By S Porter
We have all heard the numbers by now; 46 million people in this country are uninsured. This is a disturbing number, but it’s important to understand who these people are and why they are uninsured. Medicare and Medicaid are government programs that have been set up to take care of many of these people, but not all of them. Government programs take money from the taxpayers and use it to cover the uninsured, but the more government intervenes; the more expensive healthcare gets for all of us. The government tells healthcare providers what they can legally charge someone on Medicare and Medicaid, but it’s not enough to cover operating costs for the hospitals and doctors so they have to overcharge the people with private insurance to cover the difference. This makes healthcare more expensive for the people who are paying and less affordable for lower income families who then have to start relying on the government as well. There are a little over 300 million people in the United States and 1 in 6 of us doesn’t have any health insurance at all because the cost keeps going up to cover those who can’t pay.
People who are 18 to 30 years old make up about half of the uninsured. Simply put, they believe they are invincible and really don’t see much of a need for health insurance. They rarely to never need to see a doctor so if they don’t get health insurance from their employer, they won’t buy it themselves at any price. The people I know from this age group that do need to see a doctor quickly realize that if they are in a lower income bracket, the government will take care of them, so why buy health insurance?
The 30 to 65 age group is the backbone of our healthcare system and this is where all the money comes from. These people are in moderate health and they are in the prime money making years of their lives. The other half of the uninsured are from this group; 11 million of them are uninsured and another 11 million of their children. If we are to fix the healthcare system and bring down costs, this is where we need to start. Low income families are covered by Medicaid but these 11 million families make a little too much, don’t have health through their employers and can’t afford to get insurance. Discount fee for service plans like Ameriplan are designed for this group. Combined with catastrophic health insurance they can provide the right cost vs. coverage to supply this need.
Those aged 65 and older are eligible for Medicare at one level or another. Medicare also covers the disabled and the government is on an eternal quest to expand these benefits to cover every procedure in existence. We are living longer lives and the older we get, the more healthcare we need. Baby boomers are just starting to hit retirement age and over time, there will be more people in this age group and less in the 30 to 65 age group. This is a recipe for trouble as there will be many more healthcare users and fewer healthcare payers. One solution to this problem is government subsidized elderly healthcare combined with tax credits to offset the premiums. This way healthcare is still not run by the government and companies can compete to offer the best rates.
There is a deep debate going on across the country about healthcare reform. Some people, like me, believe that the answer is always a capitalist solution and the government can only get in the way and make things more expensive. Others think that a socialist approach would work better with the government completely taking over the industry, offering universal healthcare and then charging the people for it. One thing is for sure; if we do nothing, healthcare costs will continue to go up and more people won’t be able to afford insurance.
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Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Filling Your Prescription, Over the Border
By S Porter
Medications have been going up in price for years now, and many people have no choice but to keep paying for them. We are living longer lives in the United States and senior citizens are relying on prescription drugs to keep them healthy. Drugs today focus on treating various problems, but not on curing them. If we as a country want to continue to this cycle, we can expect that drug prices will keep going up and more people will need more of them to live healthy. As we age we are more prone to have health problems in our lives and there is no cure for aging.
There is a delicate balance that needs to be maintained between supply and demand for medical advancement and consumer prices. Drug companies spend billions of dollars on medical research and it takes years for these drugs to be approved by the FDA. Once they are approved, the pharmaceutical company that created the drug gets to patent it for a limited amount of time. They charge inflated prices during this time to recover the capital spent to develop the drugs and to start researching and developing new drugs for the future. Without the ability to recover this money, drug advancement would grind to a halt. Once the patent expires, the drugs are reproduced by generic companies for a fraction of the cost and they become more affordable to the general public.
One way that people in the United States have been dealing with the high price of new drugs is to buy them from Canada and Mexico. The government is usually opposed to doing this because the FDA has no say in how Canadian drugs are produced or how safe they are. Most people have the idea that you can get these medications from across the border for a significant discount, but the average price difference for these drugs is less than 5%. If you buy your prescriptions from another country and you get something that hurts you instead of helping you, then you have no way to hold them responsible. All of these negative points make it hard to say that importing your medications is a good idea, but many people do it anyway.
To deal with the cost of medications in the United States, we have created many different prescription plans. Some are from the private sector, like private health insurance that includes drug benefits. Some are from the government in the form of Medicare and Medicaid for lower income families and seniors. Still others are discount plans from private companies like Ameriplan that offer discount prices on prescriptions to its members. You can also get a prescription plan directly from most pharmacies you get your medications from. The big problem with prescription plans is that they all have different prices for different drugs and people that have many prescriptions end up needing several plans to meet their needs.
