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HEALTHBEAT SHOW NOTES .... Episode #218 - Recorded September 11, 2009

Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of HealthBeat, Chiropractic OnLine Today’s Health, News and informational Podcast.

• Insurance premiums for some US families costing them $20k or more

• Tax incentives can lessen the cost of going green

• And Finally, a story about a Clinical Study of Low Back Pain and Radicular Pain

For HealthBeat, This is Dr. Todd Eglow!

Welcome to HealthBeat Podcast #218, recorded September 11, 2009.  We must always pause to remember the events from 9/11/2001.

HealthBeat is Chiropractic OnLine Today’s radio program, providing current news and commentary about Chiropractic and Health.

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And Now for some news ….

Insurance premiums for some US families costing them $20k or more

One in 10 enrolled workers in Alaska, Indiana and Minnesota were in health insurance plans costing $20,000 or more – at least $7,000 more than the national average – for employer-based health insurance premiums that covered their families in 2008, according to the latest numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

The federal agency’s analysis of annual employer-based health insurance premiums also found that, for the nation as a whole, 10 percent of enrolled workers – about 2 million – had a family plan that cost $17,000 or more. The average annual premium for family plans in 2008 was $12,298.

In addition, AHRQ’s analysis of employer-based health insurance premiums in 2008 for private industry found that: 

• The portion of family plan premiums paid by the employee for one in 10 workers nationwide was $6,700 or more, compared with the national average of $3,394

• However, 10 percent of workers in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Washington spent at least $8,100 to get family coverage

• Some 3.1 million workers nationwide with single-coverage were in plans with annual premiums totaling $6,200 or more, or at least 41 percent higher than the national average of $4,386

• For workers who were enrolled in single-coverage plans, one in 10 paid at least $1,900 – more than double the national average of $882.

Health insurance premiums vary within and between the states; the survey provides estimates of the range of premium costs within each state and across the nation, in addition to average premiums.

Surf to our Show Notes for this Chiropractic Economics NewsWire article - http://www.chiroeco.com/chiropractic/news/8513/864/Insurance-premiums-for-some-US-families-costing-them-$20k-or-more/

Finance and Taxes: Tax incentives can lessen the cost of going green

Going “green” is on everyone’s mind these days, including chiropractors.

Although there are usually substantial costs associated with saving energy, provisions in our tax laws — benefits that increased significantly with last fall’s “bailout” bill — can help offset some of those higher, upfront costs. The passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act early in 2009 refined and extended several, already existing, energy incentives.

Lawmakers pushing for yet another economic stimulus bill appear focused on the big picture, including clean renewable energy bonds and conservation bonds, to provide the funding needed by those attempting to “go green.”

Provisions extending the renewable energy production credit and creating new research and development tax credits are another approach lawmakers reportedly favor. However, our federal tax laws already contain a variety of tax savings for those wishing to achieve energy savings.

Tax-incentive programs offered by federal, local, and state governments, combined with programs offered by utility companies, have long helped businesses overcome the relatively high front-end costs of achieving energy efficiency or savings.

Today, tax incentives not only reduce the cost of acquiring and installing energy efficient products, they also reduce the day-to-day costs of operating your practice.

As part of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA), several energy-related tax credits had their lives extended. Solar landed an eight-year extension for an existing 30 percent tax credit for residential and commercial solar installations, while a $2,000 cap for deducting the cost of installing these systems was removed.

Tax credits, those direct reductions of your tax bills as opposed to a “deduction” that merely reduces the annual tax bill, are not the only tax-related benefits for achieving energy efficiency. However, the so-called “green buildings” tax credit is an important incentive offered to the owners of commercial buildings under federal tax laws.

Ever-increasing energy costs and an interest in “going green,” are making many businesses think about the environment when planning renovations or construction of new facilities.

With lawmakers pondering the big picture and future legislation centering on funding energy-efficiency, it is important to remember that our current tax laws already help you reduce the out-of-pocket, upfront expenditures essential to long-term energy savings.

Surf to our Show Notes for a link to this full article along with some other referenced links from the article:

http://www.chiroeco.com/chiropractic/news/8505/1229/Finance-and-Taxes:-Tax-incentives-can-lessen-the-cost-of-going-green/

For example: The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (http://acee.org/energy/state) offers the State Energy Efficiency Policy database.

Another example — the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (http://www.dsireusa.org) — is a project of the North Carolina Solar Center and the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) that provides a comprehensive gateway to detailed information of a variety of state energy policies.

Clinical Study of Low Back Pain and Radicular Pain Pathways by Using L2 Spinal Nerve Root Infiltration

A study from the September 1, 2009 issue of the journal Spine, looked at a randomized control trial (RCT) for L2 spinal nerve infiltration (L2 block) in clinical cases.

It has been reported in animal experiments that one of the main pathways of pain originating from the lumbar spine is the sympathetic trunk through the L2 spinal nerve root via sympathetic afferents.

To evaluate the effectiveness of L2 block, patients who had LBP and were treated with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for at least 2 weeks were then randomized to the L2 block or control block groups. The intensities of LBP and radicular pain were measured using visual analog scale and face scale before and at 5 minutes and 7 days after the injection. These values were compared, and the effects of the injections on the pain pathway were studied.

The conclusion of the study reported that the LBP and radicular pain pathways were likely interrupted by L2 block. An L2 block is useful in reducing LBP due to the disorders of L2 spinal nerve-innervated structures, such as the disc, facet joint, and sacroiliac joint. However, the therapeutic value of an L2 block may be occasionally insufficient to alleviate pain completely because of the short duration of its' effect.

Surf to our Show Notes for more information - http://journals.lww.com/spinejournal/Abstract/2009/09010/Clinical_Study_of_Low_Back_Pain_and_Radicular_Pain.10.aspx

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For Chiropractic OnLine Today’s HealthBeat, This is Dr. Todd Eglow.

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