Tone/Voice:

Professional and formal – The goal is to make Meritage an authoritative figure in the healthcare industry.

Keywords:

• Use the keywords at least once.
• Try to get the primary keyword in the first paragraph; do so naturally if possible.

Format:

• Accuracy is crucial with their content
• Put the keyword phrases at the top of the article, then the title, and then the text.
• Use headers, bullet points and lists to break up the content and make it more readable.
• Article should end with a tie-in to Meritage’s service offerings and a call-to-action when appropriate.
  • Link the information in the article to how the client can help (a relevant page on their site).

• Save the blogs as the Primary keyword -Title
• Please put Meritage Medical Network in the email subject line.

Open Enrollment: What You Need to Know This Year

Fall marks an especially exciting time for those of us that work in the healthcare industry: the open enrollment period! The end of another year offers people the perfect chance to plan for the future (or more specifically, the coming year), offering the opportunity to review their medical expenses from the previous 12 months and use that information to make informed decisions regarding their insurance needs going forward.

Wait a minute: that’s what the open enrollment is for? Like most, you may simply elect to remain enrolled in your current coverage year-after-year. You can certainly do that, but know that not taking this time to truly research your options could end up costing you. Thus, we’ve prepared a comprehensive guide to help get you ready for this year’s period, addressing important questions such as “What is open enrollment?” and “When does open enrollment take place?”. We will also explain important details regarding group health, private and Medicare open enrollment.

What is Open Enrollment?

Few truly understand what happens during open enrollment. Simply put, it’s the time of year reserved to make modifications to your health insurance plan, whether that be to enroll in coverage, modify your plan or switch carriers completely. Your employer may have scheduled a benefits fair to go over these details, or you may be noticing increased correspondence from your insurance provider in your mailbox. It’s all being done to help you know what your options are for the coming year.

When is Open Enrollment?

The 2018 open enrollment period will only run for six weeks, making it half as long as last year. The exact dates depend on that type of insurance coverage you have. Medicare open enrollment runs from October 15 through December 7, while marketplace plans available through Healthcare.gov or state exchanges are open for enrollment from November 1 through December 15. Group health plans sponsored by individual employers set their own open enrollment dates, yet they usually follow the same time frame as government and private plans.

Why This All Matters

Why should you care about open enrollment? According to the Internal Revenue Service, the individual mandate introduced by the Affordable Care Act is still in effect, which means you could have to pay a tax penalty if you don’t have healthcare coverage. Plus, planning accordingly during your private, group health plan or medical open enrollment period can help you stay in control of your healthcare costs in the coming year.

How, you ask? Take a look at your healthcare expenses from recent years. Use that information to answer the following questions:

• How many times do you (or your family members) go to the doctor?
• What types of problems are needing to be treated?
• How much have you been spending out of your own pocket on healthcare?

Once you have that information, consider what life events you might be facing in the coming year. Are you expecting a baby? Do you need surgery? Do you have a family member that has a chronic condition? All of these are factors that will influence how often you’ll need to utilize your health insurance next year. Then, take a look at the plan options available to you. Add up the cost of premiums, the deductibles, and the out-of-pocket maximums. Those numbers will tell you the total costs of each plan.

The total cost of each plan is great information to have, but how does it help you control your healthcare spending? Knowing the total amount you’d have to pay before you reach a plan’s out-of-pocket maximum allows you to allocate added pre-tax funds to resources such as a health savings or flexible spending account. That money helps you afford care throughout the year without putting added strain on your household budget. Plus, your research will also show how providers offer added resources to help promote wellness and understand your rights as a policyholder, further helping you to manage the need and cost for care.

