After Medical Bills Broke the Bank, This Family Headed to Mexico for Care

April 29, 2022 Vera

The Fierro family of Yuma, Arizona, had a string of bad medical luck that started in December 2020.

That’s when Jesús Fierro Sr. was admitted to the hospital with a serious covid-19 infection. He spent 18 days at Yuma Regional Medical Center, where he lost 60 pounds. He came home weak and dependent on an oxygen tank.

Then, in June 2021, his wife, Claudia, fainted while waiting for a table at the local Olive Garden. She felt dizzy one minute and was in an ambulance on her way to the same medical center the next. She was told her magnesium levels were low and was sent home within 24 hours.

The family has health insurance through Jesús Sr.’s job. But it didn’t protect the Fierros from owing thousands of dollars. So, when their son Jesús Fierro Jr. dislocated his shoulder, the Fierros — who hadn’t yet paid the bills for their own care — opted out of U.S. health care and headed south to the U.S.-Mexico border.

And no other bills came for at least one member of the family.

The Patients: Jesús Fierro Sr., 48; Claudia Fierro, 51; and Jesús Fierro Jr., 17. The family has Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas health insurance through Jesús Sr.’s employment with NOV Inc., formerly National Oilwell Varco, a multinational oil company.

Medical Services: For Jesús Sr., 18 days of inpatient care for a severe covid infection. For Claudia, less than 24 hours of emergency care after fainting. For Jesús Jr., a walk-in appointment for a dislocated shoulder.

Total Bills: Jesús Sr. was charged $3,894.86. The total bill was $107,905.80 for covid treatment. Claudia was charged $3,252.74, including $202.36 for treatment from an out-of-network physician. The total bill was $13,429.50 for less than a day of treatment. Jesús Jr. was charged about $5 (70 pesos) for an outpatient visit that the family paid in cash.

Service Providers: Yuma Regional Medical Center, a 406-bed, nonprofit hospital in Yuma, Arizona. It’s in the Fierros’ insurance network. And a private doctor’s office in Mexicali, Mexico, which is not.

The Fierros have been strapped by unusually high medical bills from the Yuma Regional Medical Center.(Lisa Hornak for KHN)

What Gives: The Fierros were trapped in a situation that more and more Americans find themselves in: They are what some experts term “functionally uninsured.” They have insurance — in this case, through Jesús Sr.’s job,

Hit with $7,146 for two hospital bills, a family sought health care in Mexico : Shots

April 28, 2022 Vera

Hit with ,146 for two hospital bills, a family sought health care in Mexico : Shots

Claudia and Jesús Fierro of Yuma, Ariz., review their medical bills. They pay $1,000 a month for health insurance yet still owed more than $7,000 after two episodes of care at the local hospital.

Lisa Hornak for Kaiser Health News

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Lisa Hornak for Kaiser Health News

Claudia and Jesús Fierro of Yuma, Ariz., review their medical bills. They pay $1,000 a month for health insurance yet still owed more than $7,000 after two episodes of care at the local hospital.

Lisa Hornak for Kaiser Health News

The Fierro family of Yuma, Ariz., had a string of bad medical luck that started in December 2020.

That’s when Jesús Fierro Sr. was admitted to the hospital with a serious case of COVID-19. He spent 18 days at Yuma Regional Medical Center, where he lost 60 pounds. He came home weak and dependent on an oxygen tank.

Then, in June 2021, his wife, Claudia Fierro, fainted while waiting for a table at the local Olive Garden restaurant. She felt dizzy one minute and was in an ambulance on her way to the same medical center the next. She was told her magnesium levels were low and was sent home within 24 hours.

The family has health insurance through Jesús Sr.’s job, but it didn’t protect the Fierros from owing thousands of dollars. So when their son Jesús Fierro Jr. dislocated his shoulder, the Fierros — who hadn’t yet paid the bills for their own care — opted out of U.S. health care and headed south to the U.S.-Mexico border.

And no other bills came for at least one member of the family.

The patients: Jesús Fierro Sr., 48; Claudia Fierro, 51; and Jesús Fierro Jr., 17. The family has Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas health insurance through Jesús Sr.’s employment with NOV, formerly National Oilwell Varco, an American multinational oil company based in Houston.

Medical services: For Jesús Sr., 18 days of inpatient care for a severe case of COVID-19. For Claudia, fewer than 24 hours of emergency care after fainting. For Jesús Jr., a walk-in appointment for a dislocated shoulder.

