• Business and Finance
• Family
• Computers and Internet
• Auto and Trucks
• Education
• Health
• Hobbies
• Home Improvement
• Legal
• Marketing

• Home
• Arthur's Articles Home
• Browse Categories
• Browse Authors
• Submit an Article
• Search for Articles

Home » Health Articles » Sicko And Bill Clinton On Health And Wellness Trends

Sicko and Bill Clinton on Health and Wellness Trends

Have you watched Sicko already? It is very worth doing so.

In order to help put the health problem we are living in better perspective, let me share now some of the insights and advice that Bill Clinton gave us in San Francisco recently at the Healthetc event sponsored by California Pacific Medical Center and KCBS.

Some of the speech highlights:

1) Clinton's great overview of key comparative data:

* 16 vs 10-11: % GDP spent on health care in the US vs. other industrialized countries. This percentage difference equals around $800 billion annually!

* 84 vs 100: % population with some form of health insurance in the US vs. other countries

* 34 and 37: ranking of the US system as measured by health outcomes and life expectancy, respectively

* 34 vs 19: % health care costs spent on administration in the US vs. other countries

2) President Clinton then outlined the 3 main problems with US Healthcare as follows, empathizing that any serious, long-term solution needs to address these 3 elements as a whole:

* immoral unequal coverage, where a large percentage of citizens lack access to quality care

* inefficient system: we pay more for less, as you could see in Sicko

* we still focus more on disease than on health. But he is hopeful about an increasing focus on wellness, absolutely necessary to alleviate future cost pressures

3) Now, let's reflect on couple of (approximate) quotes with profound wisdom

* "I am a testimonial for the best of American medicine. Given my heart problems, it is a miracle I am here with you today. These days I cannot stay more than 5 minutes in a bad mood, because I remind myself how fortunate I am simply to be alive"

* (when people were clapping and cheering to easy "sound bites" while he was still trying to make a complex point) "Please stop. I don't want you to boo or cheer, simply to think on your own"

Amazing words.

In the afternoon, after his speech, we spent some time talking with health providers and attending some panels, such as the one put together by the Alzheimer's Association on ways to prevent or delay Alzheimer's.

We were surprised at the amount of education still needed to make the medical and health community incorporate science-based advice on lifelong learning and mental stimulation on top of "traditional" advice around nutrition and physical exercise. The Alzheimer's Association is being one of the pioneers with their "Maintain Your Brain" campaign, suggesting a comprehensive set of health and wellness guidelines we should all follow:

1) Stay mentally active: "Mentally stimulating activities strengthen brain cells and the connections between them, and may even create new nerve cells."

2) Remain socially active: "Social activity not only makes physical and mental activity more enjoyable, it can reduce stress levels, which helps maintain healthy connections among brain cells"

3) Stay physically active: "Physical exercise is essential for maintaining good blood flow to the brain as well as to encourage new brain cells. It also can significantly reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke and diabetes, and thereby protect against those risk factors for Alzheimer's and other dementias."

4) Adopt a brain-healthy diet: "Research suggests that high cholesterol may contribute to stroke and brain cell damage. A low fat, low cholesterol diet is advisable. And there is growing evidence that a diet rich in dark vegetables and fruits, which contain antioxidants, may help protect brain cells."

No doubt, Bill Clinton would agree with the importance of these guidelines to ensure Baby Boomers can age in a healthy way and prevent the health care system from being overwhelmed with Alzheimer's related costs.

Let's watch with attention what the presidential candidates propose to deal with this situation.

Copyright (c) 2007 SharpBrains

And here is another random article you might be interested in...

Three Rules of Thumb for Mortgage Refinancing

You might think that deciding to refinance a mortgage requires only a quick comparison of loan interest rates. Unfortunately, that's not really true. Refinancing is trickier than that! Fortunately, three useful rules of thumb can often help you make sense of refinancing opportunities.

Rule 1: Don't Ignore Total Interest Costs

You really want to use refinancing as a way to reduce the total interest cost you pay. While that sounds simple in principle, it is sometimes difficult to do. The interest costs you pay are a function of the interest rate, the loan balance, and the loan term period.

When people refinance, they tend to focus solely on the loan interest rate. But they often don't pay as much attention to the loan term or the loan balance.

When you use refinancingâ€"even refinancing at a lower interest rateâ€"to increase your borrowing or to extend the time over which you borrow, you often aren't saving money.

Rule 2: Trade Expensive Money for Cheap Money

For refinancing to make economic sense, however, you do need to swap higher interest rate debt for lower interest rate debt. This calculation, however, is tricky. To make an apples-to-apples comparison, you must look at the annual percentage rate that will be charged on your new loanâ€"this is the best measure of the new loan's interest rate costâ€"and then compare this to the loan interest rate on your old loan.

You don't want to compare interest rates on the two loans nor do you want to compare annual percentage rates on the two loans. Again, just to make this perfectly clear: You want to compare the loan interest rate on the old loan to the annual percentage rate on the new loan.

When the annual percentage rate on the new loan is lower than the loan interest rate on the old loan, then you are truly paying a lower interest rate.

Comparing annual percentage rates with loan interest rates seems confusing at first. But note that you would pay only interest on your old or current loan, so that's all you need to look at in terms of its costs. With a new loan, however, you would pay both interest and any origination or closing cost fees. The annual percentage rate wraps the interest rate charges and setup charges, origination charges, and closing cost fees into one interest rate-like number.

Rule 3: Don't Lengthen the Repayment Period

Be careful that you don't extend the length of time you borrow by continually refinancing. For example, one common rule of thumb states that every time interest rates drop by two percentage points, you should refinance your mortgage. However, there have been times in recent history when following this rule would have had you refinancing your mortgage every few years. This could mean that you would never get your mortgage paid off. If you refinanced every few years, you would suddenly find yourself still 30 years away from having your mortgage paid.