Things to Consider This Year

With the issues of explaining what and when is open enrollment now put to bed, here are a few things to consider as you head into this year’s period:

• Marketplace open enrollment: The Affordable Care Act coverage is still available through the online insurance marketplace. ACASignups.net is estimating a 34 percent increase in premiums for private plans, yet if your income is below 400 percent of the federal poverty level, you could qualify for subsidized premiums.
• Employer plan open enrollment: High deductible plans are becoming more popular as employers attempt to expand cost sharing. The Kaiser Family Foundation reports that the average deductible for group health plans has risen over $1,200 in the last 10 years. If you don’t anticipate many visits to the doctor in 2018, a high-deductible plan can save you money through lower monthly premiums.
• Medicare open enrollment: If you’re looking for added benefits and are willing to deal with a limited provider network, you may want to consider switching to a Medicare Advantage plan. Consider your potential prescription costs, as well. While Advantage plans require higher monthly premiums for Part D coverage than the $33.50 premium that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reports is required for traditional Medicare drug benefits, you may find that such coverage gives you access to more medications.

Now that you have better understanding of when is open enrollment, don’t allow it to sneak up on you again this year. Knowing what is open enrollment allows you to better prepare to select the right type of coverage for you and your family. Of course, you’re not alone in this process; our experts here at Meritage Medical Network are prepared to answer any questions that you may have, from complex details regarding Medicare Open enrollment to simple inquiries about whether or not a doctor is a member of our network. Feel free to contact us any time both before and during the open enrollment period.

8 Best Cardio Workouts You Can Do At Home   

Cardio workouts are an important component of your health and wellbeing. You do not have to spend hours at the gym to maintain your cardiovascular health and lose weight in the process. You can implement an effective cardio workout at home, even if you do not have a lot of space or equipment to do so.

The first thing you need to know is what is cardio? The basic definition is any exercise that increases your heart rate, which opens up the possibility to much more than just running or brisk walking! The following are a list of some of the best cardio workouts that you can add to your exercise regiment without having to leave your home.

1. Burpees

Burpees might be the dread of CrossFit pros, but they do provide a killer cardio workout in a short period of time. You do not need any equipment or a lot of space, making them a great cardio workout at home. To do a burpee, alternate between a plank position and jumping forward in the air. Make sure that your hands are flat on the ground and your back straight. In just 10 minutes, you can burn more than 100 calories. We recommend starting slow and working your way up to 10 minutes or more to avoid injury. 

2. Jump Rope

Do you have fond memories of jumping rope as a kid? Well, you can bring that into your workouts by jumping rope at home. Jumping rope is often considered the best cardio workout and is used for cross training by many athletes. You can do it almost anywhere with just a simple jump rope you can buy in many locations, which is why it is a great cardio workout at home. If you jump rope for only 20 minutes, you can burn about 220 calories. Although you might have memories of jumping for long periods of time as a kid with no problem, you also want to work your way up to the full 20 minutes. 

3. Jumping Jacks 

Another cardio workout at home that might bring you back to your childhood is jumping jacks. Similar to burpees, doing jumping jacks for 10 minutes straight can burn around 100 calories. You can easily integrate jumping jacks into a circuit training that includes some of the other exercises on this page, such as burpees, jumping rope and squat jumps. With no equipment necessary, you can perform jumping jacks anywhere at any time.

4. Squat Jumps

Another great cardio exercise that you can do alone or as part of a cardio circuit is squat jumps. As their name implies, you start out in a squat and then jump up, trying to get as high as possible, and then land back in the squat. It is high impact, especially on your knees, so care is needed when you are a beginner or if you are suffering a knee injury.

5. Kickboxing

Want to feel the burn in a more organized cardio session? Then try kickboxing, the best cardio workout to do at home. Kickboxing is a combination of karate and boxing which is excellent for not only cardio but also strength straining. You can use some equipment, such as a punching bag and exercise video, or you can do it on your own if you already have some skills. In addition to burning around 100 calories per 10 minutes of working out, you also can get rid of your stress and aggression.

6. Dancing

Looking to have some fun with your cardio workout at home? Then put on some music and do some dancing. Anything that gets your heart pumping exercises your cardiovascular system, and certain dance moves also help to build muscle. If you want a more structured lesson, you can find free dance exercise videos to watch: from Latin Dance to Ballet Body Sculpting to Hip Hop.

