Tag: health

Unbiased Medicare plan comparison help available | Health & Fitness

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Unbiased Medicare plan comparison help available | Health & Fitness

Mary Loftis knows the importance of paying attention to Medicare Prescription Drug plans.

Medicare Open Enrollment starts Friday, Oct. 15, and will continue until Dec. 7, said Loftis, a Nebraska State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) counselor.

People with Medicare Part D prescription drug insurance or Medicare Part C Advantage Plan insurance can compare 2022 plans during open enrollment.

Medicare plans can change from one year to the next — potentially affecting how a person’s coverage works.

Nebraska SHIP is available to help provide confidential and unbiased assistance in comparing plans for the coming year.

“It’s another year of changes and the only way to put your mind at ease and know you aren’t spending any more than necessary — you need to compare your prescriptions against all the Medicare health and drug plans,” Loftis told the Tribune.

Medicare enrollees should have received information from their 2021 Medicare Prescription Drug Plan advising of changes in premium, deductibles and drug coverages.

Another change that can affect the most economical plan for an individual in 2022 is that they may have added or reduced the prescriptions they take.

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But if they only look at the information they received by mail, the individual will not know if there are any new Medicare Prescription Drug Plans available in Nebraska for 2022, Loftis said in a prepared statement.

Loftis said there also will be changes in preferred pharmacies this year — and while premium costs are important — it is the coverage and cost of prescriptions which a person takes that really matter.

Even for those happy with their current plan, it’s a good idea to compare.

Then they can rest assured they’re not paying any more than necessary for prescriptions in 2022.

Nebraska SHIP and Medicare offer free counseling.

People need not leave their homes to get help. Nebraska SHIP is again offering phone appointment and virtual meetings using a computer or tablet.

Those interested in getting help comparing their Medicare Part D or Advantage Plan options may make an appointment to speak with a SHIP-certified counselor by calling:

Nebraska Extension in Burt County at 402-374-2929 or the state SHIP number at 1-800-234-7119.

With all the changes, it’s a great idea to make an appointment before they fill up.

Individuals also can visit http://www.medicare.gov/find-a-plan to compare plans themselves or enroll in a new plan.


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The pandemic has driven many Americans to delay health care : Shots

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The pandemic has driven many Americans to delay health care : Shots

Hospitals in Idaho, like St. Luke’s Boise Medical Center in Boise, remain full after the summer delta surge pushed many to their limits.

Kyle Green/AP


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Kyle Green/AP

Hospitals in Idaho, like St. Luke’s Boise Medical Center in Boise, remain full after the summer delta surge pushed many to their limits.

Kyle Green/AP

Last month, Chelsea Titus, a 40-year-old mother of one in Boise, Idaho, needed surgery to relieve severe pain from endometriosis. But hospitals there are so full of unvaccinated COVID-19 patients that doctors told her she’d have to wait.

Nearly 1 in 5 American households has had to delay care for serious illnesses in the past few months, according to a new poll from NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Titus, who works for a tech company from the home she shares with her husband, her daughter and a labradoodle named Winston, previously had surgery for endometriosis in which doctors removed her uterus and one ovary. When the condition flared again in September, the pain was severe.

“Sometimes it feels like I am in active labor,” she says.

Endometriosis affects millions of women in the U.S. when tissue that typically grows inside the uterus also grows outside it.

When the initial medication that Titus received didn’t help, she reached out to her on-call doctor.

“He said, ‘If the hospitals weren’t in the situation they were in, I would have you in for surgery today,’ ” she recalls.

The safety net is gone

The situation in Idaho’s hospitals has become dire. The facilities are so full of mostly unvaccinated COVID-19 patients that many can no longer operate normally. Several hospitals have had to ration care.

Chelsea Titus

Chelsea Titus/Boise State Public Radio


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Chelsea Titus/Boise State Public Radio

Chelsea Titus

Chelsea Titus/Boise State Public Radio

Jim Souza, chief physician executive at the largest of Boise’s hospitals, St. Luke’s, describes his institution’s typical high standards of care as the net that allows doctors to perform high-wire medical acts every day.

But now, “the net is gone and the people will fall from the wire,” Souza says.

Idaho has one of the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates in the United States.

“As cancer clinicians, we’re really frustrated,” says Dr. Dan Zuckerman, medical director for St. Luke’s Cancer Institute.

