Author: Aletha Cress Oglesby, M.D.

As a family physician, I explore the HEART of HEALTH in my work, recreation, community, and through writing. My blog, Watercress Words, informs and inspires us to live in health. I believe we can turn our health challenges into healthy opportunities. When we do, we can share the HEART of health with our families, communities, and the world. Come explore and share with me.

How your health care may change under the new government

The United States voters elected a new president, Donald Trump, and a new legislature in 2016, both Republican. Analysts expect major changes in policy and law after 8 years of Democratic control, especially regarding the ACA, Affordable Care Act (often dubbed ObamaCare)

Since his election, President-elect Trump says there are two features of the ACA he would like to see preserved-(in an interview with Leslie Stahl on  November 13, 2016)

  • Prohibition of insurance denial for pre-existing conditions
  • Covering young adults age 18-26 years old on their parents’ insurance plan

 

the Republican party’s platform on health care.

While similar to the President-elect’s plan, it is broader in scope and more specific.

 

 

The Republican Platform includes:

  • Repeal of the Affordable Care Act
  • Protect insurance discrimination for preexisting conditions as long as continuous coverage is maintained
  • Allow people to buy insurance across state lines
  • Make individually purchased health insurance tax deductible
  • Limit federal spending on Medicaid, allowing the states more leeway in administering the program through block grants
  • Changes to Medicare- providing people under 55 years with a traditional Medicare option or a premium support system of competing plans; raising the age of eligibility for Medicare.

 red, white and blue Republican elephant

 

 

the Democratic Party supports

  • Continue building on the ACA to achieve universal health care
  • Provide a “public option” plan and allow people over age 55 years to buy-in to Medicare
  • Make premiums more affordable and reduce out-of-pocket costs to patients
  • Cap out-of-pocket monthly drug costs
  • Permit importation of lower-priced drugs from other countries
  • Allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices directly with manufacturers
  • Expand funding for community health centers
red, white and blue Democratic donkey

Mr. Levitt is Senior Vice President for Special Initiatives at the Kaiser Family Foundation and Co-Executive Director of the Kaiser Initiative on Health Reform and Private Insurance. He summarizes his review  this way-

“The ACA has increased insurance coverage by 20 million people and is now the status quo in our health care system. Fully repealing it would be very disruptive.

At the same time, the public remains divided on the law, so building on it will also be controversial.”

You can read his full review and  analysis here-

The Partisan Divide on Health Care

Exploring the HEART of health

Dr. Aletha

Charles Dickens and A Christmas Carol

Here is a post about Charles Dickens, a renowned English writer, of “A Christmas Carol” and “The Pickwick Papers.” His storytelling introduced terms like Pickwickian syndrome, reflecting his influence on culture and health. Dickens also advocated for children’s hospitals through powerful speeches, merging his literary talent with social responsibility .

Charles Dickens, English writer, wrote some of the most beloved and quoted literature in English. Almost everyone is familiar with his Christmas classic,

 A Christmas Carol

has been portrayed on stage and in film – even animated versions.

What would Christmas be without Ebenezer Scrooge, the Ghosts, and Tiny Tim?

Dickens also wrote The Pickwick Papers

Another Dickens book created the name for a medical condition –

Pickwickian syndrome: The combination of obesity, somnolence (sleepiness), hypoventilation (underbreathing), and plethoric (red) face.

The syndrome is so named because of the “fat and red-faced boy in a state of somnolency” that Charles Dickens described in his novel, The Pickwick Papers. (The same boy is thought by some experts possibly to have had the Prader-Willi syndrome).

Dickens may have been the “first celebrity medical spokesman.” 

 Dickens delivered a rousing speech on the plight of ill children and the need to support the children’s hospital. As an extra bonus, the author threw in a reading of his beloved “A Christmas Carol.” The journalist T.A. Reed, said of Dickens’ performance that night, “I never heard him, or reported him, with so much pleasure … his speech was magnificent.”

pbs.org
I will honor Christmas in my heart. Charles Dickens
graphic from LIGHTSTOCK.COM, affiliate link

What is Advent?

The season of Advent, which comes from the Latin word adventus meaning “coming” or “visit,” begins four Sundays before Christmas and ends on Christmas Eve. Advent is the beginning of the liturgical year for Christians. [Liturgical — from liturgy, which means the forms and functions of public worship.]

Many families observe Advent with Bible readings, lighting candles, songs, and stories to remind them of the events leading up to the birth of Christ as told in the New Testament. (these are affiliate links for you to consider and help support this blog with a commission on any purchases you make while reviewing)

Sharing the HEART of Advent

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Dr. Aletha