Archive for the ‘Medicare Card’ Category

Question: I am currently shopping for dental insurance and want to stay with my current dentist. I asked the front office what dental insurance plans are acceptable, and they said that they accept the Delta Dental insurance plan. Still, the problem is that I discovered several Delta Dental products/plans when searching Delta Dental. Which one would my dentist take? 

Answer: Yes, Delta Dental offers several different plans, from HMOs, PPOs, and indemnity insurance plans. Only the HMO plan is a plan where your dentist needs to be a provider of the plan for you to receive the plan benefits, as you have to choose a plan provider. 

With that said, PPOs and Indemnity dental insurance plans are plan types that let you choose your dentist. PPOs have a provider list and may reduce benefits if you decide to go to a dentist who is not a plan provider but can still pick or stay with your current dentist. With a PPO just read the plan coverages so you know what your benefits are if your dentist is not a provider of the PPO plan option.

With an Indemnity dental insurance plan, there is no plan provider list. You can go to any dentist you want. These plan types typically run a little more costly than a PPO plan. 

Regarding the Delta Dental plans we offer, call our member service line at 310-534-3444, and we will be happy to go over our Delta Dental opinions so you can choose the one that best fits your dental care needs. 

In many cases, a person wants a second opinion when he or she lacks confidence in the dentist and has doubts about how to best treat their dental condition. However, in some situations, it is the dentist who suggest getting a second opinion from a dental specialist in order to obtain additional information about a dental problem

Yet there are times when a second opinion is not helpful, such as when they become a third, fourth fifth opinion or more. IF you find yourself doing this then stop and think. Are you getting so many different opinions because you hope to hear a different answer then what the last five dentist have told you? If you keep hearing the same thing from each dentist, but hope to hear something different, when you finally h ear what you want to hear from the next dentist in line it may not be in your best interest

In 2000, measles was declared to be eliminated in the United States, when no sustained transmission of the virus was seen in this country for more than 12 months. Today, however, the United States and many other countries that had eliminated the disease are experiencing concerning outbreaks of measles because of declines in measles vaccine coverage. Without renewed focus on measles vaccination efforts, the disease may rebound in full force, according to a new commentary in the New England Journal of Medicine by infectious diseases experts at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, and the Penn State University College of Medicine’s Milton S. Hershey Medical Cente

You may benefit from getting a second opinion on major dental work. If your dentist is advising major dental work and you feel like you want to have a second opinion about your dental health, it probably means you should. You really can not go wrong with seeking out a second opinion. You may want to keep in mind that not all dentist address dental issues in the same manor. Therefore getting a second opinion dose not mean one dentist is right and the other is wrong, but it does afford you with more options on how you may want to have your dental care needs addressed

A large study of more than 21,000 people finds that training emergency medical services (EMS) agencies to implement prehospital guidelines for traumatic brain injury (TBI) may help improve survival in patients with severe head trauma. The findings were published in JAMA Surgery, and the study was supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), part of the National Institutes of Health.

“This demonstrates the significance of conducting studies in real-world settings and brings a strong evidence base to the guidelines,” said Patrick Bellgowan, Ph.D., program director at NINDS. “It suggests we can systematically increase the chances of saving lives of thousands of people who suffer severe traumatic brain injuries.”

if it your child’s first visit to the dentist, you will want your child to feel comfortable and have a great experience. In order to do that it is helpful for you to inform your child where they are going and make sure to always be positive.

Stay away from using any negative words such as hurt, needle shots or anything unpleasant, which may plant fear into his or her mind that wouldn’t have been there otherwise.

Experts at the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health, say knowing which health-related factors may increase risk could save a life. Those factors include:

* Age-related changes to the skin such as poor blood circulation and inefficient sweat glands

* Heart, lung, and kidney diseases, as well as any illness that causes general weakness or fever

* High blood pressure or other conditions that require changes in diet, such as salt-restricted diets

* Reduced sweating, caused by medications such as diuretics, sedatives, tranquilizers, and certain heart and blood pressure drugs

* Taking several drugs for various conditions (It is important, however, to continue to take prescribed medication and discuss possible problems with a physician.)

* Being substantially overweight or underweight

* Drinking alcoholic beverages

* Being dehydrated

Lifestyle factors can also increase risk, including extremely hot living quarters, lack of transportation, overdressing, visiting overcrowded places, and not understanding how to respond to weather conditions.

After the needs assessment, IHSS will send you a letter called a Notice of Action that will let you know if you have been approved or denied services. If approved, you will be notified of the services and number of hours authorized for each service. If services are denied or you are not happy with the number of hours authorized, you have the right to appeal by requesting a State Hearing. The back of the Notice of Action has information about how to appeal.

Vaccines save thousands of lives in the United States every year, but many adults remain unvaccinated. Low rates of vaccine uptake lead to costs to individuals and society in terms of deaths and disabilities, which are avoidable, and they create economic losses from doctor visits, hospitalizations, and lost income. To identify the magnitude of this problem, we calculated the current economic burden that is attributable to vaccine-preventable diseases among US adults.

