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Wearing Many Hats

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Created: 07 November 2016

Last Updated: 10 November 2016

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Here I am again wearing my PT/health-thinking hat. It had been months since I last wrote anything on my healthysport website. One reason was a visit to the ER due to abscess after my dental work by  a Dentist  whom I picked out of my HMO insurance catalogue (a stupid move on my part). Told her I was diabetic and isn’t it prudent to err on the side of caution and prescribe me antibiotics as protection? Oh no she said, you look very healthy. No need for meds. Just go to any drug store for any over-the-counter pain meds.

Yeah.

Main lesson here: if you are diabetic, choose your Dentist carefully. I got swollen. I needed IV antibiotics. I  lost at least 8 pounds due to inability to eat solid foods. I was not able to run for at least a month.

Thankfully I am now gradually returning to my running routine. I am regaining my old weight bit by bit. I am fully recovered.

I am back to  busily  wearing different hats - as a programmer, blogger, reader of fantasy novels and  PT. I can get overwhelmed sometimes especially when I study a new language and trying to do a complex web app using it. Seriously, if you are new to  a computer  language, KISS is the first rule. But do I follow this rule? Of course not.

But I feel an update on this site is desperately needed so I’d  start with  things that I read from PT journals I subscribe to.

Since election is in 4 days, my main area of interest is health care (politically). Clinton’s main thrust is a continuation and tweaking  of Obamacare  PLUS a public option for insurance which  I’d like to see as a preparation for universal healthcare. ALSO, she is floating the idea of dropping Medicare coverage to 55+ which can be awesome for me since I will turn that age next year.  If Trump has a better option, and right now all I am hearing is repeal and replace with something ‘better’,  I’d go with him. Some of Trump’s health care ideas, like treating premiums as tax deductibles and health care savings and being able to subscribe to  insurance across state lines and mandatory transparency on the fees charged by hospitals and clinics (which will stimulate competition and market-driven pricing) are good. But he is also encouraging a ‘pick and choose’ approach for insurance coverage which, in the past had encouraged insurance companies to drop or at least deny some services to people with pre-existing conditions.

That is how I understand the two candidates’ positions on healthcare. Obviously I also take issue with other aspects of their platforms but I’d rather have other websites deal with that. I would like to keep my site health-oriented.

Let me present you some facts(From PT in Motion).

Did you know that :

--  healthcare costs increased an annual average of 2.4 percent from 2003 to 2008 then slowed to 0.7 percent  between 2008 to 2012? Is that due to Obamacare, efficient care, electronic record keeping,  better negotiations between hospitals and insurance,  less sick people,  people who would rather die than be hospitalized? What do you think?

--15,781 is the average number of injuries that occur in amusement parks every year for people under 20 that prompt visits to ER, and 8.0 percent of them involve traumatic brain injuries? So parents watch out!

--9.8 percent  is the prevalence of diagnosed diabetes in the US in 2014 for adults above 18 years old.  23.1 percent (which was the highest prevalence) was among women 65 and over?

--3.7 days was the number of physically inactive days reported by Americans in a 30 day period?

--563 calories was number of calories burned by 180 pound person playing beach volleyball?

--The lowest rate of hospitalization per 1000 Medicare patients in the US was recorded in Hawaii at 28.2, followed by Utah at 34.0, followed by Idaho at 36.4. National average is 62.9. Something must be doing some people good in some states?