Another true dental insurance plan, a Preferred provider organizations ( PPO) falls somewhere between an indemnity plan and a dental HMO. This plan allows a particular group of patients to receive dental care from a defined panel of individual dental insurance dentists. This type could be used to provide dental gap insurance.

The participating individual or family office agrees to charge less than usual fees to this specific patient base, providing savings for the plan purchaser. If the patient chooses to see one who is not designated as a “preferred provider,” that patient may be required to pay a greater share of the fee-for-service.

A group of individual or family dentistry providers agrees to provide services at a deeply discounted rate, giving you substantial savings — as long as you stay in their network. Unlike the more restrictive DHMO, though, you can go out of network and still receive some benefits.

PPIs work by reducing the amount of acid produced by the stomach. They are widely prescribed for the treatment of heartburn, or acid reflux, a condition in which stomach acid is forced back up into the food pipe, or esophagus, causing a burning sensation in the lower chest. If the condition persists, it could be a sign of a more serious problem called gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).

In discussing their findings, Prof. Al-Aly and colleagues write that PPIs are “often overprescribed, rarely deprescribed,” and that their use is often “extended for long-term duration without appropriate medical indication.”

Use of proton pump inhibitors – a class of drug taken by millions to treat heartburn and reduce stomach acid – is tied to a higher risk of premature death. So concludes a large study that followed nearly 350,000 United States veterans.
pills medication

Reporting their findings in the journal BMJ Open, researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis explain how they also found that the risk of death rose with longer use of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs).

“No matter how we sliced and diced the data from this large dataset, we saw the same thing: there’s an increased risk of death among PPI users,” says senior author Ziyad Al-Aly, an assistant professor of medicine.

High deductibles before coverage begins (well-designed plans don’t apply the deductible to preventive services)

Probationary periods on certain procedures that last up to a year

Annual dollar limit on benefits

Chose your own individual or family dentist

Your average monthly cost: $45 and up

Companies selling these plans are regulated by state insurance departments.

Summer is here, and allergies are rearing their ugly heads, causing many an itchy eye.  Most of the time, itchy eyes are caused by some type of allergy. An irritating substance (called an allergen) — such as pollen, dust and animal dander — causes the release of compounds called histamines in the tissues around the eyes, which results in itching, redness and swelling.

Eye allergies come in lots of shapes and sizes and can be seasonal or perennial.

Health care systems worldwide are facing macro-scale changes involving advanced illness and end-of-life care that could affect both the quality of care and the quality of life for patients and their caregivers. For example, growth in mortality from cancer and Alzheimer disease, along with the increased prevalence of multiple morbidities for those near the end of life, raise questions about how the health system will provide adequate care and pain relief for patients, and addresses the needs of their caregivers–many of whom are unpaid family members. In addition, despite a growing tendency for people to prefer hospice and other lower-intensity options to cope with advanced illness and the relatively small share of excess spending that goes to individuals near the end of life, cost remains a concern. This is particularly true in the United States, where per capita medical spending in the last twelve months of life is $80,000–substantially higher than in comparable developed nations.

This is the plan where you choose your own individual or family dentist. The dental insurance plan pays the dental office on a traditional fee-for-service basis. A monthly premium is paid by the client and/or the employer to an insurance company, which then reimburses them for the services rendered.

A dental insurance company usually pays between 50% – 80% of the family or individual dental office fees for a covered procedures; the remaining 20% – 50% is paid by the client. These plans often have a pre-determined or set deductible amount which varies from plan to plan. Indemnity dental plans also can limit the amount of services covered within a given year and pay them based on a variety of fee schedules.

In Europe the aging of the population will pose considerable challenges to providing high-quality end-of-life care. The complexity of providing care and the large spectrum of actors involved make it difficult to understand the care pathways and how these are influenced by financial and institutional factors. We examined a large, multicountry data set with waves of data from the period 2006–13 to determine the differences in health care usage, out-of-pocket spending, and place of death in sixteen European countries and Israel. Our results reveal the importance of the funding mechanisms of long-term care. They also illuminate the effect of patients’ characteristics on end-of-life care pathways. We found that in countries where public financing and organization of long-term care are particularly strong, patients at the end of life are more likely to have reduced hospitalizations and a higher share of out-of-hospital deaths. Understanding end-of-life care patterns is crucial to developing policies to address the urgent public health priority that this aspect of health care presents.

Characterizations of average end-of-life care for people with cancer can obscure important differences in patients’ experiences. Using Medicare claims data for 14,257 patients diagnosed with extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer in the period 1995–2009, we used latent class analysis to identify classes of people with different care patterns. We characterized care trajectories from diagnosis to death using time spent in five care settings—home, hospital inpatient unit (acute), hospital intensive care unit (ICU), postacute skilled nursing facility, and hospice—and transitions across these settings. We identified four classes of patients: 66 percent spent the time primarily at home, 11 percent were primarily in hospice, 17 percent were largely in an acute setting, and 6 percent were largely in an ICU. Patients in these classes differed significantly in terms of baseline clinical characteristics, survival length, time spent in hospice, site of death, and spending. The findings show substantial heterogeneity in patterns of care for patients with advanced cancer, which should be accounted for in efforts to improve end-of-life care.

