The spilled milk joke was just terrible, but shortly after that the president’s talk of equal insurance premiums for men and women reeled me back in to his State of the Union address. I’ve blogged on the side subject of mandatory maternity coverage but never directly about the discrepancy in premiums. Women pay more than men for health insurance, but men pay more than women for life insurance. Add the latter to the premium puzzle, and it’s basic cost analysis. Women go to the doctor more often than men because of routine annual visits. This costs health insurance companies more money. Men die younger than women. This costs life insurance companies more money. Premiums reflect these gender implications.
Still, we have to weigh out the two different types of insurance. Your family’s future financial life may depend on life insurance but not their actual physical lives. Our bodies, our health, that we rely on health insurance to protect. The discrepancies don’t negate each other. The president’s remarks inspired me to do a little more research on the subject. Ten states currently have bans on gender rating within the individual market - Maine, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, and Washington.
Kentucky tried a gender ban in the nineties, but it was a disaster. Insurance carriers ended up leaving the state only to return when the ban was lifted. The argument to oppose a federal ban can be seen in the microcosm of Kentucky’s experiment. Raising rates on low-risk individuals (young men) caused that group of insureds to drop their plans.
What will happen in 2014, I don’t know. What I do know is that the new plans introduced by federal and state government are not banded by gender. They are banded by age. If you want to move on to the issue of age discrimination, give AARP a call. For more information on government-funded insurance programs, call us at (888) 919-9876.
Unless you work for a company that provides group insurance, having a pre-existing condition used to make buying health insurance an unattainable goal. But as health care reform works its way through our large bureaucracy, it is becoming easier. If you have a pre-existing condition and you live in Florida, you are one of the lucky ones. Things have gotten a whole lot easier for you, and I’m happy to help.
Our agency offers several guaranteed issue policies, and we’re also authorized to provide assistance to those individuals looking to get coverage through the state-run program. The state program is not brand new, but I was hesitant to blog about it until I had more hands-on experience with it. Now I’ve been through the process with a few clients, and they’re happy with their coverage, so I’m happy to blog about it.
My first worry was long government hold times, but it’s easy to get someone on the phone. I’ve had worse experiences with private companies. Then I thought maybe the applications would take forever to process, but that’s not the case either. If you submit your application before the 15th of the month, the effective date is the first of the following month. If you submit your application after the 15th, the effective date is the first of the next month.
Please, please call me if you are uninsured – pre-existing condition or not – being uninsured is dangerous, and I can take all of the hassle out of the process for you. I, personally, am the agent in the office who deals with difficult cases, so call and ask for me, Lesley. (888) 919-9876
Can technology transform your health care? Can it help you achieve a new year’s resolution like losing weight or quitting smoking? If so, The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has an incentive for you – cash! A two-minute video explaining how technology is getting you healthier could win you two-thousand dollars. There are seven cash prizes up for grabs totaling five-thousand dollars. The contest starts today and ends February 16, 2012; here’s the link for more information: Healthy New Year Video Challenge. Good luck!
Influenza falls under the category of immunization vaccines that are now covered under preventative care. That means they’re free! But only if you have health insurance. If you don’t, call me because you’re missing out. Insurance premiums pack a lot more benefits for their buck since health care reform. Even the most basic policy includes preventative care.
If you’re already covered by health insurance, go get what you’re paying for. Put your zip code into this government tool, and it will generate a list of locations where flu shots are available: http://www.flu.gov/
I forgot to post the fourth installment of my preventing diabetes series on Friday, but it so happens that I ended up getting a blood sugar test the same week. I went to the doctor because I hadn’t been feeling well; he thought there was a possible thyroid issue and sent me for blood work. Probably due to a family history with diabetes, within that blood work, he also checked my blood sugar levels. Good news for me - all my tests came back normal.
If you’re concerned for yourself, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) offers the following recommendations for screenings:
Anyone with a body mass index over 25, regardless of age, who has additional risk factors, such as high blood pressure, a sedentary lifestyle, a history of polycystic ovary syndrome, having delivered a baby who weighed more than 9 pounds, a history of diabetes in pregnancy, high cholesterol levels, a history of heart disease, or having a close relative with diabetes.
Anyone over the age of 45 is advised to receive an initial blood sugar screening, and then, if the results are normal, to be screened every three years thereafter.
There’s also a Diabetes Risk Test on the ADA website. It’s a good starting point.
On the end of a holiday weekend/four-day workweek, I have to admit my diabetes prevention has not been at its best…not much exercise and way too much chocolate cake. My fiance described the Texas chocolate cake I made on Sunday as an army-sized portion. I’d love to disagree, but there’s still cake in our fridge and the name says it all. Nothing from Texas is ever small.
Still, I was more aware this week, and that’s something. The awareness was triggered by reading a publication about lowering sodium found on Diabetes HealthSense. Here is the publication’s directive, “Choose two or three things you will do to eat less salt and sodium.”
Make homemade soups with less salt.
Check food labels when you shop.
Buy foods marked “low sodium,” “reduced sodium,” “sodium free,” or
“no salt added.”
Season your foods with spices instead of seasoned salt and bouillon cubes.
Take the salt shaker off your table.
Eat fruits like mango and orange without adding any salt.
I’m pretty good in a lot of these areas. I make my own soup, buy reduced-sodium products, often cook with herbs and spices, don’t keep the salt shaker on the table, and never add salt to my fruit. Am I the only one who finds this last one strange? I’ve heard of salt on a tomato but never salt on an orange. Please comment if you salt your fruit…I’m curious.
