Getting Coverage After Job Loss

If you’ve lost your job, or soon expect to, you’ll certainly want to think about your health coverage.  Many companies today have put out healthcare guides to help you to navigate this difficult territory.  Dr. Lewin, the medical director from Cinergy Health offers the following tips.

1. Ask your current doctors if they will give you discounts, particularly if they are doctors you’ve been with for a long time.
2. Look for free and reduced rate clinics, and for federal and state plans for new coverage.
3. Browse pharmaceutical web sites for discount offers and go to college campuses to find inexpensive dental care programs.
4. Start looking for coverage even before you lose  your job, if you suspect that it will occur soon.

Survival Guides – Worth It?

Today, as more people are losing their jobs, many companies are taking the opportunity to write healthcare survival guides.  These brochures such as “Healthcare Survival Guide” and “The Jobless Survival Guide Book” are supposed to help the newly unemployed to find health coverage and to find government-sponsored programs.

But, is it worth purchasing a guide of this sort? Dr. Margaret Lewin, the medical director for Cinergy Health, explains that the usefulness of this advice varies a great deal.  People need to look at their individual situation to determine their needs.  This would include considering how much they can pay out of pocket, whether or not they want a plan that can cover preventive care, and more.

For those who think they may soon lose their job, Dr. Lewin recommends looking for coverage immediately. If you let your coverage lapse for more than 60 days, you might be penalized with a waiting period before your new benefits begin.  Health problems could also be looked at as pre-existing conditions with the new plan.

Differences Found with HPV Vaccine

Two recent studies show very interesting differences amongst cultural groups in relation to the use of the HPV vaccine and their knowledge about it.  One study, done at UCLA, found that different low-income minority groups had strikingly different knowledge of and awareness about HPV vaccines.  While the study found that minority groups get vaccinated at similar rates to the national average, there were serious gaps in the knowledge level that many of these groups had.

A separate study, conducted at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, showed that low-income populations actually utilize the readily available vaccines less than do other populations.  Their findings, presented at the AACR Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research Conference, showed that both a lack of recommendations from health care providers in minority communities, and poor uptake of the three dose HPV vaccine is resulting in the problem.

Certainly, health care companies, such as Cinergy Health, can use this information to identify eligible patients and to encourage teens to receive all three doses.

Obesity in the New Year

With obesity on the rise, Cinergy Health is weighing in with the New Year with simple health recommendations.  Obesity in America today is actually 85% higher than it was 15 years ago – in contrast to smoking which has decreased by 18.5%.

As the CEO of Cinergy Health, Daniel Touizer explains, “Obesity causes multiple illnesses and skyrockets healthcare costs for both individuals and employers.”  Therefore, Cinergy Health Medical Director, Dr. Margaret Lewin, offers these important daily guidelines for healthy living.

Each day, you should try to walk for at least 20 minutes, drink 8-10 cups of water, eat healthy foods that total about 2000 calories, get 6-7 hours of sleep and limit alcoholic consumption.

Protect Yourself After Job Loss

In a down economy, it is always stressful to lose your job.  One of the most stressful parts of a job loss is the loss of insurance.  As Cinergy Health experts will explain, there are some important steps that you need to take to make sure that your health is still taken care of, even after you’ve walked away from your job.

As Cinergy Health President Trattner advises, if you are eligible for a COBRA with your old employer, you only have a short window of opportunity after losing the job to make decisions.  You’ll need to enroll within 60 days of losing your health coverage.  In addition, your employer might be eligible for subsidies that can help to reduce your COBRA premiums.  Discuss these issues with your old employer and make sure that you know your rights so that you can maximize your insurance coverage.  And, of course, you’ll want to start looking for a new job as soon as possible.  If you have your insurance coverage in place, it should help to alleviate some of the stress in this very stressful situation.

Tips from Cinergy Health for Staying Healthy

If you’re getting ready to enjoy some travel this winter, you’ll certainly want to be healthy to do so.  Dr. Margaret Lewin of Cinergy Health offers key pointers for keeping your health, whether you are home or out-and-about this winter.

Make sure to wash your hands often.  Flu viruses are transferred when a sick person sneezes or coughs directly on you, or when you touch a doorknob or banister that someone sick has touched.  If you wash your hands often, you keep the germs away as much as possible.

Get plenty of sleep and keep yourself hydrated.  If you are traveling, you are probably using up a lot of energy while you travel.  Keep your body healthy with sleep and nourishment.

Another interesting idea from the Cinergy Health expert is to use over-the-counter vitamin D (at least 800IU daily).  This is thought to offer some protection against colds and the flu.

2 Tips for Staying Healthy

Here are a few important tips for staying healthy this winter.  Certainly, no one wants to be sick, and Dr. Margaret Lewin of Cinergy Health offers key ways to stay healthy in the cold weather.

Avoid sick people! While you don’t have to be paranoid about this, you should stay between 3 and 6 feet away from sick people whenever possible.  If you are stuck with someone who is sick, offer them tissues, remind them to cough into their sleeve and try to bring fresh air into the room where you are stuck. If you’re on a plane, turn the air vent towards the sick person.

Get flu shots.  Whether you are traveling or staying home this winter, you can always benefit from the flu shot.  If you do travel, get the shot at least two weeks before you leave.

Winter & Holiday Tips

During the holidays, most people tend to gain weight.  They do so because there is so much more food around and also because they are out of their routine and exercising less.  Here, Dr. Margaret Lewin, the medical director of Cinergy Health, offers key tips to keep you moving during the winter and keeping the winter and holiday blues away.

Make sure, according to Cinergy Health doctor Lewin, to take at least 20 minutes out of every day to enjoy a pleasure.  This can be a warm bath, a massage, a pedicure, or any other pleasurable activity that you will enjoy for yourself.  While it is often difficult for people to give themselves this luxury, it can make a big difference in their mood.  And, if doesn’t have to be expensive.  You can use the barter system – offering to give your friend or partner a massage if they give you a manicure.  Be creative!

Alleviating Holiday Stress with Cinergy Health

While many people love the holidays, and the weeks after them, others feel quite depressed.  The holidays bring up family issues and they offer loads of foods that put on pounds.

Dr. Margaret Lewin, the medical director at Cinergy Health, helps you to ease the holiday and winter stress with a few key suggestions.  Make sure to keep moving during the holiday season. There are easy ways that you can do this.  Keep to your regularly scheduled exercise routine.  Take the stairs whenever you can – whether that’s in the office, at the mall or heading to the subway.  Get up from your desk often to stretch and to have a glass of water.

These suggestions from Cinergy Health should help you to maintain a bit of exercise over the holidays and the winter months and to keep moving!

Helping Small Businesses in 2010

Good news for small business owners in 2010.  Even in a recession, there are some key ways that small business owners can be benefiting from these difficult times.  According to Daniel Touizer, CEO of Cinergy Health and a small-business leader, small businesses can learn to prosper in 2010.  Here’s how.

There are many commercial real estate spaces waiting for someone to rent them. This is a great opportunity for small business owners, as these spaces are much better priced than ever before.  Whether you are looking to rent or buy, you should be able to get a good deal.  And, if moving space is too difficult, consider renegotiating with your current landlord.

According to Daniel Touizer, raw materials are also marked quite low at the moment, enabling business owners to get their supplies for less.  Find great sales and save on your bottom line.

This might be the time to hire, although that sounds strange in a recession.  More people are looking for work, and it’s possible to find highly skilled labor for less.

Using these tips, small business owners can capitalize on the recession and stay on top of their finances in 2010.