Nappanee Advance-News, Volume 134, Number 26, Nappanee, Elkhart County, 25 June 2015 — Page 4
Page A4
• Advance News • Thursday, June 25, 2015
Thinking about health High deductibles, lower premiums but costly trade-off
By Trudy Lieberman Rural Health News Service A few weeks ago I got an e mail from Judy, a reader who wanted to tell me about trouble she's had paying her medical bills, particularly those for prescription drugs. Severe daily headaches had just qualified her for Social Security disability benefits. After she satisfies a twoyear waiting period, which the law requires, she will qualify for Medicare as all people on Social Security disability will do whether or not they are age 65. Judy couldn't wait so she looked for other insurance options. Her monthly income of about $1,300 is too high for Medicaid benefits. "I'm S2O over the income guidelines," she told me. So she turned to an Affordable Care Act policy with a low premium but a $6,500 deductible. That deductible pinches financially. Until she reaches the $6,500 annual limit, she pays out of pocket for her medicines and other healthcare needs while juggling the rent, utility payments, car expenses, insurance premiums, fuel and food bills and praying her car doesn't break down. "Where is all this going to end?" she asked. Judy is one of the growing numbers of Americans who are underinsured, meaning according to one definition, those who spend 10 percent or more of their income on
Why your body needs dairy foods
May was National Osteoporosis Month followed by June as National Dairy Month and they could really be celebrated together. I am sure your mother told you to do many good things like, eat your vegetables & fruits, drink your milk, don't smoke, and go outside and play. Well, mom knew best. Today doctors are still encouraging these practices no matter what your age! Why? Because over 10 milliop Americans have some degree of osteoporosis and another 18 million have low bone mass, placing them at risk of osteoporosis. Osteoporosis often is called the silent disease. Osteoporosis is a painful and crippling bone disease. It develops slowly. So slowly, in fact, that it often takes years before you, or even your doctor, realizes you have it. But then you fall or twist and your hip or wrist bones .crack. You may even get shorter because the bones in your spine have crumbled. Your jawbone may shrink too; by then it is too late, there is no cure for osteoporosis. This is tragic because osteoporosis can be prevented if you know what
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healthcare costs excluding premiums. That means they are spending money for coverage that might not help them. The financial squeeze is not going to end any time soon not only for those like Judy who bought an Obamacare policy through a state exchange but also for people who have chosen policies outside the exchanges and for workers who get employer-spon-sored coverage. How high deductibles can go is, of course, up to your employer or insurer. This year, policies offered through the exchanges created by Obamacare can require families to pay as much as $13,200 out of pocket. That includes deductibles but also copays and coinsurance, a percentage of the bill. Health Pocket, a website that tracks insurance costs, says this year the average deductible for bronze policies generally the cheapest sold in the exchanges is $5,181 for individuals and $10,545 for families. Average deductibles for silver plans were about $3,000 for individuals and $6,000 for families. Any way you look _at it, those are pretty hefty amounts for low and moderate-income families. High deductibles come at a high cost. A new report from The Commonwealth Fund, the funder of Rural Health News Service, shows
it is, how it develops, and what you can do to help i avoid it. A part of the disease has to do with age. If you're between 20 and 40, then you've reached your full, adult height. By age 20, your bones are about as long and wide as they will ever be. However, you can and should still make them stronger. Here is a way to think of your bones, think of them as hollow tubes. Between ages 20 and 40 you can continue to fill up those hollow tubes with calcium to make them denser.) The denser and stronger you can make your bones now the lower your risk of developing osteoporosis in the future. If you're over 40, your bones are starting to become thinner. This is just a normal part of aging. Your bones become thinner because they are losing calcium faster than they gain it.
Opinion
that people suffer both financial and health consequences. The report said that almost half of those who were underinsured had trouble paying medical bills or had medici debt that ate up all their savings. Onethird with medical bills took on credit card debt to pay them. When the survey asked underinsured respondents if they skipped getting care —like going to the doctor, shrugging off a recommended test or treatment, or not filling a prescription because of costs —about 45 percent said yes. When researchers specifically asked those with deductibles of $3,000 or more if they got care, again about 45 percent said they didn't. These findings run counter to a major goal of the Affordable Care Act, which was to bring more Americans under the insurance umbrella. The crisis of uninsurance is being replaced by a new crisis of underinsurance, says Jonathan Oberlander, a health policy expert at the University of North Carolina. The theory behind those high deductibles is to make people think twice before going to the doctor and thus to save money for the whole health care system. In other words, if patients now assume more of the cost burden, fewer of them will actually use medical services.
