Heartburn or GERD can Kill

Heartburn is a common annoyance. The busy lifestyle, quick meals, fatty or spicy foods all contribute to the occasional need of a chewable pain reliever. The acceptance of heartburn as an inconvenient, but natural, part of the daily grind can blind you to the warning that a severe heartburn symptom can bring.

Heartburn as a Disorder

Heartburn can be a symptom as well as a disorder. Simple heartburn or GERD can be controlled and dealt with. However, heartburn can signal the presence of a much more serious problem. If it’s heartburn, you will have a burning sensation in the chest usually after eating. There may be a spread of the burning to the throat, sometimes accompanied by a bad taste, difficulty in swallowing, belching, coughing, hoarseness and/or wheezing.

It can become worse by lying down or bending over or by eating. Relief can come from an antacid. While the more severe heartburn symptoms may be mistaken for a heart attack, simple heartburn is usually not made worse by exercise. If there is any concern that the pain may signal a heart attack, get help quickly.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

3 Things You Should Do During Health Insurance Open Enrollment Period

By Bart Icles

Health insurance open enrollment happens once a year for companies, big and small alike. Most reputable companies have health insurance group plans as one of their employees' benefits, and if you are working for such companies, you are considered lucky, especially during these hard times.

Most companies have a 30-day period wherein employees are able to have the opportunity to select which plan would work the best for them and would be more convenient for them to opt for. This 30-day health insurance open enrollment period is crucial and is critical to everyone. It can be a bit overwhelming at times especially for employers who will be taking care of the coverage and all the major and minor details about it, and also, to the employees who might be confused about which plan would really provide them with the best coverage. The question now is, what are the best practices during health insurance open enrollment period?

Here are some of the best practices during health insurance open enrollment. These practices more or less make both the employees' and their employer's lives easier during this period. People who have done these express that they are able to get through the period smoothly, without too many hassles:

1. If you are the Human Resources Department Manager, the first thing that you should do is to pull a list from your employee database or HRIS (Human Resource Information System) of the names of the employees under your payroll and make a spreadsheet file on them dedicated solely to tracking their health insurance open enrollment requirements. This will keep you organized and right on track and will ensure that you meet the deadline.

2. If you are an employee, attend the seminars or meetings about the health coverage plans that you can choose from so that you will be able to know all the necessary details about them. Being well-informed will be able to give you an edge because you will be able to choose the plan that you and your dependents would benefit from the most.

3. If you are the one in charge of searching for the best health care provider for you company, you should go for the provider that will not only give you the different plans that your employees can avail of, you should also consider the level of helpfulness that they will be able to provide you with. Choose the one who will be able to also teach you how to utilize each health plan that are made available to your company properly.

The health insurance open enrollment period doesn't have to be a stressful thing for you and your employee yearly. The proper planning and information dissemination, along with a good tracker, will be able to get you through the period smoothly.

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