Tag Archives: health care

Fun Health Myths

My six year old son was doing a research project. He wanted to find out more about poisonous ladybugs. How he decided ladybugs were poisonous is beyond me. When we looked it up, it turns out that they are. The catch is you’d have to eat several hundred of them to even feel sick. While we were researching ladybugs I ran across a piece of folk lore from France: If you are ill and a ladybug lands on you, when it flies away it will take the illness with it. Where’s a ladybug when you need one? This little tidbit … Continue reading →

Alternative Medicine and Your Doctor

Alternative medicine is gaining in popularity. It comes in all sizes, shapes and colors. As we learn about it’s diversity and benefits, more and more Americans are giving it a try. Let’s face it, as a whole we’re a very unhealthy bunch. We are beginning to recognize that, and some of us look for more “natural” ways to reclaim our bodies than others. Most people, I think, try to strike a balance between the medical world and our alternative worlds. The bad part is we don’t always tell our medical doctors what else we are doing and vise-versa. That can … Continue reading →

How To Get A Second Opinion

Your primary care physician has given you some bad news. You may have a serious disease or need major surgery. Before you jump into whatever plan is suggested, you may want to consider getting a second opinion! Doctors may have similar training, but that doesn’t mean they all think the same way about health and medicine! Some doctors prefer a more traditional approach to treatment. Others look to cutting-edge tests and therapies for treatment. If your doctor tends to take a conservative approach, you may want to talk to someone with a more aggressive philosophy for treating diseases. Talking to … Continue reading →

Learn to Be Frugal With Pet Health Care

Saving money on a pets health, is a difficult chore. Health care costs for our feline and canine friends tends to get rather high over the course of their lives. But when you get a pet you are committing to care for them in sickness and health, regardless of the cost. And there are very few short cuts you can take when coming to health. Some items just have absolutely no substitutions. Or do they? There certainly are ways to keep health costs down when having a pet, even if there are some things that just have to happen and … Continue reading →

Health Care With A Guarantee?

A citizen group is telling Congress what Americans want when it comes to health care: protection for all from outrageously high medical expenses and a guarantee of coverage for certain tests and treatments. The group is known as the Citizens’ Health Care Working Group and they were created by Congress to assist in the execution Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003. The fifteen members of the citizens’ group represent businesses, organized labor, health care providers, and consumers. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt is also a member. In the last eighteen months, the group held more … Continue reading →

Hospital Acquired Infections

If you are going into the hospital for testing or surgery, you don’t want to come out feeling worse than you did when you went in! But what’s the real chance of contracting a hospital-acquired infection? The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that five or six out of every one hundred people who are admitted to a hospital end up with some kind of hospital-acquired infection. But that rate can drop by a third if appropriate measures are taken. Anything that enters the body — like an I.V. or a urinary catheter — can give infection a … Continue reading →

Why I Love My Doctor

Pardon me if I get a little over-emotional here; I’m currently running a fever and taking steroids to help ease a viral skin infection. But not everybody loves their doctor. Here’s why I love mine. He takes his time. We spent at least a half hour in the exam room, going over my various symptoms. (I went in with a mysterious rash on my arms and legs that hasn’t been helped much by treating it as an allergy with Benadryl and hydrocortisone cream.) He has a great sense of humor. This one may not be as important to you as … Continue reading →

A Patient Bill of Rights

In 1998, the US Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry adopted the following bill of rights. You can read the full report here or just get the highlights below. Sometimes we feel helpless or confused at the doctor’s office… this Bill of Rights can help give you the confidence you need to ask the questions that need asking, and fight for better health care for yourself and your family. Information Disclosure You have the right to accurate and easily understood information about your health plan, health care professionals, and care facilities. If you and … Continue reading →