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Archive for the ‘Children Issues’ Category

Two years ago the Children’s Hospital in Boston started a treatment programme for child migraine sufferers. At the end of the programme, of the children who had received acupuncture treatments, 70 per cent of them stated that their migraine intensity levels were reduced.

When parents were asked to confirm, 55 per cent agreed that their children did indeed reap the benefits from acupuncture treatments. Out of all the kids in the study, only one said that their symptoms got worse by undergoing acupuncture.

Another study, also done at the Children’s Hospital in Boston, focused on acupuncture treatment on children between the ages of 6 months to 18 years. These kids were sufferers of headaches, back pain, stomach problems, and other common childhood complaints. At the beginning of the study the patients ranked their pain as an eight upon ten. At the end of the year, the average pain rating plummeted to three. The children were also sleeping better and attending school more often.

Acupuncture, an ancient Chinese practice where very fine needles are inserted into the skin of the patients in order to restore the Qi (energy) and ultimately help to relieve pain and treat diseases, is common amongst Singaporean adults. But is it suitable for children?

Acupuncture and your child

According to Huaxia Acupuncture & Chinese Medical Centre, and 2M Chinese Physican, yes. Both centres say that Acupuncture can be done on children as young as infants, as long as they are able to take the discomfort of the needles. Usually massaging, before injecting the needles, is advised for the younger age group.

Acupuncture can be used to treat childhood illnesses, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), eczema, asthma, depression, and upset stomachs in kids. It can also help with bedwetting. Depending on the condition, the specifics of the treatment (frequency, dosage, strength) needed may vary. Conditions such as simple diarrhea or fever can be treated with one possibly two treatments, while an eating disorder may take up to or more than 10 total sessions. If more than 10 sessions are needed a slight break between sessions will take place, then back to more treatments. Children’s sessions at both centres usually last for between 30-45 minutes.

If you do indeed decide to try acupuncture for your child though keep in mind that you need to go to a licensed acupuncturist. There are requirements and training that will need to be met in order for the acupuncturist to have their license. It also best to consult with your GP or Pead first.

The importance of children’s health insurance cannot be stated strongly enough. Our children, besides the fact that they are precious and rely on us adults to provide for them, are also the future of our nation and some day will be taking care of us as we grow into our elderly years.

Ten years ago, then President, Bill Clinton, signed into law the SCHIP program. SCHIP stands for “State Children’s Health Insurance Program”. This program has been incredibly successful since it’s inception, helping over 6 million poor children get health care that they may not have gotten otherwise. Unfortunately, SCHIP is running out of money and the initial 10 year run of the program is up in September of 2007. 14 states have already run out of funding, while others have hurriedly passed new budgets in order to keep the program alive for the children of their low income families.

The SCHIP program was originally designed to provide help to working families whose income was too high to qualify for Medicaid coverage, but not substantial enough to afford private health insurance.

Although it appears that the program will be renewed again, the question is the amount of federal funding that it will receive. The biggest problem up to this point has been certain states running out of money.

Unfortunately, even as successful as the SCHIP program has been, there are still over 50% of our kids out there that have no children’s health insurance. So what other options are there? Let’s take a look.

#1. Purchase an inexpensive discount plan. These plans are not insurance. They only provide discounts on routine medical care. Many of these plans are affordable and they have been known to significantly reduce the amount of hospital care with their negotiation tactics.

#2. Raise your deductible to the highest level. I realize that this means paying for your basic children’s health care out of your own pocket, however, think about this for a moment before you scoff at the idea. How many times a year do you actually take your child to the doctor? 1-2 times is about average for most. Most people have some amount of annual deductible anyway so you’d be paying that out of pocket first, right? Even when your policy kicks in most have an 80/20 co-pay, right? Well, this means that you’re going to have to pay something anyway, regardless of what you do. By raising your deductible you’ll substantially lower your monthly premiums and cover yourselves in the event of an emergency. Something to think about when you decide to buy children’s health insurance.

One of the most pressing concerns for most parents is that their children have access to quality health care. Many children in America receive health care coverage through their family’s health insurance plan. These policies are either provided as a benefit from their parent’s employer or purchased outright by their parents. With the multitude of health insurance providers and a large variety of plans available, searching for appropriate children’s health insurance plans can be just as perplexing as those available to adults. When trying to decide which policy to choose, the key elements of coverage and cost should be taken into consideration.

