Keeping Your Health Insurance Premiums Low

Last Updated on Monday, 10 May 2010 01:55 Written by Natural Health Team Monday, 10 May 2010 01:55

Health Savings Accounts offer tax deductions for medical expenses, and the opportunity to set up an additional retirement account. But regardless of any other positive benefit of HSAs, lower premiums are the primary reason that thousands of Americans have chosen Health Savings Accounts as the best way to protect their family’s health and assets. Here are some key suggestions on how to keep your health insurance premiums low.
1. Choose an HSA-qualified plan for lower rate increases.
Average group health insurance premiums rose by 9.6% last year and rose over 10% for each of the previous six years. Individual plans went up even more. Yet it is expected most HSA plans will experience much lower rate increases. A very large study was recently published showing that rate increases over the past year for consumer-driven plans such as HSA plans was only 3.4%. Blue Cross of Minnesota has reported that its HSA customers spent 8% less than their traditional insurance clients. Humana has reported claims’ costs of 4.9% for consumer-driven plans, versus a 19.2% increase in claims for other plans. In fact, average HSA premiums for individuals have actually dropped 19.5% over the last two years.

The reason these plans have lower rate increases is that people who have HSA-qualifying high-deductible health plans are likely to pay closer attention to costs, and take better care of their health. For instance, an HSA owner offered a statin drug to lower her cholesterol may be more likely to request a generic version, or ask her doctor if inexpensive nutritional supplements such as niacin or fish oil may be a solution. These actions save the insurance company money and should result in lower rate increases.
2. Raise your deductible as your HSA account grows.
When you fund your account you build up a financial “cushion” which allows you to raise your deductible as your account grows. Every time you raise your deductible, your premium should go down.
By the way, don’t forget that every time you fund your account you get an instant tax-deduction. When you offset the tax savings against your premiums, you’ll find your net cost for an HSA plan can be very low.
The maximum allowable contribution goes up every year with the rise of the Consumer Price Index. Currently, the individual contribution limit is $2,700, and the family limit is $5,450. So each year you can deposit greater amounts into your HSA and continue to raise your deductible, if you choose.

3. Stay healthy, so you can switch plans.
All health insurance plans have rate increases, and weve even seen premiums jump on some HSA plans. If a rate increase happens to you, you can switch to a different insurance company but only if you pass their underwriting requirements. If chronic disease develops, you may be stuck with your current plan, and its accompanying rate increases, for eternity. Or at least it may seem that long
If you pay attention to the pharmaceutical commercials, you learn lifestyle really has nothing to do with disease, and it is natural and healthy to be on many medications for the rest of your life, which will then solve your health problems.
If you pay attention to the science, you know the truth is quite different. It appears lifestyle is probably 95% of the picture, and we know the occurrence of degenerative disease can be dramatically reduced and even prevented.
Fortunately, most HSA owners are interested in health, wellness, and disease prevention. After all, theyre paying for their own doctor visits if they do get sick. HSA owners are also “forward thinking” people, and like to plan for their future both financial and physical. You can improve your odds of excellent health with just a few key habits:
Eat very high quantities of fresh vegetables and fruits. Shoot for 35% of your calories. This will lower your risk for diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, and much more.

Limit your intake of sugar and starchy carbohydrates like bread and pasta. The majority of health problems in the U.S. are related to metabolic diseases that involve insulin resistance.
Exercise and lift weights. Exercise guru Jack La Lanne turns 93 on September 26, and he says if you have muscles you never feel old.
4. Compare your plan to other available plans at least once a year, or whenever you get a rate increase.
Often-times people keep their plan much longer than they should, and end up paying too much. If your rates go up, you should compare a wide variety of plans to determine if you are in the right plan for your needs and budget.
By using these four strategies, the typical family can save thousands of dollars in health insurance premiums and still protect themselves against unexpected major medical expenses.

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Keeping Oral Health of Children

Last Updated on Thursday, 6 May 2010 09:00 Written by Natural Health Team Thursday, 6 May 2010 09:00

Oral hygiene is very important in children as poor oral hygiene may lead to poor health and other kind of dental diseases. The cavities and gum diseases not only affect the physical appearance of a person, but also lead to serious health problems such as insomnia, stroke and even hearing defects. It has been found from the studies that the poor oral care can contribute to the clogging of the arteries, problem of the lungs and even can damage the heart valves. This might be seen when an expectant woman having gum disease, makes a pre-mature deliver or the baby is very much in weight etc. Hence, it is very necessary to start a regular and good dental regime at the early age during childhood to avoid health problems and diseases at a later stage. For taking proper care of the teeth the child should be taught how to brush, clean and floss the teeth properly.

