2010 South Carolina Advantage Plans

The 2010 South Carolina Medicare Advantage Annual Election Period (AEP), begins November 15 and is open until December 31.

If your current plan is changing, either premiums or benefits or if your plan is going away altogether, the probability is high that you will be able to find another plan that will meet your health needs better.

Despite concerns that there may not be any good choices for privatized version of Medicare, there appears to be many 2010 plans that will have premiums starting at $0. Many of these plans include prescription drug coverage, Dental Insurance and vision/hearing insurance.

If you have had a Medicare advantage plan in the past or presently have one, this is a good time to compare your options, as you have probably seen (Or will see soon), a good number of the plans are leaving the Medicare Advantage program altogether or are greatly increasing their premiums. What was a good option for 2009 may not be a good option for 2010.

To compare options and get information on the plans that are available in your specific county please send us an email with your phone number and we will have someone contact you within 24hrs

Why Do I Need A Medicare Supplement Policy?

Medicare is a Federal program to help older Americans and some disabled Americans pay for the high costs of health care. However, Medicare was never intended to cover all health care costs. So even if your covered by Medicare, you can still be responsible for a large portion of your health care costs.

WHAT MEDICARE DOESN’T COVER

Medicare coverage consists of Part A, which covers hospital and skilled nursing facility care; and Part B, which covers doctors bills and other medical expenses.

Even with Medicare part A & B you are responsible for some out of pocket expenses with can include but aren’t limited too:

• Part A Hospital deductible
• Co-payment for hospital stays over 60 days
• Care in a skilled nursing facility beyond 20 days
• Part B deductible
• 20% co-insurance for doctors bills and other medical expenses

* Without a medicare supplement your out of pocket costs could add up to more than $52,000 a year.

Supplementing Medicare

Private insurance offers Medicare supplement insurance to fill in where Medicare leaves off for hospital & medical expenses.

Medicare Supplements are legally standardized into twelve plans (Plan A – L), Which means Plan G from one company Must include the same benefits as plan G from another company. While the benefits must be the same, each company’s rates, reputation, membership features & quality of service can vary.

10 Ways to Avoid Diabetes Complications

Diabetes care is a lifelong responsibility, ad takes round the clock commitment. Proper diabetes care can reduce your risk of serious – life threatening complications.

1. Make a commitment to manage your diabetes:

• Learn all you can about diabetes. Make healthy and physical activities apart of your every day routine
• Maintain a healthy weight
• Follow your doctors instructions for monitoring you blood sugar level

2. Schedule yearly physicals and eye exams

• Diabetes check ups aren’t meant to replace your yearly physical or eye exam

3. Keep your vaccines up to date High blood sugar can weaken your immune system;

• Flu vaccine
• Pneumonia Vaccine
• Tetanus Shot
• Hepatitis B Vaccine

4. Take care of your teeth

Diabetes can leave you prone to gum infections. Consult your dentist right away if you gums bleed or look red or swollen.

5. Pay attention to your feet

• High blood sugar can damage the nerves in your feet and reduce blood flow to your feet
• Left untreated, cuts and blisters can become seriously infected

To prevent foot problems

1. Wash your feet daily in lukewarm water
2. Dry your feet gently, especially between the toes
3. moisturize your feet and ankles with lotion
4. Check your feet every day for blisters, cuts, sores, redness or swelling

6. Keep your blood pressure and cholesterol under control

• High blood pressure can damage your blood vessels
• High cholesterol is a,concern too, since the damage is often worse and more rapid when you have diabetes

*A combination of these conditions can lead to a heart attack, stroke or other life-threatening conditions.

*Eating healthy foods and exercising regularly can go a long way towards controlling high blood pressure and cholesterol

7. Take a daily aspirin

*Aspirin interferes with your bloods ability to clot. Taking a daily aspirin can reduce your risk of heart attack and stroke.

8. Don’t smoke or use other types of tabacco

*Smoking increases your risk of various diabetic complications, such as

1. Heart attack
2. Stroke
3. Nerve Damage
4. Kidney Disease

9. Drink alcohol responsibly

Alcohol can cause either high or low blood sugar depending on how much you drink and if you eat at the same time

10. Take stress serious

If you are stressed it is easy to not follow your normal diabetes care routine.

