Inner Profile

By Michale Simson

 If you or your family have had one or more health expenses this year, such as surgeries, hospitalizations, pregnancy, or anything that causes you to start paying towards your health insurance deductible, NOW may be the time to spend MORE, not less. While this sounds counter intuitive, spending MORE on needed health issues at the end of the year may actually save you money.

Most health insurance plans operate on a calendar year, from January 1st to December 31st. Your yearly deductible is usually also based on this time-frame. So, lets say you have a $1,000 deductible plan with, 20/80 Coinsurance (This means after reaching your deductible you pay the remaining 20% and the insurance pays 80% of all bills until you reach a certain maximum, at which point you get covered at 100%.). Now assume that you have spent $800 of your deductible though October, and the doctor says you will need more medical treatment in the near future. In this case, if you wait to get your expected medical treatment until after January 1st, you may start paying towards your entire $1000 deductible again! However, if you complete the needed work or procedures BEFORE December 31st, you may only pay another $200 towards your deductible, and then just 20% of the remaining charges! Youll save $800 of your own money from having to be used towards you deductible again.

Think of a deductible as use it or lose it. Once you start getting close to using your entire deductible for the year you might as well get as much other medical work done as you can, as it will cost you only incrementally more! People who get really burned by paying two deductibles in a close time period are those women who go into labor on December 31st, and end up having their baby on January 1! Having a baby is expensive and a pretty sure way to reach well beyond the yearly deductible. Thus, having the expensive childbirth cost split over two years requires one to potentially spend the entire deducible TWICE!

Now, it isnt being advocated to have unnecessary medical procedures done just because you can, but if you know you must have more medical procedures done in the near future, getting as much done in one year as possible is a sure way to save money. Most though not all plans operate this way, so be sure to ask your broker if this situation applies to you.

My Health Insurance of Washington specializes in helping individuals, families, the self-employed, and small business find quality health insurance plans to meet their financial needs. Based in Washington State, their sole focus in on Washington State Health Insurance plans.

Michale Simson is a freelance writer and has written of diversified subjects. In the particular articles he has discussed on different aspects of self employed health insurance in washington state policies and programmes.

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Nutrition is the Key To A Healthy Life - Problems withIndigenous Health in Australia- by Brendan J. Prendergast

By Brendan Prendergast

 Hi my names Brendan Prendergast. I have had mixed jobs having been an Entrepreneur, Adventurer and Traveller since 16 years of age. I guess in that time, I got lost in my excitement of what the world was, I never really set out to make my wealth, more or less I just stumbled upon one job or prospect after another.

I have drifted around the world from my home country Australia, hitchhiking New Zealand when I was just 16. Truly a delightful and unspoilt place, just like in the movies When I was 20 I was travelling above the Arctic Circle in Norway and Sweden. I have lived in London, Earls Court naturally, in Amsterdam and have travelled through most of Europe.

Broke and Bust when I returned to Australia, by some quirk of fate I became a pacifist that joined the Royal Australian Air Force as a Police Dog Security Professional strangely enough hunger makes strange work choices. Since then and even during then I was setting up different enterprises, including Australias first Video production Unit in Darwin Paradise Video. I then owned and operated an Art Gallery, Advertising Agency and Stock Feed Business while managing and leasing out a Hair Salon while still in the RAAF.

After leaving the Airforce, I worked on the oil rigs in Bass Strait. Some of which like the original Tuna, probably my favorite rigs are no longer there vaporised! Been caught up in many crazy strategies, ending up running and managing Cattle Station towns in the Kimberley and North Queensland. Also assisted the Yolgnu people of Arnhem Land develop fishing enterprises to feed their people with their own healthy fresh produce. Assisted them develop Australias first Yolngu Security Service. Set up a 3 hectare tropical garden. The aim being to provide fresh diet for the people of Elcho Island in Arnhem Land. Also tried a free range chicken farm. Between the dogs, eagles and the snakes a very dear project.

My belief is that diet is the key to health. We are the product of what we eat. Unfortunately for many secluded native tribes of Australia, there is little to no manufacture of fresh produce. Many collective problems are endemic, just as they are in the wider community, but perhaps more so due to the lack of employment opportunities.

Billions of dollars are spent on health for Aboriginal, Yolgnu and Torres Strait Islander back waters, with little to no effect. I can remember one campaign against hook worm where tens of thousands of dollars were spent on providing drugs. The conundrum being the hook worm, even if they had removed the animal faeces that littered the community and immunised the dogs, lays dorment in the soil. Wearing bare feet and not removing the waste obviously did not solve the predicament. Likewise when children are undernourished their health system in later years will take its toll. Now and then it may even be wrong nutrition. No nourishing fruit, vegetables or lean meat.

Needless to say Billions of dollars are still being spent on drugs and not prevention. Childrens Health starts prior to conception through the diet and healthiness of the prospective parents. Alcohol, smoking and other drugs are the first obstacle for the newly conceived embryo. Lack of proper nutrition by the mother during pregnancy are just the initial stumbling blocks. Then immediately following birth, not being breast-fed. Then I guess having seen so many outback towns where fresh food and local produce are not available as well as poor nutritional choices, governed either by lack of money, knowledge or choice continue the decline of health in these remote regions.

Having lived out on the remote regions for nearly a decade, I believe my health too could be far better. That is why I am a passionate believer in good diet. This should be right for all people. Then this is where I have taken up the challenge to indeed find out if the word is mightier than the sword.

Wishing everyone a HealthyLife4U2

Brendan J. Prendergast

http://healthylife4u2.wordpress.com/

Brendan J. Prendergast blog Health Life 4 U 2 can be found on wordpress.com

http://healthylife4u2.wordpress.com/

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