Ctamlouis Health

Packaged Long Term Care Policies

A majority of Long Term Care Insurance policies are sold as comprehensive and stand alone health plans. These plans have options of annual, semi-annual, quarterly or even monthly premiums. There are also other types of payments like an abbreviated payment plan. The comprehensive Long Term Care Insurance plan is similar to the group health plan or individual health plan. This type of plan covers most of the health care alternatives. There are four primary methods to package Long Term Care Insurance.

1. The Long Term Care Insurance may be packaged with life insurance with either or feature which is very beneficial and flexible. In case of policy holder dies, their beneficiary will get the death benefit. While in case of policy holder wants Long term care, prior to his/her death than instead of life insurance predetermined benefits are paid. You can buy this type of policy by either paying the one time premium of $ 50,000 or more or with quarterly, yearly premiums.

2. The Long Term Care Insurance is packaged as rider to life insurance policy’s cash value. This type of policy covers two different types and the premiums are also divided to pay for both.

3. The Long Term Care Insurance may be packaged with disability income policy. It can be used before the age of 65years. This type of packaged policy is mainly for disability income but there are possibilities of long term coverage if premiums are paid after the age of 65.

4. The Long Term Care Insurance may be packaged with deferred annuity that has single premium option. This type of packaged policy is for those people who has around $ 50. 000 or more money that is free and don’t mind if it is tied up. There is pending legislation which if passed will make Long Term Care Insurance premiums exempted form tax.

What is Long term care?

The Long term care may be defined as when some one can not perform their emotional or physical needs without the help of other for extended time period than it is termed as Long term care. The external help required for activities like pain management, bathing, comfort and assurance, walking, toilet usage, meals providing, feeding, money management, phone answering, visiting doctor, shopping, taking medication, transport providing, laundry, grooming, paying bill, letter writings, small home repairs, yard maintaining, snow removing etc. are covered under Long term care. Able people take this type of activities for granted.

There are many reasons that are responsible for Long term care like disability, terminal condition, injury, illness, old age etc. It is found out that around 60 percentage of population require extended help during their life span. For some, the Long term care lasts for few days or weeks or months. But there are some persons for whom the Long term care goes for years. Depending upon the person’s condition they require different periods of care. The care may be divided in to two broad categories.

Ongoing Long term care: This type of care requirement is for extended period, may be for months or years. Ongoing Long term care is required when

1. Disabilities of permanent nature

2. Medical conditions which are chronic

3. Daily routine require help

4. Chronic pain

Temporary Long term care: This type of care requirement is for short period, may be only weeks or months. Temporary Long term care is required when

1. Recovering from illness

2. Recovering from surgery

3. Recovering from injury

4. Terminal medical condition

5. Hospital stay for rehabilitation

The Long term care services may be given in an adult day servicing home, in the house of the patient, even in the house of patient’s friends or any of the family member’s house, in a board and care house or in a nursing home or many other such places.

Understanding Long Term Care Insurance benefits

Out of all insurance products the Long term care insurance is the most complicated health benefit product. The Long term care insurance provides around 16 options of different benefits. Out of this 16 options each option also offer 2 to 5 selections. The story does not end here, daily benefits gives other selections which may be rounded up to 30 in number. So theoretically there are hundreds or thousands of different policies possible in the same plan. With the results there is thousands of premiums combination. For lay man to grasp all this different combination of policy is very difficult.

So to make this thing simple, best way is to limit the choices. For example many employer will pre select only 2 to 4 different combination of benefit, and offer their employees only this with extra riders like inflation protection, shortened pay or non forfeiture. This procedure will leave thousands of options in to only 10 to 20. Many see advantages of this procedure but there are also some disadvantages.

Selecting from very limited options prevents many employees from selecting other batter and richer benefit plans. Some time it is also observed that limited number of benefits which is often proved to be inadequate. The obvious danger of offering limited benefit policy is employees may be under the false impression that they are covered for particular thing when actually they are not covered. For example to increase the employees’ participation rate they are offered incomplete protections which reduce the rate of premiums and superficially look very attractive. Some time initial payment may be lower but it increases as time passes.

It is always better to select a Long term care insurance plan that offers the option of additional benefits. These additional options are mostly medically under written, but the coverage is very broad. Contrary to belief that underwriting has very strict rules and it is very difficult to be eligible, around 95 % of employees are qualifies for medically underwritten Long term care insurance plan.

Health Savings Accounts (HSA)

The Health Savings Accounts (HSA) is some what new in to the market of health insurance. Health Savings Accounts is based on entirely new concept and provide people with great option for health care insurance.

You should consider buying Health Savings Accounts insurance when you are seriously thinking health insurance as a form of investment. There are some restriction and regulations regarding Health Savings Accounts insurance plan. Different person find different benefits that is useful for them, for example if you are self employed than Health Savings Accounts insurance plan offer you the benefit like exemption from tax, up to the limit of $ 2,700 for individual plan and up to $ 5,450 for family plan.

For childless couple who does not own any health insurance, Health Savings Accounts insurance is good health plan, since purchasing Health Savings Accounts insurance and paying premiums regularly the amount of premiums will be accumulated in to tax free money. This money will be like lottery when after substantial time policy holder becomes old and their children becomes young. Large sum of money they will receive when they are old is really blessings.

Apart from many benefits, Health Savings Accounts insurance is not as famous as required. There are certain disadvantages which make Health Savings Accounts insurance good for certain types of people. Many people will benefit from Health Savings Accounts insurance but they don’t know about it. Slowly the situation is improving and people stated inquiring about Health Savings Accounts insurance. People become more aware about the savings on their expanses which is medical related. There are many people who opt for high deductible health plan combine with Health Savings Accounts. Now it is generally known that Health Savings Accounts insurance allow people to keep aside before-tax money, which can be utilize for future medical expenditure. This means that if people has Health Savings Accounts insurance and remains healthy than they may accumulate hundreds or thousands of dollar in their Health Savings Accounts at the time of retirement.

Florida Health Insurance Health plans can help you!

Some strategies on finding affordable health insurance in Florida.

I’ve been a health insurance agent since 1985. I help Connecticut residents find health insurance and have for the last several years have also managed a website that helps people in other states including Florida find health insurance. You can find a health insurance broker in Florida by requesting quotes through my site.

Health Insurance Plans of Florida — Tips to Help You Pick the Right Policy

Choosing the best health insurance plan involves the following:

Finding a policy with or without using a health insurance broker in Florida who can offer you the lowest cost (but only with respect to the other two criteria)

Finding one of the health insurance plans of Florida that has a network that meets your needs

Finding the Florida health insurance plan with coverage that meets your needs

Choosing the right medical insurance policy involves finding the best rate quote amongst the Florida health insurance plans that meet your needs as to network and coverage. Choosing the lowest price is of course very easy. Determining whether the health insurance plan’s network of doctors meets your needs is only a little more difficult. Choosing a health insurance policy that covers you well can be complex. You may want to enlist the aid of a licensed health insurance broker in Florida. Most of this article focuses on the basics of determining how well a policy covers you.

In a perfect world, everyone would read and understand their insurance policies. However, I realize that many people will find a health insurance broker in Florida that they feel comfortable with and will want his or her recommendations. However, whether you use a broker or not, I strongly recommend that you contact the Florida office of Insurance Regulation in Tallahassee, FL (850) 413-3140 and make sure that any health insurance plan is approved by them. Insurance Departments cannot ensure that you get the best policy for your individual needs, but they do their best to make sure that each health insurance plan and each health insurance broker meets certain minimum standards. Be sure to work with companies and brokers that are in good standing.

Choosing the Florida Health Insurance Plan with the Right Network

Health insurance carriers usually have websites that will list the MDs and medical facilities that accept their plans. All that I’m aware of will have a printed list that they can mail to you. The right plan will have your physician on their list or at least physicians who are located a convenient distance from your home. If you travel it is important to find a plan that covers you well in other geographic areas as well.

Choosing the Florida Health Insurance Plan with the best coverage for you

Health insurance policies may be the most complex of the insurance contracts offered to individuals and families. Understanding how your medical plan will pay for your medical bills can be difficult. Fortunately most of the brochures and outlines of coverage that you may receive from a health insurance provider will have a similar structure. They will have sections similar to the following:

What is Covered?

