Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2016

Staying Active When It’s Cold Outside.

We completed another successful webinar yesterday on helpful healthcare tips for busy moms. This was our fifth webinar and I have been enjoying this experience in sharing my healthcare tips with you. I hope you continue to tune in!

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to answer one of the live questions we received during the webinar. I thank you all for submitting such wonderful questions.

One of the questions I received was, “How do you find the motivation to workout when it’s cold and rainy outside?”

As a working mother raising two young girls, finding the time and energy to stay active was always a challenge. It is especially difficult during the colder, rainier months of the year.

Getting outside and spending time in nature is said to energize you and combat depression, even if it is just a 10-minute walk. For me, what made working out easier during these months was to find fun and creative ways to get me and my family out the door.

For me and my girls, taking a walk outside was something we looked forward to and a time where we could catch up with each other. If you have a pet, take your family outside for a walk with your pet. If it’s cold outside, invest in a few workout pieces that can keep you both comfortable and warm.

Trying fun activities such as sledding, building a snowman, making snow angels, skiing, are all great ways to continue activity when it’s cold. Don’t forget to get creative with your indoor activities as well and try indoor playgrounds, swimming, rock climbing, bowling or touring a local museum.

The greatest thing I learned through the process of finding motivation was to continue the habit of being active. The more I continued to exercise even when the weather wasn’t optimal or I didn’t have the most energy, the easier it became to maintain an active lifestyle. Research also suggests that it takes 21 days to make or break a habit, so the longer you can continue your healthy routine, the easier it will be to maintain.

If you missed out on my live webinar yesterday on Helpful Healthcare Tips for Busy Moms, you still have time to register HERE for additional webinar times this weekend!

Posted on Monday, March 7, 2016

How Do I Get Health Insurance for my Child?

One question that I get asked periodically is, “How do I get health insurance for my kids?” This particularly comes up during pregnancy when parents start thinking ahead to the birth of their baby.

Getting health insurance for your kids doesn’t need to be complicated. You will usually go to your own health insurance company and add them to your plan.

If you receive your health insurance through your employer, you can go to your human resources department and add the child to the health plan when the child is born. If you are receiving health insurance from another carrier, you will contact the company directly to add your child to your health plan.

If you don’t have insurance (remember: under current regulations, everyone should) or can’t insure your child on your plan, the next place to look is Medicaid. Medicaid offers a Children’s Health Insurance Program, aptly named CHIP. It offers early and periodic screening, diagnostic, and treatment, just as other health plans do.

There are income restrictions for CHIP, however, so if your income doesn’t qualify you, then you’ll want to go through the health exchange (that is, Obamacare) to get your kids insured.

One standard that Obamacare brought with it, which now applies to most health plans, is that parents can keep their children on their health plan until the age of 26, as long as the child is enrolled in school.

This has made it easier to ensure that children have health insurance.

As you would for your own health plan, shop around to find the best solution for your family. Make sure your children have a health plan that covers their specific needs.

Want to know more about choosing health plans? Get my ebook set Easy Healthcare: Set Two. It included Choosing Your Health Insurance, and Obamacare, as wells as What You Need First. It is available in all major ebook formats. Get it here.

Posted on Thursday, December 3, 2015

Can You Get Your Senior’s (or Spouse’s) Medical Records?

Your aging parent is having some medical concerns. As their son or daughter, you think it will be a breeze to help them through doctor and hospital visits, paperwork, insurance, and so on. But do you have the right to your senior’s medical records? Or your spouse’s medical records?

Not automatically. It’s a matter of privacy. Their records are private, just as yours are, accessible only by them and anyone else they happened to designate. If you’re jumping in to help, it could cause the process to slowdown if you aren’t specifically chosen by them.

This affects not only spouses or grown children trying to help their aging parents, but also patients who may want their primary caregiver (family or otherwise) to have access to their medical records.

Often paperwork is given at the doctor’s office or the hospital that has the patient provide a name and contact information for anyone additional who is allowed to receive information about the patient’s medical. If this paperwork isn’t given automatically, the patient can and should request an authorization form designating permission.

Incidentally, a doctor is allowed to give information to a spouse or family member if he or she is present during a doctor’s visit or a hospital stay. If the patient has a family member come with them to the doctor, the doctor can assume that the patient wants the family member to have access to the medical information being given unless the patient states otherwise.

While being at the doctor with the patient may allow you to hear current diagnoses or recommendations, it does not guarantee full medical record access. If the patient wants you to be able to access more than the current conversation, have them authorize you in writing.