Total bills: Jesús Sr. was charged $3,894.86. The total bill was $107,905.80 for COVID-19 treatment. Claudia was charged $3,252.74, including $202.36 for treatment from an out-of-network physician. The total bill was $13,429.50 for less than one day of treatment. Jesús Jr. was charged $5 (70 pesos)

More little ones 5-11 hospitalized with COVID, most unvaccinated

April 26, 2022 Vera

Youngsters may be less likely than grown ups to be hospitalized with COVID-19, but a the latest examine identified all those who are however unvaccinated are struggling the worst penalties of the disease when compared with their vaccinated peers.

Researchers at the Centers for Ailment Command and Prevention seemed at hospitalizations in 14 states among the kids aged 5 to 11 in the course of the pandemic.

They located COVID-19-linked hospitalization fees have been about twice as superior amid unvaccinated little ones as these who were being vaccinated in the course of the omicron wave from December to February, in accordance to the report printed past week in the agency’s Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report.

The Food stuff and Drug Administration approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for little ones 5 to 11 in November, but about two-thirds of the qualified population – approximately 18 million young children – have nonetheless to get their first dose.

“COVID-19 is continue to an problem for young ones,” said Dr. Emily Volk, president of the Higher education of American Pathologists. “The assumptions that we had early on that youngsters would not be seriously influenced by the virus have to have to be reconsidered with this new knowledge.”

The CDC report identified 87% of the virtually 400 young children hospitalized all through the research time period have been unvaccinated, 30% experienced no fundamental healthcare disorders, and 19% ended up admitted to the intense treatment unit. Children with diabetes and obesity were also far more likely to expertise critical COVID-19.

Researchers also found stark health disparities in the data. Non-Hispanic Black kids represented somewhere around one particular-third of COVID-19-affiliated hospitalizations in this young age group, followed by white children at 31% and Hispanic small children at 19%.

It’s disconcerting to see that Black and Latino children had been between the greater team hospitalized due to the fact these young children also have larger charges of obesity and diabetic issues, reported Dr. Ruth Kanthula, a pediatric infectious sickness professional at MedStar Health.

“The two are connected,” she stated. “As pediatricians, we need to sit down and imagine about how we can target these populations.”

Former investigation has shown the omicron variant is less probably to trigger intense COVID-19 in healthful men and women than other variants. But the CDC analyze uncovered extra little ones had been hospitalized and admitted into the ICU throughout the omicron wave in

Free of charge caregiver occasion, Frisbie adds outpatient plan: Seacoast well being news

April 25, 2022 Vera

Cornerstone VNA hosts totally free digital caregiver event

ROCHESTER – Cornerstone VNA, a local nonprofit house wellbeing supplier, declared the 6th Once-a-year Caregivers Hook up, a special party that focuses on supplying support to relatives caregivers. This cost-free virtual event will choose area on Wednesday, May 4, from 10 to 11:30 a.m., and is generously underwritten by First Seacoast Bank.

Attendees will hear from amusing motivational speaker, Kay Frances. At her energetic, upbeat presentation, relatives caregivers will be reminded to preserve their perception of humor, handle their strain, and choose treatment of on their own. The initial 50 registrants will get a copy of Kay’s e-book, “The Amusing Matter About Stress” immediately after their attendance is confirmed on the working day of the occasion.

“We are unbelievably content to current our annual Caregivers Connect event, which will be virtual yet again this year to appeal to a broader audience. Our theme of ‘laughter is the most effective medicine’ will most undoubtedly resonate with our neighborhood relatives caregivers,” states Julie Reynolds, RN, MS, President/CEO, Cornerstone VNA. Janice Howard, Life Care – Private Responsibility Director at Cornerstone VNA provides, “In addition to the supportive and lively dialogue, this party will support our caregivers to encounter a perception of camaraderie. It can be pretty comforting to know you are not on your own in your journey as the caregiver of a liked one.”

To register for this unique event or to master extra, get in touch with 800-691-1133 x1109 or pay a visit to cornerstonevna.org/caregiver22.

Frisbie Memorial Hospital provides new outpatient adult behavioral health application

ROCHESTER — Frisbie Memorial Medical center announced the addition of its new outpatient grownup Partial Hospitalization Application (PHP), which delivers a broad scope of expert services that will support maximize access to, and much better satisfy the demand from customers for, the acute behavioral overall health demands in the communities it serves.