It’s estimated the total remaining economic burden at approximately $9 billion (plausibility range: $4.7–$15.2 billion) in a single year, 2015, from vaccine-preventable diseases related to ten vaccines recommended for adults ages nineteen and older. Unvaccinated individuals are responsible for almost 80 percent, or $7.1 billion, of the financial burden. These results not only indicate the potential economic benefit of increasing adult immunization uptake but also highlight the value of vaccines. Policies should focus on minimizing the negative externalities or spillover effects from the choice not to be vaccinated, while preserving patient autonomy.

100% Preventive Care Options

There are several features of indemnity dental insurance plans for individuals that make these plans different from many other types of dental coverage: Insurance providers will pay up to 100% of preventative dental care. Although they are becoming increasingly rare, indemnity dental insurance plans are also still available and provide the freedom to choose the dentist of your choice at a higher out-of-pocket expense. In indemnity dental insurance plans, the insured has to pay all the costs for services directly and then submit a claim for reimbursement once a deductible has been met.

Indemnity Dental Insurance – Traditional Fee-for-Service Plan

Indemnity dental insurance is another plan where the plan pays the dentist on a traditional fee-for-service basis. Indemnity dental insurance is an insurance package where the policyholder can choose his or her own dentist and the insurance provider will be the one to pay that designated dentist your fees or, usually, around half of them. This indemnity dental insurance plan allows you to select any licensed dentist for service. An indemnity dental insurance plan is often called a traditional dental coverage plan or a fee for service plan. You will need to pay a deductible on your indemnity dental insurance.

Fever blisters are fluid-filled blisters that commonly occur on the lips. They also can occur on the gums and roof of the mouth, however that is rare. Fever blisters can usually be painful. Pain may also precede the appearance of the lesion by a few days. The blisters rupture within hours, then crust over. Fever blister last about seven to ten days.

Drug use can have a negative impact on dental health as well as overall health. Patterns of oral health pathology attributed to methamphetamine users, for example, include rampant tooth decay, accelerated tooth wear, unexplained advanced gum disease, missing multiple teeth, and overall detrimental dental effects that are rapid and severe. These patients also often seek cosmetic dental treatment, such as veneers and whitening, which give dentists another opportunity to discuss suspected substance misuse, provide referrals for treatment, and encourage cessation of drug misuse.

Scientists have demonstrated how an investigational drug works against a rare, fatal genetic disease, Niemann-Pick type C1 (NPC1). They found that a closely related compound will activate an enzyme, AMPK, triggering a cellular “recycling” system that helps reduce elevated cholesterol and other accumulated fats in the brains and livers of NPC1 patients, which are hallmarks associated with severe neurological problems. The research was led by scientists at the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), part of the National Institutes of Health, and their colleagues.

The work could lead to a new generation of potential therapies for NPC1 and other similar disorders, as well as neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. The scientists reported their findings online on July 17, 2017 in the journal Autophagy.

Anyone worried about chest pain should not wait to get urgent medical care. They should call for an ambulance straight away, especially if the pain is unexplained, sudden, or severe.

Heart attack pain is caused when one of the arteries supplying the heart becomes blocked. Angina is a similar chest pain caused when these arteries are narrowed by heart disease.

Heartburn is a burning pain often felt in the upper belly or lower chest. It is caused by stomach acid going back up the food pipe.

Heartburn and heart attack pain can be similar. If someone is in doubt whether pain is a heart attack, they should always call for an ambulance. If it is a heart attack, prompt medical care can be lifesaving.

Dental implants have become an important treatment for the replacement of teeth lost due to disease, injury or congenital tooth agenesis. Over the past 30 years, the incorporation of dental implants into everyday clinical dental practice has resulted in major improvements in oral health of patients through enhancements in function, esthetics and phonetics.  However it is important to note that many dental insurance plans do not provide benefits on implants. Providing benefits for bridges, partials, and dentures instead. If you want to have some saving off the cost of dental implants you may want to review the dental discount plan options that are available to you in your state. A dental discount plan offers up around 15 -20 percent off the cost of dental implants

It’s one of those parenting nightmares – you find your baby sitting on the floor with an open bottle of medicine. My story went something like that, but instead of medicine, my 1 year old got her hands on a bottle of cleaning solution for our CD’s. It has no child proof cap and she found it while rummaging through the stereo cabinet. Small children are curious little explorers and it’s amazing what they can get themselves into when you turn your back for a moment.

So there she was, sitting on the floor happily holding the open bottle. I didn’t see her drink any of it, but there wasn’t much liquid left in the bottle. I just didn’t know what to do, so I called the Poison Center.

The people at the Poison Center asked me some questions about the situation, and luckily the cleaning solution was alcohol and the quantity (if she had any at all) was small enough that it didn’t pose a serious threat. They told me what to watch out for, just in case she had a bad reaction and were calm, comforting and helpful. *whew* Everything turned out OK.

Needless to say, a child safety latch was installed on the stereo cabinet – pronto! It’s hard to make your home 100% safe, but if you have small children or animals around your home, do your best to prevent poising.

 

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