Life and Health

Long-term care (LTC) insurance ensures people with disabilities, chronic illnesses or other conditions receive the daily help they need. The coverage includes a variety of benefits, including equipment and home modifications. Understand the value of these specific benefits as you determine if LTC insurance is right for you or someone you love.

What is LTC Insurance

While beneficial, your health insurance coverage from an employer or private source usually does not cover daily, extended care. Likewise, Medicare covers only a short nursing home stay or limited in-home care, and local agencies sometimes provide only a small amount of financial assistance to low-income adults.

LTC insurance can cover the expenses of the nursing and practical help you need. Equally important, it can pay for essential home modifications and the equipment you need to remain safe, comfortable and independent in your own home.

Items the LTC Equipment and Home Modification Benefit Covers   

You can use your equipment and home modification benefit to cover a variety of expenses.

• Wheelchair ramp
• Grab bars
• Stair or bed rails
• Walk-in shower
• Raised toilet
• Power recliner or chair
• Accessible light switches and electric outlets
• Wider doorways
• Stair lift
• Low-pile carpeting or other flooring

Each of these equipment items and home modifications improves your safety and comfort in your home. They also equip you to remain as independent as possible.

Why you need the Equipment and Home Modification Benefit   

The majority of disabled, ill or aging Americans prefer to age at home. However, you may need special equipment, such as a hospital bed, power recliner or shower seat to remain independent. Additionally, you may require home modifications like lever handles, accessible power outlets or low-pile carpeting that improve your home’s functionality and safety.

The costs of renting or purchasing the equipment you need can quickly add up, and home modifications could total tens of thousands of dollars. Conserve your personal funds for other needs like daily living expenses and medical treatment when you use your LTC insurance policy to cover a portion or all of the equipment and home modification costs.

Additionally, realize that your insurance policy funds will reduce caregiver stress. Your loved ones will gain peace of mind and experience less physical and financial challenges since your insurance benefit will pay for the equipment and home modifications you need to remain safe in your home.

How to Purchase LTC Insurance

The future is uncertain, but you can meet your daily living needs with LTC insurance. Discuss your needs, including the equipment and home modification benefit, with your insurance agent. Be sure to choose a policy that covers your expected financial needs, has an affordable premium and meets your long-term care needs.

One in 64 children is diagnosed with autism. Coping with the diagnosis and everyday challenges can be stressful for parents. In honor of Stress Awareness Month and Autism Awareness Month, consider effective ways to reduce stress in April and throughout the year.

Eat a Balanced Diet

Your child may only eat a few foods, but you should eat a balanced diet. Whole, real foods fuel your body, balance your hormones and reduce the effects of stress. If your health insurance covers dietitian services, schedule a helpful consultation.

Exercise

After running around all day, you may not feel like exercising, but regular movement releases endorphins that clear your brain, calm your body and lower your stress. Try running on the treadmill, dancing to music or doing other doctor-approved exercises as you relax.

Practice Good Sleep Hygiene

A good night’s sleep equips you to handle each day’s challenges. To achieve good sleep hygiene:

• Avoid caffeine in the afternoon.
• Practice relaxation techniques before bed.
• Go to bed and wake up at the same time.

If you’re worried about your child waking up or eloping as you sleep, install a baby monitor or bedroom door alarm.

Go to your Happy Place

When you start to feel overwhelmed, close your eyes, think about your favorite place in the world, and feel the sand between your toes or the sun on your face. This guided imagery technique will instantly lower your blood pressure and your stress.

Breathe

A few deep breaths help you slow down, take time to think and calm your body. Breathe in through your nose, hold it and exhale from your mouth whenever necessary.

Get Organized

Juggling doctor appointments and all your parenting and personal duties requires organization. Find an app, calendar or other tool that helps you track and stick to your daily schedule. Getting organized keeps both you and your child calm.

Engage in Self-Care

Every day, drink a cup of hot tea, read a magazine or call a friend. See your doctor for regular physicals, too. Even a five-minute break can remind you of your value and help you feel centered.

Ask for Help

You may not trust many people to care for your child, but try to find one or two trusted family members, friends or professional respite workers who can give you a break. You could also hire someone to clean the house, run errands and ease your burden.

Connect with Other Parents

Find an in-person or online support group and chat with other autism parents. Then share helpful resources, tools and encouragement as you manage everyday life.

Manage stress as you parent your child with autism in these ways. They help you cope successfully with everyday life.

March gives your family the perfect opportunity to talk about love and improve your heart health. Involve your entire family in making positive changes when you take several small heart-healthy steps.

Find Free Time for Active Movement

Whether you have 15 minutes after dinner or several hours on the weekends, exercise and activity improve your heart health. Review your family’s schedule to find free time for activities everyone in the family enjoys, such as hiking, biking, swimming, sports and active video games.

