insurance
Being sick in America
People in this country who are sick see the health care system in a worse light than those who are well, according to a new poll by NPR and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. They are more likely to believe cost is an urgent problem, that health care personnel don’t communicate sufficiently and that the [...]
So, when do we reach the tipping point?
Once again, Americans’ health care costs have gone up. A report released Tuesday by the consultant company, Millman, found that health care costs for a family of four covered by employer-sponsored health insurance will top $20,000 for the first time ever this year — $20,728 to be precise — according to a new study released Tuesday. [...]
The policy details matter
I spent the morning in a meeting of the panel that is making decisions on what North Carolina’s insurance exchange will look like. I know most people would have found the meeting unbearably dull, but the points being discussed could make the difference between an exchange that works best for consumers or one that works [...]
Lies spread in pursuit of profits over people
Insurance companies would have us believe they’ll all go under if the Affordable Care Act is fully implemented, and that we’ll all die because we can’t buy coverage anymore. They talk about government ”death panels” as they refuse to cover anyone who’s ever been sick, and until the law made them stop, they found excuses to [...]
Things like this cause my head to explode
Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum (actually, he’s more af a presidential hopeless, thank God) says he believes Americans don’t die from lack of insurance; he believes they die from bad choices. (http://thinkprogress.org/health/2011/12/06/382623/santorum-claims-nobody-dies-because-they-are-uninsured-they-die-due-to-poor-decisions/) Like Mike chose to be born with a birth defect, which made him uninsurable. Like he chose to be denied screening tests for colon [...]
Orrin Hatch predicts a call for single-payer
In an address to the conservative Heritage Foundation, Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch predicted that if Obama is elected to a second term, within a year ot two, he will “throw his hands in the air and say, ‘it’s not working we have to go to a single-payer system.’” I know a lot of people who would [...]
Cause of death: No insurance
In a piece on Doctors for America, Dr. Zaneb Beams writes about a 15-year-old child who died because his father lost his job, and with it, the family’s health insurance (http://www.drsforamerica.org/blog/my-15-year-old-patient-died-because-his-dad-was-unemployed). Even when they had insurance, the family couldn’t afford the specialist the boy should have seen. A pediatric urologist would have diagnosed the problem [...]
Where’s your money?
For years, we’ve been told that privatization of government services would make things more efficient and less expensive. But for the most part, when things are privatized, costs go up because there must be a profit. Take Medicare, for example. The popular government-run single-payer plan for America’s elderly and people with disabilities spends 97 percent [...]
Report: Poor women have the least access to care
Once again a report, this one issued by the Kaiser Family Health Foundation, shows that women below 300 percent of the poverty level are in poorer health than those above that mark. What’s more, the poorer the woman, the more likely she is to report her overall health as poor, and to have a disabling [...]
H115 still alive, but not passed
I drove to Raleigh yesterday to testify against NC House Bill 115, which would give effective control of the state’s health insurance exchange to insurance companies and their allies. When I got there, it looked as though those of us against the bill wouldn’t be allowed to testify, but in the end, a dozen of [...]
Have a beer in May
Stop into Altamont Brewing, 1042 Haywood Road, West Asheville, any time in May and ask for their "charity" beer of the day. Buy one and Life o' Mike gets $1. In fact, we get a buck for each one sold. So go in every day and have one to support Life o' Mike.
Thanks, Altamont!
Patient Pals & Family Friends
Life o' Mike has a peer support program for people with one or more serious or chronic medical issues or disabilities.
We aim to reduce isolation and fear among people who have conditions, including psychiatric illness, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, mild dementia or other cognitive disorder or disability, thereby reducing depression and complications as people learn to improve self-management of their medical conditions.
Patient Pals help alleviate feelings of isolation and frustration. They can help people develop a list of questions to ask the doctor and then accompany the person to the doctor to make sure all the questions are answered, taking notes to be sure the person understands the doctor’s answers.
Our trained volunteers also accompany their “Pals” to art exhibits, movies and walks outdoors, meet for coffee, call to check in and more.
Our Pals have experienced weight loss, improvement in diabetes, HIV, psoriasis, depression and more, just because they have someone who cares about them. Some relationships develop into longer-term friendships; other Pals move on to more independent lives.
Family Friends are there to help caregivers and other family members grow into their new role.
We need volunteers, who are asked to donate a minimum of one hour a week. Training is free and includes information on active listening, ways to help and when to know more help is needed.
And of course, we need funding.
To learn more, call Leslie Boyd at 828-243-6712 or e-mail lifeomike@gmail.com.
Start From Seed
Life o' Mike has a new program- Start from Seed (SFS).
SFS is a volunteer doula program aimed at providing non-medical, comprehensive support to low income, high-risk women and families of Buncombe County focusing on three areas:
1. We help new doulas with certification and training in return for their participation as a volunteer doula for SFS
2. We mentor volunteer doulas with their first few clients
3. Our volunteer doulas provide birth and postpartum doula services to low income, high risk moms, providing support and tools to empower them as a new parent.
A birth doula is a trained and experienced professional who provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to the mother before, during and just after birth; a postpartum doula provides emotional and practical support during the postpartum period.
Start from Seed clients are referred to us from the Buncombe County Department of Health’s Nurse-Family Partnership Program, Western North Carolina Community Health Services, and Mission Hospital. The Program is intended and designed for growing clients’ inner strength and helping them gain empowerment to help them cope with the emotional, physical and mental challenges of childbirth, labor, and motherhood.
Our new moms and their infants have many needs. If you would like to help them get off to a good start, please visit our Start from Seed web site: Start from Seed, or call Program Director Chelsea Kouns at 804-814-9946.