Ways to keep the child’s oral health in pink:

To keep the oral health at its prime, the child should follow all the fundamental steps recommended by almost all the dentists. This avoids the incidence of dental problems like gingivitis, halitosis, tartar and gum diseases. Apart from proper brushing, the other hygienic methods like the right method of flossing and using the mouthwash have to be taught. The American Dental Association even advises the parents of a new born to start cleaning their newborn child’s mouth within few days after birth. It is very important for the clarity of speech and chewing action in the kids.

Parents of young children schedule regular oral health checkups around the first birthday of the kid. A pediatric dentist should be ideal choice for children. The baby’s gums and teeth can be wiped with a wet washcloth after each meal to help removing plaque that gets accumulated on the gums and teeth. Soft bristle toothbrushes with pea sized fluoridated toothpaste can be used to brush the teeth. Also the children should be taught to spit the toothpaste at a very early age and until then the children should use toothpaste without fluorine. Till the kids are good and comfortable doing flossing and brushing, the parents should assist the children.

The children should be fed with calcium rich foods and supplements along with a good oral hygiene to maintain good oral health of children.

The children can be encouraged to brush by changing the color and appearance of toothpastes. Most of the children do like to brush with a fluoride toothpaste but they should be able to spit after brushing. Also, the children need to brush twice a day. Eating snacks made of sugar and carbohydrates needs to be avoided if not at least the teeth should be brushed properly after eating them. It is a good idea to eat nutrition rich food like vegetable, fruits etc instead of sugar candies as they both provide the required nutrition and also strengthens the teeth due to the chewing action.

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New cookbooks offer plans for keeping food resolutions

Last Updated on Thursday, 7 January 2010 01:32 Written by Natural Health Team Thursday, 7 January 2010 01:32

Healthy Weight Network announces worst diet scams of 2009
Francie Berg, a licensed nutritionist and adjunct professor at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine, has announced the Healthy Weight Network’s Slim Chance Awards for 2009. The awards are meant to highlight weight loss products and plans featured this past year that either don’t work or are actully harmful to consumers, or both.
Bay Area Food & Wine Events
EventsCookbook Signing — 3-4 p.m. Jan. 16. Rima Barkett and Claudia Pruett, the authors of “Cooking Dinner: Simple Italian Family Recipes Everyone Can Make,” discuss their cookbook at Omnivore Books on Food, 3885A Cesar Chavez St.
FYI … food
Here is this week’s “FYI … food” column:Wine tasting and sunset sailSunset cruises and wine tastings are every Friday at Cocohatchee Nature Adventures, 12345 U.S. 41 N., Naples. Reservations are required by 4 p.m. on Thursdays at 592-1200. $46.Cooking class at Whole FoodsThe following classes are at Whole Foods Market, 9101 Strada Place, Naples with required pre-registration at [[[SHIFTOUT …
Food magazine debuts today
Relish, a monthly food magazine, debuts today in The Times, and will be included the first Wednesday of every month. Each edition of Relish contains a broad range of timely and insightful articles about food, cooking, entertaining and more.
New cookbooks offer plans for keeping food resolutions
Right about now you’re probably thinking about those resolutions vowing to eat better, cook more and shed the holiday pounds. To help you get started — and spend that gift card from your mother-in-law — here’s the latest healthy-eating, better-livi …

Keeping Your Head Still When Putting

Last Updated on Saturday, 2 January 2010 02:53 Written by Natural Health Team Saturday, 2 January 2010 02:53

As we all know, putting is very important when playing golf and the aim of all golfers is to hit as few putts as possible. Here is a simple tip that will drastically improve your putting.

One of the most common mistakes amateur golfers make when putting is moving their heads during the putting stroke. This occurs because most golfers want to see the result of the putt and the path the ball is taking before completing the putting stroke. This occurs especially on short putts, where there is a tendency of golfers to take an anxious peek and establish whether the ball is going into the hole.

There are a couple of things that happen when you move your head during the putting stroke.

1) You don’t complete the follow through, giving you a putting stroke that is short and stabs at the ball resulting in inconsistencies in length. It also reduces the purity of the stroke.

2) When you move your head before the ball is struck your shoulders move out of position, causing the putter to leave the intended path of the stroke, leading to a crooked stroke and a missed putt.

The above results are results that none of us want and can do serious damage to our confidence which is especially important when putting.

To cure this problem you have to do the following.

For long putts, look at the ball during the entire backswing until contact while the ball is stationary and keep your eyes on that stationary position even after the ball has been struck. Count to at least two after striking the ball before lifting your eyes to ensure that you complete your follow through.

For short putts, keep your eye on the stationary position of the ball until you can hear the ball drop in the cup after impact.

This should ensure that you keep your head still during the putting stroke, will greatly increase your confidence and the consistency of your putts.

Hope this helps.

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