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A few weeks ago I noticed that I was seeing an increasing number of commercials advertising inexpensive “easy to get” health insurance.  The first thing that came to my mind was…This has got to be some sort of scam.  Otherwise, wouldn’t everyone be getting cheap insurance? It’s sad really, with over 46 million Americans uninsured, there is no shortage of scammers lining up to exploit them.

It seems I was right.  If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

These fake and deceptive health plans are spreading like wildfire across the country, taking advantage of our troubled economy and playing on people’s fears.  Victims of this insurance fraud have been saddled with tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills when their bogus insurers refuse to pay.  And this isn’t a problem that is going to go away any time soon, so consumers need to learn how to recognize these fraudulent policies and protect themselves.

Here’s what AARP is saying these scams…

With the recession, rising unemployment and continued debate over health care reform, “there’s a perfect storm of circumstances that resulted in a new proliferation in fake and deceptive health insurance,” says Jim Quiggle of the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, a Washington-based consumer watchdog group.

“Some of these policies are completely phony, delivering nothing but a piece of paper. Others promise full health benefits, but provide shriveled coverage and expensive hidden costs.

This is from the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud…

Typically, crooked plans aggressively market full health coverage, but deliver no coverage at all, stripped-down policies that deliver little, or medical discount cards (which require members to pay most expenses themselves). Blast faxes, invasive telemarketing, insurance agents and enticing websites are among the marketing tools. Regulators in most states have been forced to crack down over the last two years. But the plans are hard to shut down. Often they simply disappear and resurface under new names, without required state licenses.

This is how the scams work and here are 9 warning signs to look for.

If you suspect fraud – Here is a state by state list of fraud bureaus.

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Are healthcare, politics, and the high cost of healthy foods related?

Yes.

Let me start by saying…I am so sick of politics I could throw-up.  But that said, this is about much more than politics.  It’s about the warped reality we are all living in, from the White House to our local supermarket and fast food joint.

About two weeks ago I read an article comparing the cost of health care to the cost of food.  It suggests that the best way to solve the healthcare crisis, is for all consumers to be forced to pay more for healthcare – Because then people would think about the cost before “choosing” certain tests and treatments.  What a shocking revelation…Who would have thought (other than the CATO Institute) that the people who can’t afford expensive health care services would “choose” not to have them?  Although, I wouldn’t really consider that a choice.

Ironically, the article also makes an analogy reinforcing the fact that low-income families are essentially forced to make unhealthy food choices do to the high cost of healthy foods.  And not only is this OK with the author of this article, but it’s actually the method he proposes to solve the health care crisis.

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We’ve heard a lot about too many mammograms leading to too many invasive biopsies. But now a recent study is showing that doctors may be doing too many invasive heart tests as well.

Every year more than a million people in the United States are given an angiogram to check for blocked arteries, but in many cases the tests reveal no significant blockage.

Does that mean that all of these tests were unnecessary? Not at all. The study suggests that doctors begin to do a better job determining which patients really need an angiogram…Specifically, that careful evaluation be done when patients have no known heart disease and they are not in an emergency situation.

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I was honored to be asked to attend the Avon Foundation’s Breast Cancer Forum last week in San Francisco.  And I have a lot of information to share with everyone.  I’m going to start with an interview I did with Dr. Laura Esserman.  If the name doesn’t sound familiar, she was one of the researchers behind the controversial change in mammogram recommendations.  I wrote about it for BlogHer back in November in a post titled…

Breast Cancer Screening:  Are women just too emotional for mammograms before 50?

I guess the title of the post speaks to where I stand on the issue.

Although my feelings on this topic are contrary to Dr. Esserman’s point of view, I do think that she believes she has a woman’s best interest at heart.

This is from Dr. Laura Esserman’s bio…

Dr. Laura Esserman, a nationally known breast surgeon, is the director of the UCSF Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center at the Mount Zion campus. Her work is devoted to developing new, more effective ways to care for and empower breast cancer patients during treatment and to tailor treatments using biology, personal preference and constant feedback regarding outcomes of care.

Shortly after Dr. Esserman spoke about her study to the attendees of the breast cancer forum, I had an opportunity to interview her.

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I was honored to be asked to attend the Avon Foundation’s Breast Cancer Forum earlier this week in San Francisco.  And I have so much to share with everyone about all that I learned there.  I decided to do that in a series of posts rather than just one big one.

Here is some of what I’ll be sharing over the next several days…

-  Video interviews with Dr. Laura Esserman on new mammogram recommendations.

