Taking a Shower

By taking a hot shower you can help decrease nasal congestion. The steam from the shower may help mucus drain from the nose and improve breathing.  Although the benefits of the steam may not last, it will at least provide temporary relief.

In a prior post we had someone stated that they have a $2000.00 maximum limitation but had dental care cost of $2200.00. They paid the dental office $200.00 thinking that should be the only cost for them to pay. Yet was surprised that they received a bill for an additional $400.00. Now there are a few ways this can happen but here are a few listed that could be the likely reason.

1) They forgot about their plans Co-pay:  In most plans there are co-pays you need to take into account. Such as the company will pay 50% for major dental care and your co-pay is the other 50% left. Normally the dental insurance plan dose not pay out %100 of your dental care with the exception of preventive services that sometimes will be paid %100 however not always with in the plans first year.

2) They forgot their deductible: Many PPO’s/Indemnity insurance plans have they can normally range from $50.00 – $150.00 per person per calender year.

3) They went over UCR: Most PPO’s/Indemnity insurance plans pay out up to UCR (Usual And Customary Rates) They may have also gone over this UCR cost.

The reason in this cast could have been one or a couple of these factors.  Understanding how your dental insurance works, it terms and conditions will help you to avoid these types of unwelcome surprises.

If you think the mind grinds to a halt when you’re doing nothing, think again.

A University of British Columbia-led review of mind-wandering research, published in the November issue of Nature Reviews Neuroscience, proposes a new framework for understanding how thoughts flow, even at rest.

The authors argue that their new framework could help better understand the stream of consciousness of patients diagnosed with mental illnesses like depression, anxiety and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

It is rare to get agreement – even when everyone is interested in the same thing – particularly when it comes to healthcare policies in Washington.  It’s remarkable then, that the entire U.S. home respiratory therapy community has come together.

Something as fundamental as life-sustaining oxygen should never be in jeopardy. Yet, more than a million Medicare beneficiaries who depend on home oxygen and sleep therapies could find themselves on the losing end of a short-sighted new Congressional policy aimed at cutting costs.

Beginning in January of this year, Congress dramatically cut reimbursement for home oxygen services by applying competitive bid rates in geographic areas that were previously excluded from competitive bidding. Oxygen suppliers in these primarily rural parts of the country – where the costs of delivering services are already 13 percent higher – must now quickly try to adjust to funding shortfalls that are certain to complicate the lives of very vulnerable patients.

Statistics reveal that one person dies every hour from oral cancer, and that number is increasing. However did you know that your dentist can help identify oral cancer early so treatment can begin fast to improve the prognosis. In addition people that have dental insurance are more likely to visit their dentist regularly. Make sure to see your dentist at least twice a year and to save money on your dental care needs make sure to have a good dental insurance plan.

Treatment involves professional teeth cleaning and intensified home dental hygiene. Gingivitis can be reversed if you remove bacteria from your teeth every day. Treatment methods depend upon the type of disease and how far the condition has progressed. Treatment is by improved cleaning, with more-frequent and longer brushing and flossing, and/or the use of electronic tooth-cleaning equipment.

Rigorous plaque control programs along with periodontal scaling and curettage also have proved to be helpful, although according to the American Dental Association, periodontal scaling and root planning are considered as a treatment to periodontal disease, not as a preventive treatment for periodontal disease.

Call your health care provider if the dentist recommends medical treatment of underlying conditions that contribute to the development of gingivitis. Acute herpetic gingivostomatitis usually gets better in 2 weeks without treatment.

You’ve seen the starving and malnourished third world toddlers on TV, their distended bellies and plaintive cries  used by charities for decades.  But you might be surprised to learn that the condition, called kwashiorkor (a Ghanaian term for ‘weaning sickness,’) is suddenly rife among senior citizens seeking treatment at certain California hospitals. Either that, or a hospital chain is soon going to be charged with “upcoding” ailments to goose Medicare reimbursements. That’s the conclusion of an investigation by Lance Williams, Christina Jewett and Stephen Doig of CaliforniaWatch.

