What is Health Insurance?

In the United States this seems to be a promise by an insurer or health plan to pay for health care services in exchange for a combination of co-payments and premiums. However from a coverage perspective, it seems like the majority of insurers emphasize reactive care instead of proactive or preventative care. In other words, the insurers are will pay for over the counter drugs and medical procedures that address the symptoms of all sorts of disease. However, they rarely or in most cases never will pay for nutritional supplementation and exercise equipment or gym dues that could help prevent disease by keeping people's bodies healthy and well nourished.

On the nutrition front, I personally have benefited greatly from taking glyconutrients, great food sourced multi-vitamins, and other natural sources of intelligent nutritional supplementation. Good sources for these items isn't cheap. However to me, the quality of life that results from good nutrition is worth the investment. If I were to estimate how much money that I have saved by not having to go to the doctor for things other than a well check visit since I started my personal pilgrimage back in 2006, I would say it was well worth every penny. If the United States health care system took the same approach, I wonder how much healthier and happier the citizens of the US would be? Interestingly enough, even the Journal of The American Medical Association says that ALL Adults Should Take Vitamins.

On the exercise front, it isn't a good idea to pay for exercise equipment nor gym memberships without accountability. However, if insurers could hold people accountable for exercising on a regular basis, the health benefits and disease prevention would most likely be well worth the investment.

Given that the United States of America ranks 37th in the world for health care, you would think that insurers would be the main constituency that want to reduce costs by promoting prevention. That's my opinion at least.

If you would like to learn about the nutrients that have benefited me, contact me.

I hope that you and yours have a healthy and happy day!

Brad

A Safe Car Seat That Grows With The Kid And Your Budget

I took my family out this evening to look for a new car seat for our youngest, Noah. He turns 1 this week and he is ready for a new car seat. When looking for a car seat, we try to find a mix between great safety, reasonable functionality, a good price and a seat that will grow with the child. With our next to last boy, he out-grew his car seat much quicker than we had planned because he is a stout fella. So we upgraded him to a Sunshine Kids Radian65 Convertible Car Seat. This is a great car seat with a metal frame that is very sturdy and very comfortable for children up to 65 lb using the 5-point harness.

Although we have really liked the Sunshine Kids Radian65 Convertible Car Seat, this time we decided to go with a Graco Nautilus 3-in-1 Car Seat in Matrix because it was less expensive and shared most of the key characteristics of the Sunshine Kids Radian65 Convertible Car Seat.



      

The Graco Nautilus 3-in-1 Car Seat in Matrix has a metal sub-frame for strength. But it also has all of the additional padding necessary to make a 1-year old comfortable as well. To get the extra padding for a 1-year old from Sunshine Kids, I would have to upgrade to the Sunshine Kids Radian80 Convertible Car Seat. But that car seat costs $249. I think we would rather save the $122 to go toward something else for our children.

I hope that you find this helpful in your car seat pursuits.

Brad

Saying Goodbye To A Faithful Friend...

This was a sad day for the Diggs family. We had to say goodbye to a faithful friend. Our beloved lab dog Samson passed away. He was almost 11 years old. Sadly, cancer was quietly eating away at his bones for a long time.

We didn't see any signs of his cancer until like the tip of an iceberg revealing itself on the surface of the ocean, a simple accident that otherwise wouldn't have made a scratch on a 90lb lab dog broke his leg in three places. After examining his X-Rays, the doctors confirmed that like the danger that silently comes with the lower half of that iceberg, so too the cancer slowly and quietly ate his bones away until they became thin and brittle.

Many of you already know Samson through his annual Christmas Letter that he has published on our behalf for many years. For those of you that never met Samson, let me tell you a little about him. He loved to retrieve just about anything that you could throw... tennis balls, frisbees, footballs, sticks, soccer balls, boomerangs, base balls, ... you get the point.

Samson loved people. Like his mother before him, if you pet him, he was your instant companion. If you threw a ball for him, he was your devoted friend for life. He knew when a ball throwing friend had arrived even before they parked their car. Have you ever seen an 85 lab dog dance and leap with joy at the anticipation of a friend opening the front door. That is what Samson did every time a ball throwing friend showed up at our house. I wish I had a video to share of that glorious greeting. It was always a hoot to watch.

Just like his father, Samson adored children. He would be the first one at the baby's crib when a baby started to cry. He would comfort the children when they got hurt, would be their horse to ride, their captive during war, their spy during hide and seek, and of course their personal face and hand washer in time of need.

Before concluding, I want to share a funny story with you. When we decided that it was time to teach Samson how to swim, it was not an easy task. This may sound weired for a lab dog to have a hard time learning how to swim. But it was nevertheless true. We tried a few different pools. If persuaded to jump in to a body of water, he could find his way to the side and get out but he was not happy about it. So what solution do you use to help a lab dog love to learn water? A nerf football of course.

We took Samson to the lake. Just like before, he wanted nothing to do with getting in that water. That is until I pulled out the football. We played fetch on the beach for a while. That was big fun. Then I bounced the ball into the edge of the water. He looked at me like I was cruel or something. He meandered to the waters edge and tip-toed into the water to rescue that football. I repeated that sequence going slowly further and further into the lake. Before long, he was leaping into the lake and swimming a good 30-40 feet out to chase down that football and bring it back to me. That was our Samson. He would do just about anything for some fetch time.

Well, I better wrap this up. I hope that gives you a little glimpse into the life of our faithful friend. For your benefit, we put this small sampling of some of the many faces of our Samson. We hope that it is a blessing to you as you remember him with us.

Good bye dear and faithful friend! We miss you deeply!

The Diggs Family