As a nation, we have a great healthcare system that has doubled our life expectancy over the last 100 years, but it’s become too expensive. Compared with other countries, ours costs the most. Importing your prescription drugs can help to bring down your expenses, but not by much, and the upside doesn’t outweigh the risk. We have become dependant on our healthcare system and our need continues to increase as we live longer. Many years ago if you went to the doctor with a problem, you were given a checkup and a couple pills and everything was right in the world. Now if you go to the doctor with a problem, you get a checkup and a couple pills you need to take for the rest of your life. If we can switch our focus back to fixing health problems rather than just treating them, the world can be right once again!
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Medications have been going up in price for years now, and many people have no choice but to keep paying for them. We are living longer lives in the United States and senior citizens are relying on prescription drugs to keep them healthy. Drugs today focus on treating various problems, but not on curing them. If we as a country want to continue to this cycle, we can expect that drug prices will keep going up and more people will need more of them to live healthy. As we age we are more prone to have health problems in our lives and there is no cure for aging.
There is a delicate balance that needs to be maintained between supply and demand for medical advancement and consumer prices. Drug companies spend billions of dollars on medical research and it takes years for these drugs to be approved by the FDA. Once they are approved, the pharmaceutical company that created the drug gets to patent it for a limited amount of time. They charge inflated prices during this time to recover the capital spent to develop the drugs and to start researching and developing new drugs for the future. Without the ability to recover this money, drug advancement would grind to a halt. Once the patent expires, the drugs are reproduced by generic companies for a fraction of the cost and they become more affordable to the general public.
One way that people in the United States have been dealing with the high price of new drugs is to buy them from Canada and Mexico. The government is usually opposed to doing this because the FDA has no say in how Canadian drugs are produced or how safe they are. Most people have the idea that you can get these medications from across the border for a significant discount, but the average price difference for these drugs is less than 5%. If you buy your prescriptions from another country and you get something that hurts you instead of helping you, then you have no way to hold them responsible. All of these negative points make it hard to say that importing your medications is a good idea, but many people do it anyway.
To deal with the cost of medications in the United States, we have created many different prescription plans. Some are from the private sector, like private health insurance that includes drug benefits. Some are from the government in the form of Medicare and Medicaid for lower income families and seniors. Still others are discount plans from private companies like Ameriplan that offer discount prices on prescriptions to its members. You can also get a prescription plan directly from most pharmacies you get your medications from. The big problem with prescription plans is that they all have different prices for different drugs and people that have many prescriptions end up needing several plans to meet their needs.
As a nation, we have a great healthcare system that has doubled our life expectancy over the last 100 years, but it’s become too expensive. Compared with other countries, ours costs the most. Importing your prescription drugs can help to bring down your expenses, but not by much, and the upside doesn’t outweigh the risk. We have become dependant on our healthcare system and our need continues to increase as we live longer. Many years ago if you went to the doctor with a problem, you were given a checkup and a couple pills and everything was right in the world. Now if you go to the doctor with a problem, you get a checkup and a couple pills you need to take for the rest of your life. If we can switch our focus back to fixing health problems rather than just treating them, the world can be right once again!
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Thursday, May 14, 2009
Important Times in a Child’s Dental Schedule
by: S Porter
Dental and health topics are talked about frequently in the
United States and it seems that the do’s and don’ts change on a
daily basis. We all know that we should see a dentist every six
months for preventative care because that hasn’t changed for
many years, but what about your children? Teeth are easily
maintained after they all come in and nothing else changes, but
while children grow they need several checkups to ensure long
lasting healthy teeth. What happens during the first 12 years of
your child’s life will impact their teeth for as long as they
live.
Children begin to get their baby teeth between 3 and 6 months
and it’s easy to tell when this is happening because of their
need to bite. After their baby teeth begin to come in, they can
be cleaned by a light rubbing with a wash cloth until they are 1
year old. From 1 to 7 years old, children need a soft toothbrush
and a pea sized dab of toothpaste. Dentists recommend that
children make their first trip before they are 3 years old, but
it’s time to make a decision at 1 year. If your child has high
risk factors for tooth problems, 1 year is a good time to make
your first appointment. High risk factors include; lots of
juice, going to bed with something to drink, thumb sucking and
most of all… the health of YOUR teeth.
From 6 months to about 7 years, children have their baby teeth
and they need to be treated well to last even that long.