According to the story, 288 Medicare patients age 65 and older, (16.1 percent), received treatment for kwashiokor in 2009 at Shasta Regional Medical Center in the northern city of Redding. That’s 70 times the state average. Nearby hospitals report no such spike. About a mile from Shasta Regional, Mercy Medical Center reported just 12 cases, a rate of 0.2 percent. At Desert Hospital in Victorville, 573 miles to the south, the rate was 9.1 percent, 39 times the state average.

Are these clusters the first signs of a geriatric epidemic? Perhaps. But the clusters do have one thing in common. Of the 10 California hospitals that reported the highest malnutrition rates among Medicare patients, eight – including the top four – are owned by Prime Healthcare Services, a southern California-based hospital chain.

The company so far is accusing the Service Employees International Union of spreading misinformation in an attempt at extortion, though the figures cited in the story were generated independently.

Treating malnourished patents is generally more costly than curing those with a single ailment. That’s why Medicare provides hospitals with $2,700 more for treating those with what Medicare terms a major complication, like kwashiorkor, compared to patients treated for a stroke.

While this particular case will no doubt be tied up in regulatory actions and the courts for some years, it shines a light on various issues as the nation seeks to reel in healthcare costs. If it takes an internal contract dispute for possible malfeasance to emerge where are the regulators entrusted with safeguarding the public purse? Is this instance of upbilling — the process by which hospitals charge and are repaid for more expensive procedures than what was actually delivered — just the tip of the iceberg, exposed by the use of a bizarre illness? And as policymakers consider reducing Medicare repayment schedules, will upbilling become more pervasive as the medical industry seeks to maintain its cash-flow? Stay tuned.

It is important to know how dental insurance works and how it help you save money. Here are a few facts to think about when buying dental insurance so you buy the right plan for you and or you and your family.

1) Dental insurance is not designed to pay 100% of all dental services render. Dental insurance is designed to help aid you in the cost of dental services, there by making dental care more affordable.

2) Not all dental insurance coverages are the same.  Some plans pay out by percentages up to UCR whereas other plans provide a fee schedule for dental services covered, stating the amount you pay for each service.  It is up to you to read the plans terms and conditions to understand the plans benefits.

3) Generally PPO’s or Indemnity insurance plans base their coverages by percentages up to UCR rates. Such as 80% paid for basic dental services up to what is Usual, Customary & Reasonable. UCR is the common term for fee guidelines insurance companies use to pay claims. UCR guidelines were put in place to help control dental inflation.  Generally with PPOs plans when you stay with in the plans network of providers you have a lower risk of having UCR fees.

4) Most dental insurance plans provide coverages for routine dental services. However that is not always the case when it comes to cosmetic dental care treatment. If you are wanting cosmetic dental care make sure the dental insurance plan you are buying covers those types of dental services or you may want to review dental discount plans that can provide up to 20% off cosmetic dental care services

Symptoms of gingivitis are bleeding gums (blood on toothbrush even with gentle brushing of the teeth). Bright red or red-purple appearance to gums that are tender when touched, but otherwise painless mouth sores, swollen gums with a shiny appearance to the gums.

Symptoms and Signs of Simple gingivitis first causes a deepening of the sulcus (gingival crevice) between the tooth and the gingival, followed by a band of red, inflamed gingival along one or more teeth, with swelling of the interdental papillae and easy bleeding. Symptoms are acute pain, bleeding, and foul breath.

Symptoms can disappear in as little as one week. Symptoms you will notice red, swollen, gums that bleed easily. Symptoms include: Red, swollen gums that are painful even if no pressure is placed on them Gums that bleed easily. Bad breath or a bad taste in the mouth. A gray film on the gums, sores (ulcers) on the gums, sore throat, fever, swollen glands in the neck .

Diagnosis your dentist will ask questions, including: How long you have had symptoms? Whether you have had these symptoms before? Whether and how much you smoke? Whether you have had unusual stress in your life? Whether you have any diseases. Even if you don’t notice any symptoms, you may still have some degree of gum disease.

