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Insurance Blog Week in Review – January 22-28, 2012

Things move pretty fast on the Insurance Blog. If you don’t take the time to look around, you might miss something interesting. Here is a quick review of everything that hit the Blog this week, along with a brief description of the main topic of each one. This is a good way to “ketchup” on whatever you might have missed. Catholic Bishops Might Sue Over Health Insurance Law The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has said that it might sue the federal government over the law that requires all businesses to include coverage of birth control in their employer-sponsored … Continue reading →

Insurance Not Required For Living Donors

Organ donation saves lives. Thousands of people are waiting on transplant lists for an organ to become available. Fortunately, it is possible for a kidney or liver to come from a live donor. You don’t have to have health insurance in order to become a live donor. There are around 90,000 people who are on the transplant list right now. Each day, the wait becomes too long for about thirteen people, who pass away before an organ is found for them. Some of this can be prevented. People can donate one of their kidneys, or a portion of their liver, … Continue reading →

Facebook Can Help People Find a Live Donor

Not everyone is a fan of social media websites. However, there are ways to use sites like Facebook, or Twitter, in ways that can help those who require it. People who are in need of a live donor are turning to Facebook as a way to find a kidney. There are a lot of people who are unaware that kidney and liver donations can come from live donors. According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, there were 16,800 kidney transplants preformed in the United States in 2010. 6,277 of those transplanted organs came from live donors. There are around … Continue reading →

Doctor Denies Kidney Transplant for Child – Controversy Ensues

A three year old girl named Amelia has Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome. She also needs a kidney transplant. Her mother claims that a doctor has denied her daughter’s transplant specifically because her daughter is developmentally delayed. This has created a ton of controversy across the internet. Chrissy Rivera is a mother of three children. She has two sons who are healthy. She also has a three year old daughter, named Amelia, who has Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome. This is a chromosomal disorder that is caused by a partial deletion of the short arm of chromosome 4. It is something that an infant is born … Continue reading →

Do You Spy on Your Kids?

Did you hear the one about the teenager from China who sold one of his kidneys in order to buy an iPad2? Unfortunately, it’s not a joke. According to news reports, a 17-year-old boy from China turned to the Internet in his search for ways to score a new computer. While online the teen reportedly found an organ-selling agent who was willing to pay 3,400 American dollars for a kidney. Chinese news agencies report that the boy took off from his home in the eastern Anhui province without his parents’ knowledge and traveled to a hospital in the city of … Continue reading →

Living Donors Face Difficulties With Health Insurance

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Organ donation saves lives. Living donors take a big risk when they donate one of their kidneys, or part of their liver, to a loved one who needs a transplant in order to survive. This is something people do out of love. Unfortunately, many health insurance companies are punishing those who have selflessly given their loved one a second chance on life. It seems incredibly unfair. There are more than 110,000 people, in the United States alone, who are waiting for an organ transplant. Almost 90,000 of the people in this group are in need of a kidney transplant. Others … Continue reading →

More Foods That Are Fatal For Fido

Last time I talked about five common foods that are bad, if not fatal, to dogs. While some people may already be aware that things like chocolate and alcohol are bad for our furry friends, there were quite a few foods on the list I never thought twice about. After all, who would think that something as innocent as onion, garlic, or grapes could actually hurt your dog? Our pets are important to us and can change our lives in wondrous and happy ways, so we must be careful about what we feed them. For a full list of foods … Continue reading →

Be Kind to Your Kidneys and Liver

The human body is pretty amazing. Despite all the wear and tear the body gets on a daily basis — inside AND out — it still keeps going. Your liver and kidneys play a huge role in keeping the body clean on the inside. The liver has hundreds of functions, but one big one is filtering bad stuff (like bacteria) out of the blood. It’s also essential for digestion — the liver produces bile, which breaks down fat so the body can digest it. It’s a multitasking marvel! Your kidneys are waste and water processors. On a daily basis, they … Continue reading →

Are Children Adopted from China at Risk from Tainted Milk?

You’ve probably heard about the scandal of melamine being added to pet food, milk and formula, and a few other items manufactured in China. Some adoptive parents have found kidney stones or other renal problems in their children adopted from China. Should more parents with children from China be worried? Melamine is a chemical found in various cleaners and plastics, among other things. (You can find a blog describing symptoms in our Pets blog by clicking here. Like in animals, the primary worry about too much melamine exposure for children is urinary tract problems, including kidney stones and kidney failure. … Continue reading →

Don’t Give Your Baby Water to Drink

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I have posted before in the forums that giving a baby water to drink is dangerous. (And just to be clear, we’re talking about babies under 6 months.) It can cause malnutrition because instead of filling baby’s tummy with breastmilk or formula, you’re filling baby’s tummy with water. Simply put, water doesn’t meet the nutritional needs of a baby. Most parents know not to give water to a healthy infant, but failure to thrive syndrome and water intake are sometimes associated. However, I was unaware that giving a young baby too much water to drink can also cause water toxicity. … Continue reading →