Health Plan Exclusions and Limitations

What is Covered?

This section will detail what medical procedures your health insurance policy will cover. The policy should have a phrase like “reasonable and customary” or “usual, reasonable and customary” or something similar when describing how much they will cover.

Watch out for health insurance policies with:

Monetary limits for each procedure

A long list of procedures that the medical insurance policy will cover

Better health insurance policies will not list dollar amounts for each procedure. They will pay using a formula that is based on what other physicians and hospitals will charge you in the same geographic area. A phrase like “usual and customary” indicates that they use such a formula. The cost of medical care rises so quickly that a dollar amount that seems impressive today may not fully reimburse you even a year from now.

Solid health Insurance policies will not have a long list of procedures that they will cover listed on the policy. The long list seems impressive because the list takes up a lot of space. Look at the statements below. It should be easy to choose between one and two.

”Our health insurance plan will cover you for everything except for expenses caused by self-inflicted injuries and substance abuse. ” (“I’ve been to every city in Florida except Orlando. “)
”Our health insurance policy will cover your nose, your ears, your toes, your hands, your right lung, your calf and your knee” (“I’ve been to Orlando, Miami, Jacksonville, Tampa and Miami Beach”)
Health Plan Exclusions and Limitations

This section will tell you what is excluded. Typically plastic surgery will not be covered. Also experimental procedures and expenses caused by self-inflicted injuries will not be covered. You should understand each of these limitations before you commit to a policy. Most policies will not include maternity insurance, so if you want to get pregnant, make sure that you know how your policy will cover maternity expenses. Unfortunately, maternity insurance is not available in many states except as part of a group insurance plan.

To summarize:

Determine what health insurance plans will cover you in your area

Determine which health insurance plans offer adequate coverage

Choose the plans that offers the best value based on price and coverage

The health insurance options Orlando residents have are similar to the health insurance options Miami residents have, since the plans will work in similar ways throughout the state.

This article can be copied and reprinted but only in its entirety and with the links intact. The article was originally published on https://lovetherates. com/articles/health-insurance-broker-florida-article. htm. The article starts with the heading “Hospitalization Only Insurance” and ends with this sentence.

NEED AND CONTEXT

It has been observed that the recent economic growth in the Asian cities indicate that there has been a breakdown of traditional support systems such as the family because of rapid urbanization and modernization. Moreover, a large number of people are living below the poverty line in impoverished environment in urban and rural communities. Their acute needs for housing, food, health, education, and incomes are the very forces that push adolescents to look for a means of livelihood on the streets, engage in prostitution, be hooked up with crime/drug syndicates, or become victims of sexual and physical abuse. It is a battle of bare struggle for daily survival and contributes in every ways they can. Any measure to penalize parents of such children will only result in further abuse and oppression of people who are already disadvantaged. Such children struggle hard in getting the most essential requirements to meet the basic needs of life and such children need special attention and educational intervention. These disadvantaged adolescents are generally malnourished and often anemic; many of them physically stunted, suffer psychologically from undue family pressures and abuses and are neglected at home. They tend to develop low self-esteem from broken families, single-headed households because of the death, separation, or labor migration of one of their parents. Moreover, they live in slums and squatter communities, sub-human conditions and are susceptible to crime syndicates and gang conflicts, substance/drug abuse, and gambling.

In the developing and under developed countries like India and Thailand a large percentage of population live below the poverty line and adolescents from such environment face difficulties in getting access to good education. It is therefore felt that in both the surround adolescents are of in the process of development and failure to meet their developmental need have lend to safe and serial destructions behaviors. Adolescents lack necessary life skills for cape up in to the realities and challenges of life. Adolescents accords for the largest portion of the world’s population and have been on an increasing trend and there are “230 million Indian adolescent in the age of group of 4 to 19” that (Population and Health IndoShare, 2006). Moreover, it is expected that this age group will continue to grow reaching over “214 million by 2020” (United Nations (UN) 2000) due to has traditionally been a male dominated society and has a strong son preference in most part of but Indian girls tend to be discriminated against by their families and also demographic trends indicate deep-rooted gender discrimination. In India, the condition of disadvantaged adolescents resembled that of their centers pail Thailand. Indian Young adolescents are facings serious problem of lack of access to reliable knowledge on the process of growing up reproductive health practices and value system. There has been a need to provide education on the developmental changes and needs during teenagers. This may reduce the risk of future.

Today, almost every Indian and Thai whether rich or poor, young or old, is exposed to much that is foreign, largely because in the last two decades India and Thailand has become one of the region’s most popular tourists destinations. At times, the growing economy and favorable investment opportunities have also attracted many foreign multinationals, which continue to add to the already fair large expatriate community. However, despite the intensity of their exposure to “foreign” influences, particularly western cultures and lifestyles, Indian and Thai culture remains a solid influence within family life and early childhood. From birth, Indian and Thai adolescents are still much more deeply immersed in culture than they are exposed to foreign influences despite the fast-paced changes that have been affecting Indian and Thai adolescents. The adolescents of deferred families are emotionally disturbed and driven adrift as wanderers, delinquent children with im-permissive behaviors such as loitering, gambling, drug addiction, crime, truancy, prostitution, and begging, illegal dealings. As the consequence of these adverse behaviors, cases of illegal pregnancy, baby abandonment, and HIV/AIDS infection are becoming more and more severe.

There also reported, “Thai Children are spending more time in talking and chatting on the phone and the trendiest models of mobile phones, love hanging out with their friends at night, the drugs problem and the loss of Thai identity and shopping for brand name products. The latest fashion among the hobbies of many of today’s Thai children is they are becoming increasingly violent and blaming society and their own families for their behavior and involve in premature sex, drugs and aggressiveness”. “The study found that despite the well-to-do family backgrounds of the teens surveyed, most of them shared a common problem of loneliness, depressive tendencies and a need for love”. The gap between parents and children is greater than ever before, arising from broken families or from families which faille to inculcate morals in their children because they havenless time for their children and had left them to the peril of sick and violent society in Thailand (Aphaluck Bhatiasevi, Thongbai Thongpao 2002), (Tong Thum Struggles, 2006)

With the best intention and efforts of the education as a social instrument, it is possible to promote the complete welfare of disadvantaged population. Among the several types of disadvantaged adolescents, Adolescents forced to enter the labour market, adolescents affected by HIV/AIDS and adolescents affected by narcotic drugs need special attention. They have trouble in getting proper guidance to overcome personal problems and require proper guidance and counseling to become aware of the ill effects narcotic drugs, labour market and HIV/AIDS. It may not be possible to develop awareness in the expected manner through normal school curriculums. Hence, a separate educational intervention, which is nothing but a planned programme of educational guidance, organized to meet the scientific and psychological needs of disadvantaged adolescents in the age group of 13-16. Hence, in this study, an attempt will be made to study the educational adjustment of disadvantaged adolescents and to find out the impact of a structured educational intervention programme in developing proper awareness and attitude towards reproductive health, drugs, sexuality and values.

The present study examined the impact of an educational intervention programme on the knowledge and attitude on disadvantaged adolescents in Northern India and Thailand. The study intends to assess and compare the knowledge about the process of growing up, HIV/AIDS awareness, values and attitude of teen-age students staying in the schools. Reproductive health education is a key strategy for promoting preventive measures among teenagers.

METHOS

The sample for the study consisted of 225 disadvantaged adolescents who included 125 adolescents from India (Chennai Himmat Slum area, Jammu region) and Thailand (Yong People Develop Chiang Mai and Teresa Anusorn Foundation (Ban Teresa) Chiang Rai, Province). The sample populations of disadvantaged adolescents are residents of orphanages and slum area and studying in high school classes in the age of groups from 13 to 16 years. Data was collected by administering knowledge test consisted of items on process of growing up HIV/AIDS, reproductive organs and their functions family planning and parenting and attitude scale to measure beliefs and practices about sexuality and abstinence. An experimental design consisted of experimental and control group was formed. Questionnaires were translated from English to Hindi and Thai, (mother tongue of the respondent), then back in to English to ensure that no meaning was lost in translation. There were use two groups of learner: both the groups were given Pre-Test as well as Post-Test, where experimental group were given intervention programme and control group was not be given any intervention programme.

Control group: – there were in two states: ten administrators conducted face-to-face interviews and Focus groups with disadvantaged adolescent in India and Thailand.

