Month: July 2022

Californians brace for increased healthcare premiums if federal subsidies expire

July 14, 2022 Billie S. Dickenson
SACRAMENTO — 

For the last two years, Syd Winlock has had a major burden lifted from his surgically repaired shoulder.

Federal subsidies passed as part of a temporary pandemic relief package have drastically cut how much he pays in healthcare premiums, allowing the Sacramento-area small-business owner to purchase an insurance plan during the last two years that provided better coverage for his shoulder and knee replacements.

Those federal subsidies, however, will expire at the end of this year if Congress does not extend the program. His “very manageable” price — about $700 a month for him and his wife — will increase to $2,300, Winlock said.

“Even if we went to a lesser-type policy, it would still be about $1,800 a month,” Winlock, 63, said. “I mean, that’s more than my mortgage.”

Roughly 150,000 lower- and middle-income Californians would be similarly priced out of coverage by the rising premiums if

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Launch of the COVID-19 impact on nutrition Analytical Framework

July 14, 2022 Billie S. Dickenson

The COVID-19 pandemic shocked the world affecting organizations and institutions that supported the delivery of nutrition programs at all levels. To timely respond to the needs of the nutrition community, the Agile Core Team for Nutrition
Monitoring (ACT-NM) group, a collaboration amongst UNICEF, USAID, WHO and USAID Advancing Nutrition, developed an analytical framework for exploring pathways for the impact of COVD-19 pandemic on key nutrition outcomes.

The comprehensive analytical framework encompasses the six maternal, infant and young children nutrition targets endorsed by WHA, the outcomes monitored towards the elimination of malnutrition in all its forms, one of the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) targets. 

Linking the overarching categories of food, health, social protection, education, water, and sanitation to outcomes and impacts of COVID-19 on nutrition, the Analytical Framework the is an useful tool that allows users to construct context-specific pathways
to study the impact of COVID-19 and future shocks.

The Analytical

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watchOS 9 preview: A hearty upgrade for workout and sleep tracking

July 14, 2022 Billie S. Dickenson

Apple may have the best smartwatch around, but there are still some areas where it lags the competition, particularly in exercise and sleep tracking. With watchOS 9, the company is bringing a robust slate of Workout updates, alongside new watch faces, redesigned apps and the ability to detect sleep zones. Now that the public beta is here, we can get a first look at whether the company can close those gaps.

To install the watchOS beta, you’ll need to have an Apple Watch Series 4 or newer, as well as an iPhone running the iOS 16 beta. That means if you don’t want to risk losing your data, you might want to wait until an official release before updating.

Hearty changes in Workouts

Some of the most impactful updates are in workouts. Apple added pages that present more data when you’re logging an activity, so you can easily keep

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Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision could affect health insurance coverage

July 13, 2022 Billie S. Dickenson

Abortion rights demonstrators protest outside the United States Supreme Court as the court rules in the Dobbs v Women’s Health Organization abortion case, overturning the landmark Roe v Wade abortion decision in Washington, U.S., June 24, 2022. 

Jim Bourg | Reuters

Even when Roe v. Wade was in effect and women had the legal right to an abortion no matter where they lived in the U.S., health insurance coverage of the procedure was limited.

Many states restrict what plans can cover, and a decadeslong national law bans the use of federal funds for abortions, meaning that women on Medicaid and Medicare were often not covered when it came to pregnancy terminations.

With abortion now expected to be prohibited in at least half the states after the landmark decision protecting women’s right to an abortion was overturned by the Supreme Court last week, coverage will only become rarer, experts say.

More

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Hunger and nutrition are non-negotiables: Experts

July 13, 2022 Billie S. Dickenson

HUNGER and nutrition should become non-negotiables under the Marcos administration, according to local economists.

With the majority of Filipinos already not being able to afford healthy diets, the recent spike in inflation caused by more expensive food items would require the national government to introduce interventions.

One intervention, Ateneo Eagle Watch Senior Fellow Leonardo A. Lanzona Jr. told the BusinessMirror, is for the government to provide food subsidies instead of cash subsidies. This will ensure that families do not grow hungry and that the food is also good for them.

“I would like to note that hunger and nutrition are non-negotiables. There seems to be a general trend in this and the previous administration to focus on the economy and basically assume that income will be distributed automatically,” Lanzona said in an e-mail over the weekend.