Fluoride and calcium are chemicals that bonds to teeth and makes
them much stronger, but too much fluoride and it can cause teeth
to become brown stained. It is essential that children receive
the right amount of these chemicals and the only person
who can tell you how much is your dentist. Some parts of the
country have more naturally occurring fluoride in the water and
food supply than other parts of the country and your local
dentist will be able to tell you how much your child is getting.
Fluoride and calcium are even more important after your child’s
adult teeth come in between 6 and 7 years old. These are the
teeth they will have for the rest of their lives and
strengthening them very early on will help protect them until
they have children and grandchildren of their own.
Research has always shown that children who don’t receive proper
dental care early on have tooth problems most of their lives.
Not getting enough strengthening chemicals in their food due to
malnourishment and lack of dental care has always plagued the
poorer sections of the country and the children pay for it. Over
half of the country has no dental insurance through their
employer and dental appointments can become very expensive if
your child needs braces or has cavities. One solution to this
problem is a dental discount program like Ameriplan. In one
of these programs, dentists offer big discounts to their
patients in exchange for cash payment. These programs cost less
than $20 a month but they can cut the cost of braces in half.
Other portions of the population may get assistance through
Medicare and Medicaid, but lots of people will have to just suck
it up and pay out of pocket.
New advances in mouthwash and toothpaste can allow you to whiten
your teeth or strengthen them from the inside, but children have
no idea what they need and don’t need. It’s up to us as parents
to see to their health and dental and provide them with long,
happy and productive lives. When our children have children of
their own, most of these dental do’s and don’ts will have
changed. Until then, we can only do what we feel is best and
what we know works!
Article showing at EzineArticles,GoArticles,ArticleDashboard,ArticlesBase,
ArticleSphere,DimeCo,Amazines,ArticleAlley
Dental and health topics are talked about frequently in the
United States and it seems that the do’s and don’ts change on a
daily basis. We all know that we should see a dentist every six
months for preventative care because that hasn’t changed for
many years, but what about your children? Teeth are easily
maintained after they all come in and nothing else changes, but
while children grow they need several checkups to ensure long
lasting healthy teeth. What happens during the first 12 years of
your child’s life will impact their teeth for as long as they
live.
Children begin to get their baby teeth between 3 and 6 months
and it’s easy to tell when this is happening because of their
need to bite. After their baby teeth begin to come in, they can
be cleaned by a light rubbing with a wash cloth until they are 1
year old. From 1 to 7 years old, children need a soft toothbrush
and a pea sized dab of toothpaste. Dentists recommend that
children make their first trip before they are 3 years old, but
it’s time to make a decision at 1 year. If your child has high
risk factors for tooth problems, 1 year is a good time to make
your first appointment. High risk factors include; lots of
juice, going to bed with something to drink, thumb sucking and
most of all… the health of YOUR teeth.
From 6 months to about 7 years, children have their baby teeth
and they need to be treated well to last even that long.
Fluoride and calcium are chemicals that bonds to teeth and makes
them much stronger, but too much fluoride and it can cause teeth
to become brown stained. It is essential that children receive
the right amount of these chemicals and the only person
who can tell you how much is your dentist. Some parts of the
country have more naturally occurring fluoride in the water and
food supply than other parts of the country and your local
dentist will be able to tell you how much your child is getting.
Fluoride and calcium are even more important after your child’s
adult teeth come in between 6 and 7 years old. These are the
teeth they will have for the rest of their lives and
strengthening them very early on will help protect them until
they have children and grandchildren of their own.
Research has always shown that children who don’t receive proper
dental care early on have tooth problems most of their lives.
Not getting enough strengthening chemicals in their food due to
malnourishment and lack of dental care has always plagued the
poorer sections of the country and the children pay for it. Over
half of the country has no dental insurance through their
employer and dental appointments can become very expensive if
your child needs braces or has cavities. One solution to this
problem is a dental discount program like Ameriplan. In one
of these programs, dentists offer big discounts to their
patients in exchange for cash payment. These programs cost less
than $20 a month but they can cut the cost of braces in half.
Other portions of the population may get assistance through
Medicare and Medicaid, but lots of people will have to just suck
it up and pay out of pocket.
New advances in mouthwash and toothpaste can allow you to whiten
your teeth or strengthen them from the inside, but children have
no idea what they need and don’t need. It’s up to us as parents
to see to their health and dental and provide them with long,
happy and productive lives. When our children have children of
their own, most of these dental do’s and don’ts will have
changed. Until then, we can only do what we feel is best and
what we know works!
Article showing at EzineArticles,GoArticles,ArticleDashboard,ArticlesBase,
ArticleSphere,DimeCo,Amazines,ArticleAlley
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