The Early Show this morning on CNN did a segment regarding health insurance scams, which seem to be on the rise in the current economic state. One group, called the American Trade Association was pinpointed as a scam, trying to sell fake health insurance. The ATA charged for monthly premiums, promising a limited benefit and comprehensive medical plan in return. When situations arose where policy holders needed medical procedures, they were out of luck. The insurance was fake. You can read the full story at CBS online.

Before you buy health insurance, it is important to make sure the company is licensed. Health Plan One assures its customers that every single company we represent is licensed to sell health insurance. When you apply through a plan through our website, please know that all your options are through legitimate health insurance companies.

Though Medical Marijuana has been proven to help relieve pain for cancer patients and other sufferers, under federal laws it is still considered illegal. Charles C. Lynch, owner of a medical marijuana dispensary in California, was sentenced to a 1 year prison term. While state laws may allow for the disbursement of medical marijuana, federal laws doesn’t even though the Obama administration promised not to prosecute anyone if they have complied with state law.

“I find I cannot get around the one-year sentence,” Judge George H. Wu, the judge at Lynch’s hearing, said of federal sentencing laws. Though Judge Wu understands the state law and the many ways Lynch tried to oblige these laws, he had trouble finding a loophole that would avoid sending him to prison. A mandatory of five years is the sentence for this sort of crime, but the Judge reduced it due to Lynch’s lack of previous criminal history.

Many legal experts believe that this case highlights the conflicts between state and federal laws. Federal law prohibits the development, sale and use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, but 13 states allow it. The 13 states that allow it include Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.

“He is caught between California’s voter-approved medical marijuana system and the Bush administration’s single-minded effort to smother it,” said Stephen Gutwillig of the Drug Policy Alliance. “That Attorney General Holder changed federal policy three months ago only makes this miscarriage of justice all the more disturbing. Charlie is like a forgotten prisoner of war, abandoned after a truce was declared.”

At a press conference today, the World Health Organization announced the first full-blown flu pandemic in 41 years. WHO Director-General Margaret Chan declared the pandemic “globally as being moderate in severity” and a spokesman stated that the term pandemic refers to the “measure of the spread of the virus, not the severity of the virus.” Still however, the pandemic is not to be taken lightly. Chan noted: “This virus is entirely new and it is spreading easily. As of today, nearly 30,000 confirmed cases have been reported from 74 countries. With few exceptions, countries with large numbers of cases have good surveillance and procedures in place. Further spread is considered inevitable.” Surprisingly, the virus affect mostly younger people between the ages of 30 and 50. Chan stated: “This pattern is significantly different from other epidemics of seasonal flu, in which most deaths are in frail, elderly people. Most severe cases have been in people with underlying chronic conditions, such as asthma, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, auto-immune disorders and obesity.” The pandemic is generally not considered life threatening as Chan told the audience “he overwhelming majority of patients experience mild symptoms and make a rapid and full recovery. Worldwide, the number of deaths is small. Every death is tragic, and we have to brace for more.” In wealthy countries, especially, the pandemic is not considered very threatening at all to its citizens.
The issue of course lies in less wealthy countries, where health standards and regulations are not nearly as structured and extensive. Chan made it clear in the conference that all countries need to come together and help each other through this global issue. Chan noted: “Calling a pandemic is also a signal to the international community: This is a time where the world’s countries, rich or poor, big or small, must come together to make sure that no countries, because of poor resources, should be left behind without help.” Mexico has had many surprising and unpredictable outbreaks of the virus, but Chan told reporters that Mexico is coming to a “steady state.” They are only seeing “sporadic cases and small outbreaks. This virus is very unpredictable. This doesn’t mean Mexico should let down its guard. The virus can come back in a second wave.” While the disease is not a severe threat to wealthy countries like the United States, it is the duty of every country to do what it can to help prevent this disease from becoming a significant global problem.

When people think of Global Positioning System (GPS) phones, they usually picture a cellular phone that can be used to get to different places when driving. Now, recently after Japan’s largest cell phone carrier Softbank Mobile made a deal with Aoyama Gakuin University to provide iPhone 3Gs to 1,000 students in order to keep track of their attendance to classes using the phone’s GPS, a new test is being planned.

Softbank Mobile now plans to give 1,000 elementary-school students GPS phones in an effort to see how cell phones with GPS capabilities can track the spread of an infectious disease and stop it from becoming a pandemic. This government-backed test is a part of the effort to promote Japan’s internet and cellular communications to new users.