“It is important to prioritize health, nutrition and education because downgrading their values

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A Top Trainer Shared His Workout for Building ‘Boulder Shoulders’

July 13, 2022 Billie S. Dickenson

In a new video on the Athlean-X channel, strength coach Jeff Cavaliere C.S.C.S. demonstrates a series of exercises that he says will help you build “boulder shoulders” by recruiting all three heads of the deltoid muscle.

He starts off with the dumbbell seesaw press, an alternating overhead press variation where you push one arm up as you’re pulling the other down. “Neurologically, we actually function as push-pull machines, so we can get better output by pulling down while we’re trying to push up,” says Cavaliere.

He recommends doing this for 4 sets, starting with a weight where you can reach failure in the 8 to 10 rep range, then switching to a weight where you’ll fail at 6 to 8 reps for the second, third and fourth sets. Then when you’re hitting fatigue after the fourth set, finish off by dropping one of the dumbbells and perform over-and-backs, using

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Half million Floridians could lose health insurance in 2023, study says

July 12, 2022 Billie S. Dickenson

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — If the federal Premium Tax Credits expire due to legislative inaction in U.S. Congress, over half a million Floridians will lose their health insurance. The PTCs were set up through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which temporarily expanded eligibility to pay for health insurance through 2022.

So far, U.S. Congress efforts in the House and Senate have failed to finalize a plan to extend the PTC credits, putting over 3 million people at risk of losing their health care coverage, purchased through the market set up by the Affordable Care Act of 2010.

Of the 3.12 million across the U.S., based on estimates by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Urban Institute, 513,000 of those who would lose their insurance are Florida residents. That’s 16% of Americans at risk

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ASN paper highlights the strengths, limitations of research methods used in nutrition science

July 12, 2022 Billie S. Dickenson

The American Society for Nutrition (ASN) highlights the value that all methodologies used in nutrition research contribute to the discipline, and that all methodologies, when used and interpreted appropriately, contribute to the evidence base. This is imperative to make informed decisions such as in policy development and implementation. The white paper, “Valuing the Diversity of Research Methods to Advance Nutrition Science,” was published today in Advances in Nutrition.

As ASN President Martha Belury, PhD, RD, stated, “All methods in nutrition science complement one another in order to advance health and well-being.” The ASN Board of Directors commissioned development of this white paper, “Valuing the Diversity of Research Methods to Advance Nutrition Science,” following growing polarization within the nutrition science community and among the audiences that translate and apply nutrition research. Differences of opinion are often shaped as conflicts when they should be considered as areas of

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When Does Health Insurance Cover Abortions?

July 11, 2022 Billie S. Dickenson

Following the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade last week, Americans who live in areas that ban abortion now must travel out-of-state in order to receive the medical care they’re seeking.

On top of the financial burden created by travel alone, abortions can cost anywhere from $350 to over $1,500. But depending on the state you live in and your insurance provider, health insurance can cover some or all of the bill. 

Insider spoke with two health policy experts about which insurance plans cover abortion, and questions to ask your provider in the post-Roe era. 

Which types of insurance plans cover abortion? 

State policies on abortion health insurance coverage.

State policies on abortion health insurance coverage.


KFF



After the fall of Roe v. Wade, many companies across the US announced they would cover travel costs for employees seeking out-of-state medical care. 

Employer health insurance falls into two categories: fully-insured plans and self-insured plans. A fully-insured

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Biden Administration Takes Additional Steps to Strengthen Child Nutrition Programs

July 11, 2022 Billie S. Dickenson

Department providing another nearly $1 billion boost to schools for purchasing food

WASHINGTON, June 30, 2022 – The Biden Administration announced today that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will provide nearly $1 billion in additional funding to schools to support the purchase of American-grown foods for their meal programs. The department also applauds the President’s recent signing of the Keep Kids Fed Act, which equips schools, summer meal sites, and child care food programs with extra resources so they can continue serving children through school year 2022-2023. Both actions are a response to the significant challenges child nutrition program operators continue to face, such as high food costs and supply chain disruptions.

“The Biden Administration knows that ongoing impacts of supply chain issues and rising food costs continue to be a challenge for many schools and child nutrition operators, and we are thankful for Congress stepping up to ease

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