The dispute over the vacant Thomson Correction Center in rural Northwest Illinois reignited last week as Illinois Republican members of Congress want to make absolutely, positively sure that Barack Obama won’t house current Guantanamo Bay detainees there. U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk and Illinois House Republicans signed a letter instructing Obama to officially rule out housing terrorist detainees at Thomson, reports Nicole Thompson of the Chicago Daily Herald. The problem is that there is no problem. Obama, Illinois Congressional Republicans, Illinois Congressional Democrats, state government, and U.S. Dept. of Justice Federal Bureau of Prison officials are in firm agreement that Thomson should be converted to a federal prison, not a terrorist detention facility. So why the fighting?

The president’s November 2009 proposed move of inmates to Thomson, Illinois was an ill-fated attempt to fulfill a promise to close the Guantanamo Bay prison by January 2010. There was overwhelming Congressional opposition to funding the detainee transfer and so, by June 2010, Obama and his former Senate colleague, Dick Durbin, devised a Plan B. That would be to convert Thomson to a federal prison — a plan that would do nothing to solve the Guantanamo problem but would give Northwest Illinois an economic boost. The White Houseestimated in December 2009 that more than 3,000 jobs would come from the federal government taking over Thomson. Federal Bureau of Prison officials  liked this idea, as it would reduce crowding elsewhere. And Illinois Republicans were not going to argue against more local jobs.

But the state’s attempted “auction” of Thomson in December to the feds failed, mainly because Congress had not appropriated the money. Given that Congress is currently figuring out its budget for both the rest of this year and fiscal-year 2012, now’s a good time to fund the prison. Yet Illinois Republican priorities tend more towards picking a fight with Obama. On the other hand, Obama could sign the letter, but doing so might draw attention to the fact that more than two years into his presidency, he still doesn’t have a plan to close Guantanamo.

A few symptoms of oral cancer could be, mouth sore that does not go away. Unexplained numbness in the face, mouth, or neck. Problems chewing, speaking or swallowing.    Causes of oral cancer, can include smoking cigarettes and using smokeless tobacco, drinking heavily, overexposure to the sun, and a family history of cancer.

Oral cancer has also been linked to the human papillomavirus, or HPV. Do not let fear keep you from the doctor, oral cancer that is caught early is treatable and curable.  Often times your dentist will also look for any signs of oral cancer when you have your regular dental checks.  Just another good reason to make sure to make and keep your regular dental appointments.

Gingivitis can be defined as inflammation of the gingival tissue without loss of tooth attachment. Gingivitis can be prevented through regular oral hygiene that includes daily brushing and flossing. Gingivitis is an inflammation of the gums surrounding the teeth. Gingivitis is one of many periodontal diseases that affect the health of the periodontium (those tissues that surround the teeth and include the gums, soft tissues, and bone).

Gingivitis is an infection that occurs when bacteria invade soft tissues, bone, and other places that bacteria should not be. Gingivitis is an inflammation of the gums caused by plaque and bacteria accumulation. Simple gingivitis is controlled by proper oral hygiene with or without an antibacterial mouth rinse. Gingivitis is an extremely common disease in which the gums become red and swollen and bleed easily.

The Great Lakes is the world’s largest freshwater system, comprising 90 percent of America’s and 20 percent of the earth’s fresh water. Thirty-five million people live right by the lakes, and they generate billions of dollars for the tourism, fishing and shipping industries. But the lakes are also home to toxic pollution, ecologically ravaged wetlands, and at least 185 non-native species. The federal government has never settled on a policy that takes into account both the lakes’ grand economic promise and their mounting environmental problems.  And now the latest initiative is being cut before it can really get started.

“We’re like the poor sisters of what goes on in Washington, D.C.,” says Jim Diana, a director of the University of Michigan Sea Grant program, which receives federal money to work on Great Lakes ecological issues.

It’s not so much that Great Lakes restoration is underfunded. It’s that Washington seems to view restoration projects as luxuries that can be increased or cut depending on the political moment. The current Beltway focus on fiscal austerity has again hurt the residents, scientists, policymakers, and even major corporations whose livelihoods come from the Great Lakes.

