with friends. Something as simple as having a meal together where you can talk and listen is important. Talking about what’s going on can relieve a great amount of stress on it’s own.

Do Not Overschedule

One of the biggest things to stress a kid out is overscheduling and spreading them thin. Kids not only have to pay attention for 7 hours throughout the day in school, but then they have to go to extracurricular activities, then come home to do homework, and then go to bed. It can become too much for a kid. It can become extra hectic when you have multiple kids and are constantly running around. Take the time to allow them to rest at times, and that there is some downtime in their schedule.

Positive coping strategies will help your kids become confident and accomplish anything. — *Teaching your kid to cope with stress in a positive manner, will build confidence to accomplish anything.*

Set Achievable Goals

I myself am guilty of this. I set these high expectations for my kids, which in turn puts a lot of pressure on them. The pressure to achieve these unattainable goals will just cause stress and depression when they do not reach it. Learn to set small realistic goals for your kid, and when they achieve it, praise them, and they will gain more confidence and excel academically.

If you do not teach your kids how to deal with stress, they will begin to self-medicate in an unhealthy manner with food, drugs, and alcohol. Life can get hectic with work, school, and after school activities, so at times we can miss the signs. Take some time everyday to talk with your kids, learn what’s going on and build a strong relationship. That way, you can see patterns of stress, reach out, and help destress them.

Take Time to Be Kind to Yourself Today

“Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind-” as stated by Henry James. It is important in our lives to be kind, especially to ourselves. Often we forget to stop and take care of ourselves after giving all of our time and effort into work, friends, families, and even strangers. Sometimes we think that we have to earn self-kindness after completing a task, whether it be a successful diet, finishing a work assignment, or even tidying up the house. Then we feel like we can reward ourselves, and if we fail, then we have to put in more time and effort into accomplishing.

Be kind to yourself. Invest in you. — *Take the time to invest in yourself. Be kind to yourself because you deserve it. It also created more confidence.*

Stop. When was the last time you complimented yourself? Treated yourself without guilt? We need to try to make a habit of investing into ourselves so we can keep giving the best version of ourselves. There are some simple techniques you can do everyday to be kind to yourself.

Self Investment

When you first wake up in the morning, read something inspiring or do something that makes you happy. Hearing words of motivation and kindness can set the tone for your day. It will allow you to learn and act on what you have learned. We continuously invest in our jobs and family that we forget to invest in ourselves. How can you give something

or someone your all when you don’t give yourself the same?

Positive Thoughts

Speak kind words about yourself. Be thankful for the things you have, write down some things you may take for granted. When times are hard, try to breed positive thoughts instead of allowing negativity to seep in. Stop and think “I’ve got this, I will be okay.” This kind of thinking will help you find an alternate perspective to situations and put a positive spin on it. It also breeds more positive thoughts about yourself, uplifting your confidence and self esteem.

*Write yourself a positive note everyday, including your aspirations.*

Don’t Beat Yourself Up

We make mistakes, we are human. Do not beat yourself up over should’ve, could’ve or would haves. Be your own supportive friend and forgive yourself, take the learning experience and move forward.

Laugh

Laughter is the best medicine- we have all heard this saying, and it is true! Laughing immediately decreases stress hormones and releases endorphins that makes the body feel good. Take a break and laugh with some friends. Find a way to destress from the stressors of life.

It can be easy to get caught up in the negativity around, or even get stuck in a negative thought and allow it to keep replaying in your head. Learning to stop this is important, because you have the choice to. You have the choice to move on and change the future. You are in control of your future and what you want for yourself. Life is hard as it is so ease up on yourself, because you deserve self love.

Tag: health