Category Archives: Health

It took 15 minutes to save $1000/month on NM Health Insurance Exchange

Michael Cadigan of Cadigan Law Firm PC says health exchange will save him $1,000 a month – Albuquerque Business First by Dennis Domrzalski Reporter- Albuquerque Business First

The New Mexico Health Insurance Exchange saved one Albuquerque small business owner $1,000 a month in insurance premiums Tuesday.
 

Michael Cadigan, president and owner of the Cadigan Law Firm P.C., said he signed up the firm’s four employees Tuesday for an insurance policy and got a quote that was $1,000 less a month than he’s currently paying.

“I was very pleasantly surprised. I thought it was going to be an administrative nightmare and it literally took me 15 minutes once I found everybody’s birthdates, Social Security numbers and ZIP codes,” Cadigan, a former Albuquerque city councilor, said. “They gave me a quote that would save me $1,000 over what I was paying at Pres [Presbyterian Health Plan], so I’m psyched.”

Cadigan said he chose a gold level plan, which pays 80 percent of medal expenses, for the firm.

“I selected gold and it gave me 17 choices and I signed up for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico,” Cadigan said. “I thought this was going to be an all-day thing, so I had a Diet Coke handy, was well rested and I had a good lunch, and it was almost disappointing” that it was so easy.

“I was blown away,” he said. “I hope it’s not too good to be true.”

Michael Cadigan of Cadigan Law Firm PC says health exchange will save him $1,000 a month – Albuquerque Business First

Link to New Mexico Health Insurance Exchange

New Mexico health insurance exchange goes live | ABQJournal Online

New Mexico health insurance exchange goes live | ABQJournal Online

SANTA FE (AP) — Tens of thousands of New Mexicans will find new opportunities to shop for health insurance through an online marketplace that’s opening for business.

New Mexico’s health insurance exchange begins operating today and there also will be a toll-free hotline providing assistance.

Small businesses — those with 50 or fewer workers — can sign up for health insurance coverage through the state-run exchange: http://www.bewellnm.com/.

Individuals can use the New Mexico exchange to link to a federal government website that will handle their enrollment until the state has its computer system ready to assume that responsibility.

Enrollment also can be done by phone or in person at clinics and other sites across the state

About 80,000 New Mexicans are expected to enroll in insurance plans through the exchange in its first year.

New Mexico health insurance exchange goes live | ABQJournal Online

5 things to know about NM insurance exchange | ABQJournal Online

SANTA FE (AP) — New Mexico and other states are expanding how businesses and individuals can obtain health insurance. Here are five things to know about New Mexico’s health insurance exchange that starts operating today.

5 things to know about NM insurance exchange | ABQJournal Online

ABQ Uptown Growers’ Market · Farm Fresh Produce · Locally Grown

Eat well and support local businesses that exist to nourish you and our community.

ABQ Uptown Growers’ Market · Farm Fresh Produce · Locally Grown

Opening June, 2013 – 2 Locations!

Tuesday Market 1200 Block of Central NE, across from Presbyterian Hospital
7AM – 1PM Starting June 25 – October 29.

Saturday Market at ABQ Uptown [across for Trader Joe’s]
7AM – Noon Starting June 29 – October 26.

ABQ Uptown Growers’ Market · Farm Fresh Produce · Locally Grown

The Dirty Dozen versus the Clean Fifteen foods

»  Weigh facts on organic | ABQ Journal

Make good choices

If you are concerned about pesticides, consider avoiding the non-organic fruits and vegetables with the highest pesticide residues per the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen: apples, strawberries, grapes, peaches and imported nectarines, celery, spinach, bell peppers, cucumbers, potatoes, cherry tomatoes and hot peppers.

Instead, choose more fruits and vegetables from the Environmental Working Group’s Clean Fifteen: pineapple, papaya, mango, kiwi, cantaloupe, grapefruit, corn, onion, avocado, frozen sweet peas, cabbage, asparagus, eggplant, sweet potatoes and mushrooms.

Organic meat and dairy products also deserve consideration. Antibiotics are commonly added to animal feed to help animals grow more quickly. This practice has resulted in an alarming increase in dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria with more than half of ground turkey, pork chops and ground beef at the grocery store contaminated.