Changing policy in midstream

The first budget of Barack Obama’s presidency included a $475 million Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI).  This was an unprecedented financial and institutional commitment involving sixteen federal agencies. Obama even named a Great Lakes “czar” – Cameron Davis, former head of the Alliance of the Great Lakes Conservation Group. Obama’s most recent budget proposal, though, cuts funding for the initiative to $350 million.

Obama budget director Jacob Lew went so far as to single out the Great Lakes program in a New York Times op-ed on the need to cut so-called domestic discretionary spending.  Discretionary spending is just 12 percent of the federal budget — the amount that doesn’t go toward national security or entitlement programs Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid. Lew described GLRI as a program that, “absent the fiscal situation” – a $10.4 trillion deficit projected over the next decade – “we would not cut.”

House Republicans, meanwhile, passed a budget that would cut GLRI funding down to $225 million. The president and Congress cannot even agree on a budget resolution for the rest of this fiscal year, much less a plan for FY 2012. But the basic decision has already been made: Great Lakes restoration will lose somewhere between 25 percent of its funding (in the Obama proposal) and 50 percent of its funding (in the Republican plan).

Why GLRI?

The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative is, in essence, a delayed response to five years of research, including a 2004 federal task force report and a 2007 Brookings Institution study that examined toxic clean-ups and habitat restoration needs.  The Brookings study concluding that each government dollar spent would see a return investment of two dollars. Money would be generated by things like fewer beach closings, better commercial fishing markets, and the increased value of lakefront property.

So when Congress approved $475 million toward GLRI in 2009, states, cities, conservation groups and academic institutions had specific clean-up plans in place. “For the most part we know what the problems are and we know what the fixes are,” says Great Lakes project “czar” Davis, whose official title is Environmental Protection Agency senior administrator for the Great Lakes. “We just need the money.”

In the Obama administration’s $475 million, funding was divided into five main areas. Obama officials targeted about $150 million to cleaning up toxic areas, like parts of the Cuyahoga River that connect to Lake Erie. About $100 million was to protect habitat for species like like lake trout and piping sturgeon. Another $100 million was targeted to shoreline stabilization and pollution prevention. Around $60 million is slated for research and, lastly, $60 million is aimed at the prevention and removal of invasive species.

One potential invasive species is Asian carp. Weighing up to 50 pounds and with no natural predators, these carp have swum up the Mississippi to the Chicago River by Lake Michigan. Michigan’s Congressional delegation and state officials say that the carp will ruin their state’s fishing industry and they have sued Illinois to close a lock that connects Chicago waterways to Lake Michigan. Illinois officials counter that closing the locks will destroy their state’s shipping industry. Through GLRI, EPA transferred money to the Army Corps of Engineers and Indiana Department of Natural Resources to create a temporary barrier between rivers connected to Lake Michigan. But the Army Corps has not devised a more long-term plan for the carp, and they are now working on a study  scheduled for completion in — don’t hold your breath — 2015.

GLRI was intended to make Great Lakes restoration a permanent part of the federal government’s portfolio.  And even with projects that have spent years in the pipeline, implementing brand new initiatives is still a gradual process. “EPA suddenly got all this money and didn’t have the people to do the restoration,” says Diana. “Our project was spawning fish in the Great Lakes and monitoring its success — [but] the funding was so delayed.” In that vein, Davis says that GLRI focuses on “two categories of accomplishments: ecological accomplishments and changing institutionally.”

All politics is regional

“We’re not that far removed from the period where the Great Lakes were just sort of a conveyance for pollution and commerce,” says Josh Mogerman, spokesman for the Natural Resources Defense Council. “It was a convenient way to get rid of waste.” Serious Great Lakes improvement programs started in the 1990s, when $1.7 billion was spent on federal and state programs, according to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation. But a 2003 Congressional report concluded that there was little coordination between various clean-up efforts. So in 2004 the Bush administration convened a task force that, according to the Detroit Free Press, was made up of “more than 1,500 people on nine teams, including everyone from governors to anglers.” The Bush team recommended spending $20 billion on Great Lakes clean-up – but no major action was taken.