*The hormones your body produces in response to much stress in your life may prevent insulin from working properly

Difference between Type 1 & Type 2 Diabetes

Type1 Diabetes is genetic it is in the persons DNA and something in their life will happen to trigger it.

Type 1 Diabetes is an autoimmune deficiency which means that your body starts fighting against itself and eventually stops producing insulin (the protein that regulates your blood sugar levels and enables your body to produce energy.)

With Type 1 Diabetes the pancreas will stop producing insulin, which lowers the amount of glucose in the blood, but glucagon is still produced, which means the blood sugar is still getting higher.

People who suffer from Type 1 Diabetes usually are almost always insulin dependant.

Type 2 Diabetes usually occurs through one’s lifestyle. This could be by obesity or anyher number of lifestyle choices.

People with Type 2 Diabetes can sometimes be insulin dependant, but they are not always. Most people with Type 2 diabetes can control it with their diet.

Warning signs of Diabetes

So often diabetes goes undiagnosed because many of the symptoms seem harmless. Early detection of diabetes can help decrease the developing and or complications of diabetes

The signs of type 1 and type 2 are similar. In both, there is too much glucose in the blood and not enough in the cells of your body.

• High glucose levels in type 1 are due to a lack of insulin, because the insulin producing cells have been destroyed
• Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body’s cells become resistant to the insulin that is being produced.

Some of the symptoms may include

• Frequent trips to the bathroom: Urination becomes more frequent when there s too much glucose in the blood. If insulin is non-existent or ineffective, the kidneys can’t filter glucose back to the blood. They become overwhelmed and try to draw extra water out of the blood to dilute the glucose. This keeps your bladder full
• Excessive Thirst: If your body is pulling extra water out of your blood and your running to the bathroom more, you will become dehydrated and feel the need to drink more to replace the water you are losing.
• Unusual Weight loss:This is a more noticable symptom with type 1 diabetes. The pancreas stops making insulin, due to a viral attack on panaceas cells or because an autoimmune response makes the body attack the insulin producing cell. The body in turns begins looking for an energy source, which causes a break down in muscle and fat tissue
• Increased Fatigue: glucose from the food we eat travels into the blood stream, where insulin is suppose to help it transition into the cells of our body. The cells use t to produce the energy we need to live. When the insulin isn’t there or if the cells don’t react to it anymore, then the glucose stays outside the cells in the bloodstream. The cells then become energy starved and you feel tired and run down

Other symptoms not mention above might include:

• Extreme hunger
• Irritability
• Blurry Vision

If you are experiancing one or more of the symptoms listed in this article please call your doctor today to schedule an appointment.

Gestational Diabetes

Pregnant women who have never had diabetes before but who have high blood sugar (glucose) levels during pregnancy are said to have gestational diabetes. About 4% of all pregnant women (135,000 cases) are affected with gestational diabetes each year. They are identified by a 2-hour Glucose Tolerance Test.

The exact cause of gestational diabetes is not known, but there are some clues to the cause. Your placenta supports your baby as it grows. Hormones from the placenta help your baby develop. These same hormones appear to block the action of your insulin in your body. This is called insulin resistance and it makes it hard for your body to use insulin. You may need up to three (3) times as much insulin as when you are not pregnant.

Gestational diabetes affects you late in the pregnancy after your baby’s body is formed, but still growing. The kinds of birth defects seen are different than in those babies whose mothers have had diabetes before they became pregnant. Untreated or poorly controlled gestational diabetes can hurt your baby. When you have gestational diabetes, your insulin does not control your blood sugars and your pancreas is producing more insulin. The insulin you produce does not cross the placenta, so your baby gets a high blood sugar too. Your baby’s pancreas produces extra insulin to lower it’s blood sugar and helps convert the sugar to fat. When your deliver your baby, the “candy store” is closed and the extra source of sugar is stopped. Immediately after birth, your baby can get hypoglycemic and have respiratory problems. Also, since the sugar was converted to fat, your baby may have “macrosomia” or look like a “fat baby.” This puts your baby at risk for congenital (at birth) heart problems. Babies with excess insulin become children who are at risk for developing Type 2 Diabetes.

Often diabetes goes undiagnosed because many of its symptoms seem so harmless or present slowly. Recent studies indicate that the early detection of diabetes symptoms and treatment can decrease the chance of developing the complications of diabetes. Family history is also important in assessing your risk of developing diabetes.