The only item on the list I don’t always practice is reading labels. Oblivion is bliss, and if I really like something, sometimes I just don’t want to read the label. But change is not always fun or super-tasty, so it was time to do some unpleasant reading. I started with my all-time favorite quick dinner fix – McCormick 20-minute marinades. I have one word: Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
The first ingredient is salt. That’s the downside; the upside is that I can work with the other ingredients and make a lower-sodium version. It won’t be a 20-minute fix but with a little preparation the night before, it can work. Take out the maltodextrin, whatever that is, and I usually have the other ingredients on hand - garlic, peppercorns, onion, and Worcestershire sauce. And the last ingredient, I have in the low-sodium version.
So many people are unemployed right now and have been for quite some time. Some of the lucky ones are in between jobs. Whatever the case, for many, COBRA insurance coverage has run out, is about to run out or is completely unaffordable. But there is a solution – short-term health insurance.
Although short-term plans will not normally cover pre-existing conditions, they also won’t normally exclude you from the plan because of them. A traditional long-term health policy will put an applicant through the underwriting process, but like a group plan, a short-term policy will not.
Short-term health insurance plans are usually more affordable than COBRA at its best, and most of the government’s 65% COBRA subsidies expired August 31, 2011. Call me, Lesley, at (888) 919-9876 to look into your short-term options, or get a quote and apply online right now by following the UnitedHealthOne link below.
The first step in my efforts to prevent diabetes has been to add more steps to my daily routine. Walking can be used as diabetes prevention or therapy. And I happen to have an adorable best friend, Luke, that makes walking more an easy goal to attain. Payne Park is on my way to and from the office. On days Luke joins me, we used to stop on our way home. This week, we stopped on our way in and on our way home.
Walking can help prevent diabetes because it constitutes moderate exercise. Moderate exercise leads to weight loss, and being overweight is a risk factor for diabetes. But according to Prevention magazine, there’s a further link to diabetes and walking,
Besides helping you get rid of extra pounds, it actually increases the number of insulin receptors on your cells. Insulin helps blood sugar move into cells, where it needs to go. Otherwise, it just sloshes around in your bloodstream, gumming up the blood vessel walls. If you’ve already been diagnosed with diabetes, regular walking can help control the progression of the disease. People who take insulin may be able to reduce the amount of medication they need, as physical activity enables their body to use insulin more efficiently.
The article’s recommendation is to walk for at least 30 minutes three times a week. That will enhance your body’s use of insulin. I definitely met the 90-minute challenge this week, but next week I’ll try to sweat more. The article cited a study that found, “…women who worked up a sweat more than once a week reduced their risk of developing diabetes by 30 percent.”
The National Diabetes Education Program created an Internet tool called, Diabetes HealthSense. It’s a website full of information about diabetes prevention and control. Here are a few of the statistics listed on the site:
25.8 million Americans have diabetes — 8.3 percent of the U.S. population. Of these, 7 million do not know they have the disease.
The number of people diagnosed with diabetes has risen from 1.5 million in 1958 to 18.8 million in 2010, an increase of epidemic proportions.
It is estimated that 79 million adults aged 20 and older have pre-diabetes. Pre-diabetes is a condition where blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be called diabetes. Studies have shown that by losing weight and increasing physical activity people can prevent or delay pre-diabetes from progressing to diabetes.
With that in mind, I’m going to take advantage of Diabetes HealthSense and share my experiences on this blog every Friday. The website’s design is extremely user-friendly. Quickly after arriving at the home page, I was clicking on what applied to me…”I am a ‘person at risk for diabetes.’” There are seven other “I am” options ranging from ”person with diabetes” to ”teacher or school health professional.” My choice returned 62 results.
Results include articles, programs, gadgets, recipes, and TV shows. It’s actually quite a bit to sift through. Since most of the information is focused on diet and excersize and I just found the site yesterday, my changes have been small so far. Last night I did 50 sit-ups, and this morning I threw out the sugary Corn Pops and went with a slightly sweetened granola.
The sit-ups were harder than I remembered, but the granola tasted good. Check in next Friday to see what’s next on my Prevent Diabetes to-do list. Comment if you have tips for me or want to join in the challenge.
Families need accident insurance because according to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), “Children account for 90 percent of hospital emergency room visits for sports-related concussions.” This is a 2008 statistic compiled from the emergency department database.
I got the email titled, “Kids and Concussions,” yesterday but almost deleted it. What does this have to do with me or insurance? Then today I got a quote request from a client waiting on health insurance. He said his kids were animals and it was too scary to go without any kind of insurance. One of his sons has already fractured a leg.
It got me thinking about my little brothers. I have three; two broke a bone in childhood, an arm and a leg…just what the bills probably cost. Bobby’s was the worst break – his femur. He was about five years-old with his leg in traction and still playing with swords. This is my favorite picture of him ever because it encapsulates what I most admire about him. He shrugs his shoulders and never lets life get him down.
And don’t let finances get you down. Protect yourself. Accident policies require little to no underwriting or waiting periods. They’re easy to get and inexpensive to pay for. The quote I ran today was for a family of four, and the premium is $38.90 a month. That’s a little over a dollar a day to insure yourself against the next time your kid does something crazy or stupid.
I don’t like to think I was either one of those things but before the age of 12, I had to get the tip of my index finger sewn back on, three stitches under my chin and donned both a leg and a neck brace. This is the life of the average kid; I swear my parents didn’t beat me.
What injuries did you suffer in childhood? Leave a comment; I love a good story!
And if you want an instant quote and/or to apply online right now, click the Assurant icon below and look for Assurant Supplemental Coverage.
For more information on government-funded insurance programs, call us at (888) 919-9876.
