Healthcare, Health Insurance, Vitamins, Nutrition

June 23, 2009

Father’s Day Gift

Filed under: General,Health Insurance — Tags: , — blogadmin @ 10:10 pm

The word ‘dad’ dates back to the 16th century. It may have originated with the Welsh word ‘tad’ (father), which later mutated to dad. The word ‘father’ is derived from the Old English ‘foeder’. It’s believed that 4,000 years ago in Babylon, a small boy called Elmesu etched a Father’s Day message on a clay card wishing his father a healthy life.

Father’s Day originated in America. The idea was conceived a century ago, by Sonora Dodd of Spokane, Washington, while listening to a Mother’s Day sermon in 1909. Dodd wanted a special day to honor her father, William Smart, a widowed Civil War veteran who was left to raise his six children on a farm. A day in June was chosen for the first Father’s Day celebration — June 19, 1910, proclaimed by Spokane’s mayor as it was the month of Smart’s birth.

Though Father’s Day was celebrated in the US since 1910, it was first made an official celebration in 1966 when US President Lyndon Johnson designated the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day. In 1972, President Richard Nixon signed a public law making it permanent. Dr Robert Webb of West Virginia is believed to have conducted the first Father’s Day service in 1908 at the Central Church of Fairmont.

One of the most common gifts associated with Father’s Day comprises of a necktie, followed by flowers. But would flowers alone express the love and care that our parents gave us? The times that we live in now need more medical care than any other time before. The mental, physical and environmental factors have taken quite a toll on our bodies. This Father’s day lets gift our parents a health insurance plan.

June 22, 2009

Launch of .eco (Dot Eco) Application to Empower Global Community

Filed under: Nutrition — Anna MorTis @ 7:58 am

/EIN News/ Vancouver, BC, Canada (22 June 2009): Empowering individuals, businesses, and organizations to make informed environmental choices is the key idea behind a globally-developed bid for the .eco (Dot Eco) (http://www.doteco.info) Internet extension launched today by Big Room Inc.. Big Room Inc., a Canadian company based in Vancouver, has developed its platform and bid for the Dot Eco generic top-level domain (gTLD) along with an international team of partners, advisors, and investors with well-established roots in the sustainability and business communities. Afilias, one of the world’s most-respected registry services providers, is partnering with Big Room to operate the technical aspects of Dot Eco. “Big Room’s Dot Eco is the right bid by the right team at the right time,” said Big Room co-founder Trevor Bowden. “Individuals and organizations want to cut through all the eco claims out there so they can make better choices. Our Dot Eco will help them do that.” The Dot Eco system will collect and store eco-information in addition to the technical and administrative information collected when someone registers a domain name.

“By using the Internet as a global online database, Big Room’s Dot Eco will allow individuals to make informed eco-choices and it will give businesses and organizations, both big and small, an effective and inexpensive tool to share their eco performance,” Bowden added. In keeping with the bottom-up spirit that has driven the Internet and the global sustainability community, Big Room will further refine its application through a series of worldwide public consultations to develop and refine the policies that will govern Dot Eco. “.eco is a unique global resource which must be stewarded effectively and responsibly to promote sustainability around the world,” said Martin Atkin, Director of External & Media Relations for WWF International. “Big Room’s vision for .eco will create a new, credible and trustworthy internet extension that will make a real difference for individuals and for the environment.” Big Room will submit its bid for Dot Eco when the application round for new gTLDs overseen by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers opens in the first quarter of 2010. More information on the Big Room Dot Eco application is available at www.doteco.info -ends- Media enquiries: International Tom Jennings (London) tom.jennings@edelman.com (mobile) +44 774 003 8925 (office) +44 203 047 2308 North America Jason Keenan (Vancouver) jason@spirepr.ca (mobile) +1 604 218 7188 (office) +1 604 331 2530 About Big Room: Big Room Inc.

is a Canadian company based in Vancouver, British Columbia with an office in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 2007 with the goal of empowering the global community to make informed environmental and sustainability choices. Big Room’s three co-founders are committed environmentalists with a long history of working with organisations, governments and companies to bring about positive environmental and social change. BACKGROUNDER Big Room Dot ECO application Big Room Team: The founders of Big Room, Anastasia O’Rourke, Jacob Malthouse and Trevor Bowden, have deep sustainability expertise, having worked at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), INSEAD Business School, Yale University, Institute for Sustainable Futures, the EcoDesign Foundation, the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Partners: Afilias Global Registry Services is the world’s leading provider of Internet infrastructure solutions that connect people to their data.

