Hospital insurance. This provides coverage for inpatient and outpatient hospital services. For inpatient services this insurance usually specifies the number of days of hospitalization the policy covers and specifies dollar limits on total benefits payable.
Medical-surgical insurance. This coverage is divided into two portions: The medical portion pays for doctor visits to the hospital and may pay for office visits. Other medical services covered include drugs, X rays, anesthesia, and laboratory tests performed outside the hospital. The surgical portion covers the surgeon’s fees, whether the surgery was performed in the hospital, the doctor’s office, or an ambulatory surgical center. (An ambulatory surgical center is a medical facility where surgical procedures are performed on an outpatient basis. It may be a freestanding center or a facility associated with a hospital but separate from it.)
Major medical insurance. Often referred to as catastrophic insurance, this coverage protects against the high cost of medical care associated with a serious illness or accident. Before benefits are paid, this type of insurance usually requires you to pay a yearly deductible, typically ranging from $100 to $500, although deductibles vary from one policy to another. After the deductible is met, major medical insurance pays up to a certain percentage of covered expenses while you pay the remaining percentage. A typical coinsurance arrangement is 80 percent paid by your insurance company and 20 percent by you.
Once your out-of-pocket expenses reach a certain amount, many major medical policies protect you from further outlays of cash. This is known as a stop-loss provision. Your insurance company pays the remaining covered expenses up to the maximum limit. Because of such a provision, and the protection major medical insurance offers, if you can afford only one type of health insurance, you should consider purchasing a major medical policy.
It is important to remember that major medical insurance is usually cheaper than hospital or medical-surgical insurance because of the sometimes large deductibles these policies carry.
Although we usually associate angina with periods of unusual e ertion or emotional stress, angina can also strike in the middle of th night, shattering sleep with a painful and terrifying real-life nightmare Digitalis and diuretics are often used to treat such nocturnal angina on the theory that one of the major mechanisms of this disorder is increase in the return of blood from the veins when the body is in supine position. Recently, heart specialists at two medical centers in Israel decided to see what would happen if the entire body was simply tilted slightly during sleep, with the feet down and the head up. Would this simple change in sleeping position affect blood flow enough to make a difference in episodes of nocturnal angina?
]]>Werner Braum
North America Senior Vice President Ramada International Hotels & Resorts
“Recycling works because it’s based on a cherished American principle: free enterprise.”
William 0. Bourke
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Reynolds Metals Company
“Recycling makes you feel good about yourself; like when you leave the blood bank.”
Carole Newman Speedy Print, Inc.
Most Americans grew up considering the United States to be the land of abundance. Perhaps that’s why, until recently, they never gave much thought to throwing things away. With a cavalier attitude of “there’s always more where that came from,” our disposable society manages to send 450 million cubic yards of trash to the landfill every year. That’s enough garbage to bury 26,000 football fields in a layer of garbage ten feet deep. According to the Waste Recyclers Council, that’s enough trash to keep 50,000 trucks working daily to remove the refuse Americans toss away. An increasing awareness of the impact of trash on our environment, along with a severe and long lasting economic recession, has forced many Americans and most business owners to think twice about trash.
Most of what is found in the garbage bin at a business, as well as at home, can be salvaged, recycled and put to use, if these valuable materials can be intercepted before they reach the landfill. The most common resources businesses recycle today include paper, aluminum, glass, plastic and rubber tires. Some businesses have been successful in recycling oils, solvents, packaging materials, food, landscape debris and wood.
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Although it is not yet recognized by the American Dental Association as a separate specialty, cosmetic dentistry is becoming more and more popular. According to one estimate, cosmetic techniques accounted for more than half of all dental restorative work done in 1987, and signs are that the techniques are even more popular now. Cosmetic dentistry is the “artistic” side of the profession, in which new techniques such as bleaching, bonding, veneering, and re-sculpting have been developed to “brighten the smiles” of people with chronically stained, broken, or malformed teeth.
A word of caution: since cosmetic dentistry is not an approved specialty, and as such has no certifying board, there are no precise criteria, standards, and qualifications for becoming a cosmetic dentist. What can you do to track down the credentials of such a practitioner? Ask the dentist if he or she has taken classes in cosmetic dentistry—where and when? And make it a top priority to see examples of the dentist’s work. Check and double-check before entrusting your smile to major cosmetic renovation—and paying through the nose for no improvement.
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Every company no matter how large or small does two things; they consume energy and resources and they produce waste. To make real progress in protecting the environment and conserving our natural resources, experts have offered a simple formula: reduce, reuse and recycle.While recycling seems to get all the attention and will be addressed at length in the next chapter, it should be the last step in the process. By reducing the amount of unnecessary packaging, the size and number of printed reports, the use of toxins and pollutants, the number of unnecessary trips using the company vehicle, the amount of mail sent, the number of memos generated, the number of copies produced at the copy machine, and the amount of energy to heat, cool and light the facility, a business can have a major impact on resource conversation and enjoy direct savings.
A simple directive to “cut back … make do with less” will not only help save the earth, but could save a business, especially during difficult economic times. By taking steps to reduce what you use, you also will be generating less trash and creating less pollution.
