trumpcare 2

TRUMPCARE 2

my first thoughts when i read about the trumpcare 2 that
passed through the house was
they the republicans are trying to lose the next elections in 2018
by passing this trumpcare 2 legislation

why
if you take off your politics hat
open you wallet
or
your checking account
be honest with yourself
now leave politics out of this
and
say
how is this going to affect me and my family

now if you make over $200,000 you are making out ok
you are getting a tax cut
you will probably though
lose benefits and especially if you are older
as you will pay maybe as much as 5-6 times for you health insurance

i ran across a bbc article on the trumpcare 2
now bbc
why cant we be like the english
they tell the truth
they just look at life better than we do

here is what they wrote about some big consequences of
trumpare 2

there would be no individual mandate
if you didnt have insurance and tried to get it you pay 30% more
for premiums

the employer mandate would be gone
thats the one where if you have over 50 employees you have too
offer them insurance

gone would be the medicare taxes other taxes like on medical devices
investment income drug companies some high end health policies

insurance for dependents would be kept

the requirement to cover certain things like er visits preventative care
cancer treatments mental health eg is gone
its left up to the states to decide
guarantee with texass record they wont be well covered since texas
has some of the poorest overall healthcare in the nation

now this is the big one
preexisting conditions coverage is left up to the states
again if you live in texas prepare to dig deeper into your wallet
whats preexisting conditions
well
i would say almost all of you have one
i do my wife she does my siblings all do many of their kids do
this one is going to cost most of us a lot of money

medicaid expansion would be phased out over time
the poor just get it the worst it seems in the trumpcare 2 bill

womens care
this will affect at least half of you
there may not be contraceptive and pregnancy care
if you have delivered a baby lately
look at your total bill for that delivery and prenatal care
that now may be yours to pay

insurers can now charge us old folks more
as much as 5-6 times as much
this one will eventually affect all of us

the tax credit formula will be altered
those hurt the most are
you got it
the old folks and the poor ones

now the good thing is that trumpcare 2 has to go through the
senate
where the general feeling is what gets spit out of there
will not look like what the house just produced

i am hoping it will be a more bipartisan effort in the senate
maybe they will finally do a real fix
like what needs to be done

the clocks ticking
the next election is over a year away
what gets passed may determine who has control of congress

yes
politics makes strange bedfellows sometimes

the organicgreen doctor

alzheimers news-what to do

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-WHAT TO DO

last week i spoke for about 40 minutes on clinical studies
in alzheimers disease
i reviewed the theory that beta amyloid accumulates forming plaques
then tau protein unravels and forms tangles
both cause brain cell death

i reviewed the adni 2 study i was in for 5 years
a series of diagnostic tests
four that are usually done to work up memory loss
history and exam  labs  memory testing   mri of the brain
the others arent covered by insurance
genetic tests  
spinal tap for amyloid and tau
glucose metabolism pet scan
amyvid pet scan for beta amyloid
then
i reviewed new drug treatments for alzheimers that are experimental
the alzheimers vaccines like my aducanumab study that i am in
the bace inhibitor pills that stop beta amyloid production
the leukemia drug that slows down parkinsons and may slow
down alzheimers

then i reviewed the healthy things that one can do to slow it down

then i answered questions for 30 minutes running over into the break time
but
folks kept asking questions
afterwards i answered question for even longer
folks want answers
sometimes there arent any yet

should i get tested
yes if you have memory issues

should i get genetic tests
no if you dont understand what they mean
especially the apoe 4 gene thats in the 23 and me tests for genetic diseases
its associated with late onset alzheimers disease
if you get the gene it doesnt mean you will get the disease
you are at a higher risk of getting alzheimers though
how you live your life health wise and environmental factors determine
whether it gets you

so what do i do if its in my family
for now there is no real treatment
but we are close i said

i would do these things
do all the healthy things on this slide
do the  mind diet or the mediterranean diet
consider if you are high risk or if you have memory issues
the reversal of cognitive decline protocol from ucla
its the one i am on

most of it is on that slide above
the rest are supplements
and
checking levels of things like b12
thyroid levels hormone levels vitamin d3 homocsyteine etc
correcting them if they are abnormal

the results from their studies are promising to slow down the
mental decline
but
i doubt that it totally stops the disease
it just slows it down
but
what if you could slow it down for 5 years
thats a lot of time in alzheimers years
enough
to see a love one graduate or get married or have a baby

i attribute my doing well to this regimen
and
to taking aricept (donepezil)

dont just do nothing
most of what you can do is in
your hands
and
your mouth
and
your legs

get going
now

thats what you do to slow this down

the organicgreen doctor

country n news-millenneal garden

COUNTRY N NEWS-MILLENNEAL GARDEN

this week i was contacted by a local city magazine for
an interview on farming and gardening

i explained to the reporter that we really didnt have a farm
likes some homesteading people do
where they have a cow goats maybe a horse
they tend to drink their own homegrown milk
make their own cheeses
many will have chickens for eggs and for their meat source
most also will garden
canning and maybe selling their excess produce
thats what i think of when i think of a small farm

we here at the country n
took a simpler approach
what do we have time to take care of
what do we like
what do we have space for
so
we decided on
chickens
only for the eggs
all our chickens are allowed to live out their lives here
no meat chickens for us

we also decided to do an organic garden
looking at what we like to eat
what grows when
so
we garden all year round
eg
right now we are about to harvest all our
onions
the stalks have now fallen over
browned some
we will harvest them soon

potatoes
i chose red ones
we have been eating on these taters and onions now
for over a month
our yield this year seems down

garlic
its stalks have  turned brown
we will harvest them next week
laying them out on a covered table to dry for a few weeks
then hang them in braided chains
or
slice off the garlic heads and save in a dark closet

of course we have tomatoes that are starting to produce
it may be a good year for them
we have peppers that are just now producing

our peaches only made on 1 tree well this year
i think it is because of the warm winter
the lack of chill hours prevented the others from making

i read this morning in the texas gardeners seeds newsletter
that 5 million of the 6 million folks who took up gardening
this year were millenneals
why
save money
eat healthy
good for the environment
can grow stuff anywhere even apartments
can be a social activity
can be a challenge
can be an adventure

millenneals
will redefine our politics
as the soon to be the dominant generation
like the baby boomers are now
we need fresh blood in both of these things below

between fixing politics and doing more gardening
i sort of feel a kinship with them

the organicgreen doctor