Cook Together

Kids may balk at any dietary changes or new foods unless they help with the meal planning, grocery shopping and cooking. Encourage your kids to help you research heart-healthy meals and snacks, too, as you introduce unprocessed options into your family’s everyday diet.

Drink More Water

Water hydrates and fuels your body. According to the Mayo Clinic, adult men should drink 15.5 cups of water and women need 11.5 cups of water daily. Children should consume between five and 11 cups of water depending on their height, weight and age. To boost your water intake, replace other beverages with water, eat foods high in water content and drink a glass of water before and with each meal.

Reduce Stress

While you probably can’t avoid stress altogether, you can work as a family to reduce your stress levels, which makes your heart happy. Consider cutting unnecessary activities, doing yoga, spending time outdoors, enjoying fun hobbies and embracing other effective strategies that reduce stress every day.

Choose Less Screen Time

Technology can improve your health, especially when you use a fitness tracker to monitor your activity and diet. Too much screen time, particularly if it involves sitting around, can negatively affect your health, though. As a family, choose to replace some of your screen time with family board games, hobbies or volunteer activities.

Visit the Doctor

Involve your doctor on your journey to better heart health, especially if you’re new to exercise or have a history of heart issues. Your health insurance should cover a physical and regular checkups, and it may even offer reimbursement for exercise or nutrition classes you may take as your family pursues better health.

Give Yourself Permission to Take Baby Steps

Implementing and maintaining heart-healthy improvements takes time. Encourage your family members to view your new adventure as a marathon rather than a sprint because with baby steps you’re more likely to stick with your new lifestyle changes over time.

This February, prioritize heart health with your entire family. Every step you take toward a healthier lifestyle improves your quality of life and can help you live longer.

Your life insurance policy provides financially for your family, but you obviously want to live as long as possible. Pet ownership can help you achieve that goal.

Improve Heart Health

Your blood pressure and cholesterol could drop when you own a pet. Care for a cat, and your heart attack risk could drop by one-third. With these benefits, you improve your heart health and may prolong your life.

Reduce Obesity

Obesity remains a top health concern because it can cause heart disease, diabetes and other health concerns. Your pet could help you maintain a healthy weight as you walk it, spend time cleaning its cage and perform other pet-related tasks each day.

Move More

Because your pet likes to exercise, you will move, too. Whether you walk your dog outdoors, play ball with your cat or chase your goat around the barn, the movement helps you reach your daily exercise goals and stay active. Plus, exercise boosts your immunity, decreases anxiety and improves your overall mood.

Decrease Stress

Erase the effects of a bad day when you spend time with your pet. A friendly greeting and social interaction can decrease your cortisol level and calm your nervous system.

Improve Immunity

Your body can fight off germs and illness thanks to your pet. As you laugh with your pet and groom it, your immunity gets a boost, and your body produces antibodies that fight germs.

Detect Illness

Trained dogs can detect epilepsy, certain cancers and other illnesses in their owners. You can rely on your pet to provide an alert that allows you to seek medical help right away and address ongoing health problems.

Receive Disability Support

If you suffer from a disability, a pet can offer life-saving support. Use your seeing eye dog or another pet to improve your mobility and mental health.

Gain a Purpose

Feeding, walking and caring for your pet gets you out of bed each day. With a purpose, you’re more likely to avoid depression and choose to stay active and engaged in your life.

Cope With Trauma

If you face a serious illness or other trauma, turn to your pet for support. Your furry friend will listen to you, love you unconditionally and remain loyal throughout the ordeal.

Alternatives to Pet Ownership

Pet ownership improves your health. However, you may not want the financial or time obligations that accompany pet ownership. In this case, volunteer at an animal shelter, pet sit for friends or walk dogs after work.

Pet ownership can help you live longer. Whether you adopt a dog, cat, fish or snake, con

Coffee, tea, chocolate and energy drinks all contain caffeine. Unfortunately, the caffeine you consume each day affects your health in a negative way. Change your habits and switch to caffeine alternatives as you get your energy boost and improve your health.

Benefits of Consuming Caffeine

Numerous studies show that you can gain several benefits when you consume caffeine regularly.