The Stanford researchers found less antibiotic-resistant bacteria in organic chicken and pork than in conventional meat. They also reported more heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids in organic milk.

Organic food benefits farm workers and consumers by reducing pesticide exposure and risk of acquiring dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

» Weigh facts on organic | ABQ Journal

Eating well is easy if you take the time to do so

My friend Johnny_Mango is a local institution, one of those people everyone in town knows of, like Don Schrader or Geraldine Amato. Someone who is not, in the strictest sense, a celebrity or public figure, as in politics or media, but well-known. We are sympatico, liberal lovers of the outdoors and poetry. I do not wish to overreact to his recent column, Notes from the Fattest Man in Crested Butte on Duke City Fix. I know what it is to regularly produce Web essays, to try to be thought-provoking and humorous. It’s a tough job, at times.

Nevertheless, my response is a serious one. Kidding or not, he’s wrong to say the best or easiest or advisable way to lose weight is to eat foods you hate. If you want to be healthy, which will result in a healthy weight, consider the following:

  • Drink water all day long. Reach for it before any other beverage. (Stop drinking all sodas.)
  • Make a big salad with any veggies or fruits you like. If you don’t like veggies, start with iceberg lettuce; you’ll try others when you get bored with that. Use a salad dressing you make or buy the only one whose first ingredient is vinegar instead of water. (Use nothing with corn syrup.) Eat all you want of this salad anytime you want. No limit.
  • Roast any veggies you like. Cut them all to bite size. Toss them in any oil other than corn or vegetable oil. Add spices. Don’t like any veggies? Everyone loves roasted potatoes or carrots; add more as you get bored. Don’t like any spices. What’s wrong with you? No wonder you need advice about getting healthy. Try black pepper or red pepper flakes. I highly recommend curry. (Roast at 425 for up to 20 minutes, stirring part way through the time. I add whole garlic cloves or thick slices and shallot slices halfway through because they cook faster than the rest. If you hate brussel sprouts, you will love them cut in half and roasted.)
  • Eat oats for breakfast. Not instant oats in a little package. Buy any large package of any variation of oats. Make oatmeal. Soak raw oats overnight in milk or yogurt. Roast oats as a part of making your own granola — there is nothing better than that (see recipe at end). Eat with milk or yogurt or milk alternatives. Add fruits.
  • Snack on nuts. Any kind of nuts (except brazil nuts). Eat as much as you want, but start with a palmful. Who doesn’t like some kind of nut?
  • Make your own guacamole with those avocados that you’ve been wasting (plus raw garlic, minced onions, jalapenos and/or a little salsa). It is amazingly filling and lasting.
  • Eat dark chocolate if you can resist eating too much at once.
  • Sip a glass of red wine with any of this (except at breakfast). Salud!

These are all delicious foods. They involve nothing you don’t like. (Your tastes will naturally expand to new foods, including those you used to hate.) They involve NO LIMITS. Make a pig of yourself with a salad or granola, assuming you don’t add spam and maple syrup to either. No deprivation. No calculations or portion control. Just enjoying good food.

If you want some don’ts:

  • No sodas of any kind
  • No wheat in any form (read Wheat Belly)
  • No junk food (you know it when you see it, often by its unnatural color, shape, or texture)
  • No fast food (unless you can find something truly healthy)

Don’t start with the don’ts. Expectations of prohibitions and strict limits and having to eat food you don’t like all sabotage a healthy lifestyle. Start with lots of good stuff; the rest follows naturally.


image

Anatomy of a poison | Wheat Belly Blog

What I find most interesting about this is that it should be scientifically verifiable (or refutable). In Wheat Belly, Dr Davis doesn’t make vague assertions about diet and health. He offers evidence of a wide range of ills caused by modern wheat and alleviated by eschewing wheat. peace, mjh 

Anatomy of a poison | Wheat Belly Blog

Image Fasano 2013

Note the following on the gliadin “map”:

Red = direct cytotoxic segment (intestinal cell-destroying)
Light green = immune-stimulating segment (responsible for celiac disease)
Blue = bowel permeability segment (via zonulin activation)
Dark green = inflammatory interleukin release

Anatomy of a poison | Wheat Belly Blog