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Health Insurance Blog

Archives for June, 2008

The United States has experienced the presence of corporate wellness programs for several years now. Despite that most employees display a peculiar trait of not relying on these programs despite employers offering varied kinds of benefits. Usually perks range from discounted prices at wellness centers (like gyms, spas etc.), cholesterol screenings at no extra cost and even free passes to special events like movie premieres and screenings. This approach does not do anything either for employees or their employers.

In recent times though, employers have actually waken up to the fact that ‘extras’ on wellness programs cannot really be the key to draw employees to pay better attention to their health and living. This has prompted them to take more serious measures where employees either participate in wellness programs or feel the crunch on their paychecks. Incentive- based programs slap heavy punishment on members if they fail to act in the interest of their health and the interest of the organization. Penalty can be quite high and can be a deterrent to erratic employee behavior concerning health and wellness.

The reason behind the employers’ new way of viewing and reviewing corporate wellness is simple- they want healthier employees to enhance work atmosphere and overall productivity. Honestly this is no unfair demand because healthier residents will make a healthier America. At least that’s how a new study sees it. According to that if programs focus more on prevention and less on cure, overall health costs will be halved in one sweep.

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The worst is here. Most babies born in the US are supposed to be much below what they should be in terms of weight. According to experts, in fact, every baby born less than 5.5 pounds faces the risk of getting handicapped with the progress of time and worse, might not even live upto that age. Despite a rise in the rate of longevity and better health amongst teenagers, it is alarming to see well- being amongst babies drop so dramartically. The trend, though, is not all that new. American babies have faced the same predicament for the last 40 years and it has been just getting worse with every passing year.

Statistics are also proof of the fact that the reports are not untrue. When child well-being is viewed comprehensively, United States hits rock- bottom and presents no competition for its counterparts. In the comprehensive child- wellbeing category, it ranks as low as 32nd out of the 33 countries reviewed. What is more disturbing is the fact that the power of industrialization backs all 33. And when it comes to the annual count of underweight infants, United States stands pathetically at the 29th position.

This lack of child well- being comes as a shock when countries like the Netherlands, Finland, Denmark and Sweden are seen ranking better. Underweight infants and sickly babies pose a distinct threat to the country’s future and should be enough food for worry at the moment. The sooner something is done about this, the better.

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Then we wonder why we have so many children with mental problems, low IQ…

CDC: Hospitals do poorly on breast-feeding support

By MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer

Most U.S. hospitals don’t do very well when it comes to promoting breast-feeding, according to the first national report to look at the issue. The average hospital scored 63 out of 100, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday.

The researchers did not attach letter grades to the scores, but the results were clearly disappointing, said Deborah Dee, a CDC epidemiologist who co-authored the report.

“There is a lot of room for improvement,” said Dee.

States in New England and on the West Coast scored highest, and the South did the worst. Vermont and New Hampshire topped the list, tied with a score of 81. Arkansas had the poorest score, 48.

But practices unfriendly to breast-feeding were common throughout the country, the survey found.

About a quarter of hospitals reported giving formula or some other supplement to more than half of their healthy, full-term newborns. The practice was common even when mothers were able and willing to breast-feed, Dee said.

Of hospitals who gave supplements, 30 percent gave sugar water and 15 percent gave water.

Experts say there are no good nutritional reasons to use those, but it is commonly done to quiet crying babies separated from their mother. Sometimes it’s done to test a baby’s ability to feed — even though such a test is usually not necessary, Dee said.

Breast-feeding is considered beneficial to both mothers and their babies. Breast milk contains antibodies that can protect newborns from infections, and studies have found breast-fed babies are less likely to become overweight that those fed with formula.

But breast-feeding can be frustrating for new mothers because of nipple pain or the misperception that they’re not producing enough milk. It’s crucial that moms get proper breast-feeding advice and encouragement those first few days after birth, said Dr. Sheela Geraghty, a lactation expert at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

“It’s wonderful that hospitals and birth centers are being examined because if moms aren’t helped right there, where are they going to be helped?” Geraghty said.

The research was based on questionnaires filled out last year by about 2,700 U.S. maternity hospitals and birth centers. Hospitals were scored on supportive efforts, like offering breast-feeding tips and keeping the mother and the infant together. They also were evaluated on practices detrimental to breast-feeding, including supplemental feedings or including infant formula samples in gift packs for mothers.

Hospitals may regard the gift packs as benign, but the practice interferes with breast-feeding, said Laurence Grummer-Strawn, chief of the CDC’s nutrition branch.

“They don’t understand they’re implicitly endorsing a product and they’re giving an easy out for when parents are tired” to use the formula, he said.

The highest score for a hospital or birth center was 98; the lowest was 12. The CDC did not release individual scores.

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On the Net:

CDC report with state list: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr

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Being an American if you’re not worried about the state of health here there are some statistics that can get your head reeling for sure! Despite being right up there economically America faces innumerable health risks and not for nothing. According to a study, United States is the only nation that’s gone through industrialization without paying much heed to its health insurance system. A UN Health Development report takes one further into the details. According to that, the uninsured have a real tough time dealing with health disorders simply because they’re uninsured. Hospitals and medical centers do not take it into their stride if they find uninsured persons seeking care and the latter end up with less than their fair share. Additionally, their chances of receiving quality outpatient care also go down a few notches.

Other studies reveal how Americans are more prone to diseases. Even a child born to this nation does not have as many chances of survival as a baby born in El Salvador has! Canada who is one of the closest neighbors records better health amongst commoners. At least that is what a report claims when it says Canadians, on an average, have a longevity of about three years more than Americans. And believe it or not Cuba also wins when it comes down to average longevity!

The final one should come as a surprise- more than 90% of Americans feel the health insurance system will either have to undergo dramatic change or it will have to be discarded completely for a set- up that’ll serve the people better!

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Despite the prevalence of prescriptions everywhere in America, elderlies fail to get what they deserve- care for osteoporosis. This is a rather sorry state of affairs since osteoporosis or bone degeneration occurs in almost all aging adults. According to a recent survey a little over 11% of elderlies have received adequate care after being admitted to a nursing home for fractures. Which means about 90% of them still are not given necessary medication despite experts stating the need for medicinal drugs beyond calcium and Vitamin D.

The Brigham and Women’s Hospital had researchers claiming that most nursing homes have female patients who have arthritis and the percentage is as whopping as 80%. This problem is perhaps a peculiarity with the nursing home structure of care giving. This has further been proved by the researchers’ study based on intervening years between 1995 and 2004. While this decade saw a rise in the use of osteoporosis medicine overall, the statistics got worse in case of nursing homes.

Talking of improvement, osteoporosis medication found its place of pride only between the years of 1995 and 2001 after which there was a steady decline. And the situation only seems to be getting worse with each passing day with patients receiving no treatment at all (a revelation made by a new study).

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