• Decrease risk of developing diabetes
• Enhance metabolism of glucose found in carbs
• Reduce colon cancer risk
• Boost antioxidants
• Experience higher energy
• Improve mood

Health and Life Benefits of Quitting or Reducing Caffeine

Although you may consume caffeine because you appreciate the benefits and alertness it provides, too much caffeine can cause dependency and dizziness, acid reflux and anxiety. You may even experience headaches, fatigue and irritability when you don’t get your caffeine fix. Additionally, caffeine can cause health and life challenges such as:

• Increased release of stress hormones
• Inability to regulate insulin
• Increased risk of cardiovascular disease
• Higher cholesterol levels
• More digestive discomfort
• Increase in calorie consumption, especially if you consume sugary caffeinated foods and drinks
• Lower serotonin release
• Disrupted sleep
• Increased anxiety and depression
• Imbalance in calcium, potassium and magnesium levels
• Difficulty detoxing liver
• Low birth weight and other problems in infants born to moms who consume caffeine

Healthy Caffeine Alternatives

You’ll improve your overall health when you reduce or cut caffeine from your diet. If you’re dependent on caffeine, consider making the switch gradually to these alternatives.

Rooibos tea – Gain an immune boost with this tasty hot or cold tea.

Teeccino and Cafix – Enjoy the familiar taste of coffee when you drink these two substitutes made from chicory, grain, figs and beetroot.

Ice Water – Jumpstart your metabolism, energy and focus as you fuel your body with ice water throughout the day.

B Vitamins – Gain mental clarity, energy and better sleep when you consume lean meats, nuts, seeds, and other foods that are high in B vitamins.

Apple – Open neural and muscle pathways while boosting your metabolism as you chew an apple.

Protein – Maintain energy, concentration and mood with a protein-packed meal or snack.

Ginkgo Biloba – Improve your focus, creativity and well-being when you consume this herbal extract as a tea or capsule.

Ginseng – Stimulate blood flow and reduce stress and depression with ginseng tea or capsules.

Stretch – Boost oxygen in your blood and spark alertness and focus when you stretch your body.

Cutting caffeine from your diet can improve your health and prolong your life. Talk to your doctor and health or life insurance provider for more tips as you switch to healthy caffeine alternatives and improve your overall health and well-being.

Life insurance provides financial resources for your dependents after you pass away, and it gives you peace of mind. You may need to undergo a medical exam, though, to determine your eligibility for a life insurance policy and your premium cost. Even a small reduction in your blood pressure and weight can reduce your premium, so take seven steps now to improve your health before your exam.

1. Eat a Balanced, Healthy Diet

Check your diet during the week before your medical exam. Reduce the amount of sodium, sugar, red meat and saturated fats you eat, and boost your intake of whole grains, oats, nuts, fish and vegetables. With these dietary changes, you’ll feel more alert, and your blood pressure, weight and cholesterol levels could improve.

2. Drink Water

Water hydrates your body, cleanses your digestive system, increases blood flow and improves your ability to give a urine sample. Drink plenty of water to improve your energy, too, and help you feel positive before your exam.

Alternatively, abstain from alcohol during the week before your exam. Your weight can stabilize, and you will not receive an alcoholism flag on your medical record when you avoid alcoholic beverages.

3. Follow Fasting Guidelines

If your medical exam involves a blood test, fast for 12 hours before the exam. The fast improves your blood test results and can reduce your weight.

4. Avoid Intense Exercise on Exam Day

As a rule, exercise improves your health, but intense exercise also elevates your blood pressure and urine protein levels. Relax on exam day, and save the exercise for later.

5. Dress Light and Stand Tall

Your weight-to-height ratio plays a role in your life insurance premiums, so dress light to reduce your weight and stand tall to increase your height.

6. Stay Calm

Stress, anxiety and frustration affect your digestive system and elevate your blood pressure. Attempt to stay calm during the week before your medical exam for the best test results.

7. Postpone the Blood Pressure Test

You may feel nervous about your medical exam, and those nerves can increase your blood pressure. Ask the examiner if you can wait until the end of your exam for the blood pressure test. By then, you should feel calmer and more comfortable.

With these seven tips, you can pass your life insurance medical exam and hopefully improve your premiums. However, you may also discuss your health with your insurance agent for advice. Life insurance provides for your dependents and gives you peace of mind, and you definitely want to purchase adequate and affordable coverage.

February is National Children’s Dental Health Month, and you can celebrate by making sure your children see the dentist regularly. Even your babies need a dental exam. Learn more about when your baby should see the dentist for the first time and what to expect at this visit.

Schedule Your Baby’s First Dental Visit

According to the American Association of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD), your child should see the dentist by the time he or she turns six months or within six month of the first baby tooth eruption. Rather than a full dental exam, the initial visit allows the dentist to meet you and your child, gather medical and dental history and teach you about good oral hygiene and proper preventative care. The dentist will simply feel your child’s gums and visually inspect any erupted teeth to make sure they’re healthy. It’s a non-invasive appointment that sets the stage for good oral health in the future.

Choose a Dentist

You could take your baby to see your dentist. However, consider scheduling your child’s first dental appointment with a pediatric dentist who specializes in treating infants and children. The entire dental team is prepared to examine squirming, fearful and anxious children, and the waiting room is filled with age appropriate books, toys and games or an aquarium.