]]>Simply providing quality goods and services and adding to the economic growth and prosperity of our country is not enough. Most Americans also expect businesses to carry out their enterprise with little or no disruption to the environment. Our national values have changed and our collective vision has broadened. Today, if you want to attract and retain customers, it makes good business sense to incorporate sound environmental practices in daily business operations.
Will sticking biodegradable or recyclable labels on every product going out the door do the trick? Probably not! While companies who do so might be able to exploit the consumer’s newfound interest in environmental protection for a short while, it will be the companies that make a sustained commitment to saving the earth that will enjoy public support in the long run. The public’s concern for the environment is here to stay and smart companies will change their business operations to make sure they will keep their customers coming back.
The government also expects business to do its part. That’s another reason to take interest in the subject. Many states are enacting strict environmental protection laws. Regulations at the federal, state and local levels are being initiated to deal with hazardous waste, resource conservation, pollution prevention and recycling. Some states are taking a positive approach by providing tax breaks and other incentives for businesses taking specific steps to save the earth. Other states are taking a punitive approach to enforcing environmental protection by charging fines and, in extreme cases, shutting businesses down. Most offer a combination of rewards and punishment to stimulate compliance.
The important thing to remember is that public opinion drives government regulations. If business owners take voluntary action, they can beat the command-and-control approach of government regulators, who are sure to make their lives miserable and increase their stress levels, not to in Milk. their creative approaches to solving environ-
mental problems.
Saving the earth also is good for the bottom line. Many companies have found that instituting selected programs in recycling, waste reduction, pollution control and conservation have lead to substantial dollar savings or have generated additional revenue. Resourceful entrepreneurs have established entire new companies as a result of the environmental movement. They have found ways to recapture, reuse or reconstitute resources that were normally sent to the landfill and have turned them into usable goods. Others have developed new items that meet the public’s demand for environmentally safe products and services. Ample evidence that cost savings are possible is documented in the success stories that follow.
Saving the earth can do wonders for a company’s public relations image, making people feel good about the business and its products and services. That’s another reason why saving the earth is good business. Employees like to work for companies that respect the environment. Existing and potential customers like to spend their dollars with companies that are viewed as environmentally sensitive. Corporate environmentalism can be turned into a competitive advantage, helping to attract quality employees and loyal customers.
An enormous quantity of drugs are dispensed to treat depression. and it is difficult to say in how many cases such treatment is justified.
What you may think is depression may be nothing more than bad case of boredom or the blahs. In other cases, depression is a feeling of “what’s the use?” that seems to hit people at a certain time in the- lives, typically the forties. Executives and professional people may fall into this kind of depression not long after they have entered the very peak of their careers and become overwhelmed with the feeling that al their efforts have somehow not been personally rewarding. A person whose interests are home centered may become depressed after the children are grown. What I am trying to get at is that depression is. a certain sense, sometimes “natural,” and a few sessions with a psychologist may be more appropriate than drug therapy.
]]>Frito-Lay is always on the look out for technology that will allow their plants to reduce energy usage. They have developed several programs which have helped reduce, by 1.3 percent, the amount of energy used over the past year. For example, a plant in Frankfort, Indiana reuses waste heat from the potato chip cooking operation to heat up the building. This single effort alone reduces Frito-Lay’s fuel needs by 400,000 gallons of oil a year. Another effort includes the use of propane-powered sales vehicles. The vehicles offer a clean alternative to gasoline powered ones by eliminating carbon particulates from vehicle emissions and reduce dependence on foreign oil.
Frito-Lay currently is in the process of conserving water through a program at their manufacturing facilities which is expected to reduce water usage by up to one billion gallons over a three-year period. But conservation for Frito-Lay doesn’t stop here. They have been following environmentally sound practices for about 40 years and intend to continue exploring many new opportunities.
Reduction of fuel needs by 70 billion BTUs of energy in one year, leading to a 630,000 gallon decrease in Frito-Lay’s need for oil and saving the company $450,000.
]]>“Why do I have to see a specialist?” Or, put another way, “I’d like a good explanation of what you think is wrong with me.” Ask for—demand, if necessary—a complete and understandable point by-point diagnostic portrait. Maybe your doctor can’t or won’t explain things clearly to you. Or he or she might respond resentfully to your questions with “If you don’t trust my judgment, then perhaps you should find yourself another doctor.” Take that advice. Find yourself another doctor who can and wants to explain things, one you can trust, and who trusts you. Going to a specialist should not be a casual next step routinely taken in every medical situation.
Why this kind of specialist?” Again, it’s information you’re after. You need to know about the specialist’s areas of expertise, and what is involved with the performance of that specialty. Knowing this will help you determine whether you want to see the specialist at all. That is an option. You don’t have to see a specialist (or see that particular specialist) immediately if you are not convinced that consultation is justified. Let your doctor know that he or she must make a very good case for every step taken in your medical care.
Why this particular specialist?” Why Dr. Jones and not Dr. Smith? Is Dr. Jones the best person for the job? Are you being sent to Dr. Jones because he is an excellent representative of his profession? Or is it because Dr. Jones and your doctor are country club buddies or old college friends who have an arrangement, each recommending the other? While there is nothing wrong with friends referring patients to each other, you want to feel confident that competence is the basic reason for the referral.
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