Coverage

The extent of medical services covered in a children’s health insurance plan is the most important consideration parents should make when choosing a plan. Although slight variations among plans are to be expected, most all of them will cover Physician visits, hospital visits, prescription drugs, dental and orthodontic care, and vision needs. Physician visits include routine check-ups and referral appointments for more specific care from medical specialists. Dental coverage often includes visits to the dentist for routine dental care and can also cover orthodontic needs, such as braces, with some plans. Vision coverage could include visits to an optometrist as well as glasses or contact lenses that may be prescribed. Certain plans may also cover specific cosmetic procedures, such as facial reconstruction, that result from serious accidents.

Most plans will offer coverage up to a certain dollar amount or a specified length of time. For example, the plan you choose might cover up to $20,000 in hospital expenses following a single accident, with up to a total of $80,000 per year. Other plan may allow you get new glasses or contact lenses every other year.

Costs

A second major factor to consider when choosing a children’s health insurance plan is the potential overall cost of the policy. The monthly premium, which is the amount that the customer pays each month, is the major expense that most people consider before choosing a plan. The cost of monthly premiums can vary greatly among providers depending on a variety of factors. Most plans will offer a premium with a flat monthly rate, however, terms can change if an individual’s health status suddenly changes.

Although the monthly premium is the first cost consideration that most people look at, there are other health insurance expenses, such as deductibles and co-pays, that could add up to exceed the premium amount. The deductible is the amount of money that the customer pays out of pocket before the insurance company plan will pay anything. For example, if your plan has a $500 deductible and your daughter requires a $2000 surgery, you would be responsible for paying $500 out of pocket before the policy would cover the remaining $1500. Co-pays are fees that the customer pays each time a medical service is used. For most people, these will include a nominal dollar amount paid for each doctor’s office visit and prescription medication pick-up. These are just a few of the points to consider when choosing a children’s health insurance plan. Carefully weigh your options as you decide which plan is best for your family.

Diagnosis of children’s brain development is always painful and time consuming for the parent. From the first day when you take your child to see your family doctor, to the day you know what type of brain development disorder which your child has, you may come cross many “wrong” diagnosis and be suggested to take your child to see one specialist after another. Although there are many children brain development disorder specialists around, each specialist may only specialize in one field. The only hope is of that information collected from each specialist will finally help to determine the exact type of disorder, so that your child will be treated with corrected medication.

Many parents in the U.S. complaint ” Why don’t we have a group of specialists who specialize in diagnosing children brain development disorder in the same hospital or children clinic, so all child can be diagnosis and treat quickly. Why do we as a child parent have to search for each specialist and the time for each child to see such specialist sometime exceed 3 months, etc…”. In fact, each country has its own health care system and non of them is perfected.

I. In Canada

Because of universal health care system, after your child is seen by your family doctor, she or he will be recommended to the department of brain development disorder of local children hospital. From there, the team of specialists will diagnose your child one by one and after all diagnosis are collected and the team final meeting, they will inform you, the type of brain development disorder of your child with suggested treatments.

The time of diagnosis in Canada may be shorter, but all doctors are pre determined. Like it or not, you can not choose your own. You may refuse to see some doctors, but you will get your child to wait for weeks for next appointment and diagnosis is no, no to all parents.

1. There are many support group in your local area, If you will be given information to join
2. Your child will be sent back to your local brain development disorder local clinic
3. You will need to come back, depending to your doctor diagnosis from time to time ( usually six months) or suggested by your family doctor or local clinical doctors.
4. All medication are free

If you want to seek from the alternative medicine, you will have to pay for their services, but please inform your family and clinical doctors.

II. U.S.

You will have to make you own appointment or have your family doctor do it for your. You have the right to choose any doctor whom you think will be best for your child. Because of each doctor’s specialty, some famous doctors in child brain development disorder, may take up to six months of waiting for initial appointment that not only delays the child corrected diagnosis, but also increases the risk of condition becoming worse. Here are some tips which have worked well for some parents, I hope that they will kelp to reduce the time of waiting and to save time for parent running around to find treatments for their children.

A. In general

1. Share your concern with your doctor or specialist
2. Listen to their suggestion
3. You may ask for initial screen by your family doctor
4. Seek help from other specialists as soon as possible
5. Follow up your appointment
6. Seek a second opinion
7. Get your concerns and questions answer
8. Know available treatments and education when the true causes are found
9. Get your child copies from all doctors who your child has been seen.
10. If you seek help from alternative medicine, make sure you are understood and understand, because most of the famous alternative practitioner came from non English speaking countries.

