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Karla Flores

Insurance RX

I Make Insurance Easy & Simple

What EXACTLY is Hepatitis?

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Ask around to see what people think hepatitis is and you’ll probably find out most of us don’t know. Overall, hepatitis is a disease characterized by inflammation of the liver, the largest solid organ and gland in our bodies. We need to keep our livers healthy because they perform over 500 essential tasks.

In general, livers “clean” out toxins while they help digest food and absorb essential nutrients. Understanding hepatitis in its numerous forms (A, B, C, D and E) is the best way to prevent contracting these potentially fatal diseases.

Estimates show that 30 million travelers a year visit destinations considered high-risk for hepatitis A and B. Both are vaccine-preventable.  Hepatitis C and D are usually spread through contact with infected blood. The E form is uncommon in the United States and rarely results in chronic hepatitis, but that doesn’t make it harmless.

World Hepatitis Day is a global effort to raise hepatitis awareness.  The Hepatitis Foundation site shows you how to prevent, diagnose and treat hepatitis as early as possible. Only through education can we control and eliminate hepatitis altogether.

Cost of Diabetes – Insurance, Insulin Prices and Complications

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Diabetes is an expensive disease. Americans diagnosed with diabetes have healthcare costs that are 2.3 times greater than those without the disease, according to a study released this year by the American Diabetes Association (ADA).[1]

Between hospital and doctor visits, prescription medications and supplies, the cost of treating diabetes in the United States is $327 billion annually, a figure that’s risen by 26% in the last five years.

If you’re at high risk for Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, have been recently diagnosed, or have a loved one coping with the disease, here’s what you can expect in terms of its impact on your finances.

Getting the Diabetes Diagnosis

The term diabetes actually refers to several diseases caused by excess sugar in your bloodstream. Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes are chronic conditions that are diagnosed with one of these blood tests done in your doctor’s office[2]:

    • The simplest and quickest test, called the glycated hemoglobin (A1C) test, indicates average blood sugar for the last two to three months. This type of test is often used in free diabetes screenings at hospitals and pharmacies, too.
    • The fasting glucose test involves a fast for eight hours before your blood test is performed.
    • The oral glucose tolerance test involves several blood tests over about a three-hour period. During that time, you drink a liquid with glucose mixed in, and have your blood tested at regular intervals.
    • The zinc transporter 8 autoantibody (ZnT8Ab) blood test is used specifically to determine if you have Type 1 diabetes.

 

The Cost of Diabetes

The ADA’s recent study indicates that people diagnosed with diabetes spend an average of $16,752 per year on medical costs.[3] About half of that (57%) is related to treatment, including the cost of diabetes medication.

Insulin therapy is a common treatment for people with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, but insulin prices have skyrocketed in the last several years.[4] Diabetes Management’s digital edition reports that the cost of insulin has increased from $100 to $200 per month to $400 to $500 per month, depending on the brand.[5]

Diabetics with no insurance must pay those costs entirely out of pocket.

Getting Diabetes Medication Costs Under Control

If the cost of diabetes medication has become out of reach for you or a loved one, try bringing your medical expenses down with these strategies:

    • Check with your doctor about an alternative if you currently use one of the newer manufactured insulins. Human insulin is an older type of medication that can be less expensive.
    • If you take a diabetes medication other than insulin, ask your doctor about a generic alternative.
    • Explore any prescription drug programs at your pharmacy which offer reduced prices for a low monthly fee.

You have breast cancer by Susan Wehrle

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“You have breast cancer.” Wait, what?! How could this happen to me?
Mammography found my tumor at an early stage, and for that I’m grateful, but I didn’t know about thermal imaging then so I will never know how much sooner my cancer could have been detected. Thermography, or thermal imaging, can detect cancer and other health issues earlier than mammography, but many health insurance plans do not cover it, although more are starting to cover it now. Studies have shown that thermography is twice as effective as mammography (98% vs 50% effective) without the harmful effects of radiation and “squishing.”
Some lifestyle choices you can make to lessen your chances of getting cancer, particularly breast cancer:
    • maintain a healthy weight
    • eat real food (as Michael Pollen says “eat food, not too much, mostly plants”)
    • exercise regularly (even just a 30 minute walk 5 or more days a week)
    • meditate and minimize stress
    • limit alcohol use to 1 drink per day or less
    • don’t smoke
    • avoid toxins
I thought I was healthy, but I had just retired from a very stressful job and hadn’t been eating well or exercising regularly. I encourage you to educate yourself and understand the preventive aspects of maintaining a healthy lifestyle as I did. I no longer use toxic household cleaners or personal care products, get an annual full-body thermal scan, eat a mainly plant-based diet, exercise and meditate regularly. I became a Certified Health Coach to help others get or stay healthy.
 
Susan Wehrle is a Certified Heath Coach. Contact her at 602-451-5785 or her website – LiveWellWithSusan.com

A Look At The Latest Advances In Cancer Research

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One thing scientists have learned after years of study is that cancer isn’t just one disease. While a lot more research needs to be done, scientists have made great strides. One area of focus is our immune systems. Another is genetics.

Our immune systems work to protect us from foreign bodies that can hurt us. We just need to be able to identify these to fight them. We now know that cancer can sometimes hide which prevents our immune system from finding the cancerous cells. New immunotherapy techniques help our immune systems attack the cancer by 1) Preventing the cancer from hiding and 2) Boosting our immune response against cancer.

Genomics is the study of changes to the genes in your DNA. It’s giving doctors important clues about how your cancer will act and with this knowledge, they can make the best determination for treatment. It works by looking for changes called mutations in certain cancer genes. Once found, doctors can better diagnose the cancer, predict the outcome and decide on the best drug or treatment. They can also monitor how well the treatment is working.

These new developments mean faster identification and diagnoses to help treat cancers more quickly and easily which often leads to a cure.

What We NEED To Know About HPV And Prevention

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Previously overshadowed by more commonly known diseases such as syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia, Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) has finally hit the spotlight. HPV is actually a group of over 200 related viruses. More than 40 of these are spread through direct sexual contact and cause genital warts. Even more concerning is how they can cause certain types of cancer – like cervical, vaginal, penile and anal. And that’s just the short list.

Vaccines have been developed to prevent infection with certain types of HPV. The FDA has approved three vaccines – Gardasil, Gardasil 9 and Cervarix. Currently only – Gardasil 9 is available for use in the US. Unfortunately, there’s no information about additional vaccines being added at this time.  

The CDC recommends all children aged 11 or 12 years should get two HPV shots 6 to 12 months apart. It also recommends vaccinating young women through age 26 and young men through age 21. Although it’s not a cure-all, it does go a long way to protect young people from infection while they’re young – and preventing even more painful consequences later in their lives.

 

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