-  Video reactions of attendees to Dr. Esserman’s discussion on new mammogram recommendations.

-  Advances in Imaging Technologies to help improve early detection and diagnosis of breast cancer.

-  Is fear of unnecessary biopsies having an impact on early breast cancer detection?

-  Results of survey on the early impact of the new breast cancer screening guidelines.

-  The latest research on Inflammatory Breast Cancer…Signs and symptoms for early diagnosis, new treatment recommendations, understanding why this type of breast cancer can be so deadly.

-  Reaching the medically under-served, uninsured, and under-insured.

-  Nutrition and physical activity in breast cancer.

-  Most effective ways to explain risk factors in breast cancer diagnosis and treatment.

As I post on these topics, I will also include links to them on this post.

Troubling news about teens and sex…Teen pregnancy rates are up after a ten year decline.  There is no doubt that teen pregnancy is on the rise.  The question is…What can we do about it?

It seems obvious that abstinence-only programs aren’t working to reduce teen pregnancy.  If you ask me, it’s not the “abstinence” part that is the problem, it’s the “only” part.  I’m not against teaching abstinence as part of a sex education program, but to only teach abstinence seem irresponsible.

So then, what is the best way to reduce teen pregnancy?

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I came across a pretty disturbing article today…It suggests that doctors are bias against overweight women, to the extent of jeopardizing their health and well-being.  It’s no secret that overweight people are discriminated against in many ways.  But recent studies have found that overweight women are actually being discriminated by their own doctors and health care professionals.  With two out of every three Americans considered to be overweight or obese, this bias could be putting many people at risk.  Could you be one of them?

How serious is the problem?

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Are women just too emotional for mammograms before 50?

Unless you’ve been under a rock all week, you have probably heard about the government task force that has recommended new guidelines for breast cancer prevention.  It goes something like this…

If you’re younger than 50 or older than 75, you no longer have to worry your pretty little head about breast cancer, or getting those pesky boob squishing mammograms.

Hallelujah!  I wonder how long it will be before we go back to giving women Valium for chest pain?  Who needs preventative care when it’s not 100% effective anyway?  Hell, just go ahead and give us anti-anxiety meds for all of our ills…I’ll betcha we save a bundle on healthcare costs. Women already outlive men by a bunch of years, maybe this will even things out a bit…Isn’t equality what we’ve been cryin about all these years?

OK, I know, I went a little too far with my analogy.  But seriously, this is what’s going on…

From Kaiser Health News – Guidelines on Cancer Screening Spark Debate…

On Monday, the United States Preventive Services Task Force recommended that routine mammograms start at age 50 instead of 40, that women receive the test every two years as opposed to annually, and that physicians no longer train women to perform breast self-examination.

Imaging centers saw cancellations for mammograms more than double since the news of these “recommendations” were announced.  I wonder how many of those women may actually have breast cancer right now and will miss the opportunity for early detection and treatment?

I have to admit, I’ve been having a lot of cynical thoughts running through my head since I heard this disturbing news.  Like…

I can’t help but think that if the pharmaceutical companies were profiting from mammograms these recommendations would be suggesting that they begin ten years earlier rather than later.

And then there’s this one…

If a healthcare reform bill is going to benefit the insurance industry (and it must – considering all their lobbying dollars), then insurance companies need guidelines that will allow them to reduce the amount of money they shell out for quality health care.

I know these are just thoughts, but when government panels are established to become corporate bean counters of women’s health policy, it makes me a little angry.

The thing is, when it comes to healthcare for women – I want to see more choices for women, not less.

Check out this video, it really does a nice job of addressing the problems associated with these new guidelines…

Is healthcare for women under attack?

Was I the only one who was completely shocked to find out that this so called panel of experts had three representatives from insurance companies, but no experts in oncology or breast cancer?

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The Great American Smokeout happens every year on the third Thursday in November, and it has been going on each year since 1977.  This is a day that smokers all across the country are encouraged to not smoke, or at least cut back on their smoking for one day.  Each year millions of smokers participate in the smokeout in the hope that this one step will be the catalyst to their quitting permanently.

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In honor of Word Diabetes Day I’ve decided to do a blog roundup of women blogging diabetes.  Most are blogs by women who are living with diabetes, and others are women blogging about parenting a child with diabetes.  I’ve also included several informative links and resources at the end of this post.

If you blog about living with diabetes or World Diabetes Day, please leave your link in comments.

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