First state, in India country; 10 Indian administrators were called the Indian disadvantaged adolescents from there house at Slum area (Jammu), meeting for data collected were an adjustment questionnaire in each of person and groups by Hindi (mother tongue of the respondent).

Second state, in Thailand country: 125 questionnaires in Thai (mother tongue of the respondent) were administered to the Thai disadvantaged adolescent of two orphanages, I collected later the questionnaires.

Intervention / Treatment Programme

Experts: Facilitators who were willing to participate in the study were invited for receiving community sensitization, booklet distribution, and CD training;

Experimental group: 200 students (and also inmates) belonging to Channai Himmat, Slum area (Jammu, India), Teresa Anusorn Foundation (Ban Teresa), and Yong People Develop (Thailand) who had got least scores namely, were given one day training programme on intervention or treatment as;

In the morning: the orientation and participants programme concentrated on basic issues such as general framework of adolescent growth, and consisted of discussions and demonstrations. The training programme practiced the activities to develop the knowledge level and the attitude about HIV/AIDS, drug abuse and reproductive health education

In the afternoon until evening: the revised questionnaires were administered to the experimental group in 3 sessions as: (a) the personal details. (b) The knowledge level and attitude were administered to find out themselves and whenever they had doubt in understanding the items, the administrators made them easy by giving supplementary examples. In addition, (c) group discussed for preparation of suggestive measures to improve and policies.

Design of the study

An educational intervention programme consisting of awareness activities presented through media presentation, discussion and interaction was presented to the experimental group. Universals and multivariate analysis of the data were used to assess the impact of interventions and to identify the predictors of change in knowledge and attitude. Significant changes in terms of gain between pre-test and post-test was observed.

Analysis

The completed questionnaires were collated and entered into the computer. The data was entered and analyzed using SPSS. After verification and reduction of data, descriptive frequencies were completed. This was followed by uni-variate and multi-variety procedures to assess the impact of the interventions and to identify other predictors of change in knowledge and attitude. Analysis was stratified by sex shown how responses to the variables of knowledge and attitude, differ boys, girls, age, and education. Descriptive statistics was used to profile the study population. Knowledge and attitude was then used to explore the demographic variables associated with HIV/AIDS, drug abused and reproductive Health Education. The following statistical techniques were applied in the present project: Paired Samples “T”-test and “F”-test.

FINDINGS

The demographic profile of the 250 Indian and Thai respondent questionnaires is shown the relationships between demographic characteristics of Indian and Thai were founds Indian boys (54. 40%) less than Thai boys (56%), and Indian girls (45. 60%) more than Thai girls (44%). In the same age group of Indian and Thai 15 years old, and the same of the secondary school of Indian: (Standard: 9) and Thai: (Grades 3), had significant . 05 is shown in Table 1.

Answers were grouped in comparing scores from Indian and Thai disadvantage adolescent after received a treatment on knowledge and attitude about HIV/AIDS, drug abuse and reproductive health education, all participating (N= 200) were group interviewed and after the intervention had significant difference is (0. 05), are shown in Table 2-16.

The findings also revealed significant differences between boys and girls in knowledge and attitude towards reproductive health education. Implications of the study for the awareness programmes were suggested.

DISCUSSION

In many Northern states of India and Thailand, the HIV/AIDS, drug abuse and reproductive health needs of Indian and Thai disadvantaged adolescents are either poorly understood or not fully appreciated. Evidence is growing that this neglect can seriously jeopardize the HIV/AIDS, drug abuse and reproductive health education needs and future well-being of them.

The policies addressed the effectiveness of the programmed to highlights what there needs to be done to promote and protect to the disadvantaged adolescent in India and Thailand in the future as: all schools should develop textbooks making learning interesting by following extensive community sensitization in support of adolescent reproductive health education appropriate in Indian and Thai cultural and tradition. Because of Indian and Thai culture and tradition, adolescents kept learning by them long time ago that, made them grow up in the wrong life and have been against morality.

Indian and Thai adolescent problems erupt from families and by themselves after they have been sexually abused or because their families could not understand adolescent behavior and teach them about reproductive health education and sexual health education. Such as should improve in knowledge and attitude among school-going adolescents with the media modern of families. In addition, it was found that sexually abused violated in Indian and Thai adolescents should learn and practice self-protection and should gather knowledge of the Child Rights and much more.

India disadvantaged adolescents

1. Indian disadvantaged adolescents are neglected from home, school and there country of the knowledge. They tend to undeveloped of the confidents and very poorly of the knowledge, attitude about Reproductive Health, drug and HIV/AIDS. Thus as, should to improve and increase and learn the knowledge attitude and understanding of disadvantaged adolescents

2. In India, the responsible organizations both governmental and non-governmental of India have to develop policies for adolescent and should to include HIV/AIDS education and health programme in schools curriculums. In addition, those reproductive health educational services for adolescent girls are especially needed in schools and families.

3. Parents, families, teachers and administrators in orphanages or schools should be encouraged to discuss or give guidance and approval about reproductive health education, drug and HIV/AIDS with their disadvantaged adolescent.

Thailand disadvantaged adolescents

1. Should to improve and increase the knowledge attitude and understanding of disadvantaged adolescents in Northern about reproductive health education and sexual health education.

2. Especially, in Northern, Thailand having spread of higher Drug and HIV/AIDS, thus as should to teach or train to get about the knowledge attitude and understanding of reproductive health to adolescents and parents more then other.

3. The reproductive and sexual health education should be included in the curriculum for the second level – primary education (Grades 4-6), Third level – secondary education (Grades 1-3) and Fourth level – secondary education (Grades 4-6). It is too late to start from Third level – secondary education (Grades 1-3) in Thailand thus; the Ministry of Education has to prepare a new policy to put this subject at the Basic Education Curriculum Standard as soon as possible.

4. It appears that in Thailand media has caused a change in sex related values among adolescents. With the misuse of Internet in getting information on sex related issue supplemented by the use of Cell phone, TV, VCD, DVD and booklets is increasing Crime problems of sexually abused. Thus, the qualities of the textbooks or booklets to be distributed to the adolescents.

TABLE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I thank to Dr. Y. N. Sridhar, Guide of Research for me. I would like too many helpful and thank the following students, Mr. Kasame Sakonllapap, Mr. Santi Jongkongka, Mr. Prasarn Ruansang and people for their supported. I thankfulness to Father Carlo Luzzi, Mother Elisa Cavana, Father Niphot Thiengwiharn and my family, for contributing to this study by providing funding.

REFERENCE

1. Aphaluck Bhatiasevi. Youngsters want love in the family; 2002 January 7,- Thailand. Available from: URL: http://www. thailandlife. com/ Thaiyouth_67. html/

2. Arundhati Mishra. Enlightening Adolescent Boys in India on Gender and RSH. 2002. Available from: URL: http://www. jhuccp. org/igwg/ Presentations/Monday/ Plan/

Enlightening. pdf

3. Arunee Hongsiriwat. A comparison of errors in forecasting Educational time series data with stationary and no-stationary data using ARIMA model, ARIMA intervention model and regression model, Bangkok, Thailand (dissertation). Chulalongkorn Univ. ; 2000.

4. APPENDIX A: Country Summaries, Health and Education needs of Ethnic Minorities in the greater Mekong, sub region in Thailand. p. 10-11. (Copyright)

5. A. G. Sathe and Shanta Sathe. Pune, India. Available from: URL: http://www.

medind. nic. in/jah/t05/i1/jaht05i1p49. pdf

6. Child Help Foundation. Available from: URL: http://www. centralsingapore. org.

sg/site/ volunteer/expedition2004/chf. htm

7. C. P. González-Camacho (Mexico), J. U. Quevedo-Torrero (USA), J. M. Loaiza Moreno, M. Larios-Rosas, V. C. Ocegueda-Hernández (Mexico), and S. H. S. Huang (USA). A Complete Referral-Intervention-Identification-System for Special Education: RIIS. Available from: URL: http://www. actapress. com/PaperInfo. aspx? PaperID=26281

8. Chaturon Chaisang. Road map for expediting Education Reform for the forthcoming Quarter; Education Reform: Next Step Forward. Press Conference. Meeting Room of the Ministry of Education, Bangkok, Thailand. 2005 November 6. (Copyright).

