As a means to make America healthier, the health care reform bill includes provisions to provide screenings for cholesterol, diabetes, and blood pressure. These new rules allows for preventative care to be covered under your insurance plan at no additional cost. Under these new rules, if you enroll in a new health plan on or after Sept. 23, 2010, the plan must provide recommended preventive care services without cost-sharing such as co-pays or deductibles.Depending on the type of health plan and other factors such as your age, preventative care will include the following according to sources:· Blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol test· Cancer screenings· Counseling on smoking cessation, weight loss, healthy eating, depression treatments, and reduction of alcohol use· Vaccines for measles, polio, meningitis, and HPV (human papilloma virus)· Shots for flu and pneumonia prevention· Screening, vaccines, and counseling for healthy pregnancies· Well-baby and well-child visits up to the age of 21, as well as vision and hearing, developmental assessments, and body mass index (BMI) screenings for obesity· Mammograms for women over age 40· Pap smears for cervical cancer prevention· Colon cancer screening tests for adults over age 50The plan is designed to create a country which will be healthier. This reform represents a fundamental shift in how you are going to be cared for. This reform will place the focus on how to keep you well rather than how to treat you when you are sick. So many Americans go about their daily lives without knowing the status of their well being. Many of you don’t realize that you have a potential life threatening condition such as high cholesterol until it’s too late. In most cases the co-pays and other out-of-pocket costs to help identify these problems are a stumbling block. This plan will provide you with the means to be tested so you can know where you stand so you can know what to do to correct these conditions before it becomes a serious issue. The reason why the health care reform bill has place an emphasis on preventative care is because chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes and others are responsible for seven of 10 deaths among American each year and account for 75% of the nation’s health care spending. According to government estimates between now and 2013, the new preventive care provisions will help an estimated 88 million Americans get preventive care, including those in group and individual plans.What you need to do is check with your employers and their insurance policy about what is covered under those plans, when the plans turn over to a new one the new covered preventive services provisions will take effect. If you have an existing health care plan you are paying for individually, contact them to find what will be the process to implement the provisions of the health care reform bill. In the meantime you are encouraged to go to check out www.healthcare.gov, type in a health plan, and see if preventive care is covered under your current plan. As always to your health!

In the 1950s, the United States saw a population increase like it had never seen before. Soldiers returning from the atrocities and disillusionment of World War Two were eager to start families and build successful lives. Now, as the children of these inspired veterans reach their later years, we as a country are faced with more elderly citizens to care for than ever before. This will put a significant strain on social services but it also opens up a lucrative opportunity for people and companies in the home health care field.It has been said that by 2025 the United States will have an estimated 72 million people over the age of 65. That’s more people than live in the entirety of France! As these elderly people fall ill or simply experience the symptoms of age, hospitals and health care providers will have to expand to meet this increased need.The worries for this situation include everything that comes along with dramatic shifts in demographics. The United States has never had to care for this many elderly people before in the history of the country. The transition to caring for this new population will of course mean significant cultural and structural changes. As most state and local governments are already in debt, this increased need for medical care is a quandary.In contrast to these worries, there are also lots of good things that can come from this transition. Most importantly, the jobs that will be created as the health care field expands will revitalize the American economy.A trend to watch in modern health care is choosing in home care rather than sending the patient to a hospital or assisted living facility. Home health care has a plethora of emotional and physical health benefits and is usually the top choice among family members of the elderly.Because in home care requires more staff, this trend will create even more jobs in the health care field. Having a respectable field of employment with a demand for workers equal to American unemployment rates is essential to revitalizing the economy.Enough jobs, it is well and widely known, means a healthy, sustainable and resilient economy. With more people unemployed than ever before, medical work is becoming one of the chief fields of study in colleges. As baby boomers age, the medical field is promised an ever-rising demand for all sorts of care.Did you know that two-thirds of people over 65 need a caregiver to assist them in their daily activities? That means that two-thirds of the estimated 72 million senior citizens in the year 2025 will require a medical provider in their home. Many people are worried that so many people becoming elderly will bury the existing infrastructure However, if carried out correctly, the influx of job openings in home health care and other medical niches could raise the economy from the dead.