The over-the-counter anti-diarrhea medication Imodium, or its key ingredient loperamide, is increasingly being abused by people attempting to self-treat their opioid addiction, with sometime fatal results. Two case studies outlining the phenomenon were published online Friday in Annals of Emergency Medicine.

A new study of older adults, who can gain particular quality of life benefits from the use of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) techniques, showed that specific personality traits were associated with individual differences in the use of MBSR during and post-training. These findings can help better tailor MBSR programs to targeted populations, as described in an article in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine.

Does the dental plan give you the freedom to choose your own dentist or are you restricted to a network of dentists selected by the insurance company?

This is important to know if you are trying to stay with a family dentist that you are satisfied with. In the same regards it is important to know what types of dental plans your dentist takes and whether or not they are a network provider of any plans.

Yes, Medicare scammers try all kinds of tactics to get your identity and Medicare’s money. Yet, while the color and flavor of these tactics may vary, if you follow these simple tips, you can spot and avoid most any Medicare fraud scheme.

Handy Tips to Avoid Medicare Fraud

Anytime you are asked for your Medicare information the product is not FREE

Never confirm your Medicare card information on the phone to strangers

Guard your Medicare card as you would your credit card or ATM card

Never return cards asking you to confirm your Medicare information

Asking for your bank account information is not part of Medicare

Beware of anything Medicare related which looks too good

Do not discuss Medicare with a door-to-door salesman

Do not accept gifts in return for Medicare information

Medicare NEVER phones you or comes to you

Remember nothing in Medicare is FREE

Guard your Medicare Card

See the Medicare Fraud section of our website for more information on ways to protect yourself from and how to detect it. If you come across any suspicious activity, please report it to our Senior Medicare Patrol at 1-855-613-7080.

When buying a dental insurance plan there are many factors that should be looked at so that you get the best plan for you and or your family.  One of the primary focus should be to determine whether the dental plan coverage’s will satisfy your dental care needs.  Ask these questions to yourself when reviewing a dental insurance plan and know the answers before buying one.  Doing this can save you money as well as any unnecessary grief.

Employers commonly use adjustments to health insurance premiums as incentives to encourage healthy behavior, but the effectiveness of those adjustments is controversial. We gave 197 obese participants in a workplace wellness program a weight loss goal equivalent to 5 percent of their baseline weight. They were randomly assigned to a control arm, with no financial incentive for achieving the goal, or to one of three intervention arms offering an incentive valued at $550. Two intervention arms used health insurance premium adjustments, beginning the following year (delayed) or in the first pay period after achieving the goal (immediate). A third arm used a daily lottery incentive separate from premiums. At twelve months there were no statistically significant differences in mean weight change either between the control group (whose members had a mean gain of 0.1 pound) and any of the incentive groups (delayed premium adjustment, –1.2 pound; immediate premium adjustment, –1.4 pound; daily lottery incentive, –1.0 pound) or among the intervention groups. The apparent failure of the incentives to promote weight loss suggests that employers that encourage weight reduction through workplace wellness programs should test alternatives to the conventional premium adjustment approach by using alternative incentive designs, larger incentives, or both.

Medical insurance is primarily designed to cover the costs of diagnosing, treating and curing serious illnesses. This process can normally includes a primary care physician and multiple specialists, a variety of tests and multiple procedures to be performed by doctors and laboratories, as well as medications. Rating medical insurance depends on the health, age and attitudes of people in the medical coverage group, so costs can fluctuate widely.

When reviewing dental insurance, you will be able to note that most dental coverage is designed to ensure that the patient receives regular preventive care. Where as high quality  medical care requires the complex, multiple resources, That is rarely the case with high quality dental care. A thorough examination and a set of x-rays done by the dentist is all it usually takes to diagnose a problem.
Dental care is normally provided by a general practitioner, although some cases may require the services of a dental specialist.

However, because most dental disease are preventable, dental benefits plans are structured to encourage patients to get the regular, routine care vital to preventing and diagnosing the onset of serious dental disease.  Because preventive dental is so important in dental health care, most dental benefits plans require patients to assume a greater portion of the costs for treatment of dental disease than for preventive procedures. By placing an emphasis on prevention, and by covering regular teeth cleaning and check-ups, Americans saved nearly $100 billion in dental care costs during the 1980s.

Medicaid enrollees are about twice as likely as the general US population to smoke tobacco: 32 percent of people in the program identify themselves as smokers. This article provides the first data about the effectiveness of state Medicaid programs in promoting smoking cessation. Our analysis of Medicaid enrollees’ use of cessation medications found that about 10 percent of current smokers received cessation medications in 2013. Every state Medicaid program covers cessation benefits, but the use of these medications varies widely, with the rate in Minnesota being thirty times higher than that in Texas. Most states could increase their efforts to help smokers quit, working with public health agencies, managed care plans, and others. In 2013 Medicaid spent $103 million on cessation medications—less than 0.25 percent of the estimated cost to Medicaid of smoking-related diseases. Additionally, states that have not expanded Medicaid eligibility in the wake of the Affordable Care Act have higher smoking prevalence and lower utilization rates of cessation medication, compared to expansion states. Given these factors, nonexpansion states will have a greater public health burden related to smoking. Medicaid and public health agencies should work together to make smoking cessation a priority for Medicaid beneficiaries.