7. Running the Stairs

Another cardio workout at home is stair running, as long as you have some stairs nearby. Stair workouts help you build strength and power in your lower body and gets the heart rate pumping. Challenge yourself with mini intervals by alternating between a regular stair run and sideways stair run to burn more calories even after your workout. You can also perform some stair exercises if you have a single stair somewhere, or if you purchase a special stepping stool for exercising like the Tone Fitness Aerobic Stepper or The Step Original Aerobic Platform.

8. Jogging in Place

You do not need to head outside or hit the treadmill to get the benefits of running; simply jogging in place in your home provides many of the same benefits. Of course, you might find it boring to run in place for an extensive length of time. That is why most people incorporate jogging in place with other exercises, such as burpees, jump ropes or strength training for a complete workout.

For an excellent exercise program, mix it up. Include several rounds of some of the above workouts for a solid 20 – 30-minute session that will also burn fat and build muscle. You can find online videos for cardio routines that incorporate many of these exercises to make it easier for you to build your own cardio workout at home. Fitness Blender and POPSUGAR Fitness offer excellent cardio workout videos for free on their YouTube channels.

Exercise is an essential component of your overall health and wellness. Always check with a doctor before doing any intensive exercise, and start off slowly and build up your fitness to reduce the risk of injury. At Meritage Medical Network, we care about your health! That is why our select group of over 700 private practice physicians in Sonoma, Napa and Marin counties focus on providing the best healthcare possible. Learn more about maximizing your health by attending one of our Wellness Classes.

Surprising Facts about United States Health Care

Because health care is such a hot topic right now in politics, in the news, and in the popular consciousness, there is a lot of information being thrown around about the state of health care in America, and it’s often hard to tell what is true, what is almost true, or what is completely false. So here at Meritage Medical Network, we have decided to compile a list of surprising facts about health care in the United States to help you do some of your own fact checking.

• The United States spends over $8,250 per capita on health care every year – that’s over 22% higher than the next highest country in the world and over 170% higher than the average of the highest-spending 50 countries in the world!
• In 1960, the per capita cost of health care was $147 per person in America; adjusted for inflation, it would be $1,082 today; that means our current per capita cost has grown over 660% above and beyond normal inflation.
• As a portion of the gross domestic product (GDP), health care spending accounts for 17.7 percent; the U.S. is second in the world and first among developed nations for the highest health care spending as a percentage of GDP.
• The total amount of money spent on health care each year in the United States is $2.6 trillion, and it is expected to continue rising. By 2021, spending on health care each year is expected to be $4.8 trillion.
• It is estimated that 30% (about $750 billion) of health care spending each year is wasted.
• Life expectancy in the United States is 77.4 years for men and 82.2 years for women; overall, America has the 34th highest life expectancy in the 195 countries of the world.
• The United States ranks 47th for infant mortality in the world.
• The World Health Organization has ranked the United States health care system as 37th in the world.
• America is the only wealthy, industrialized nation that does not have a universal health care system.
• About 75% of all health care dollars are spent on patients with one or more chronic conditions, many of which are preventable, such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease, lung disease, and others.
• Paying for health care is the number 1 cause of bankruptcy filing every year in the U.S. Almost 2 million people need to file bankruptcy because they cannot pay their medical bills each year, and outside of bankruptcy, over 20 percent of the population (about 56 million adults) between the ages of 19 and 64 struggle with health-care related bills each year.
• A recent study found that lack of insurance coverage can be tied to 45,000 deaths per year in the United States and that people without health insurance have a 40% higher risk of death than those with private health insurance.

Although many of these statistics are less than encouraging, one of the best ways to improve the overall health and wellness of the population and avoid preventable deaths is to get more people insured so they can get the health care they need. Right now, it is the open enrollment period for people to purchase new insurance through the health insurance marketplaces; check out Covered California’s website to see the plans that are available and find out if you qualify for subsidies or other programs such as Medicaid.

If you’re searching for new insurance (or during open enrollment for your employer, Medicare, or other insurance plans), be sure that your policy covers health care from Meritage Medical Network. We are your health care network. As a select group of over 700 private practice physicians located throughout Marin, Napa, and Sonoma Counties, our expert staff members, both medical and administrative, are dedicated to ensuring that you receive the best quality health care available. Don’t become a statistic – enroll in or update your health insurance policy today!