Nicole Knows Health Insurance

On the news we hear that parts of our great country are beginning to recover from the financial crisis we have been in for years but it is slower progress here in California. What that means to each of us is that we need to find ways to stretch every dollar as far as we can until California makes it’s recovery. One way to do this is on your health insurance with Anthem Blue Cross Individual and family or Cigna for Children. With the reliability and power of Anthem you can save hard earned money and  still have great health coverage. Our main office is in Moorpark CA, part of beautiful Ventura County were I enjoy providing my local community with quality health insurance. I extend the same offer to all Californians who want low cost health insurance to call me for quotes and information and I’ll provide you with the help you need free of charge. 800-260-9051 or visit me on the web  for low cost california health insurance CaliforniaHealthyChoice.com

1. Eat a variety of nutrient-rich foods. You need more than 40 different nutrients for good health, and no single food supplies them all. Your daily food selection should include bread and other whole-grain products; fruits; vegetables; dairy products; and meat, poultry, fish and other protein foods. How much you should eat depends on your calorie needs. Use the Food Guide Pyramid and the Nutrition Facts panel on food labels as handy references.
2. Enjoy plenty of whole grains, fruits and vegetables. Surveys show most Americans don’t eat enough of these foods. Do you eat 6-11 servings from the bread, rice, cereal and pasta group, 3 of which should be whole grains? Do you eat 2-4 servings of fruit and 3-5 servings of vegetables? If you don’t enjoy some of these at first, give them another chance. Look through cookbooks for tasty ways to prepare unfamiliar foods.
3. Maintain a healthy weight. The weight that’s right for you depends on many factors including your sex, height, age and heredity. Excess body fat increases your chances for high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, some types of cancer and other illnesses. But being too thin can increase your risk for osteoporosis, menstrual irregularities and other health problems. If you’re constantly losing and regaining weight, a registered dietitian can help you develop sensible eating habits for successful weight management. Regular exercise is also important to maintaining a healthy weight.
4. Eat moderate portions. If you keep portion sizes reasonable, it’s easier to eat the foods you want and stay healthy. Did you know the recommended serving of cooked meat is 3 ounces, similar in size to a deck of playing cards? A medium piece of fruit is 1 serving and a cup of pasta equals 2 servings. A pint of ice cream contains 4 servings. Refer to the Food Guide Pyramid for information on recommended serving sizes.
5. Eat regular meals. Skipping meals can lead to out-of-control hunger, often resulting in overeating. When you’re very hungry, it’s also tempting to forget about good nutrition. Snacking between meals can help curb hunger, but don’t eat so much that your snack becomes an entire meal.
6. Reduce, don’t eliminate certain foods. Most people eat for pleasure as well as nutrition. If your favorite foods are high in fat, salt or sugar, the key is moderating how much of these foods you eat and how often you eat them.
   Identify major sources of these ingredients in your diet and make changes, if necessary. Adults who eat high-fat meats or whole-milk dairy products at every meal are probably eating too much fat. Use the Nutrition Facts panel on the food label to help balance your choices.
   Choosing skim or low-fat dairy products and lean cuts of meat such as flank steak and beef round can reduce fat intake significantly.
   If you love fried chicken, however, you don’t have to give it up. Just eat it less often. When dining out, share it with a friend, ask for a take-home bag or a smaller portion.
7. Balance your food choices over time. Not every food has to be “perfect.” When eating a food high in fat, salt or sugar, select other foods that are low in these ingredients. If you miss out on any food group one day, make up for it the next. Your food choices over several days should fit together into a healthy pattern.
8. Know your diet pitfalls. To improve your eating habits, you first have to know what’s wrong with them. Write down everything you eat for three days. Then check your list according to the rest of these tips. Do you add a lot of butter, creamy sauces or salad dressings? Rather than eliminating these foods, just cut back your portions. Are you getting enough fruits and vegetables? If not, you may be missing out on vital nutrients.
9. Make changes gradually. Just as there are no “superfoods” or easy answers to a healthy diet, don’t expect to totally revamp your eating habits overnight. Changing too much, too fast can get in the way of success. Begin to remedy excesses or deficiencies with modest changes that can add up to positive, lifelong eating habits. For instance, if you don’t like the taste of skim milk, try low-fat. Eventually you may find you like skim, too.
10. Remember, foods are not good or bad. Select foods based on your total eating patterns, not whether any individual food is “good” or “bad.” Don’t feel guilty if you love foods such as apple pie, potato chips, candy bars or ice cream. Eat them in moderation, and choose other foods to provide the balance and variety that are vital to good health.

