Photo: CaroWallis1
Most of us have at some point awakened to a common but uncomfortable ailment such as strep throat, poison ivy or pink eye. These conditions are ones we can’t treat on our own at home. So you haul yourself to a lengthy wait in your doctor’s office as the staff attempts to work you in. Or you might end up in an emergency room for that long wait in much less comfortable and more expensive circumstances. Take heart: a solution exists in the “mini clinic.”
Drug stores such as CVS and Walgreens and large outlets that sell drugs, like …read more

Jeanne, over at The Assertive Cancer Patient is, er, asserting herself. She’s fighting mad and I’m helping spread the word. Having never had cancer myself, I lack perspective. So, I’m doing the ol’ copy and paste of Jeanne’s post:

I was told yesterday that the governor, Chris Gregoire, doesn’t want the emergency clause in the bill that would raise the cap on WSHIP to a lifetime max of $2 million from $1 million.Of course, without the emergency clause, the change in the law won’t help me, since my health insurance through WSHIP is going to max out in about September or …read more

Photo: lovemetwee
Hospitals (in most cases) are not unreasonable. They’d much rather bargain with you than the alternative.
Think about it from their point of view: Hospitals are between a rock and a hard place when it comes to collections. The gov’t pays peanuts and the insurance companies are no more interested in giving hospitals their due than they’re interested in lowering your rates. Bankruptcy is at an all time high in this country, one of the driving forces of which is medical bills. Also keep in mind that collection agencies usually take 25% or more for their services.
Realizing all of this, …read more

Disclosure: This is a paid post, which means this company gave me money to check out their website and tell you guys what I think about it. Here we go…

MDVIP is kind of a health country club. It’s not an HMO or PPO. Their website reminds me more of Diner’s Club or something than a health care plan. Basically, they’re trying to save health care from the terrible mess of litigation-fueled red tape and bureaucracy it’s become for patients and physicians, for an (undisclosed, at least online) price. A noble and lucrative cause, to be sure.
It seems like a good …read more

I can see how this could be construed as crass by some people (who suck and are lame), but as long as the employees get coverage, who cares? And if the company sells more t-shirts because of it, all the better for the employee and their benefits package.
via Design fckr

Max Lewis, a practicing Missouri lawyer, is paralyzed from the neck-down. He can’t afford to pay his staggering medical and daily care expenses, so he works pro bono to squeak under the $695/month Medicaid qualification income limit.
Lewis is paralyzed from the neck down, with limited use of his arms. To prepare food, bathe, or get in or out of bed, he needs help from personal care assistants. Six hours of daily assistance costs Lewis nearly $17,000 per year. Health insurance companies don’t cover that expense or the cost of much of the medical treatment related to Lewis’ disability. Medicaid does. …read more

I compulsively eat bits of myself when I shed them. How bad is this for me?
Is it safe to live directly underneath a large number of radio and/or cell towers?
I like the taste of butter. I grew up with margarine as the “healthier” substitute, then switched to various spreads, then back. What provides the healthiest butter or butter analog?
Have any tips for living (in the US) without health insurance?
Is the way I use headphones bad for my ears?

I’m getting a root canal this morning.
Gross.
The words “root canal” alone are enough to make most people wince and utter some sort of foreboding noise. Usually a long low, “Ooooo.”
Well, in about an hour yours truly will be in the midst of it. It’ll be the third in my life, which, I guess, takes some of the sting out of the whole process. But then there’s the fact that I’m a panic-stricken-baby in the dental chair that will add all of that sting right back into it. But to be perfectly honest, thinking about it for the days beforehand and …read more

If you give Bioden, Inc. ~$600 + $90 a year, they’ll keep your child’s baby teeth in an indefinite cryogenic deep freeze. It’s like the tooth fairy who brings an amount due instead of the shiny stuff.
From the company’s website:
Bioeden, Inc. is proud to be the first company in the world to offer parents the opportunity to preserve potentially life-saving stem cells that would otherwise be thrown away.
In 2003, Dr. Songtao Shi, a pediatric dentist at the NIH, …read more

The most compelling reason not to drive drunk is obvious; you don’t want to become a killer. Drunk drivers contributed to the deaths of more than 16,000 Americans last year.
An additional reason is the price tag that accompanies that DUI charge. If you’re impressed with that $125 bottle of pricey scotch, consider this: a DUI costs on the average $10,000 after you pay bail, various fines, insurance increases and incidentals such as towing, alcohol evaluation and alcohol education, and that’s if you don’t kill or injure anybody, and if it’s your first charge.
Average charges for a first DUI offense, which …read more