The Partial Hospitalization Software delivers brief-term therapy about the training course of 12-14 weeks for adults age 18 yrs and older who are battling with maintaining day-to-day routines because of to symptoms of stress, melancholy, or other psychological health issues. The software will manage team periods as the main and will also supply opportunities for people to apply self-sufficiency behaviors.

“Our new system will make certain timely entry to behavioral health companies to folks in distress who look for treatment as a result of the

Climate change: The impact on health

April 24, 2022 Vera

The consensus among scientists is that we are in an era of global heating and extreme weather events, primarily due to the devastating effects of human action on the environment. Why are researchers concerned, and what are the implications for health?

The Lancet Countdown team is a group of over 120 leading experts on climate, public health, economy, and political science — among others — who have committed to monitoring climate change, particularly its impact on global health.

Since 2015, the year of the Paris Agreement, the experts affiliated with the Lancet Countdown commission have published yearly reports assessing this situation and keeping signatory governments and decision-makers accountable for the commitments they have taken on following the Agreement.

The latest report, which appeared in The Lancet in October 2021, records “deepening inequities” across all regions as global heating remains a concern. The report discusses the impact of climate change in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it emphasizes the concern caused by extreme heat events and related natural disasters that have occurred over the past 2 years.

Among the issues outlined in the Lancet Countdown report 2021, there is the impact of climate change on the livelihood of communities around the world, its direct and indirect effect on mental and physical health, and the way in which it contributes to the spread of infectious diseases.

These findings largely coincide with those outlined by another set of landmark reports on climate change — those of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

According to the IPCC 2022 reports, at present, extreme weather events caused by human action are surpassing the resilience of some ecological and human systems, sometimes with irreversible effects.

The reports show that weather extremes related to climate change have affected the productivity of various food sectors — including agricultural, forestry, and fishery sectors — around the world, thus exacerbating food insecurity.

They also emphasize the impact of climate change on mental health, and the ways in which it contributes to the spread of vector-borne communicable diseases.

In our latest installment of the In Conversation podcast, we discuss these aspects at length with two key experts. One of them is Prof. David Pencheon, honorary professor of health and sustainable development at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, and founder of the Sustainable Development Unit for National Health Services England and Public Health England.

Our

Steering clear of Diabetes May perhaps Involve Staying away from Meat – Client Health and fitness News

April 22, 2022 Vera

FRIDAY, April 15, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Consuming a healthful plant-based mostly diet program might enable you head off variety 2 diabetes, a new analyze implies.

Healthful plant-based mostly foodstuff involve fruits, veggies, nuts, espresso/tea, vegetable oils and legumes. Harmful plant-based mostly meals involve refined grains, fruit juices, potatoes, sugar-sweetened beverages, and sweets/desserts.

“Our conclusions aid the helpful job of healthier plant-centered meal plans in diabetes avoidance and supply new insights for long term investigation,” the scientists wrote in the April 8 situation of the journal Diabetologia.

For the analyze, the investigators analyzed facts from extra than 10,600 participants in a few prolonged-time period U.S. research. Most had been white and center-aged (normal age: 54 years). On normal, they experienced a overall body mass index (BMI) of 25.6, which is thought of obese. BMI is an estimate of human body unwanted fat based mostly on top and weight.

When compared with analyze individuals who did not build style 2 diabetes, those who did ate less balanced plant-dependent foodstuff, the conclusions confirmed.

They also had a higher regular BMI, had been a lot more probable to have large blood force and higher cholesterol, to take blood pressure and cholesterol medicine, to be less energetic and have a family historical past of diabetic issues, in accordance the report.

Together with completing questionnaires about their ingesting practices, individuals supplied blood samples that had been analyzed for metabolites related with their weight loss plans. Metabolites are created when the human body breaks down food items, prescription drugs, chemicals or its own tissue to make electricity.

“Even though it is challenging to tease out the contributions of specific foodstuff since they ended up analyzed together as a pattern, individual metabolites from usage of polyphenol-loaded plant foodstuff like fruits, veggies, coffee and legumes are all closely joined to a healthful plant-primarily based food plan and reduce danger of diabetic issues,” reported analyze writer Frank Hu. He is a professor at Harvard T.H. Chan College of Public Overall health, in Boston.

“Our findings with regards to the intermediate metabolites are at the moment intriguing but further more reports are required to confirm their causal part in the associations of plant-based mostly diets and the possibility of building form 2 diabetic issues,” Hu and his co-authors concluded.

Cases of sort 2 diabetic issues in adults throughout the world have tripled in less than two