See Reference Guide for: Vitamins   Minerals   Amino Acids   Herbs   Special Nutrients   Anti-Oxidants  Dietary Fibers   Nutritional Greens  also see   Nutritional Glossary   INDEX 

Figuring Out Fat

With so much information available about the effects of dietary fat on health, understanding the role fat plays in a well-balanced diet can be pretty confusing. To cut through the confusion, it’s important to remember that fat is an essential nutrient that everyone needs to stay healthy.

Fat is a valuable energy source and carries fat-soluble vitamins needed for proper growth and development. It also contributes important taste and textural qualities that are part of enjoying food.

Too much fat, however, can increase the risk of heart disease, obesity and other health problems. When moderating fat intake, it’s important to consider these points:

• Health authorities recommend Americans consume 30 percent or less of their total daily calories from fat, with 10 percent or less of those calories from saturated fat. Remember, the 30 percent refers to your total fat intake over time, not single foods or meals. Use the following chart to guide your fat intake.
• If you eat this Total fat Total saturated
  number of calories per day fat per day
  per day: (grams) (grams)1,600 53 or less 18 or less
  2,000 65 or less 20 or less
  2,200 73 or less 24 or less
  2,500 80 or less 25 or less  

• Use the Nutrition Facts panel on the food label to help determine how much fat is in foods. Remember, it’s the total fat intake over time that’s important. A food high in fat can be part of a healthy diet as long as it’s balanced with other lower-fat food choices.
• All fats are a combination of saturated, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids. Each of these types of fats have different effects on the body, but all contain nine calories per gram.
• Blood cholesterol levels are influenced by family history, weight, age, smoking, physical activity and eating habits. Studies have shown that diets which are too high in certain saturated fatty acids and dietary cholesterol can raise blood cholesterol.

See Reference Guide for:   Special Nutrients    Dietary Fibers   Nutritional Greens   Digestive Nutrients  

The Food Guide Pyramid

The Food Guide Pyramid is a practical tool to help you make food choices that are consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Using the Pyramid enables you to eat a variety of foods daily so that you can get the nutrients you need.

To make the most of the Pyramid, you need to know what counts as a serving.

• Food Group–Serving Size
• Bread–1 slice bread, 1\2 bagel or English muffin, 1 ounce ready-to-eat cereal, 1\2 cup cooked cereal, rice or pasta, or 5-6 small crackers
• Vegetable–1 cup raw, leafy vegetables, 1\2 cup cooked or chopped raw vegetables or 3\4 cup vegetable juice
• Fruit–1 medium piece of fruit, 1\2 cup mixed fruit or 3\4 cup fruit juice
• Milk–1 cup milk or yogurt, 11\2 ounces natural cheese or 2 ounces process cheese
• Meat–2 – 3 ounces cooked lean meat, poultry or fish (about the size of a deck of cards)
• Other foods which count as 1 ounce meat: 1\2 cup cooked dry beans, 1 egg, 2 tablespoons peanut butter or 1\3 cup nuts

If You Want To Know More

A nutrition expert can help you develop a personal action plan for improving your eating habits while keeping the fun in food. A registered dietitian (R.D.) is an authority on food, nutrition and health, and can provide valuable information and advice.

To locate a registered dietitian in your area, ask your physician, or call the consumer nutrition hot line (800/366-1655) of the National Center for Nutrition and Dietetics, the public education center of The American Dietetic Association. Registered dietitians are available to answer your food and nutrition questions Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. central time. In addition, you can listen to nutrition messages in English and Spanish, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. central time.

International Food Information Council Foundation
1100 Connecticut Avenue, N.W.
Suite 430
Washington, DC 20036

Reprinted from the International Food Information Council Foundation, 1994

Anthem Blue Cross California has rolled out their new 2011 plans and there is a lot to like about them. These plan offer better benefits plus lower premiums to save the money conscious consumer money. Lets see if the other major California Carriers follow suit with lower rate pricing. The new plans include the following: 

• Premiere Plus
• Smart Sense Plus 
• Clear Protection Plus 

I’m excited about these plans and I feel they offer much needed benefits at premiums most people can afford. Call me today for more information on how I can save you money on your California health insurance @ 800-260-9051 or visit me on the web http://nicoleknowshealthinsurance.com

Industry Study Finds Too Many Households With Young Children Lack Coverage

NEW YORK, Nov. 10, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Life insurance policies offer essential financial protection for families, especially those with school-age children, against a rare but potentially devastating event, the premature death of a household’s primary wage-earner. Yet a recent nationwide study found that the number of households covered by individual life insurance has decreased, according to the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.).

“You need life insurance coverage if you are the primary wage earner in a household, or if someone relies on you financially,” said Michael Barry, the I.I.I.’s vice president, Media Relations. “And the premium payments are reasonable when you consider the level of protection a policyholder’s beneficiaries receive.”

