How Much Will Accountable Care Organizations Change Healthcare?

As it stands now, most health providers in the healtchare industry make money when people get sick.  This is a fundamental flaw in the system, for it does not financially incentivize these providers, such as doctors and hospitals, to ensure that people remain healthy.  A big emphasis of the new healthcare reform is incentivizing individuals to keep themselves healthy and to penalize providers for providing poor care.  The following article does a great job outlining how Accountable Care Organizations, or ACOs, may go a long way in accomplishing this, and how they may change the future of healthcare: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/08/03/2344316/will-acos-create-a-revolution.html

Medical Costs in the Information Age

As medical costs grow and the frustrations of sitting in doctors’ office waiting rooms for hours mount, the benefits of self-care are becoming more evident.  Recently, I was doing yoga, and I felt a bit odd.  Why?  Not because I was sweating profusely, but because my instructor was on the television.  On the same station they offer classes for Pilates, aerobics, and Tai Chi. 

In the Internet age, we have so many resources for keeping ourselves healthy right at our fingertips.  Need some good advice for staying trim?  Go to Google.  Need some good tips for how to stretch correctly?  Check the videos on YouTube.  Have a medical problem you are worried about?  Check WebMd. 

The point is, we spend so much money on keeping ourselves healthy, but it does not necessarily need to be this way.  Instead of paying for a personal trainer or a physical therapist, often we can just as easily get treatment by doing the right research in the right place. 

Saving Money Through Personal Preventive Healthcare

An interesting study on the Affordable Care Act that shows that even by extending health insurance to 30 million more Americans, health costs in the next ten years will only rise by about one-tenth of a percentage point more than without the Act.  While this is certainly an encouraging statistic, the article does not explain exactly who will be paying for the costs.  As it remains to be seen exactly what will happen with the new healthcare laws, and if Barack Obama's legislation will be effective, it stands clear that the best way to cut down on healthcare costs is preventive care.  If we take care of our minds and bodies by regularly exercising, living a healthy lifestyle, and visiting the doctor, we will avoid costly emergency treatment.  If we adopted this mindset as an entire society, healthcare costs would drop precipitously.

Video Montage With Quotes on Aging

A video montage with some funny and inspirational quotes on aging.  My personal favorite from Frank Lloyd Wright: The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes.

How Exercise Keeps the Mind Limber

We all know that exercise helps build strength, flexibility, balance, and that it reduces stress, but a new study shows how exercise impacts long-term memory.  The New York Times recently published an article about the effects of moderate exercise and how well it increases one's capacity to stave off memory loss.  The conclusion as always?  Exercise! The article: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/27/how-exercise-can-keep-the-brain-fit/?smid=tw-nytimeshealth&seid=auto

Seven Ways to Fight Alzheimer's

A new study suggests that there are seven risk factors that one can prevent in order to avoid Alzheimer's. The study found that you could reduce proneness to Alzheimer's by quitting smoking, increasing mental and physical exercise, controlling blood pressure and diabetes, and managing blood pressure and obesity. The article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43​854005/ns/health-aging/

The Health Benefits of Yoga

The University of Missouri put together a movie about the health benefits of yoga.  Doing yoga helps increase flexibility, strength, posture, balance, concentration, and mood, and decreases stress.  So find the nearest yoga studio, bring a bottle of water, and get ready to sweat!