Oasis Body Treatment Centre, Let’s Dish!, and the Loudoun Women Business Forum are helping raise money for a Leesburg family:

“On November 17th, 17 year-old Michael Ramirez of Leesburg, VA was diagnosed with Acute Lymphblastic T Cell Leukemia, the rarest type of Leukemia. Happily, Acute Lymphblastic T Cell Leukemia responds well to treatment, so there is hope for Michael. Michael’s mother, Mary, is a single mother of five, and needs your support to pay for the treatments, feed the family, and put gas in the car for frequent visits to Fairfax Inova Hospital where Michael is currently an in-patient undergoing chemo-therapy treatment.

Michael is a senior at Loudoun Valley H.S. A typical young-adult, he likes sports, video games, reading, drawing, and Subway sandwiches. He and his family are understandably frightened, worried, and in need of your support…”

Read More Here…

Here is an article that falls a little short on health care. It briefly states the obvious and then opens up to comments (hmm…kind of like this site). The most entertaining part is reading some of the comments after the article. They range from the ridiculous to the pitiful, but neither the article NOR the comments specifically address the real problems:

1) Most health insurance (companies and plans) is not chosen or negotiated by the end user.
2) The average deductible in the U.S. is $500.

That’s it. End of story. You solve that, you solve about half the problem. And until you solve that it’s IMPOSSIBLE to solve the other half of the problem. Is this an easy problem to solve? It is for the consumer if you live in the right state (about 45 out of the 50). It’s not if you don’t.

My personal advise until the “Gubment” decides to solve all of our problems:

Take control of your health, and take control of your health insurance. Get underwritten while you’re healthy, and stay healthy.

This is a great illustration, and I would even argue the BEST illustration–brought to my attention by my good friend, JohnnyB–of what’s wrong with the current Health Care System, how it got there, and who’s actually (shockingly enough) coming up with the most radical (and arguably the most logical) approaches to solving said system. My favorite excerpt:

…[E]verything people dislike about our system results from the tax break for employer coverage. It makes costs rise, since people are less careful when they’re not paying out of pocket. It means people often lose their insurance when they switch jobs. And it keeps a lot of people–those who don’t have employers who provide coverage–from having much access to health insurance.

It’s always amazing to me how so many want us to learn from our past and figure out the “how did we get here” when discussing public policy…except for Health Care for some reason. In the case of a flawed public (tax) policy towards Health Care, many instead want to look outward and say: “Hey everyone else is doing it this other way.”

It’s really very simple: We do not have a true market-driven system if the end-user, the consumer, is not involved in the decision-making process. As soon as we give that a try, we’ll see if an ACTUAL market-driven system works.

The lesson to take from this? Everyone needs to figure out a way to write off their individual Health Insurance. Start a business, somehow, sell Amway if you have to, start a non-profit, whatever it takes, but don’t depend on your employer for your Health Insurance, and don’t let 60-year-old tragically flawed tax policies keep you from managing your own health costs and risks.

AND DO THIS WHILE YOU’RE HEALTHY, so that you NEVER have to make a job decision based on benefits.

If you have questions about taxes, call Earl, if it’s the Health Insurance you’re looking for, well you know by now who to call.

Just got through watching a video clip of the candidate’s forum a couple of weeks ago through the chamber.  One of the panelists asked a question about how local Supervisors could help with small businesses offering health insurance.   A few of the candidates (half) suggested the chamber (or someone) should sponsor forming a group for offering health insurance to  small businesses as a part of their membership.

I’m sorry, but “pooling” is not the answer…it’s actually more accurate to say that it’s the problem.  It’s a short-term fix at best and dangerous at worst.  Actually any sort of group coverage is only advantageous for those who have fairly serious health problems, and can sometimes be disastrous for someone who’s healthy when they sign up, but not-so-healthy when they leave their job.

Many of the panelists (candidates) were business owners themselves and stressed how health insurance was their biggest line item.  But only ONE…ONE (Mark Allbright) pointed out the obvious:  that the real secret was not to find a big pool, for more “bargaining power” (which doesn’t really exist-by the way), but to stay educated on new options, and keep your employees educated on how to best use their coverage so as not to make the rates go through the roof year after year.

Mr. Clem mentioned he was paying $2500/mo for TWO families’ health insurance.  Having no idea how healthy these families are, there is a good chance that not only is this exorbitant cost a waste of his money, but a waste of his employees’ money as well.

The real solution?  Call your agent (that’s me) and get on a plan that:

• Takes real advantage of current tax laws.
• Puts the reins of cost controls in the hands of the insured (not the insurance company OR employer).
• Has benefit structures that most insulate premiums from substantial increases.

And (using the service providers in the GCF Network–of course) educate yourselves and your employees on how to live healthy, stay healthy, and keep costs low by being healthy.

The 10th Annual Hike with Hope is this Saturday!

Friends of Loudoun Mental Health has been supporting folks who struggle with mental health problems – since 1955. That’s their mission: to raise money and provide direct financial aid for Loudoun programs that clearly empower people to get healthier through recovery.

You can help!

How? Come hike with us and/or give tax deductible dollars, and/or get sponsors to pay
you to take our 5- mile hike. We need your energy and happy spirit.

Where? We begin at Fox Ridge Park in Leesburg, move west along the W & OD bike trail 2.5 miles to a marked point on the trail, then turn around and come back. Food provided by Red Hot & Blue. We supply water. Please check in at the pavilion.

When? October 27, 2007. Activities start at 12:30 - the hike is from 1-3 pm.

Why? Because we are a “goosey group of caring folks” that believe in our community. This is just one way of “helping our neighbors.” Come Hike with us!

What? We Hike Rain or Shine! Prepare yourself for the adventure!

For information, email Amber Ernst at
arernst@loudounfriends.org
or call (202) 351-8612,
or Judy Hines at (703) 443-0524.
www.loudounfriends.org

Their website is being renovated, but here’s the full flyer on PDF, complete with a donor form.

PLUS, their mascot is a goose…I think. So how can you beat that?

Let’s Dish! is launching a very impressive Breast Cancer awareness campaign called the Pink Dish! Campaign. The campaign’s mission is to do what we Let’s Dish does best - provide meals to those who need them - and support families living with breast cancer through the donation of healthy Let’s Dish! meals at no cost.

There are three ways that you can support the campaign (from their website):

As there are many organizations dedicated to helping people NOT DIE of Cancer. This is, of course, a GREAT idea as it emphasizes the things we can do to help people LIVE with Cancer. Way to go Let’s Dish!

An interesting article about Health Insurance from the Journal. Unfortunately, most of it seems to be tailor made only for those who have severe medical problems:

“Nine times out of 10, if you can get access to employer-sponsored group coverage, take the employer-sponsored policy,” says Karen Politz, a research professor at the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute. “Dollar-for-dollar, you get a lot more protection.”

This is true especially if you have serious health issues that would eliminate you from qualifying for individual coverage. (more…)

John Stossel did a 20/20 piece last week on Whole Foods helping their employees really manage their health care costs. It’s an excellent display, not just of how market forces can keep prices down, but how the absolute best person to determine how to spend your health care dollars is guess who? You.

The long and short of it is…as long as someone else (whether it’s your employer or your government) is making the decision on how you spend your money, the less efficiently that money is going to be spent.

Here’s the article.

An excellent article from Kiplinger about the simple fact that getting individual health insurance should not be, and indeed is not, a mysterious and impossible task.

You can get Health Insurance

Kimberly Lankford, the author, does a good job of both dispelling some myths about affordability, and cites some good examples of those who have solved their problems; typically by consulting a broker and getting an affordable plan with a high deductible.