9. Children in Need. Available from: URL: http://www. mercycentre. org/ helpess.

htm1#orphanages.

10. CSC. A Civil Society Forum for East and South East Asia on Promoting and Protecting the Rights of Street Children. Civil Society forum report, Bangkok, Thailand. 2003 March; 12-14 (Copyright).

11. Dilok Sritong, The disadvantaged children in Jammu. 30 March 2007. (Not copyright).

12. Disadvantaged Home. Available from: URL: http://www. cssr. or. th/Work/

HTML/pattaya03. asp.

13. Education Commission Education in Thailand. Bangkok: Amarin Printing and Publishing, Ministry of Education, Thailand. 1998. ISBN 974-8086-30-5,

14. Education in Thailand. Number of Disadvantaged Students in OBEC Schools by Type and Gender: Academic Years 2002- 2003. Office of the National Education Commission Education in Thailand, Bangkok: Amarin Printing and Publishing, Ministry of Education, National. 2004: ISBN 974-241-733-4, p: 20-34.

15. Education in Thailand. Past Development of Thai Education. 1998. Available from: URL: http://www. edthat. com/publication/edu/1998/chapter/1page. 7htm

16. Education in Thailand. The National Education Plan (2002-2016). Office of the National Education Commission Education in Thailand, Bangkok: Amarin Printing and Publishing, Ministry of Education, Thailand. 2004 ISBN: 974-8086-30-5, p: 19. (Copyright).

17. ECPAT. Available from: URL: http://www. ecpat. net/eng/Ecpat_ inter/projects/monitoring/online_database/countries. asp?arrCountryID=1

18. Eastern Child Welfare Protection Home. Available from: URL: http://www. geocities. com/houypong_home/

19. Father Carlo Luzzi. The Hill Tribes Disadvantaged in Northern, Thailand. 9 October 2007. (Not copyright).

20. Father Komkrit Anamnat. The disadvantaged students in Nuchanat Ansorn School. Available from: URL: http://www. nuchanat. com/documents/ Management%20

structure. htm

21. Father Niphot Thiengwiharn. Yong People Development. Doi Sa Kuat, Chaing Mai, Thailand. 10 December 2006. (Not copyright).

22. Foundation for the Better Life of Children (FBLC). Available from: URL: http://www. citizenbase. org/crtools/helement. html

23. Global March Against Child Labour. Children’s World Congress on Child Labour. 2004. Available from: URL: http://www/globalmarch. org/ Worldcongress/ gaw

2004. php.

24. International Bureau for Children’ Rights. Making Children’s Rights Work: Country Profile on Thailand. 2004 p: 3-4. (Copyright).

25. Kittisak Ketunuti. A development of a parent education program providing Home-based early intervention for Cerebral Palsy children, Bangkok, Thailand, (dissertation). Chulalongkorn Univ. ; 1997

26. Government of Rajasthan. 1995. Available from: URL: http://www.

policyproject. com/pubs/countryreports/ARH. India. pdf

27. IIPS. National Family Health Survey (NFHS-2). 2000. Available from: URL: http://www. nfhsindia. org/nfhs3. html

28. Kasame Sakonllapap. Yong People in Bangkok, Thailand. 9 November 2006. (Not copyright).

29. Laddawan Chanvititkul. The Effectiveness of Counseling Intervention as Health Education Program on Self-Care Behavior among Hypertensive Patient Attending Service at Charoenkrungpracharak Hospital (dissertation). Bangkok (Thailand). Mahidol Univ. ; 1995.

30. Ministry of Social Development and Human Security. A target of Society, Bangkok, Thailand. 1999. Available from: URL: http://www. dsdw. go. th

31. Maha Chakri Sirindhon, H. R. H. Princess. Education of the Disadvantaged: a lecture, the 15th Annual Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Day, (Prasarnmit branch), Bangkok, Thailand, Srinakarinwirot Univ. ; 2001 November 12, p: 7-29

32. Mother Elisa Cavana. The Hill Tribes Disadvantaged in Northern, Thailand from Teresa Anusorn Foundation (Ban Teresa), Winag Pa Pow, Chaing Rai. 20-30 October 2006. (Not copyright).

33. National Statistical Office. Report of the Labor Force Survey Whole Kingdom (Round 4: October-December), Bangkok, Thailand. 2003. (Copyright)

34. Niklaus Steiner. Available from: URL: http://www. ucis. unc. edu/resources/pubs

/development/Moon. pdf#search=%22Knowledge%20and% 20attitude%20HIV%2FAIDS

%20%22

35. Nichet Sunthornpitak and Kanokkorn Phruksakit. Troubled teens cannot turn to teachers. 2003. Available from: URL: http”//www. Thailandlife. com/thaiyouth_95. htm

36. Patcharaporn Panyawuthikrai. Evaluation an Educational Program on dispensing behavior between Intervention and Control groups of drug stores in Bangkok (dissertation). Bangkok, Thailand. Mahidol Univ. ; 1999.

37. Patong Street Children Shelter. Available from: URL: http://www. phuket.

holiday-inn. . com/ foundation. htm

38. Parwej Saroj, Kumar Rajesh, Walia Indarjeet, Aggarwal Arun K. Available from: URL: http://www. ijppediatricsindia. org/article. asp?issn=0019- 5456;year=2005;

volume=72;issue=4; spage=287;epage=291;aulast=Parwej/

39. Population and Health IndoShare. A Socio-Medical Assessment of the Sexual and Reproductive Heath of Adolescents in Bihar. 2006 March. (Copyright).

40. Project of Jaipur’ Government, Rajasthan India. January, p: 1. (Copyright).

41. Prasarn Ruansang. The disadvantaged children in Channai Himmat, Slum area (Jammu), Jammu & Kashmir State, India. 19 February 2007. (Not copyright).

42. Suwat Srisorrachatr. Domestic violence: Socio-cultural perspective and Social intervention in a Thai community, Bangkok, Thailand (dissertation). Mahidol Univ. ; 2001.

43. Santi Jongkongka. The disadvantaged children in Jammu. 29 March 2007. (Not copyright).

44. S. D. Gupta. Adolescent Reproductive Health in India. Status, Policies, Programs, and Issues. Indian Institute of Health Management Research. POLICY 2003. (Copyright).

45. State of the World’s Children. Childhood under threat. 2005. Available from: URL: http://www. bangkoktourist. com/Bangkok. php and phishare. org/documents/PRC Pantana/4107

46. Thai Basic Education Curriculum. BE 2544 (AD 2001). Available from: URL: http:// cilab. ied. edu. hk/clprogram/icp/Curriculum_and_Learning_ Reform_in_ Thailand. pdf#search=%22 Thai%20Basic%20Education%20 Curriculum. %20BE%202544%20

(AD%202001)%20%22

47. Thai Education History. Available from: URL: http://www. school-portal. co. uk/groupHomepage. asp?GroupID=66561

48. Thai Post Newspaper. Thai’s family crisis, the moment has arrived to appoint of Government of Thailand. 2005. Available from: URL: http:// www. thaipost. net// index.

asp?=thaipost&postdate=27/Much/2548& cat id=501

49. Thailand. Library of Congress – Federal Research Division. 2005. Available from: URL: http:www. //lcweb2. loc. gov/frd/cs/profiles/Thailand. pdf

50. Thongbai Thongpao. Save our youth from sin. 2002. Available from: URL: http://www. thailandlife. com/thaiyouth_83. html

51. Tong Thum Struggles. Thailand Sex and Drug. 2006 February 20. Available from: URL: http://www. thailand-blog. com/

52. The Bangkok Post, Newspaper. An Economic review, mid-year, Thailand. 1998 July 1. (Copyright)

53. The Bangkok Post, Newspaper. An Economic review, year-end, Thailand. 1998, December, 31. (Copyright)

54. The Express Transportation Organization of Thailand. Department of Provincial Administration. Population Record. 2005. Available from: URL: http://www. dopa. go. th/ stat/y_ stat48. html

55. The Nation, Newspaper (daily). RCA tops list of Bangkok nightspots for young students. 2005; Saturday, February 10. (Copyright).