According to LIMRA, its upcoming 2010 Trends in Life Insurance Ownership study indicates that 11 million U.S. households with children under the age of 18 have no individual life insurance policyholder in the family. LIMRA says in the same report that individual life insurance coverage in the U.S. has hit a 50-year low.

LIMRA does note that one in four U.S. households in 2010 had a wage earner who was covered under a group life insurance policy, often secured through their employer. The economic downturn of 2008 and 2009, however, has had an impact in this area, too, because these wage earners often lose their only life insurance coverage if they become unemployed or have their work hours reduced.  

In the absence of an individual or group life insurance policy, a deceased wage earner’s spouse and school-age beneficiaries may need to rely largely on Social Security survivor benefits as their main source of income.

Those in the market for life insurance need to know there are two major types of policies: Term and Permanent.  

• Term insurance is a form of life insurance that pays out only if the death occurs during the “term” of the policy, which is usually anywhere from one to 30 years. The premium rates for term policies are comparatively less expensive than they used to be, as Americans as a whole live longer and healthier lives.
• If you are buying a short-term life insurance policy (under 10 years), look for renewal guarantees. A renewal guarantee gives you the right to start a new term after the current one ends. You will pay a higher premium based on your current age, but will not be required to undergo a new health exam nor submit any other “evidence of insurability.” Without the renewal guarantee, you would have to start from scratch when applying for a policy and, if your health has deteriorated in the interim, you might end up paying significantly higher premiums or not getting coverage at all.
• Permanent life insurance encompasses several subcategories, including traditional whole life, universal life, variable life and variable universal life. Unlike term life, permanent policies remain in force as long as the premium is paid, and some policies accumulate a cash value. The premium rates for whole life policies have generally remained stable in recent years.

 

“Look for a policy that meets your needs,” said Barry. “There are ways to save money when buying life insurance but they don’t always involve paying a lower premium immediately.”

The I.I.I. offers the following tips to maximize your life insurance dollars when buying a policy:

Before You Buy

1. Assess the quality of the company

An insurance policy is only as good as the company that backs it. You should make sure that the company that issues your policy will be around to service it and eventually to pay the death claim. There are several ratings agencies that assess insurance companies on their ability to remain financially sound over the long term. A rating represents an independent assessment of the insurer’s ability to pay its claims on time and meet all its other financial obligations; reviewing these ratings can help you find a financially strong company. It is a good idea to look at at least two of the four leading ratings agencies: A.M. Best, Fitch, Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s. The I.I.I. also offers guidance on selecting the right life insurance company: How do I pick a life insurance company?

2. Look into group insurance

Consider participating in your employer-sponsored group life insurance program, even if you have to contribute to it financially. Policies available through the workplace often have the advantage of group rates and limited medical underwriting. Employers may subsidize their group insurance costs as well. It is worth exploring what is available to you through the workplace and comparing it to coverage available to you as an individual. In comparing group to individual life insurance, remember that if you have over $50,000 of group life insurance, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) determines how much it costs to provide the amount over $50,000 and imputes taxable income for that cost. If you are in your fifties or older, or are buying larger amounts of life insurance coverage, it is worth taking these IRS rules into consideration.

3. Buy when you are healthy

Find out which rate class you will be grouped into and, if necessary, consider making some lifestyle changes—not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight and exercising regularly—to qualify for a more favorable rate class. Buy when you are younger and healthier, if possible. Older people and those not in the best of health pay steeply higher rates for life insurance, so buy as early as you can once you have dependents.

WHEN YOU’RE READY TO BUY

1. Don’t Shop Around on the Basis of Price Alone:

While life insurance is a very competitive business, and you may find differences of hundreds of dollars in annual premiums among similar companies for the same face-value policy, it is important to consider the additional features that a policy may have as well as the insurer’s overall reputation. The guaranteed cash value component of a higher-premium life insurance policy, for instance, may justify the additional expenditure on the policyholder’s part. When comparing policies, Internet quotes and online research can be a good place to start. You can also ask an agent or broker to get you a premium estimate for several life insurance companies.

2. Look for premium discounts

Most companies offer rate discounts for specified insurance amounts. For example, you might actually pay a lower rate per dollar of coverage for $250,000 of life insurance than for $200,000, or for $500,000 of life insurance than for $450,000, because a discount kicks in at the higher insurance amount.

3. Beware of “fractional premiums”

Typically, you can pay your annual life insurance premium in a single payment, or in smaller amounts more frequently during the year. Although the latter method might seem easier, some companies add steep charges for paying premiums in installments.

The I.I.I.’s Life Insurance Basics covers many of these issues in more detail, and the I.I.I. has two videos on the subject of life insurance. One highlights the issues prospective policyholders need to consider before buying a policy, and the other offers guidance on tracking down a lost life insurance policy. The Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education (LIFE) is an excellent resource on this topic, as well.