The 2004 assessment, and the 2007 Brookings study did, however, provide a point of reference, and elements of each were incorporated into Obama’s campaign promise of a $5 billion long-term investment toward the lakes. Midwest conservationists – and even some polluters – embraced Obama’s investment. “Everyone in the region was very supportive of the $475 million in fiscal year in 2010,” says Evelyn Bader, spokesman of the Council of Great Lakes Industries, which represents companies like British Petroleum, DuPont, and Dow Chemical. “This is the one thing that most of the groups in the region are pretty well unified on.”

Industry’s support has led to a criticism that money was not accompanied by tough new environmental regulations, particularly on ships that dump pollution at sea. Henry Henderson, Midwest director of NRDC, has spoken of “deficiencies in governance that goes beyond funding.” Evelyn Bader counters that there is so much catching up to do that new initiatives should start even without new legal requirements. “There are so many projects that didn’t happen because $475 million didn’t cover it,” says Bader. “The first number thrown out was $5 billion – so there is a lot that can be done.”

NRDC’s criticism should not be confused with a rejection of the federal money; it’s an acknowledgment of the work ahead. “We need to be focused on the outcomes,” says Mogerman of NRDC. “How do we keep the lakes clean and ensure that this is going to be a valuable resource for generations? Let’s not just stare at the dollars.” But unreliable funding undermines GLRI. “There is a lot of confusion over the funding,” admits Davis. “For FY 2012 the House came in with a proposal for $225 million and we don’t know where that is going to land. We don’t even know where the FY 2011 budget is going to land.”

Stuck At Sea

In its funding limbo, GLRI resembles other domestic discretionary programs, such as cuts in federal grants to human service agencies or reduced spending on public broadcasting. The Obama administration mantra since the 2010 State of the Union Address is that the national deficit calls for a freeze in domestic spending. The federal government must “start doing what families and businesses have done during the downturn: tightening our belts,” wrote Lew in the Times op-ed.

Not only does this run counter to the Keynesian approach Obama used in his first year as president, using government deficit spending to stimulate an economy that then, and now, has high unemployment and low demand.  It also signals a poor understanding of how “discretionary” spending can really make a difference in people’s lives.  Obama, congressional Republicans, and most Democrats as well have zeroed in on a certain flavor of domestic spending – money that mainly goes to environment, labor, schools, and public health and safety. This is the money that every president since Ronald Reagan has targeted for cuts. While billions of dollars in waste and cost overruns in Medicare and the military go largely unaddressed, funding for economically productive and environmentally sustainable programs fall under the budget axe.

GLRI is a new initiative. To make it work – with whatever budget ends up being provided – sixteen federal agencies must figure out what the government can and cannot do to make a difference. The Army Corps of Engineers, for example, is spending years studying the Great Lakes problem. What if the FY2012 or FY2013 budget zeroes out funding for that study?  And GLRI is intended to establish a strategic direction for EPA and another major environmental focus for the federal government. This cannot happen without some consistency in support from an Obama administration that had the determination to create the program in the first place. GLRI will be cut back to address the long-term budget deficit.  But reductions in this program are short-sighted.

Leukoplakia is a reaction to an irritant, like rough teeth, badly fitting dentures, smoking, and smokeless tobacco. It can show up as white patches or plaques in the mouth, is usually painless, and can not be scraped off. Leukoplakia can also be a precancerous condition. Persistent patches or other changes in your mouth need a dentist’s evaluation.  See a dentist if you think you may have Leukoplakia for an evaluation and treatment.

A supplement dental insurance plan policy may also be purchased to cover the dental charges when there are annual dental benefit plan limits or exclusions. Supplemental dental insurance is an individual or family insurance policy purchased to cover a portion of the dental costs. Supplemental dental insurance will normally not cover the entire dental care procedure.

If you have a primary dental insurance plan that you purchased or your employer provided, the supplemental dental policy typically covers the remaining dental bill.  For example, if the dental plan policy covers half of the dental cost, the secondary or supplement dental insurance plan should cover the remaining balance of your dental procedure.