B. Joint parent child development support organization

1. Share your concerns with members
2. Find a place where you can talk quietly with member instead of raising your concern during meeting.
3. Raise your question in the general meeting
4. Share member experiences
5. Share your check list
6. No technical term and personal labeling
7. If you find other sources, share with your members
8. Be supportive and do not make any judgment.

C. here are the suggested list of specialist team

We don’t know that the list below are helpful to all parents, it has been used by other parent with high success rate in diagnosis. It is said that the list save parent time and prevent delay treatments to their children.

1. Development and behaviour pediatrician
2. Pediatric neurologist
3. Children psychiatrist
4. Children psychologist
5. Speech and language pathologist
6. Occupational therapist
7. Physical therapist
8. Play therapist
9. Social worker

In a new study published by the American Heart Association, it is suggested that infants who gain weight rapidly during their first week may be more likely to have weight problems later in life. This study has led to a recommendation to monitor Body Mass Index (BMI) readings in children in an effort to fight obesity through heightened awareness.

According to the American Heart Association, about 15% of children are overweight and obese. This measure is up from 5% in the 1980s. Children measuring in the top 5th percentile of BMI should be considered overweight, however this measure is not necessarily an automatic recommendation for severe diet changes, which may be especially harmful for children. As a child develops further, these measures can change without changes to diet.

Children falling between 80% and 95% are considered “at-risk” and should be monitored further.

As obesity rates continue to rise in the US, studies like these continue to gain in importance. As the child develops, potential health risks may be prevented through early awareness and lifestyle management. How this may impact cardiovascular disease and Type II Diabetes rates will likely require many years to measure.

Of course, all of these recommendations should be factored in with education and support for improved lifestyle and diet. Given the pressures of youth, it is important to not stigmatize a child and foster eating problems and poor self-image where the body mass problems may have been associated more simply with poor, and uneducated, dietary choices and insufficient physical activity.

Whenever there is recession in the economy, the only people who are largely affected are the underprivileged. Health care for the underprivileged with no insurance is one point of deliberation that we simply have to address today. Though it is necessary for all to have an insurance policy, it is not possible for the people with low income to purchase even an affordable insurance policy. Prices of insurance policies naturally increase due to fluctuation in the economic situation. Such a situation can remain the same for an indefinite period of time, and at such times government intervention is necessary. Instead of worsening the situation, governments need to consider and provide health care for the underprivileged.

Struggling for the basic necessities of life is a difficult affair:
Studies conducted indicate that it is the children who are the worst hit when they are not covered by a basic health insurance policy. Research reveals that millions of children come from families which are underprivileged and if they are provided with health insurance, the fiscal relief is a life saver! When they have to struggle for the basic necessities of life it is difficult for them to purchase health insurance policies on their own. This is where the government needs to come into the picture and provide such individuals with benefits of health reforms. The new health reform has proved to be a blessing in disguise for all those looking towards a secure health cover.

As part of the benefits provided by employers to their employees, efforts are made to provide health plans for staff and families. Sadly, not all employers provide health insurance plans. Many people, especially the underprivileged that work on private jobs, get no health care benefits from their employers and when they do, research reveals that it is very low and minimal. Increased cost of living is one reason why people do not have enough money left over each month or year, to buy a health insurance plan for themselves and their families. A lot of money is needed for the needs of children as well as education. Besides this, people have to set aside money to pay their monthly expenses on utilities and other outgoings like loan installments etc. Basic necessities are the main priority for the underprivileged people, not health insurance plans and this is one reason they go through life without health insurance.

Inability to afford high medical costs:
Health care for the underprivileged with no insurance is a major concern which needs to be dealt with seriously. When particular diseases like cancer strike, the underprivileged ones are not able to afford high medical costs. A disease can be cured in the early stages itself, but due to lack of money, the underprivileged ignore health issues and by the time they decide that something about it needs to be done, it gets too late. If medical care is received on time, a life can be saved. With no insurance policy on hand, a lot of personal liquid funds have to be spent on treatment which proves to be an expensive affair resulting in debt. Such a problem can be addressed by health reforms where every citizen can be provided with necessary and basic health care.