The experiment uses a highly contagious virtual illness which will “infect” several students at some time in the near future. The movements of those students will then be tracked via their cell phones and compared with the movements of other students in order to determine which children have crossed paths with the infected students and may have contracted the disease. Parents of the infected students will be sent messages by cell phone on how to treat the illness and what doctors to visit. Other details about the test are still being worked out.

The Japanese government hopes the test will should how infections can be more controllable in real-world situations if an infectious disease proved to be threatening. However, the test also presents controversy over privacy issues since the government and corporations would have access to and be constantly recording private information regarding people’s whereabouts.

Alzheimer's affects 5 million Americans

The Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute has partnered with Inverness Medical Innovations Inc of Waltham, Mass to speed development of the first commercial test to detect early-stage Alzheimer’s disease. The test could be available in 12 to 18 months, according to researchers, and would enable patients to try and slow the progression of the disease. Through regular testing, the test could be used to monitor the effectiveness of treatments, helping scientists to develop a medicine against the disease. Inverness Medical Innovations Inc will fund development of a home version of the test if the commercial version is successful. Today, early Alzheimer’s is often incorrectly diagnosed because tests are based on evaluations of the patient’s behavior, working to rule out other causes for symptoms of forgetfulness. Steps currently practiced to slow the disease’s progression include improving the patient’s diet, giving them more mental exercise, or entering them into a clinical study of an experimental drug. The only way to diagnose Alzheimer’s with certainty now is by looking for the disease’s signature pattern of brain damage during an autopsy after the patient dies. More than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease, and the number is increasing as the population ages.

How does the new test work? By detecting abnormal function of a protein shown to be involved in memory storage. A small skin sample is taken from the patient at a doctor’s office or testing center and shipped to the institute. Next, scientists grow the cells in a petri dish with a substance to stimulate the PKC enzyme. The enzyme combines with phosphorus in the skin cells. If there’s too much phosphorus in the combination, the patient has Alzheimer’s. The test has been tried on more than 300 patients in 15 hospitals. 42 of these patients were confirmed later by autopsy as having Alzheimer’s, and the test was 98% accurate on the autopsied patients. The test is not invasive, an improvement over other tests currently in development which necessitate painful removal of cerebrospinal fluid from the patient’s brain. The new test should also only cost a few hundred dollars, making it much  more affordable than expensive brain imaging, which searches for a pattern of plaque buildup in the brain indicating a predisposition toward Alzheimer’s.

The Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute, founded by WV Senator Jay Rockefeller, is based at West Virginia University and is affiliated with Johns Hopkins University. The institute has also just received permission to begin its first small test in the US in Alzheimer’s patients for a treatment which uses a potent natural substance to activate the PKC enzyme in early stage patients.

Many schools have been closing due to the outbreak of the swine flu in the past month. Many of the school closings have been happening in Queens, New York with a total of 30 closed schools. Parents have been flooding hospitals with their children when any flu like symptom pops up. Officials are trying to exercise caution by shutting down more and more schools.

Swine flu surfaced last month at a Queens school which had 69 confirmed cases. The virus has emerged again since then leading 24 schools to close this week alone. New York City has had approximately 201 confirmed cases since the outbreak of the virus with one confirmed death.

Due to the swine flu outbreak, there have been a 20% increase in emergency room visits by adults and a 50% increase by children. Mayor Bloomberg states that. “While there are an abnormal number of people going to the hospital, who are worried, virtually none, a very tiny percentage of them have any symptoms whatsoever.”

According to a UnitedHealth Group poll, more than half of young adults surveyed lack information about their options for health insurance. The poll surveyed 1,000 young adults between the ages of 18 and 21. The survey found that 67% of the students polled haven’t made any plans for health insurance when they graduate. 69% of those covered by their parent’s health insurance plans are unclear about the details of their coverage as well as 26% having no idea when their coverage will end.

Approximately 87% state that educators should do more to communicate information about obtaining health insurance and the basics of health insurance. Some of the options recent graduates and young adults have include:

• Employer-sponsored health insurance: If you’re lucky to get a job out of college, you will most likely have the option of an employer sponsored group plan. Benefits are usually very comprehensive and your employer pays for a portion of it if not all.

• Short term health insurance: If you are looking for a job and working part time or not at all for the meantime, getting a short term health insurance plan may be beneficial. Plans tend to last up to one year and you can cancel at any time. They are fairly low cost but they will most likely not cover any preexisting conditions.

• COBRA: COBRA, or the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1986, lets students keep their coverage under their parents for up to 36 months. However, COBRA plans are expensive.

• Individual Health Insurance plan: If the above options don’t seem appealing, an individual health insurance plan is another option. Either going directly to a carrier like Aetna, or a health insurance broker, you can choose a plan that caters to your needs. You can also cancel at any time if you get a job or find another plan that suits you better.

