JOURNAL
The Affordable Care Act - Provisions that benefit the seniors in your family
Overview – the expansion of the safety net
Since their inception, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security provided the vital safety net that protected the poor and the middle classes in America. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was thus intended to bridge the gaps in the protections that these programs provided. Come January 1, 2014, the ACA will impact over 100 million Americans with savings and peace of mind.
More specifically, The ACA was meant to drastically reduce the number of uninsured Americans, to improve and render more comprehensive the coverage of insured Americans, and to address the crisis of rapidly increasing national healthcare costs.
The full name of this landmark legislation is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, mostly referred to simply as the Affordable Care Act. It was passed by Congress and then signed into law by President Obama on March 23, 2010. Pursuant to subsequent legal challenges, the Supreme Court rendered a final decision on June 28, 2012, to uphold the health care law. The law was promptly proclaimed as the most significant healthcare legislation enacted since the passage of Medicare and Medicaid forty-five years earlier. It puts in place major health insurance reforms that will keep rolling out over the entire decade, starting in 2010.
8 Healthy and Safe Sex Tips
Sex education isn’t just for high school health class anymore. There are a surprising number of adults who know very little about their sexual health. Just because we are old enough to know better, doesn’t always mean that we do. Check out the following tips to keep your sexual life healthy and safe.
1. The Truth about HPV
Genital human papillomavirus (HPV) is one of the sexually transmitted infections (STIs) that is getting the most attention these days, probably due to the fact that the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tells us that it is the most common STI and almost all sexually active men and women will get it at some point in their lives. Here are some facts to help you learn all you need to know about this STI:
● HPV is spread through skin to skin contact, often during vaginal and anal sex, but it can also be spread during genital to genital contact or oral sex. This means you can be a virgin and still contract HPV.
● There are 40 different types of HPV. Ninety percent (90%) of HPV infections go away on their own within 2 years, but others can go on to cause more serious conditions such as genital warts or cervical cancer.
● There is an HPV screening for women, but unfortunately not for men. Men and women aged 26 and under can get a vaccine that will help to protect against contracting this STI.
“It’s Not My Fault! It’s in my DNA!” Are Your Genes Really Making You Fat?
‘Nature vs. Nurture’, the debate that has been with us for years, has reared its head again. So, the question on everybody’s lips is “can our environment be blamed for obesity or are some people really born to be fat?” David Geffen, of UCLA, recently published findings that suggest the latter (Red Orbit, 2013). After a two-year study, Geffen concluded that obesity is less about what you put in your mouth and more about your DNA, meaning that maybe your genes really are making you fat. But is he right?
Genetics
In 2007, New Scientist reported a University of Oxford study which showed that around half of the 39,000 people tested had a defective FTO gene (Roxanne Khamsi, 2007). This defect made them 30% more likely to be obese. Moreover, 16% of those tested were found to have a double defect, or the defective gene twice, leading to a massive 70% chance of developing obesity. These are startling statistics, especially given the high regularity of the defective gene. What’s more, this study isn’t alone in supporting nature’s side of the debate.
Timothy Frayling of the University of Exeter examined further research, when he declared that the link between obesity and genetics is stronger than we might think (Timothy Frayling, 2012). Frayling looked into adiposity rates in twins (the rate in which they store fat) and found an extraordinarily high correlation. Similarly, he compared BMI levels of adoptive children to both their adoptive and their biological parents. The biological association was significantly stronger than the adoptive one, suggesting that nurture has less to do with obesity than nature. In fact, Frayling concluded that around 60-70% of weight gain is related genetics rather than environment. With findings like these, it is easy to blame nature for your spare tyre.
Depression and Stress may be Dampening your Sex Drive
Stress, Depression, and Sex
“Sexual dysfunction” can be a scary term that brings up visuals of pill bottles and medical tests, but in reality, sexual dysfunction is defined simply as disturbances in sexual desire or functioning (Laumann, Paik, & Rosen, 1999), which is something that many people experience at one point or another in their sexual lives. People who experience emotional problems, like depression, or stress-related problems are much more likely to experience some kind of sexual dysfunction or disturbance in their sexual desire. That’s not to say that everyone who has a stressful lifestyle will have low desire or some other sexual dysfunction, but stress and/or depression are often a factor when it comes to low desire.
Sex is an important part of keeping your romantic relationship healthy, both emotionally and physically. Many people suffer from stress related to jobs, family, children and a number of other factors. Not surprisingly, we aren’t able to compartmentalize our problems, and stress has a way of seeping into all areas of our lives. Stress can affect hormones in the body, which are related to the sexual libido (Castellanos, 2013). It also affects our general mood and how we interact within our relationship on a day to day basis. If you’re stressed, you often aren’t able to relax and enjoy your partner, in or out of the bedroom.
Depression is also associated with impaired sexual functioning and satisfaction. People who are depressed experience a loss of interest in activities they once enjoyed, a reduction in energy, low self-esteem, and difficulties experiencing pleasure (Baldwin, 2001). Considering these symptoms, it’s not difficult to imagine why depressed individuals may also experience problems in their sexual relationships.
Angelina’s Surgeries – From Diagnosis to Prognosis
THIS MODERN-DAY GRETA GARBO UNDERGOES A DOUBLE MASTECTOMY
Privately, one can only imagine what the delectably iconic screen goddess must have gone through, although probably not. Publicly Angelina Jolie tried to make the announcement sound as matter-of-factly as possible, attempting to buffer where people’s imagination would take them. She appeared to want, above all, to move on and not to dwell on how her fans and business associates would construe what she had undergone -where her future would take her. “I do not feel any less of a woman,” she said in a first post-surgery piece she wrote for the New York Times. “I feel empowered that I made a strong choice that in no way diminishes my femininity.” A brief sentence that addressed several of the misgivings she needed to allay.