AMEE’s goal is to map, measure and track all the energy data on Earth. Laga/Deloitte assists companies in establishing, monitoring and enforcing their IP and IT platforms. Meridian Institute helps decision makers and diverse stakeholders solve some of society’s most contentious public policy issues. Advisors: Nick Fitzpatrick, Retired, Former Head of Global Investment Consulting, Hewitt Jonathon Hanks, Founding Partner, Incite Sustainability Cheryl Hicks, Manager, World Business Council for Sustainable Development Gareth Hughes, Partner, Beetle Capital Partners Jeff Keeler, Head of M&A, Iberdrola Renewables Dr. Ashok Khosla, President, International Union for Conservation of Nature Bill Knight, President, Hebb, Knight and Associates David Levi, CEO, GrowthWorks Capital David Runnalls, President, International Institute for Sustainable Development Tom Rotherham, Head of Corporate Responsibility, Radley Yeldar Vanda Scartezini, CEO, ALTIS Software & Services Peter Sibley, Founder, World Television plc Chris Walker, Climate and Energy Consultant Professor Stuart White, Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures Michael Young, Vice President, Product Development – Afilias Limited Big Room Inc.

332 – 237 Keefer St, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6A 1X6 http://www.bigroom.ca
..

June 19, 2009

Medicare

Filed under: Health Insurance — Tags: , , — Anna MorTis @ 10:51 am

Medicare is a Federal health insurance program that pays for hospital and medical care for elderly and certain disabled Americans. Medicare serves more than 44 million enrollees (as of 2008). The program costs about $432 billion, or 3.2% of GDP, in 2007.

Medicare program consists of 2 parts. Medicare Part A, or Hospital Insurance (HI), helps pay for hospital stays, which includes meals, supplies, testing, and a semi-private room. This part also pays for home health care such as physical, occupational, and speech therapy that is provided on a part-time basis and deemed medically necessary. Care in a skilled nursing facility as well as certain medical equipment for the aged and disabled such as walkers and wheelchairs are also covered by Part A. Part A is generally available without having to pay a monthly premium since payroll taxes are used to cover these costs.

Medicare Part B is also called Supplementary Medical Insurance (SMI). It helps pay for medically necessary physician visits, outpatient hospital visits, home health care costs, and other services for the aged and disabled. For example, Part B covers: durable medical equipment, physician and nursing services, X-rays, laboratory and diagnostic tests, certain vaccinations, blood transfusions, renal dialysis, outpatient hospital procedures, some ambulance transportation, immunosuppressive drugs after organ transplants, chemotherapy, certain hormonal treatments, prosthetic devices and eyeglasses.

In general, individuals are eligible for Medicare if they are U.S. citizens or have been a permanent legal residents for 5 continuous years, and they are 65 years or older, or they are under 65, disabled and have been receiving either Social Security benefits or the Railroad Retirement Board disability benefits for at least 24 months from date of entitlement (first disability payment), or they get continuing dialysis for end stage renal disease or need a kidney transplant, or they are eligible for Social Security Disability Insurance and have amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS-Lou Gehrig’s disease).

June 18, 2009

Pitfalls of obesity

Filed under: Healthcare — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — Anna MorTis @ 9:21 am

Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy. Body mass index (BMI), which compares weight and height, is used to define a person as overweight (pre-obese) when their BMI is between 25 kg/m2 and 30 kg/m2 and obese when it is greater than 30 kg/m. Waist circumference, waist–hip ratio and body fat percentage are parameters that help measure obesity.

