Jan14
Today’s youth are far more likely to be found in front of the television or the computer screen, or at a fast food spot, than they are elevating their heart rates in sport or exercise.
According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control, poor fitness, inactivity and bad diet are contributing to increasing juvenile obesity. Since 1980, the percentage of children who are overweight has doubled. This brings on a host of health and social problems that get more serious as children become adults.
Studies have shown that children who are obese frequently struggle as adults with excess weight. And before they become adults, obesity puts them at a significantly increased risk of developing juvenile diabetes, heart disease and other chronic, life-threatening conditions.
The experts currently studying the problem tie the recent rise in overweight children to factors including fast food-centered diets, a reduction in physical education demands in schools, and increased “seat time” – more computer or television time and less active playing or sports.
Continue reading »
\\ tags: Health Insurance, Insurance
Jan14
While the amount of American children with health insurance increased during the first half of 2002, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports that nearly 10 percent of U.S. children (aged 17 and under) remain uninsured. This means that millions of children don’t get the health care they so badly need because they have no health insurance. Without insurance, common childhood illnesses often go untreated and can impair a child’s physical and mental growth and development. Obviously, untreated illnesses and injuries can cause physical problems for children, but missing school from these illnesses and/or lack of concentration due to suffering can also highly impact a child’s mental health. In addition, some studies show that one in 10 children suffer from an emotional or behavioral problem that would benefit from treatment, but only one in five of these children receive such treatment. Many health insurance plans have a mental health component that if utilized, could really help in these cases. But again, those that are uninsured cannot benefit from this treatment.
Childhood immunizations are the most effective method of preventing children from contracting devastating illnesses and diseases. Immunizations protect not only children, but also their communities from preventable illnesses. The increasing number of safe and effective vaccines for conditions such as measles, polio and tetanus protect children from acquiring these infirmities. While state laws require children to have such immunizations complete before entering the school system, this does not mean that 100 percent of children are immunized. Children who do not have health insurance often do not receive these important vaccines, and may suffer greatly as a consequence.
Continue reading »
\\ tags: Health Insurance, Insurance
Jan14
Are you a slave to the computer screen? If so, you could be not only missing out on some important aspects of learning and living, but also harming your health. And that goes double for children.
E-mail, chat rooms, Web surfing, computerized games – your home PC contains something for everyone in the family to get sucked into. But adults and children already spend hours of daily computer time just on work and education. When those hours are compounded by several more spent on computer-related leisure and hobby activity, exercise, relaxation and face-to-face communication can suffer.
We need our computers for many of life’s daily tasks. And we want them for far more uses than we can list here. (Not to mention Game Boys and their like.) But all of this entertainment comes at a cost.
One seemingly obvious link is between screen time and obesity in both children and adults. Activities like Web surfing and video game playing don’t burn calories, but they sure lend themselves to snacking. Fitness and health patterns are established when children are young, and those patterns – whether good ones or bad – often continue into adulthood. Adults juggling job and relationship stress, tight schedules and financial burdens might not recognize how much time computer use is consuming, or feel simply too busy to think about healthy computer use.
Continue reading »
\\ tags: Health Insurance, Insurance
Jan14
According the latest U.S. Census data, the number of Americans without health insurance increased by 1.4 million in 2003. 45 million Americans, or 15.6 percent of the population, lacked health insurance in 2003 (up from nearly 44 million and 15.2 percent in 2002). The U.S. Census Bureau also reported that the total number of people covered by employer-based health insurance declined by more than 1 million.
All of these figures point to a disturbing fact; the problem of the uninsured in this country is getting worse instead of better.
That’s why organizations like the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation formed Cover the Uninsured Week, a now annual week that brings this issue to the forefront through intense advertising campaigns. 2004’s Cover the Uninsured Week took place May 10-16.
“This advertising campaign has persuaded opinion leaders of the serious consequences faced by millions of Americans who go without health insurance,” said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, M.D., M.B.A., president and CEO of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, based in Princeton, N.J. “We are running ads in 2004 to keep the issue of health coverage high on the nation’s domestic agenda. By reaching more than 85 million Americans with messages that underscore the seriousness of this problem, we are bolstering the growing national will to finally secure coverage for all Americans.”
Continue reading »
\\ tags: Health Insurance, Insurance
Stumble it!