Zuckerman says his staff has delayed surgery

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Alaris Announces “Camps by Alaris” Partnership with ABC Fitness Solutions, Leading Provider of Club Management Solutions in the Health Club and Fitness Industry

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Alaris Announces “Camps by Alaris” Partnership with ABC Fitness Solutions, Leading Provider of Club Management Solutions in the Health Club and Fitness Industry

Camps by Alaris will provide a seamless, centralized experience for ABC customers in need of Camp Management

Published: Oct. 14, 2021 at 7:00 AM EDT|Updated: 22 hours ago

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Oct. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Alaris, known for helping fitness clubs go fully digital by streamlining check-in experiences and improving operations, has announced a new partnership with ABC Fitness Solutions. Together, the companies have developed Camps by Alaris, a seamlessly integrated solution that will allow ABC Fitness Solutions’ customers with expanded service offerings, such as kids club, afterschool programs and camps, to streamline and centralize online registration and digital check-in experiences The solution also provides dynamic reporting insights, which empower owners to make critical, cost-saving decisions, and has enhanced check-out security to ensure child safety and peace of mind for parents.

“For over a decade, Alaris has been helping Health Clubs unlock value by streamlining their Camp and Childcare programming. Especially important in today’s environment, improved Camp offerings have been shown to both improve member retention and drive much needed additional revenue. We are excited to partner with ABC Fitness Solutions on this fully integrated solution to provide value to the thousands of clubs that they serve,” says Jeremy Kelstrom, Founder & CEO of Alaris.

According to Jennifer Mellet, Chief Revenue Officer at ABC, a lot of their customers currently rely on manual processes for secondary and programmatic revenue streams. “This is critical functionality for a growing sector, and until now we have not been able to service our customers effectively.” Youth programs in health clubs have seen a 300% increase over the last 25 years and are very profitable.

Camps by Alaris is the latest addition to ABC IGNITE, ABC’s next generation fitness club management solution. “We’re on a mission to promote heathier lives by helping clubs put their members first. This is another step in our journey to redefine how fitness operators and their members interact with technology to reach their respective goals. Mentally and physically kids benefit from movement as much as their parents do,” continues Mellet, a mother of 2 tween girls.

Camps by Alaris will launch in October of 2021 at IHRSA in Dallas, Texas and will be readily available to customers of ABC Fitness Solutions. Both ABC and Alaris will be exhibiting at IHRSA 2021 in Dallas, TX. Please visit them at booths 100 and 1303,

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These 3 Health Tech Startups Are Case Studies – Crunchbase News

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These 3 Health Tech Startups Are Case Studies – Crunchbase News

March 12, 2020, was always going to be memorable for Jason Feldman, because that was the day his men’s health-focused startup, Vault Health, was set for a major rebrand and national rollout. But now the day is etched in his mind because it set his company on an unexpected trajectory that led to growth beyond his expectations. 

On that mid-March Thursday, Feldman stood on the stock market floor in New York and witnessed the chaos as the country’s Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 saw the greatest single-day percentage dip since 1987. 

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The founder and CEO was there to pose for photos and provide an interview to announce Vault Health’s next moves, but instead found the market was reacting to the COVID-19 virus. The deadly coronavirus had been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization the day before, and would be branded a national emergency in the United States by then-President Donald Trump less than 24 hours later. 

“I was there watching these investors on the floor of the stock exchange freaking out because the market literally was crashing,” Feldman remembered in a recent interview with Crunchbase News. “So we go back to the office, and I thought ‘What are we going to do?’ Because we had literally just launched the brand nine months before and built all this technology and here we are. Now I’m afraid that peoples’ jobs are at risk, and I don’t know how we’re going to live.” 

Vault not only lived, but grew significantly over the next year and a half. 

The pandemic set in motion a new trajectory for many healthtech startups, particularly those nimble enough to respond to a world crisis that confused and broke traditional public health care systems. And while tech’s contribution during the pandemic was a mixed bag of good and bad, those that figured out how to quickly fill the needs of scared residents, governments and companies have been rewarded. 

Investors in the space raced to put money into digital health startups last year. In all, the industry raised $16.6 billion in investments globally while the pandemic raged on, up from $12.5 billion the year before, according to Crunchbase data. So far in 2021, the industry has raised nearly $20 billion in funding, the data show. 

Of those that successfully made a pandemic pivot, many lucked out having existing partnerships

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Transgender patients find health care on Rutgers student’s app

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Transgender patients find health care on Rutgers student’s app

Imagine checking in for an appointment with your primary care doctor, and you notice your forms show the wrong gender marker. You might feel confused, hurt, question how well your doctor knows you or how to offer you proper care. 