People become obese for several reasons, consuming too many calories (over eating), leading a sedentary lifestyle or lack of physical exercise, not sleeping enough (yes, sleep deprivation increases obesity risk), poor metabolism or it could also be because medications that make patients put on weight.

The problem with obesity is not restricted to his/her poor appearance only. It increases mortality risk. Obesity is one of the leading preventable causes of death worldwide Health risk associates with obesity are:

- Bone and cartilage degeneration (Osteoarthritis):- Obesity confers a nine times increased risk in knee joint osteoarthritis in women.

- Coronary heart disease

- Gallbladder disease

- High blood pressure (Hypertension)

- High total cholesterol, high levels of triglycerides (Dyslipidemia)

- Respiratory problems

- Several cancers

- Stroke

- Type 2 diabetes

Obesity can be treated by achieving a healthy weight and maintaining the same. (much easier said than done). According to the Mayo Clinic, successful and permanent weight loss is best achieved as a result of increased physical activity, changing how and when you eat, and modifying your behavior. Some patients may be prescribed medication, while others might undergo weight-loss surgery.

June 17, 2009

Power Walking

Filed under: Healthcare — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — Anna MorTis @ 9:48 am

“Walking briskly is one of the few activities that works on almost every part of your body, from your posture to your muscle definition. It’s the perfect all rounder,” says a fitness trainer. But the best part about this fitness regime is that, it’s the least expensive. A good pair of walking shoes and comfortable clothes is all that is needed to get you started. One certainly doesn’t need an expensive gym for this and yet the results are uniform. Power walking is one of the cheapest, easiest and most effective ways to get in shape. Wikepedia defines power walking as, “walking at a speed at the upper end of the natural range for the walking gait, typically 7 km/h to 9 km/h (4.5 to 5.5 mph). The walking gait gives significantly less impact to the joints and hence recommended for low-to-moderate exercise regime.”

Power walking not only tones up your thighs and calves and lifts the bottom muscles, but also burns more calories than jogging at the same pace. And by strengthening your core muscles, power walking also flattens the stomach. Swinging the arms briskly while walking helps in toning the upper arms.

Studies have shown that, power walking for a minimum of 4 days a week, at a pace that increases your heart rate, and for a minimum of 45minutes each could help you loose close to 8kgs over a year. Regular power walking also speeds up your overall metabolic rate and therefore prevents weight gain for long.

Regular exercise is good for the mental health as well. Mild depression can be taken care of by regular exercise as this ensures the release of feel good endorphins into the brain. A word of caution, continue your moderate diet and do not binge eat after a good round of power walking, especially take care that the dinner is not too heavy and there is sufficient time between dinner and bed time.

June 16, 2009

Medicaid program

Filed under: Health Insurance — Tags: , , , , , — Anna MorTis @ 8:35 am

Medicaid is the medical services program run by the State with mandatory federal requirement for families with low income or limited resources in the United States. Medicaid is a social welfare (or social protection) program that serves about 40 million people (as of 2007) and costs about $330 billion, or 2.4% of GDP, in 2007.

Services included under Medicaid are: inpatient & outpatient hospital services, prenatal care, vaccines for children, physician services, nursing facility services for persons aged 21 or older, family planning services and supplies, rural health clinic services, home health care for persons eligible for skilled-nursing services, laboratory and x-ray services, pediatric and family nurse practitioner services, nurse-midwife services, federally qualified health-center (FQHC) services and ambulatory services, early and periodic screening, diagnostic, and treatment (EPSDT) services for children under age 21.

Medicaid does not pay money to individuals, but operates in a program that sends payments to the health care providers. States make these payments based on a fee-for-service agreement or through prepayment arrangements such as health maintenance organizations (HMOs).

Each state sets its own Medicaid eligibility guidelines. The program is geared towards people with low incomes, but eligibility also depends on meeting other requirements based on age, pregnancy status, disability status, other assets, and citizenship. The State is required to provide coverage to certain individuals who receive federally assisted income-maintenance payments and similar groups who do not receive cash payments.

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