Most dental ailments are preventable, unlike medical which can be both unpredictable and catastrophic. With dental preventive care would including regular dental checkups and cleanings. By having regular visits to the dentist, problems can be diagnosed early along treated without extensive testing or elaborate and expensive procedures.  Which helps keeps the costs of dental care much lower than those of medical care. In fact, total spending for dental care is decreasing. In 1970, it made up 6.3 percent of total health care expenditures. But in 1991, dental care’s share of health care spending was only 4.9 percent.

The rising medical costs associated with cancer have led to considerable financial hardship for patients and their families in the United States. Using data from the LIVESTRONG 2012 survey of 4,719 cancer survivors ages 18–64, we examined the proportions of survivors who reported going into debt or filing for bankruptcy as a result of cancer, as well as the amount of debt incurred. Approximately one-third of the survivors had gone into debt, and 3 percent had filed for bankruptcy. Of those who had gone into debt, 55 percent incurred obligations of $10,000 or more. Cancer survivors who were younger, had lower incomes, and had public health insurance were more likely to go into debt or file for bankruptcy, compared to those who were older, had higher incomes, and had private insurance, respectively. Future longitudinal population-based studies are needed to improve understanding of financial hardship among US working-age cancer survivors throughout the cancer care trajectory and, ultimately, to help stakeholders develop evidence-based interventions and policies to reduce the financial hardship of cancer.

Good dental and oral health care is first taught from home.  Having healthy teeth and gums are important not to have a great smile but to have long term retention of teeth. Young children may not have a good understanding of the importance of oral health care that is why it is so important to make brushing their teeth fun and not a chore. Try getting your children excited about brushing their teeth and help them to make it a lifetime habit.

A few simple ways to make bushing fun would be buying toothpastes they like.  Let your child pick their own toothbrush.  They are more likely to use one they picked on their own. Brush your teeth with them.  Showing that you enjoy taking care of your oral health will make them want to copy you.  As your child gets older do not forget to teach them how to correctly floss. Until then floss your child teeth at least once a day.

In 2009 HealthCare Partners Affiliates Medical Group, based in Southern California, launched House Calls, an in-home program that provides, coordinates, and manages care primarily for recently discharged high-risk, frail, and psychosocially compromised patients. Its purpose is to reduce preventable emergency department visits and hospital readmissions. We present data over time from this well-established program to provide an example for other new programs that are being established across the United States to serve this population with complex needs. The findings show that the initial House Calls structure, staffing patterns, and processes differed across the geographic areas that it served, and that they also evolved over time in different ways. In the same time period, all areas experienced a reduction in operating costs per patient and showed substantial reductions in monthly per patient health care spending and hospital utilization after enrollment in the House Calls program, compared to the period before enrollment. Despite more than five years of experience, the program structure continues to evolve and adjust staffing and other features to accommodate the dynamic nature of this complex patient population.

One in three US children still lack dental insurance and proper dental dental care. While most people talk about receiving better health care dental care tends to be over looked. For the children that are on Medicaid dental care can be difficult to find. Children and adults alike have died from dental infections from lack of receiving proper dental care.  Stating that dental care without dental insurance is to high and dental insurance it too costly for them to afford. Even though most states have low cost dental insurance plans many people do not know where to look for them.

The human body contains approximately ten times as many bacterial cells as human cells. Known as commensal bacteria, they exist in a mutually beneficial, symbiotic relationship with their human hosts, helping with a diverse range of functions that are only beginning to be understood. Now researchers report that microbiota regulate the ability of lung dendritic cells to generate immune responses.

Feds consider less fluoride in water. Although fluoride in drinking water is credited with dramatically cutting cavities and tooth decay too much fluoride in drinking water is causing Flurosis (white spots or streaking) This is one reason why the federal government has announced plans to lower the recommended limit for fluoride in water supplies. Which is the first change of its kind in nearly 50 years.

New figures released today show that the treatment received by patients for oesophageal cancer, and its precursor condition Barrett’s oesophagus, varies significantly across England.

This postcode lottery has been uncovered by the Oesophageal Cancer Westminster Campaign in their new report: Incidence of oesophageal cancer and Barrett’s oesophagus, and variations in their treatment. The report found significant geographical variation in the use of effective and minimally invasive endoscopic therapies for Barrett’s oesophagus and early cancer, with 43% of patients in London receiving this treatment compared to only 3.2% in the West Midlands and 6% in the East Midlands.