Blog Posts in Category: healthcare consumerism
March 30, 2018
What Is Health Equity and How Can We Achieve It? Healthy People 2020 defines health equity as the “attainment of the highest level of health for all people.” Health equity means effort to ensure that all people have full and equal access to opportunities that enable them to lead healthy lives. This may seem like a great idea, but how do we attain it? According to the CDC, health disparities or inequities are types of unfair health differences closely linked with social or environmental... Read More
March 30, 2018
Unintentional injuries are the 3rd leading cause of death in NH, behind cancer (as the #1) and heart disease (as the #2). As a nation, there were 161,000 people who died from preventable unintentional injuries, according to the American Public Health Association. Most leading causes of death have been on a steady decline, aside from unintentional injuries which has been on a rapid increase in the last few years. These increases in unintentional injuries are most likely due to increasing opioid... Read More
March 30, 2018
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines environment, as it relates to health, as all the physical, chemical and biological factors external to a person, and all the related behaviors. Environmental factors play a crucial role in a persons health and well-being, potentially more than genetics will. The environment impacts our health in many ways including: Air pollution Inadequate water sanitation (hygiene) Chemicals and biological agents Radiation (ultraviolet and ionizing) Community noise... Read More
March 30, 2018
Why It Is Important To Take A Sick Day Getting sick is never convenient, especially with tests and projects, a full day of work or even taking care of children. However, as much as you might want to power through your cold or flu, it is extremely important to take a sick day when necessary. Taking a sick day can prevent the spread of infectious diseases, such as the common cold, the flu or the stomach bug. Also, a sick employee or student, is never a productive one. When sick, the body is... Read More
January 31, 2018
The United States Spends A Lot Of Money On Health Care, Why Should You? According to a 2014 study, the United States spends $9,327 per person on health care. The United Kingdom, a similarly wealthy country spends $3,749 per person on health care. Even with the US spending over $5,000 more than the United Kingdom, we still have a shorter life expectancy. So, what is the difference? Why is there such a large gap between the two? While there is not one simple answer, we do know that the U.S.... Read More
December 1, 2017
Simple Steps To Take To Become A More Informed Healthcare Consumer Being an informed, educated, and wise healthcare consumer is more important than ever. Although understanding the healthcare system can be daunting, here are some simple steps you can take to become a more informed healthcare consumer: 1. Take care of yourself The easiest way to keep your healthcare costs down is to stay as healthy as possible. You have control over what you do about your risk factors for disease. For example... Read More
October 27, 2017
Learn What You Can Do To Avoid The Flu In an environment such as college where you are constantly surrounded by many different people, it is very easy for illness to spread. One common illness is the flu. According to UNH Health and Wellness, the best way to prevent the flu is to get vaccinated. Health and Wellness provides free flu shots to everyone that has paid the health fee. To get your flu shot, you can make an appointment with Health and Wellness to get vaccinated at a... Read More
September 13, 2017
The Most Common And Costly Diseases That Exist Today Are Also The Most Preventable Various chronic diseases, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, and obesity are the most common health problems in America today. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), chronic diseases are responsible for 7 in 10 deaths among Americans each year, and the majority of health care costs. These diseases may be the most common and costly, but they are also in fact the most... Read More
June 26, 2017
The Low-down on Direct-to-Consumer Pharmaceutical Advertisements and What They Mean For Us, As Healthcare Consumers. Do you ever feel like you can’t escape the pharmaceutical advertisements? It’s rare to watch a television show, read a magazine, or go on social media now a days without running into some sort of advertisement for a new prescription drug. But, aside from being a nuisance, what do these advertisements mean for us as consumers? For several years, there’s been debate over whether... Read More
June 20, 2017
Why the Cost of Prescription Medicine is Skyrocketing You may have noticed when you pick up your prescription at the pharmacy that the price seems to keep creeping up. According to the Wall Street Journal pharmaceutical prices have increased 9.8% in the past year. But why is this? Why are people who need medications forced to pay these crazy prices? Here are a couple of reasons as reported in a review by the JAMA Network. The United States has higher drug prices than any other industrialized... Read More
Recent Posts
What Does This Mean?
Earlier this semester, the University of New Hampshire declared that they... Read more
Attitudes & Experiences According to the Public
Misinformation about health care is nothing... Read more
Benefits of Strength Training
Have you ever been told that cardio is the best way to lose fat?... Read more