Transgender, nonbinary and other gender diverse people fear instances like this when they seek health care, like a nurse calling their wrong name or receiving incorrect treatment because of their outdated gender marker. Finding providers who know how to treat non-cisgender people would be ideal, but that’s not a simple feat.

Typing key words for transgender-affirming care in a search engine calls up LGBTQ-specific providers. It’s more difficult to find everyday health care services, like dentists or primary care doctors, who respect and understand gender diverse patients.

Creators behind an upcoming app, TranZap, want to make that search simpler for gender diverse people seeking care. 

Gender-affirming providers are not only doctors who perform plastic surgeries or administer hormone replacement therapy. They’re doctors, nurses, front desk staff and everyone in a medical office who know how to respectfully care for gender diverse patients. 

Second year Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School student Taylor Chiang is beta testing TranZap, an app that allows transgender people to review healthcare providers as a way to help other trans people find medical professionals who respect their identities. Chiang developed the app concept and is pictured with their mentor, Dr. Gloria Bachmann, a professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Associate Dean for Women Health at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

Some resources exist that help transgender people find plastic surgeons or endocrinologists who affirm people’s gender physically. Taylor Chiang, a second year student at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School who came up with TranZap, wants people to find “gender-affirming [providers] to get regular old routine care.”

“A big barrier to health care is being afraid that you’re going to be discriminated against or not knowing information,” Chiang said. “Whether or not a primary care provider is gender-affirming, that information is lacking.”

Transgender people face a high risk of physical and mental health problems, but are “consistently and systemically underserved by the American medical system,” a Center for American Progress report reads. Some 62% of transgender respondents said they worried about being judged based on their sexual orientation or gender identity in health care settings, according to TransPop survey results.

Second year Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School student Taylor Chiang, not pictured, is beta testing TranZap, an app that allows transgender people to review healthcare providers as a way to help other trans people find medical professionals who respect their identities.

Chiang experienced uncomfortable conversations surrounding their identity in health care settings before. They typically searched for providers who accepted their insurance, or heard about affirming providers via word of mouth. Sometimes, they “risked” the provider lacking knowledge about caring for and talking to transgender and gay patients. 

They had connections to transgender people seeking similar care, but they wondered about gender diverse people who didn’t have that community, who struggled to find health care. That

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Biden uses Trump-era policy to expand health care for transgender Coloradans

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Biden uses Trump-era policy to expand health care for transgender Coloradans

The Biden administration is using a Trump-era policy to approve the expansion of health care coverage for transgender Coloradans, forcing many of the state’s private insurers to cover gender-affirming care.

Former President Donald Trump’s 2018 policy allows states to redefine the essential health care benefits insurers are required to cover under the Affordable Care Act. On Tuesday, the Biden administration used it to approve Colorado’s request to add gender-affirming care among its health plans’ guaranteed benefits.

The move will force individual and small-group insurers to cover transition-related procedures, including hormone therapy, breast augmentation and laser hair removal, starting Jan. 1, 2023.

Federal officials and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, one of two openly LGBTQ governors, said they hoped the measure would serve as a model to expand gender-affirming care in other states. The Biden administration also cited discriminatory barriers that transgender Americans frequently face when they seek transition-related care, often described as cosmetic.

“Health care should be in reach for everyone; by guaranteeing transgender individuals can access recommended care, we’re one step closer to making this a reality,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement Tuesday. “I am proud to stand with Colorado to remove barriers that have historically made it difficult for transgender people to access health coverage and medical care.”

Medicaid covers gender-affirming care in more than a dozen states, including Colorado. But only a handful of states, including Massachusetts and Washington, have policies similar to the new Colorado measure, requiring many private insurers to cover transition-related care.

As a result, nearly half of transgender Americans — including 54 percent of trans people of color — say that their health insurers covered only some of their gender-affirming care or that they had no providers in network, according to a survey last year by the Center for American Progress. The report found that 46 percent of trans respondents and 56 percent of trans respondents of color were denied gender-affirming care by their insurers.

Dr. Alex Keuroghlian, the director of the National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center at Boston’s Fenway Institute, who works directly with transgender patients, applauded the Biden administration’s new measure.

“What we’ve learned the hard way is that private insurers and employers won’t necessarily have these equitable policies around coverage of medically necessary gender-affirming care without the government enforcing such expectations,” he said.

Keuroghlian said that when Massachusetts similarly expanded coverage for transgender patients in

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