Make the Visit Fun

No matter how you feel about dentists, your child needs to know that visits to this medical professional are fun and safe. Keep your anxiety in check by treating the first dental visits like a fun play date. Smile at your child, speak cheerfully and remain calm so that your baby feels calm and relaxed.

Maintain Good Oral Hygiene at Home

Your baby’s oral health improves between dental visits when you practice good oral hygiene at home. Rub your baby’s gums with a clean, wet washcloth after meals to reduce bacteria growth. Once the first baby tooth emerges, brush it at least twice daily with non-fluoridated toothpaste as you promote healthy oral habits and a healthy mouth.

When you take your baby to see the dentist, you lay the foundation for a lifetime of good oral hygiene. Take advantage of your dental insurance and schedule your baby’s first exam today.

Why Healthy Singles Need Health Insurance

As a single and healthy adult, you may figure that health insurance isn’t a necessity. After all, you don’t have any pressing or chronic medical needs, and insurance is just another expense that will stretch your already thin budget. What you don’t realize is that you actually have several really good reasons to purchase health insurance today.

1. Avoid a Penalty

With the Affordable Care Act in effect, anyone who doesn’t purchase health insurance in 2015 will owe a penalty of $325 or two percent of your income. Avoid the penalty by enrolling in your parents’ insurance if you’re under 26. Otherwise, enroll in your employer-sponsored healthcare plan or apply for an affordable policy through the Healthcare Marketplace or a private insurer and avoid the penalty.

2. Cover Preventative Care

Maybe you only think about doctors when you’re sick, but they’re also important for preventative care. During regular checkups, they can catch the beginnings of heart disease, diabetes or other medical conditions, so put your health insurance to work as you prioritize preventative care.

3. Build a Relationship With a Healthcare Team

What happens if you get pregnant, develop arthritis or suffer from severe headaches? You’ll want a trusted medical team that knows you and your physical health history by your side. Use health insurance to make regular visits to a physician and build a relationship that will benefit you down the road.

4. Enjoy an Active Lifestyle

Do you avoid skiing, traveling or another fun activity because you’re afraid you might get hurt and won’t be able to afford the medical treatment? Purchase health insurance. While it doesn’t give you a license to be reckless, it does help you enjoy life without worrying that an injury will wipe out your savings and land you in the poor house.

5. Maintain a Healthy Reproductive System

Even though you don’t have a family now, you may want one in the future. Go to the doctor for regular checkups and reproductive health advice. Address reproductive problems now and maintain your reproductive health as you look forward to the future.

Health insurance can be expensive and it might seem like a waste of money or a budgetary strain, but it’s a wise investment. Talk to an insurance agent today about which policy is right for your needs and budget. Then use health insurance to take care of yourself today and prepare for a healthy tomorrow.

You’ve recently welcomed a baby into your family, and now you’re ready to plan for your child’s future. You already know that life insurance is a wise financial decision for you, but does your newborn need life insurance?

Lock in Affordable Rates

Compare rates for a newborn life insurance policy and one designed for senior adults, and you’ll see that the newborn policy costs less. Life insurance companies know that young customers typically live longer, which decreases their risk of payout. By purchasing a policy now, you snag affordable rates while your child is young and healthy.

Assure Your Child’s Insurability

Insuring your infant does more than secure the best life insurance policy rates. It also ensures your child’s future insurability. In the future, illnesses like heart disease, diabetes and cancer affect your child’s ability to buy affordable life insurance. That’s why families choose to insure their healthy infants and assure their future insurability.

Provide for End of Life Expenses

It seems a little silly to think about paying for your newborn’s funeral.  However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 4,246 children under the age of four died in 2011 from birth defects, genetic disorders and accidents. Life insurance covers burial and funeral costs, which gives you peace of mind and financial protection.

Give Your Child a Financial Head Start

Life insurance is typically available as term or whole life coverage. Either option provides essential coverage, but term life insurance usually costs less.

*Term insurance covers the policy holder for a set time frame. For example, buy your newborn a 15-year term life insurance policy, and your child is insured until he or she turns 15. In cases, this type of policy can be renewed.

*Whole life insurance provides a lifetime of coverage and builds cash value. As an alternative to an IRA or 529 Plan, whole life insurance gives you a way to save for your child’s future while providing life insurance for him or her.

Life insurance is designed to replace the primary wage earner’s income as it provides for the survivors’ financial needs. Purchasing a policy for your newborn can be a good idea, though, especially after you purchase adequate life insurance for yourself. Then weigh the pros and cons of newborn life insurance and talk to your insurance agent as you make this decision.