56. The Post Newspaper. An Economic review, year-end, Thailand. 1997 December 31. (Copyright).

57. The Thai Health Promotion Foundation. Available from: URL: http://www. Thailand life. com/thaiyouth_67. html

58. The Office of the Education Council. Education in Thailand. Bangkok: Amarin Printing and Publishing, Ministry of Education, Thailand. 2004 ISBN 379-5930-32-E, p: 23-26

59. The Office of Welfare Promotion, Protection and Empowerment of Vulnerable Groups. Thailand’s Second Report. Available from: URL: http://www. thaiembdc. org/

pressctr/announce/ThaiYouth2UNGA62. pdf

60. The Office of the National Education Commission Education in Thailand. Bangkok: Amarin Printing and Publishing. 1998. ISBN 974-8086-30-5, p: 154

61. The World Bank (Thailand). Population by age and Sex. Youth in Numbers: East Asia and the Pacific, Children and Youth – Human Development Hub, Children and Youth, HDNCY, Washington DC, USA. 2004 November, p: 4-5

62. Teacher Chantana Rangsome. Street Children at Khon Khen, Thailand. 5 December 2006. (Not copyright).

63. United Nations (UN). UN medium population projection. World Population Prospects, the 2000 Revision, into the POLICY Project’s, SPECTRUM Model and projecting the population to 2020. 2000. (Copyright).

64. UNICEF House. Working Children’s Report. 3 UN Plaza, New York, NY 10017. 2004; ISBN: 92-806-3817-3, p: 2. (Copyright).

65. UNDP/ UNFPA/ WHO/ World Bank Special Programme of Research. Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction (HRP). Progress in Reproductive Health of Adolescents. Department of Reproductive Health and Research, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. 2003; Document Number: 64, p: 1, 3. (Copyright).

66. UNESCO. Education and Training strategies for Disadvantaged group in Thailand. 2001 December, International Institute for Educational Planning, p: 55-70.

67. UNESCO. Early Childhood Care and Education and other Family Policies and Programs in South-East Asia: Working for Access quality and inclusion in Thailand, Philippine and Viet Nam, Bangkok, Thailand. 2004 p: 4-5. (Copyright).

68. UNAIDS. HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections – Update Thailand the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, World Health Organization (WHO). 2004 November. (Copyright).

69. Vosburg, Jill. Preschool Children’s Classification Skills and a Multicultural Education Intervention to Promote Acceptance of Ethnic Diversity. (Statistical Data Included). 2000. Available from: URL: http://findarticles. com/p/articles/mi_ hb1439/is_ 200003/ai_n5870666

70. World Health Organization (WHO). Promoting and safeguarding the sexual and reproductive health of adolescents. Department of Reproductive Health and Research & Department of Child and Adolescent Health and Development, Geneva, Switzerland, March; p: Implementing the Global Reproductive Health Strategy. Policy Brief No. 4. 2006; Document Number: 312300. (Copyright).

71. World Health Organization (WHO). Population by age and Sex. Available from: URL: http://whqlibdoc. who. int/hq/2006/RHR_policybrief4_eng. pdf

72. Yuan-Hsiang, Chu. Sexuality Education Intervention Effects of Teacher (dissertation). Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Shu-Te Univ. ; 2005.

73. Yi JK. Vietnamese American college students’ knowledge and attitudes toward HIV/AIDS (dissertation). J Am College Health. 1998

74. Y. N. Sridhar. The disadvantaged children in India. 29 July 2007. (Not copyright).

Do you ever feel like you know just enough about Health Insurance to be dangerous? Let’s see if we can fill in some of the gaps with the latest info from Health Insurance experts.

Health insurance is something that most people don’t think about very often and yet it is something that when comes foremost to mind when a loved one is sick. Health Insurance coverage varies across the world, even across the different states in the United States of America.

Health insurance is a very specific type of insurance. With this type of insurance the insurer pays the medical costs of the insured if the insured becomes sick due to covered causes, or due to accidents. The insurer may be a private organization or a government agency. Health Insurance can protect a family from financial devastation in case of serious illness.

Today, according to statistics from the US Census Bureau, many Americans, approximately 85%, have some form of health insurance. Many people, about 60%, are insured through their place of employment or through health insurance acquired personally. For about a quarter of the population, federal or state government agencies provide the insurance. These agencies may include Medicare and Medicaid as well as various state funded health insurance plans.

I trust that what you’ve read so far has been informative. The following section should go a long way toward clearing up any uncertainty that may remain.

Today, health insurance costs are rising, which is a concern to many people. Because of ongoing advances in medical care and in technology, medical treatment is more expensive. These advances help people to live longer. Today there are more senior citizens than ever before – our population is aging. The elderly population is more frail and prone to illness thus requiring more medical care than a younger population that is healthier. This also causes an increase in the price of health insurance.

Health insurance costs are also rising due to personal health choices made by individuals. Poor eating habits, smoking, drug and alcohol abuse, a lack of exercise, obesity are some of these poor health choices. In addition, there are still rural areas where there is a lack of health professionals including doctors.

Today, health insurers offer discounts and incentives to people who love a healthy lifestyle. Often, a person will provide health information and a personal medical history when buying health insurance. This history may address questions such as smoking, weight, drug use, and disease history. The incentives offered by health insurance companies today may encourage individuals to quit smoking or make other positive changes in their lifestyle. Many times, heath insurers will not insure pre-existing medical conditions. The medical history provided will screen out such applicants.

Because of the concern over pre-existing medical conditions, there are now state and federal laws that help ensure that those individuals with pre-existing conditions can acquire or maintain health insurance, even if they need to change plans or providers. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a federal law ensuring that all health insurance plans nationally have a common set of standards. In addition, states can also have laws regulating health plans including group health insurance and individual health insurance. This means that the laws regulating your health insurance protections may vary from state to state. Keep in mind, that even with these laws, access to health insurance may not be protected in all situations.

COBRA continuation coverage can help you if you leave of change your job. Under COBRA, you may be able to remain in your old group health plan for a certain length of time. This can assist you in those times when you are between jobs or waiting for a new health insurance plan to cover your pre-existing condition. Under COBRA, there are limits to what you will need to pay to continue your coverage.

When word gets around about your command of Health Insurance facts, others who need to know about Health Insurance will start to actively seek you out.

Please feel free to use this article as long as credit is given to the resource box.

Keywords: Disease Prevention, Health Insurance, Health Savings Accounts, Universal Coverage, Health Care, New Middle Aged Group

© Copyright Arthur Levine 2007

Words: 843

There is now a substantial portion of the population in the United States, which is unhappy with their health insurance coverage or lack thereof. There are approximately 46 million uninsured in the US.

Members of the New Middle Aged Group are particularly interested in their health insurance options because many of them lose health care benefits upon retirement. Medicare, which is available at age 65, does not cover everything, and individual or family health care insurance policies are very expensive and for the most part payable with pre tax dollars.

Health care costs in the US keep rising, and in most years health insurance premiums do too often at double-digit rates. .

Disease Prevention expenses as a portion of Gross Domestic Product (GDC) accounts for some 16% of the budget with only 4% spent on Disease Prevention while 50% of Diseases are preventable.

According to the Congressional Budget Office by the year 2020 health care spending which, is already more than $2 trillion dollars (16% of GDP), could easily exceed 25% of GDP.

Americans 65 and older represent about an eighth of the population and one third of health care spending. By 2030 older Americans could account for nearly half of health care spending according to a study by the Centers for Medicare Services.

Government statistics indicate that health care spending by Americans between 1970 and 2005 has increased on average 9. 8% per year for private health insurance and 8. 9% for Medicare beneficiaries according to the New York Times.

The Republicans by and large favor a private insurance plan called Health Savings Accounts (HSA) to solve the Health Care problem. An overview of this program is that it allows businesses or individuals to contribute a certain amount of money tax free to a HSA (Health Savings Account) and take catastrophe or major medical insurance for the balance. The good part is that it encourages individuals to become Disease Prevention conscious because most of their medical expenses are coming out of their HSA, from which the balance of funds can re rolled over like savings from year to year. In major companies where the program has been instituted savings have been substantial. The drawback is that it tends to draw in young healthy people, and does little to help the aging, sick or uncovered portion of the population.

The Democrats by and large favor some form of Universal Health Care funded by the federal government. The good part is that everyone would be covered. The drawback is that there is no inducement by individuals to practice Disease Prevention because the government is picking up the tab and this might result in a new massive federally funded program that over time cannot be adequately funded by the government as it grows in light of demands from our other entitlement problems such as, Medicare, Medicaid and Prescription Drug Insurance.