Food and Nutrition By Mary Ann Lienhart Cross
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The Commonwealth Fund study shows that's true: Patients are skipping care. But we don't know yet whether that's causing a significant, sustainable drop in the national healthcare tab. Medical inflation has slowed somewhat, but no one is certain the trend is permanent. I asked Sara Collins, a vice president of The Commonwealth Fund, about the effectiveness of controlling costs through high deductibles. She said it doesn't address the biggest reasons for them. Those "are driven by very sick people and that suggests something more fundamental," she explained. Are employers and insurers gbing to sell policies with ever-increasing deductibles when we know people respond in ways that don't help them stay healthy or get better care when they are sick? Or are we going to get serious about pushing back against the power of the big insurers, drug companies, and hospitals, which like things just the way they are? "What does it take to get affordable medications," Judy asked me. That's the question policymakers must answer. We'd like to hear about your experiences with high deductible insurance. Write to Trudy at. [email protected]
But you can slow down the rate at which your bones lose calcium. Eating calcium rich foods is one of the best ways to keep your bones strong and healthy. Dairy foods are the best sources of calcium followed by dark green vegetables. Select low-fat or fat-free when you choose milk, yogurt, and other milk products. If you don't or can't consume milk, choose lactosefree products or other calcium sources such as fortified foods and beverages. For normal healthy adults you need to have at least 3 cups of milk every day. Though there are treatments for osteoporosis, there is currently no cure. That's why prevention is so very important. A combination of four steps is necessary to help prevent osteoporosis. The first step is a healthy eating plan that uses "MyPlate: Steps to a Healthier You," and foods that are rich in calcium and vitamin D. The second step is weight-bearing exercise. Step three is a healthy lifestyle, which is steps one and two with no smoking or excessive alcohol us?. The last of the four steps is bone density testing and medications when appropriate.
My super power
When I was a kid I always wondered what Super Power I'd have when I grew up. Would it be a normal super power, like being able to hit
a baseball over the fence or tossing in the winning basket as time ran out? Or would it be one of those really cool Super Hero Super Powers, like being able to fly or morph into a living flame after being exposed to radiation in some industrial accident. Or maybe, like Batman, I would tower over my fellow human beings simply because of my superior intellect, fearless courage, and athletic perfection. Well. I grew up. I didn't get any Super Powers like that. No, it turns out my Super Power is pretty much useless. It won't make me any money. I can't fight crime. Nobody cares. Basically my Super Power is that I know how to write verse. Not poetry. Meter and rhyme. Verse and Verse. Writing verse is a good way to get ignored. Take sonnets. In the year 1989 I decided to write a sonnet a day just to show I could. You can imagine how exciting that was. 365 days later I had 375 sonnets. I can still write a sonnet on a moment's notice. You can imagine how much coffee that will buy me at Starbucks. Recently I've taken to writing poems that are a single line long. Like this one: When blurred eyes clear the crumbling gravestones along the hillside by the highway resolve themselves into sheep. But for a long time I've been writing limericks. For two reasons. I can. And they're fun! What I'm doing that's new is inflicting them on anyone unfortunate enough to be my Facebook friend when their birthday pops up. Some of them revolve around a fun rhyme. Like this one: I have to admit it's a whale a Good reason this poem to mail ya. Ahem, I address My remarks, 1 confess, To the birthday girl! Happy Day Kayla! Then there was this one, to an out of state friend who, like me, is a Civil War battlefield buff. Bullets fly? No, they're just re-enactors, Distant cannon? I think that's just tractors,. Or the very least props, As we loosen our chops And sing: Karen, your birthday's a factor. Here's the one I wrote when a seminary professor friend who's an expert on the Chronicler, the author of First and Second Chronicles 1 made up words to rhyme. Herr Doktor, adjust please thy monicler, While I go and inform the kind Chronicler That it's yours (Steven's) birthday, With a hip and a hooray. Cake for all from right now until Hannukler! A good friend from Pennsylvania started a Facebook page for her dog. So I wrote this on the dog’s birthday: I write hastily and to save face, With the evidence easy to trace, 4n the wide canine world Nothing's better than swirled * Fish and Venison - Happy Day Ace! And it's always fun to mix language and metaphors! I promise this note is not Spam. "I yam," Popeye says, "what 1 yam. "What I yam is verklempt "That this missive wuz sent "Just on time, Happy Birthday to Pam!" But my favorite limerick is a little tricky. Just remember: MI stands for Michigan. The second and fifth lines have to rhyme with that, so W 1 won't stand for Wisconsin, it stands for -- well, you try it. If you think that mosquitoes from MI Are at all on our side then please WI. Like a trash-laden barge They're ungainly and large. When your veins are bled dry they'll just FI. Frank Ramirez is the Senior Pastor of the Union Center Church of the Brethren.
America At The Ballpark event starts June 26
Looking for some tremendous food, fun, fireworks, and fellowship? Wakarusa may be the place for you this weekend. The Wakarusa Baseball/ Softball League celebrates the end of its 38th successful season with their traditional America At The Ballpark festivities on Friday, June 26. Activities will start at 5:30 p.m. and will conclude with fireworks after dark. Games to determine league champions, will begin at 6:30 p.m. with the Pee Wee Championship game. At 700 pm the Minor and Major League Championship games will be played, and in the final game of the evening at 730 the Senior Girls will battle for their title. Not all the action will be contained to the playing fields as inflatables will
The Advance News is looking for an mm ,li /r J mW h Editor/ w Writer XL to cover the Nappanee/Wakarusa areas. InDesign & Mac experience a plus - willing to train the right person. Must be able to cover community events, news & sports. For more information contact Diona at 574-934-3101 ext. [email protected] Advance News Sanlng Nappon* I Wokanoo
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County Road Seven Bx Frank Ramirez
be on the grounds for the youngsters to enjoy. Besides the normal ballpark food, fans will have the pleasure of enjoying Cook's ice cream, Grandma's Pantry pie, and Nelson's chicken. Prizes donated by area merchants and individuals will be awarded to fans who remain in attendance until the drawing is held. Top prize is SSOO cash. All proceeds from this event go to the Wakarusa Baseball/Softball League. The Wakarusa Baseball/ Softball league does not charge any fees for the almost 500 youngsters who participate each year. In a community spirit found in few places these days, all financial needs that might arise are taken care of by members of the community.