Halloween was a blast with all the kids in the neighborhood showing up in costume and the elections are over and we have a lot of change in government this time around. I’m staying on top of the health reform bill here in California which is leading the nation in example by creating our health care exchanges last month. Although they won’t be implemented until 2014 California will have time to figure out what is needed and work with the carriers to the benefit of the consumer. Right now everything is speculation but it seems there will be more plans and benefits available to you as the bill was intended to give the consumer more plans, benefits, and price options for their health insurance. Some of the new benefits will be in effect in next year’s health plans like free check-ups and screenings as well as children can’t be denied coverage for pre-existing conditions which will help a lot of families. While the new plans are being sorted out Blue Shield of California is the only provider offering child only plans to the consumer but that is likely to change. I’ll keep you posted as I get more info!

For the Lowest prices available on California Health Insurance visit me at NicoleKnowsHealthInsurance.com or just Google “nicole knows“

I’m getting lots of inquiries as to what is happening with California health Insurance and Health Care Reform, good things are happening for the consumer with better benefits and check-ups being added at minimal pricing. There is a lot of confusion out there about the reform and more congressional work to be done before it is polished into shape but in the end the changes will help the common person to have better health insurance at a lower price. It is a process we are in not an end result, there are some good things coming into place now such as preventative screenings and no denial for children. Currently Blue Shield  is the only California carrier offering  child only plans  while the rest restructure there plans for children. Call me for more info 2 800-260-9051 or visit Nicole Knows Health Insurance for instant quotes.

I’m busy today sending this message out to all of my clients that have put off signing up for health insurance coverage. Premiums are going up as much as 25% come October 1.  With part of the healthcare reform taking effect 9/23 all of the carriers are changing their plans and raising rates.  Take advantage of current plans and lock in lower rates by applying now. 

Contact me at 800-260-9051 or Nicole@Nicoleknowshealthinsurance.com and let’s get you covered!

P.S. Just Google Nicoleknows to visit my website where you can get free, fast quotes and even apply for the plan of your choice.

Be sure to sign up now with an effective date before September 22 to lock in a lower rate. There is the possibility of rate increases averaging as much 20 percent for individuals, according to a new survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit research organization. And the new law stops short of giving the federal government direct authority to veto rate increases. There are distinct new benefits that will come with the new plans after Sep. 23 but with those will also come a price. Call Nicole today for more information; 800-260-9051 or visit us on the web for instant quotes @ NicoleKnowsHealthInsurance.com

Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act, H.R. 758 (110)

In brief: A bipartisan bill to amend the Public Health Service Act and Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to require that group and individual health insurance coverage and group health plans provide coverage for a minimum hospital stay for mastectomies and lymph node dissections performed for the treatment of breast cancer

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Incidences of breast cancer are on the rise. According to the National Cancer Institute, 1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. Twenty years ago, the risk was 1 in 11. In 2008 it was estimated that more than a quarter of a million American women will be newly diagnosed with breast cancer. It is the leading cause of cancer death for women between the ages of 20 and 59.

Today many women are forced to leave the hospital just hours after going through a painful mastectomy, the procedure that treats breast cancer by removing one or more of a woman’s breasts. In instances often referred to as “drive-through mastectomies”, many health insurance companies are refusing to provide coverage for a minimum stay, hoping to have the surgery administered as an outpatient procedure, despite the wishes of patients and their doctors. 

The Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act would prohibit insurance providers from restricting benefits for any hospital length of stay to less than 48 hours for a mastectomy and 24 hours for a lymph node dissection. It does not require that the patient be in the hospital for the full 48 hours, only that the hospital stay be covered if deemed necessary by the patient’s doctor. It also prohibits the insurance plan from requiring authorization from the doctor prior to the procedure and hospital stay.

The bipartisan bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives in September 2008 by a 421-to-2 margin. Due to intense lobbying by members of the insurance industry, the bill did reach the floor for a vote in the U.S. Senate before the end of the 110th Congress. GFWC will be monitoring the status of this very important bill as it moves along in the 111th Congress.

 

I really feel for anyone who develops a medical condition and doesn’t yet have health insurance. I deal with a lot of people who understandably are going through tough economic times and put off applying even for a basic low cost health insurance plan. Unfortunately in some cases during that time of deciding something happens and they need medical attention or discover something gone wrong health wise and call me saying I need a plan now because I have a problem. In most cases it’s then too late; the health insurance carriers deny them with a pre-existing condition. I do everything I can and sometimes but rarely get them pushed through on sheer determination or a small exception rule I find but not often. So please protect yourself with at a good health insurance plan or at least a catastrophic plan with a low premium and a reasonable deductable so you aren’t put in that position ever.