Today we find ourselves at the crossroads of escalating Health Care Costs and Health Care funding requirements that have brought us to the point of a collision.

The solution may lie in combining some form of both of these programs utilizing the platform of Health Savings Accounts, which would be federally funded to the extent needed to subsidize them so that everyone could be covered including those with pre existing conditions either through a series of federal corporate or individual tax credits, or with direct contributions in the individual’s name to fund the program, but it is not just about the cost of health care. It’s about finding a solution.

The solution to our health care needs may well lie in practicing Disease Prevention nationally.

The costs of funding this combined approach might be substantially less than under a straight Universal Health Care plan because people would have the incentive to practice Disease Prevention once they understand that it is their money that they are spending on their health care, which can be rolled over from year to year similar to an IRA, and because catastrophe insurance is generally less expensive then the current all inclusive small deductible type insurance program being offered.

To this end, a Disease Prevention Program should be made available to everyone that will help them maintain a better state of health, and enable them to minimize their health care expenses in keeping with good medical practice and the utilization of best care options.

We have to show people how to practice Disease Prevention at the same time that we seek to cover them with Health Insurance if we want to produce a program, which in the long run can be self-funding through medical cost savings.

*****

Natural Health is Quality Health

In our hectic day to day world, our health is becoming a more important factor in merely keeping pace with the expectations that are demanded of us. More than 65% of Americans are actively seeking new ways to boost energy, contribute to their health in natural and effective ways, or to rearrange their lifestyle to bring more of nature’s balance to the forefront of their daily lives. Natural health carries a wide variety of interpretations, but everyone can agree that natural health is always the preference to chemically induced—symptom covering—pseudo health.

Finding Natural Health Products that Work

Business is booming in the natural health industry and of course there are ample products out there claiming to provide the benefits of natural health while providing a strong foot hold for energy increase and immune system balance. It can be difficult to find natural health products that live up to their promises. Many “energy drinks” on the market today provide nothing more than a significant amount of B 12 vitamin complexes and caffeine to make you feel as though you have a tremendous amount of energy, at least until that inevitable crash hits. It is not uncommon for those interested in finding natural health products that produce more energy and help balance out the body’s natural system to purchase the realm of available products only to find themselves discouraged and dissatisfied with the result. The average household can spend upwards of $700 per year trying out new products that claim to boost energy, revitalize the immune system, and provide a balanced and essential combination of natural ingredients to enhance mental and physical performance and still not find a product that they are satisfied with.

Many companies make a lot of promises. Whenever there is a new trend in the health market, there are more companies than a consumer can research ready and willing to market the next big miracle in natural health products. For consumers, relying on advertisements becomes a guessing game of integrity, and few companies deliver.

Natural Health Energy

Natural health energy comes from a high level of nutrition balanced with good habits and products that are formulated for providing long term energy derived from natural sources. Of course, caffeine is technically considered a “natural source” and consumers are advised to check the labels if they choose a different method of boosting their energy level. If a consumer is searching for a natural health energy product, their available choices shrink down to about literally ten different products. This type of energy is delivered to the body in a metabolizing manner that the body can process for real, honest results and a higher level of bodily care. Taking care of the body is definitely one guaranteed way to gain more energy.

Synthetic Health vs. Natural Health

With energy products marketed all over the place, there is a question for the results oriented individual whether there is a significant difference between synthetic health products versus natural health products. For some consumers, the only thing that matters is the bottom line; does it boost a person’s energy? An energy boost may be more important to some consumers than the origination of the product or how it is made. In all relevant studies, products that are designed around the natural health principles are able to deliver better results than those made of synthetic materials. It’s not rocket science. Any natural material is going to be absorbed more effectively and efficiently by the cellular structure of the human body than the man made synthetic components. This is true whether you are talking about energy products, health products, or even vitamins. Anything derived from a natural source is bound to provide a better platform for the body to absorb the potential benefits.

Natural health products that are designed to stabilize immunity and provide an increase in long term and short term energy generally have the additional effect of promoting youthful qualities in the body. The ability to eliminate free radicals and other age promoting factors is often a semi—intentional side effect of creating a natural health product that is so distinctly balanced.

Natural Health that Originates in History

As our productive powers, our technological advancements, and our societal expectations leap into the future, many scientists, physicians, and researchers are now starting to look backward to find answers to some of today’s most asked questions. Good health is not an accident. There are many cultures throughout the world that have been able to maintain a very high standard of health without the interference of Western medicine. Our technologically sound advancements now allow for enhanced study of these cultures, practices, and their traditional herbal and natural health remedies. There has been a great amount of success in bringing forth these historical facts and introducing them into our present day society.

Thus, everything we have learned so far as a society about natural health, rejuvenating the body’s cells and spirit, and of course, enhancing health and energy can be traced back to the historical ancestors of yester—year. Combining this new found age old information with the technology of today allows for the mass production of some of the most impressive natural health solutions to date.

Choosing Natural Health Products

When consumers choose natural health products, especially those with a claim for enhancing energy, most find that the research they can do on their own is sufficient provided they stick to all natural products. Natural health energy offers consumers a more advanced choice in today’s world of relentless media advertisements and self induced pressure to find the right product right away. Consumers need to be mindful of the fact that their choice of a natural health product is something that they are likely to introduce into their body on a daily basis, and thus their research should be thorough, involve a small amount of patience, and be able to be backed by an independent source.

The socialized system of healthcare delivery and financing, a relic of the British colonial era, still practiced in Sierra Leone has glaringly failed and any efforts at resuscitating it without implementation of major structural and systemic reform will only serve to prolong the inevitable.

Throughout the world, total state control and management of industries, services, markets and the means of production are gradually becoming a relic of the past. This model as practiced in the Sierra Leone healthcare system has empirically been proven to have served only to stifle innovation, growth, productivity and quality output with a resultant decline in overall living and healthcare standards of the citizenry. The current state of the hospitals and health centers glaringly highlights the systemic problems endemic in the entire government owned, managed, financed and operated health care system.

The continued operation of such a decadent and dilapidated delivery and financing system, lacking in even the basics of a modern healthcare infrastructure continues relegating Sierra Leone to the very bottom of the human development index.

The transformation thus of the medical healthcare delivery and financing system into a private insurance or a national insurance based system offers opportunities not only for insurers to develop market-based medical insurance plans and policies but also serves to effectuate the Ministry of Health & Sanitation’s desired policy goals, as espoused in the 2002 National Health Policy Paper.

Both policy and regulatory officials, healthcare providers, the insurance industry and other stakeholders must be engaged to effectuate implementation of fundamental systemic reforms if the country is to avert an even greater catastrophe.

Privatization:

Under the proposed privatization plan, the Ministry of Health & Sanitation will be transformed from ownership and management of hospitals, clinics, and employer of last resort for all physicians, nurses and ancillary healthcare providers into a health agency with only policy and regulatory functions.

The goal will be for the health agency to serve as a policy and regulatory watch dog mandated with ensuring that adequate and quality medical care is provided at the various private hospitals, clinics and pharmacies that will inevitably be established with the break-up of the current government owned facilities.

With the break-up and subsequent purchase or leases of these hospitals, clinics, health centers and other facilities, investors and entrepreneurs in an effort to realize maximum returns on investments, will economically be compelled to upgrade quality and standard of care, introduce state of the art equipment and technologies and engender a type of market forces competition which will inure only to the betterment of health consumers in the country.

A much needed infusion of capital into the health care industry by such a privatization plan will clearly spur additional economic activities in ancillary industries, as the dynamic forces of privatization and market mechanism forces of demand and supply will ensure competition for the healthcare pie.

The dismantling of the current mammoth and highly inefficient government owned healthcare delivery and financing entity must from a public policy perspective be designed and restructured to ensure governmental ownership and management divestiture from hospitals and other health care facilities.

Under such a scenario the government’s current enormous but woefully mismanaged capital outlay for health services will be substantially decreased as inefficiencies of corruption, salaries of providers, infrastructure maintenance, costs of medications and diagnostic equipments and other overhead operating costs will no longer be recurrent expenditures from the nation’s depleting coffers.

