Category: Health and wellness
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The sorry state of small business employee benefits
Why are small business employee benefit plans such a mess? This introductory explanation is offered by professional education provider CEU: “The vast majority of jobs in the United States are created by small companies that have fewer than two hundred employees. That market segment is the focus of this course, those small companies that are…
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Shocking number of depressed and alcoholic attorneys
A shocking research report in the February 2016 issue of Journal of Addictive Medicine reports that lawyers in the U.S. have a rate of alcoholism and depression three times higher than the overall population. 1 in 5 attorneys would meet the traditional definition of “alcoholic” and 28% self-report that they are suffering from depression. The report was…
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How to provide premium health care planning advice
This post is just an idea, an incomplete thought, a business observation with no clear direction or conclusion. I have no good answer to the headline. For my entire 30+ year working career as a financial adviser I’ve focused on the theme of keeping your personal health in focus as a core of personal financial well-being. Everyone knows…
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Three truths about the lottery
The first truth is that the lottery is an effective and successful method of taxation. The lottery system is well described as a regressive tax on people who are not good at math. And what an effective tax system is has been. Wall Street Journal reports that the U.S. had lottery ticket sales of $277…
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So you call yourself a scientist?
A personal reflection on confronting the ethics failures of scientists The manipulation of scientific research that is designed to support a political or financial goals is increasingly becoming a headline issue. Underlying the headlines is the realization that we have an embarrassing and harmful ethics crisis within the scientific community. I grew up in a scientifically focused…
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Year end reflections on traumatic brain injury
I recently passed the 8th year mark since the head injury that changed everything in my world. My case is primarily a story of recovery far surpassing the expectations of any of my treating physicians. Eventually, very slowly, I returned from a state of being a “madman” to a well-organized thinker and leader. I went…
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The verdict on caffeine: “everything in moderation”
Caffeine remains the world’s most widely used but least understood psychoactive drug with regard to its overall impact on public health. We know that caffeine has both desirable and undesirable effects. These effects are well documented in the medical research and widely accepted by consumers. Yet most, if not all, of the often-cited research dating…
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How to remain depressed: 10 tips for the depression-challenged
Staying depressed for a long period of time is difficult. It actually takes quite a bit of work and effort. Few people have the knack for it. In fact, according to a recent course I took at Coursera.org, the World Health Organization estimates that while as many as 125 million people worldwide that manage to achieve…
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What if I don’t have supplemental health insurance?
I recently recorded a presentation called “How to find supplemental health insurance” for Freedom Benefits. For those not familiar with the topic, the question may be “so what, what if I don’t have supplemental insurance?” It’s a good question in the rapidly changing field of health insurance. Health insurance policies have changed dramatically since the…
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How to handle shock health insurance increases
Today’s Wall Street Journal brought the confirmation that most health insurance advisers already suspected. Medical care utilization under the new Obamacare policies is at record levels. The coming rate increases of high health insurance renewal rates for 2015 and 2016 will pose a financial shock to policyholders. But if you believe as I do that “We have to…