Just remember, health insurance is vital and everyone should have it. If something were to happen, it will cost a lot more to treat you than that couple hundred you pay a month for your coverage.

Health Plan One offers the most competitive prices in the health insurance broker industry. They offer affordable prices to consumers from the most popular plans.

Plans include Aetna‘s Managed Choice Open Access 5000 in Connecticut, Anthem Blue Cross of CA’s SmartSense 2500 Deductible plan, and the UnitedHealthOne HSA 100 $2900 deductible plan in Pennsylvania. Other popular plans include the Humana Portrait Share 80 Plus RX Unlimited in Florida, the Aetna PPO 2500 in Ohio, and the CIGNA Open Access 5000 in Texas. Virginia’s top plans include Aetna’s PPO 2500, Anthem’s Essential KeyCare $2500, and Humana’s Autograph Share 80 Plus Rx. Washington’s top plans include Regence’s HSA Health Plan 2500, Lifewise’s WiseEssential 2500, and Group Health’s Balance 1500 Plan.

The above plans have monthly premiums that range from $62 for Virginia’s Anthem Essential KeyCare $2500 to $121 for Florida’s Aetna POS Open Access 5000. Other plans have premiums of $72 for Anthem Blue Cross of CA’s SmartSense 2500 Deductible Plan, $100 for CT’s Aetna Managed Care Open Access 5000, $63.60 for Ohio’s Anthem Lumenos HSA 5000 and $105 for Humana’s Autograph Share 80 Plus Rx in Texas. (All the plans monthly premiums have been calculated for a 25 year old female, non smoker)

Founded in 2005, Health Plan One is a licensed health insurance agency and a leading online health insurance market, offering the broadest selection of health plans to individuals, families and Medicare recipients.  Through its comprehensive Web sites, which include health plan comparison tools and extensive educational information, and its enhanced customer service model, individuals can purchase the best health plans to meet their health care coverage and affordability needs.  For more information, visit Health Plan One’s website.

A 2 year old boy visiting from Mexico was the first to die in the United States due to the outbreak of the swine flu. The toddler had flown to Matamoros, Mexico from Mexico City on April 3^rd with his mother and siblings and proceeded to cross the border into Brownsville, Texas to visit an aunt. On April 8, the child came down with a fever and was confirmed to be suffering from the swine flu early last Wednesday and died this past Monday.

Many Texas schools were shut down this week due to the swine flu outbreak as well as several California state schools. There are officially 14 confirmed swine flu cases in California but no deaths. “While swine flu patients in California have had only mild to moderate illness, strong action is needed by every single one of us to limit the spread of the virus and minimize the impact on people’s health,” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said. The cases in California include 7 in San Diego County, 5 in Imperial County, 1 in Sacramento County, and 1 in San Bernardino County.

An interactive map on the Wall Street Journal website allows you to see the cases of swine flu around the world. In the United States alone, there have been over 90 cases including 51 in New York city with a majority affecting students and faculty of a school in Queens. Around the world there have been approximately 26 confirmed or suspected cases of swine flu in New Zealand, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, the U.K., Austria, and Israel. To view the interactive map, please visit the Wall Street Journal website.

“On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord,” Barack Obama said today after taking the oath of office as the nation’s 44^th president.

Over 2 million people came to DC to see the swearing in of this country’s first African American president. It is a day that will go down in history. His speech captured many peoples’ hearts and helped us to believe that change for our country is coming. He acknowledged all of the real challenges we face today including the state of our economy that calls for action to create new jobs, and to lay a new foundation for growth.  He then goes on to speak about the restoration of science that needs to take place as well as raising health care’s quality and lower its cost.

Health care is a huge priority for Obama and his cabinet. He has a three part plan for reforming our nation’s health care system.

The first part is to give all Americans access to affordable health coverage. This new health plan would be a public health insurance plan similar to that of federal employees. Regardless of any citizen’s health status, it would be available to everyone at an affordable premium.  In addition to a public health plan, there would be a service (National Health Insurance Exchange) that would help Americans find private health insurance plans. Also, there would be an individual mandate for children.

The second part to Obama’s health care system is the implementation of reforms to help lower health costs and improve health care quality. Obama wants to provide federal funding assistance to business with high-risk employees. He also believes that health care spending can be reduced by improving health care quality in cases such as preventing medical errors, implementing disease management programs, reforming medical malpractice, and promoting health information technology.

The third part is to promote health and wellness. Obama supports increasing federal spending for efforts to address childhood obesity, education for healthcare professionals, and individual and community incentives to help Americans make healthful choices.

With a new president sworn into office today, we should expect a positive change for our country.