A system based entirely on a private market-based national health insurance plan with private enterprise and market competition at its core appears the most logical reform policy route to ensure a future sound, efficient and profitable health care infrastructure.

 Health Insurance Plans:

The cog which the proposed new system must revolve around is a nationwide network of affordable health insurance plans creatively designed to ensure a greater pool participation of a majority of the population. In such a system health insurance companies and provider organizations will be established to market various health plans, with minimum services and premiums based on market conditions. The responsibility for monitoring compliance by the various plans would fall under the ambit of both the Ministry of Health and Sanitation and the Sierra Leone Insurance Commission.

A major plank in this proposed health care delivery and financing privatization hinges on the enactment of health insurance legislation providing for employers to provide health care for their employees and dependants as part of a standard benefits package with concomitant tax incentives and governmental subsidies to ensure compliance. With such legislation the virtual free socialized medical care system, the costs of which have been borne exclusively by the government will now be based on a multi-payer system in which government, employees and employers will all participate.

With the system as currently structured however, only the government has a financial interest and stake and when other programs conflict with the financing of health care, politicians have only been too willing to sacrifice the health of their citizens on he alter of their greed and personal aggrandizement.

It is envisaged that health insurance providers will introduce concepts and plans, such as Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO) and Preferred Provider Organizations (PPO), through alliances of health providers and insurance companies and marketed to employers, labor unions, governmental ministries and corporations on an annual premium basis.

The competition engendered by such health organizations for the medical insurance pie will subsequently result in competitive rates, coverage, deductibles, co-payments and premiums to make health care costs affordable for all.

As unemployment and underemployment are perennial problems in the Sierra Leonean economy, the provision of health care benefits to this category of the population must remain the responsibility of government. Medical services provided to this category of citizens in a private enterprise environment must be reimbursed by the government on a negotiated and pre-determined fee schedule or an insurance mechanism established in which government negotiates with providers and carriers for the provision of services.

As an example a fund established by levying taxes on the private health care providers, envisaged to emerge with such privatization, could be instituted and utilized to pay for these indigent services.

Further, since the hospitals, medical clinics and other medical facilities will be operated as businesses, either for profit or as non-profit organizations, the market forces of demand and supply will certainly ensure that patient quality care, improvements in diagnostic technologies, competent personnel and a general responsiveness to the demands of the clients will drive the new marketplace. The lethargic and inefficient atmosphere witnessed at most government hospitals today with customer service virtually non existent would be a philosophy of the past.

The economic viability of healthcare businesses will depend largely on the clientele they can attract and maintain utilizing the above yardstick. Providers of lousy health care plans and services will inevitably loose business to competitors as every year participants will have an opportunity to change health insurance plans.

Since a large population of Sierra Leone resides in rural areas, the proposed privatization plan will ensure the expansion of health care facilities into areas currently inadequately serviced. This plan will ensure that clinics and doctors put up shop in every part of the country in order to tap into the healthcare services available in these rural areas.

Designing an insurance system and plan to cater to the needs of the rural population who often are self employed in farming and mining activities posses a challenge to insurers in Sierra Leone, who in the past have been largely passive and unimaginative in policy design to meet the challenges and risks confronting the nation’s socio-economic landscape.

Proactive and creative underwriting of risks must be undertaking by underwriters, actuaries and marketing specialists to design, tailor and price health insurance coverage to meet the diverse needs of the insuring public. For example, the creation of pools by occupational categories could be one method by which insured’s, engaged in similar trades could be encouraged to form co-operatives for purposes of obtaining health insurance coverage at affordable rates for themselves and dependants. Premium payments through the pooling together of the co-operatives commodities can be an alternative payment method for the medical services. Health insurance companies could possibly establish subsidiary or ancillary companies solely for the handling of payments made by cash crops.

The current system under which nearly all doctors and related health care providers are employed by the government while at the same time owning private practices would be changed with a concomitant government savings on salaries, productivity and other fringe benefits. As privatization takes over in the hospitals, physicians, nurses and other providers will no longer be on the government’s payroll but will rather be independent contractors with their own practices.

Conclusion:

Whilst a micro version of the proposed reform has mushroomed in an ad hoc manner over the years with some large companies and corporations contracting with individual physicians and clinics for the provision of health care to their employees and dependants, the kind of systemic and structural overhaul needed to forestall a total collapse of the system and extend similar services to all could only be realized by a comprehensive approach along lines of reforms proposed in this policy paper.

Several significant events have driven public and industry interest in personal health records. In 2004, President George W. Bush outlined a plan for the implementation of an electronic health record that could be accessed by all Americans. Although numerous companies had been in this market for several years, the announcement provided impetus for growth in this area. In 2007 and early 2008, computer giants Google and Microsoft announced their intentions to enter into this market, Google with Google Health and Microsoft with Microsoft HealthVault.

In March of 2008, laboratory industry leader Quest Diagnostics announced a partnership with Google Health to provide uploading of laboratory testing to Google’s version of a personal health record (PHR).

The U. S. Department of Health and Human Services cites six positive outcomes with the implementation of widespread personal and/or electronic health records.

1. Improved healthcare quality

2. Prevention of medical errors

3. Reduction of healthcare costs

4. Increased administrative efficiencies

5. Decreased paperwork

6. Expanded access to affordable healthcare

Although there are a number of potential barriers to widespread implementation of personal health records, three are the most significant. They are:

1. Interoperability. The various systems need to be able to interact with each other and various computer systems.

2. Privacy and Security. The systems need to provide HIPAA-like compliance, but also have security measures similar to the banking industry and in compliance with a variety of industry standards.

3. Data Modification. In order for physicians to be able to act on medical information, they will need to be confident of the veracity of the medical data. This will at least partly require that they be able to determine the sources and modifications that have occurred to the information in personal health records.

Although there are a number of companies currently in the marketplace offering personal health records, they fall into four broad categories.

1. Standalones. These companies are primarily personal health record companies, such as LifeOnKey or FollowMe. In some cases these companies also specialize or have specialty subcategories, such as MiVia, which was designed for the migrant farmworker population, or LifeOnKey’s Diabetes focus or Women’s Health focus.

2. Spin-Offs of Information Technology or Software Companies. Most notable in this category are Google Health and Microsoft HealthVault.

3. Healthcare Providers. Examples of this are Partners HealthCare’s Patient Gateway and the Group Health Cooperative’s MyGroupHealth.

4. Platform Providers. In some cases, the companies are focused less on being the patient/consumer’s personal health record, than in providing the platform and/or technology for personal health records. MedCommons is an example of this. Microsoft HealthVault may also fall into this category. FollowMe also is willing to customize their product for other companies, which then provide their own branding.

There are five ways personal health record providers are generating revenue.

1. Subscriptions. Typically, standalone PHR providers charge nominal annual subscription rates ranging from about $25 to $50.

2. Advertising. Google Health and Microsoft HealthVault indicate they will generate income via advertising. It’s not yet clear how Microsoft intends to do this, but Google Health has indicated that their product itself will not contain advertising, but will have search boxes that connect to the traditional Google page, which does have targeted advertising.

3. Data mining. Although often mentioned as a possible source of revenue, few companies indicate they are currently selling non-user-identified health data to researchers or pharmaceutical companies.

4. Increased Service. Healthcare providers, in general, acknowledge that their personal health record systems are just part of the service and a happy client will remain with the system. Google Health indicates they aren’t in the healthcare business and part of their mission is to drive users to Google.

5. Subcontracting and licensing. MedCommons is focusing on providing their services and platform technology for other users and companies that might want to deliver personal health records. It’s not clear if Microsoft HealthVault plans to enter the market in this fashion, but many industry sources suggest it’s likely.

Ultimately, what is clear from looking at a cross-section of PHR providers is that there are a number of approaches to dealing with laboratory results depending on the nature of the PHR. Google Health has recently announced a partnership with Quest Diagnostics.

This is likely to be the first in a number of similar relationships with other laboratory corporations. The real question, one that remains unaddressed yet, is whether competing labs will create partnerships with Google Health and other PHRs or whether it will become an exclusive and competitive marketplace, where some PHRs will find their services locked out of the market.

Another potential question is whether or not a laboratory, independent or affiliated with a particular healthcare provider, is going to be able to provide data uploads to a myriad of different PHRs. Although largely a technical issue, it’s hard to see how a laboratory needing to provide results to twenty or thirty different PHRs in addition to requesting physicians and patients, is going to make laboratory medicine more efficient or cost-effective.