To date, knowledge of the experiences of older adults’ caregivers at the end of life has come from studies that were limited to specific diseases and so-called primary caregivers and that relied on the recollections of people in convenience samples. Using nationally representative, prospective data for 2011, we found that 900,000 community-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries ages sixty-five and older who died within the following twelve months received support from 2.3 million caregivers. Nearly nine in ten of these caregivers were unpaid. Compared to other caregivers, end-of-life caregivers provided nearly twice as many hours of care per week and, especially in the case of spousal caregivers, reported more care-related challenges. Yet older adults at the end of life were not significantly more likely than other older adults to receive caregiving funded by government, state, or private insurance. To meet the needs of older adults at the end of life, their unpaid caregivers must receive greater recognition and expanded access to supportive services.

Finding the right value in individual dental insurance or dental plans is an important step in purchasing dental coverage for you and your family.

Both types of individual dental insurance plans have advantages and disadvantages and one size does not fit everyone. Keeping this in mind is an important rule when you shop for the dental plan that best fits your needs.

We sell both individual and family dental insurance and dental discount plans throughout all 50 states. Here are some brief examples that may help you decide even in an emergency. This is helpful since some of the dental plan services are free which is good for you and your family.

Health care systems worldwide are facing macro-scale changes involving advanced illness and end-of-life care that could affect both the quality of care and the quality of life for patients and their caregivers. For example, growth in mortality from cancer and Alzheimer disease, along with the increased prevalence of multiple morbidities for those near the end of life, raise questions about how the health system will provide adequate care and pain relief for patients, and addresses the needs of their caregivers–many of whom are unpaid family members. In addition, despite a growing tendency for people to prefer hospice and other lower-intensity options to cope with advanced illness and the relatively small share of excess spending that goes to individuals near the end of life, cost remains a concern. This is particularly true in the United States, where per capita medical spending in the last twelve months of life is $80,000–substantially higher than in comparable developed nations.

If you are currently enrolled in Marketplace plan, you should most likely drop the Marketplace plan and enroll in Medicare when you are first eligible. There are a few reasons why:

• If you do not enroll in Medicare when you are first eligible, you may have a late enrollment penalty when you sign up later. You may also experience gaps in health insurance coverage.
• Marketplace plans do not work with Medicare. If you keep your Marketplace plan, it may not cover you once you are eligible for Medicare
• Once you are eligible for premium-free Medicare Part A, you will no longer be eligible to receive cost assistance for your Marketplace plan. Although you may keep your Marketplace plan after becoming eligible for Medicare, it can be very expensive without cost assistance.

If you are enrolled in a plan through the federal Marketplace, contact the Marketplace at 800-318-2596 or visit www.healthcare.gov to disenroll at least 14 days before you want your coverage to end. For Californians, contact Covered California at www.coveredca.com to learn how and when to disenroll from the plan. Keep in mind that you want your Marketplace plan to cover you up until your Medicare starts. You do not want any gaps in coverage, so timing is important.

Marketplaces also provide coverage through the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP). This program lets small businesses provide health insurance. If you have a SHOP plan through a current employer, you may still need to enroll in Medicare. The timing depends on the size of your employer and how you qualify for Medicare. If you have a SHOP plan, talk with your employer or contact your local Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program (HICAP) at 1-800-434-0222.

Buying individual dental insurance or family dental insurance plans does not have to be a painful process because most dental insurance plans offer low cost monthly payment options with immediate or next dental coverage. ShareofCost.com a dental specialist in individual dental insurance and affordable low monthly family dental insurance and dental discount plans, vision and prescription coverage programs. We have been serving the dental insurance community since 1983, you will find our licensed dental insurance agents ready to assist you.

It is easy to compare family and individual dental insurance plans and decide which one is right for you and your family. Many of the dental plans of insurance have next day benefits and services from well established individual and family dentists in local dental offices near you.

Insurance Company offers individual and family dental insurance plans in all 50 states. Dental Insurance Company is a national leader of individual dental care related products with an online e-market place to compare affordable low cost monthly dental insurance options from the nations largest dental companies.

If you are eligible for Medicare, you should not use the Marketplace to get health and drug coverage, with two exceptions. If you are eligible for Medicare because you have End-Stage Renal Disease (kidney disease that requires dialysis or transplant) or you have to pay a premium for Medicare Part A (hospital insurance), you can choose to enroll in a Marketplace plan instead of Medicare.

You do not buy a Medicare Advantage Plan, Part D prescription drug plan, or Medicare supplemental insurance (known as Medigap) through the Marketplace. It is illegal for someone to sell you a Marketplace plan if they know you are enrolled in Medicare. If someone tries to sell you a Marketplace plan, let them know that you have Medicare and cannot enroll in a Marketplace plan.

The Health Insurance Marketplaces were created by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). They allow people to buy insurance if they do not have insurance or do not have enough insurance. You can access the Marketplace online or over the phone. Some states have their own Marketplaces, and other states use the federal Marketplace to provide coverage. Plans sold through Marketplaces are also known as Qualified Health Plans, or QHPs.