What to expect

- The average price of prescriptions is rising 4% per year; - The average senior citizen takes 3.3 medications every day; - 60% Americans require corrective lenses; - Over 33 million need hearing aids -- yet only 6% can afford them; - 19 million Americans use chiropractic services that are not covered by insurance; - Approximately 10 million suffer from substance abuse -- cost of treating this illness is often not covered by insurance; - Another 5 million are suffering from mental illness that again is often not covered.

The solution

Americans spend nearly $200 billion annually on OUT OF POCKET healthcare expenses or nearly $1,000 per person per year. Most of this is paid for at FULL RETAIL prices.

As a solution to rising costs consider a MEDICAL SAVINGS ACCOUNT. This concept is like an IRA for healthcare. Instead of sending ever-increasing premiums to a black hole called insurance company, you buy a high deductible "catastrophe" plan and pay for everyday health maintenance and routine medical procedures out of pocket with help of your tax-free medical savings account.

You can further minimize your out-of-pocket healthcare expenses through various Healthcare Savings Programs. They negotiate prices on behalf of their members and provide access to same networks of healthcare providers that large insurance companies use. The service is available for a modest monthly fee that is only a fraction of an insurance premium for similar coverage. No long-term commitment is required and -- to make these programs even more appealing -- all pre-existing conditions are accepted. For example and details see http://www.careentree.com/310559

Summary

Healthcare today is 50(!) times more expensive than it used to be in 1960s and shows no sign of getting any cheaper. There is no free lunch in America -- only way to save money on healthcare is to understand current trends and take appropriate action.

(C) by Irina 2003.

=========================================================== About Author: Irina helps people save money on healthcare and create steady stream of residual income working from home http://www.megaone.com/hbb/savemoney/ http://www.megaone.com/hbb/makemoney/ ===========================================================

What does this mean? You must eat enough to lose weight healthfully! If you eat too few calories, you’ll likely either get stuck on a plateau, or you’ll lose weight too fast with potential health consequences. A healthy rate of weight loss is no more than 2 pounds per week average, after first 2-3 weeks on a plan. A good recommendation for healthy weight loss is to eat 500 calories under your AMR (not below your BMR!) and to remember to recalculate your needs as you lose weight (recalculate after every 25 pounds lost, if you get stuck and are not losing, or if you increase your activity significantly).

Dr. Phil doesn’t provide different plans based on your starting weight and activity level, and he is against counting calories (or exchanges or Points.) But without knowing your approximate AMR and calculating calories (or exchanges or Points) in a food plan, it’s impossible to know how much food to eat to start out. And without recalculating your AMR as you lose and adjusting your food plan accordingly, it’s difficult to keep losing weight at proper rate. He makes no mention of changing your food plan until you reach your final goal. But people who have a significant amount to lose will need to adjust their calorie intake several times before reaching goal.

One size does NOT fit all! Frankly I am quite surprised nobody told him this before he published! If you are serious about losing weight healthfully, either calculate this for yourself or join a program (like Weight Watchers) where they teach you how much to eat without restricting your food choices. With just a little information about yourself and your body, you can do this RIGHT.