PHRs Gain Momentum

In his January 20, 2004, State of the Union Address, President George W. Bush outlined a plan for the implementation of an electronic health record that could be accessed by all Americans. The system was to be in place by 2015. According to the White House Web site, patient participation would be voluntarily, and “these electronic health records will be designed to share information privately and securely among and between health care providers when authorized by the patient. “

To achieve that goal, the following steps were taken:

1. Health Information Standards were adopted. Under the direction of the Department of Health and Human Services, in cooperation with other Federal agencies and the private sector, voluntary standards were to be identified and endorsed.

2. Health Care Information Technology Demonstration Project funding was increased to $100 million.

3. Federal agencies were encouraged to adopt Health Information Technology.

4. A sub-cabinet level position of National Health Information Technology Coordinator was created. This falls under the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, part of the Department of Health and Human Services.

It’s important to note that the Bush Administration’s proposal did not break new ground. Numerous companies providing personal health records (PHR), medical health records, and electronic health records or some way of storing and delivering medical information electronically were in existence for several years prior to the Bush Administration’s efforts.

The announcement of launches into the health information technology (HIT) arena by Google and Microsoft has renewed media interest in the area, and may signal a renewed velocity and vigor to the market.

You may be aware that the word ‘whole’ comes from the old English root word ‘hal’, which means ‘health’. To be whole, then, is to be healthy. As we move toward a whole science, health is viewed as an irreducible whole that comprises all aspects of our being. This has already begun to happen. We are becoming aware of the relationships between individual and environmental health, social health and individual health, environmental health and the well being of society.

This new view of health means that we recognise all levels of our health are interconnected and depend on each other. So health as a whole becomes the main goal or aim of science. Because when we are physically, mentally and emotionally healthy then we can be happy. And happiness is what we all desire, do we not?
Let’s look at the three main ‘levels’ of our health:

Individual:

A whole science view of individual health means that the individual takes responsibility for his or her own health. The reason being is as we live by the understanding of the mind-body connection, our mental and emotional health has a huge impact on our physical well being, much more than we had previously thought.

Therefore, as the individual would normally seek to strengthen their health from the ‘outside’, i. e. with drugs, medicines and the like, the individual now also places importance on strengthening their health from within. This is achieved through working through negative emotions and mindsets, to free them from the life-negating effect they have on the body. Extreme stress and depression are seen to be internal ‘toxins’ that the individual now takes responsibility to understand and break through.

What about the individual’s connection to the social environment? Clearly, this is also considered as health is becoming recognised as a unified whole. If you are living on a crime-ridden estate suffering verbal abuse and maybe physical abuse, then clearly this has a knock-on effect on your emotional, and thus physical, well being.

In the same sense, we are beginning to recognise how the health of the planet has an effect on us. Making distinctions between the health of the earth and our own health now seems to be the same as separating the health of an ocean with the fish who live in it! So as our intake of fresh, natural based foods and medicines continues to grow, we learn that actually, as we take care of the environment, we are taking care of ourselves at the same time.

Social:

In moving towards greater health, we again understand that the health of our communities and countries are a reflection of the health of the individuals. Social health is seen to be something beyond our control, something most merely ‘leave up to the government’, but what would happen if each and every person took responsibility for the health of the community?

If we look at the social health of the UK as a whole, do you think we would score particularly high in the optimum health charts? The disintegration of communities and fracturing of society is seen to be a political issue, but what if your thoughts alone had an effect on society? A well known study by John Hagelin has brought down crime rates in a US state by meditating alone. Of course, it’s not just as simple as wishful thinking, but it gives each person the responsibility to contribute to the health of the human race as a whole.
As the current evidence for this knowledge is inconclusive, more investigation is needed into the effects of group consciousness, particularly if it may contribute significantly to our social well being.

Environmental:

Our environmental health is now a matter of global concern, and we are beginning to explore the reciprocal relationships we humans have with the natural world and how our impact can enrich or destroy its well-being. Environmental health does not merely extend to the quality of our air, water and land; rather it also involves supporting the health of the interconnecting species that rely on earth for its survival.

Have you ever considered the source of where your clothes came from? The food you cook each night? Your daily cup of tea? These links have been severed by globalisation. Although globalisation is mainly a wonderful thing, unfortunately it means we often fail to remember how our very existence is fundamentally connected with the existence and well being of the earth.

As we move towards a more whole, holistic understanding of health, we can see that earth destruction and earth pollution, is on some level destroying the very conditions for which we depend upon for our health. Care of the environment, then, ultimately becomes caring for ourselves.

Copyright 2008 Whole Science ©

Nutritional Health Products Store Nutritional Weight Loss Vitamin Health Supplements

Nutritional Mart is an online store that carries many different NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS WEIGHT LOSS SUPPLEMENTS, HEALTH SUPPLEMENTS, NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS, HERBAL SUPPLEMENTS for a Healthier and Longer Life. Many NATURAL PRODUCTS NATURAL HEALTH PRODUCTS, NATURAL HEALTH STORE, VITAMIN STORE, LOWER BLOOD SUGAR, DISCOUNT VITAMINS sold at NUTRITIONAL MART can boost one’s energy and immune system.

We also feature many special products HEALTH PRODUCTS, NATURAL HEALTH, WEIGHT LOSS SUPPLEMENTS, HEALTH SUPPLEMENTS, NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS, HERBAL SUPPLEMENTS, NATURAL HEALTH PRODUCTS, NATURAL HEALTH STORE, VITAMIN STORE, LOWER BLOOD SUGAR, DISCOUNT VITAMINS that are uncommon in most stores, but are very beneficial to one’s health. We carry many top-name brands such as Natural, Nature Made, and Schiff for dietary and HEALTH SUPPLEMENTS.

In addition to the NATURAL PRODUCTS and HEALTH PRODUCTS, we carry a wide array of other Healthier Products , WEIGHT LOSS SUPPLEMENTS , LOWER BLOOD SUGAR and VITAMIN STORE.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us at http://www. nutritionalmart. com We have NUTRITIONAL PRODUCTS and HEALTH PRODUCTS specialist on hand and ready to assist you. Online prices reflect refurbished products.

Nutritional Mart has been a leading provider of NATURAL PRODUCTS and HEALTH PRODUCTS for over 7 years. Our clientele includes Natural, Nature Made, and Schiff for dietary Natural and Health Supplements.

Our Supplement of NATURAL PRODUCTS and HEALTH PRODUCTS and knowledge of HEALTH PRODUCTS topography is second to none. Nutritional Mart primary objective is to SUPPLEMENTS of HERBAL, WEIGHT LOSS and NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS of NATURAL and HEALTH PRODUCTS providing NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS that can effectively prolong life at its most optimal level. to you in accomplishing your goals in the most time and cost efficient manner.

Providing NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS that can effectively prolong life at its most optimal level. Our unique product line features dietary supplements of exceptional value as they contain the highest quality ingredients and are made with much precision and care. Featured products include thoroughly researched and scientifically developed health-targeting formulas that effectively improve the health of individuals as well as helping to prevent the onset of various diseases. We also produce products with specific individual all-natural ingredients that can be used to improve certain health aspects. New innovative and unique products are constantly being added to our line as we strive to create natural remedies to provide people with improved health and prolonged lives.

Nutritional Mart Provide You to Many Products of HEALTH PRODUCTS, NATURAL HEALTH, WEIGHT LOSS SUPPLEMENTS, HEALTH SUPPLEMENTS, NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS, HERBAL SUPPLEMENTS, NATURAL HEALTH PRODUCTS, NATURAL HEALTH STORE, VITAMIN STORE, LOWER BLOOD SUGAR, DISCOUNT VITAMINS etc that will helpful for you to achieve better Health.

Currently, the accelerated growth of science creates warning signs of how our everyday environment causes undesirable diseases, while also providing answers to preventing the onset of diseases. We at Nature’s Bloom are dedicated to utilizing modern-age science in formulating natural remedies that have been shown to help ward off various diseases.

We also feature our own Nature’s Bloom product line of premium NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS. Please browse the store by categories or by searching for a specific item. If there are any questions, please feel free to contact us :http://www. nutritionalmart. com.