Best and Worst Foods for Sex

It can take more than just a few candles and a Marvin Gaye song to feel sexy. A healthy lifestyle—from the food you eat to the exercise you do—can make you look and feel better, and improve your sex life, too. At the same time, some foods can be mood- and libido-killers. 

"The link between food and sex drive isn’t just wishful thinking" says Cynthia Sass, RD, author ofS.A.S.S Yourself Slim. "Studies show that certain foods or nutrients do play a role in boosting libido and supporting a healthy sex life."

The Better Sex Workout

Get buff for the bedroom

There are two secrets to great sex that nobody talks about: strength and flexibility. Sculpting and stretching key muscles can mean the difference between finishing strong and kinking up (or conking out!) mid-session.

Integrate these targeted exercises into your usual workout routine to feel much more pleasure tonight and tone up while you’re at it.

Nevada Insurance Fraud Trial Begins For County Analyst

Trial has begun in federal court in Las Vegas for a 49-year-old senior Clark County human resources analyst accused of conspiring with a dead former judge to steal $824,000 from an auto insurance company.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that a prosecutor Gregory Damm told a jury Monday that Erik Holman used stolen money to take cruises and overseas trips.
Holman pleaded not guilty to a 2011 federal grand jury indictment accusing him of conspiracy and wire fraud.
He’s accused of conspiring with former Henderson Municipal Court Judge John Provost to embezzle money from American Family Insurance between October 2005 and April 2009.
Assistant Federal Public Defender Raquel Lazo told the jury that Provost acted alone.
Provost was 48 when he committed suicide in July 2009, amid embezzlement allegations.

TNCs, Insurers Square off at California Hearing

App-based rideshare operators and the insurance industry squared off Friday at a public hearing hosted by California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones.
Jones called the hearing to discuss the insurance issues related to a type of business being referred to as Transportation Network Companies. The hearing included testimony from TNC representatives, the insurance industry and other stakeholders.
TNCs have become a hot topic, in part thanks to a perceived gap in insurance coverage, and an incident during which a TNC driver under contract with Uber struck and killed 6-year-old Sofia Liu. Her family has filed a lawsuit against Uber. Uber issued a statement saying the driver, 57-year-old Syed Muzzafar, was not responding to a fare didn’t have a passenger in his car when he struck Liu.
Since then several states and local governments have been working on rules and regulations to oversee these emerging TNCs. The Seattle City Council passed a measure Monday that puts some regulations on rideshare companies that use smartphone apps to connect passengers with rides from drivers using their personal cars.
In California, TNCs are regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission, which offered up an initial set of regulations for such ridesharing activities late last year.
The hearing on Friday also included testimony by the general public, including several representatives of the taxi industry, which has argued that TNCs should be regulated like the taxi industry.
At issue between the TNCs and the insurance industry has been a gap between when drivers are heading to pick up a ride or if they have a ride, a period covered under the TNC’s typical $1 million commercial insurance policies, and when TNC drivers have their app on and may be seeking a ride.
The insurance industry had argued that the period when a TNC driver has their app on but isn’t en route to pick up a fare or when they don’t have a passenger should still be considered a livery activity, which is excluded in most personal auto policies.
Uber said last week it now has new insurance to cover that gap between its personal and commercial policies when drivers are using the app-based ridesharing service, while the company’s CEO said the San Francisco-based firm is also working with insurers to develop more insurance products to cover the activity.
TNCs Lyft and Sidecar followed suit and announced they plan to offer similar coverages to fill the gap. All three TNCs have said that the gap coverage will provide coverage when the app is turned one.
However, the insurance industry still isn’t satisfied and has been working to ensure that TNC drivers’ personal insurance policies aren’t relied upon for what many in the industry see as a commercial activity.
“The business model does try to shift the cost to the drivers,” said Armand Feliciano, vice president of state affairs for the Association of California Insurance Companies, calling TNCs and their insurance “a lot like a square peg in a round hole.”
Feliciano and other insurer groups argued that TNC drivers log more miles, they encounter more vehicular and pedestrian traffic and are likelier to engage in riskier driving behaviors. They also argued that TNC drivers may have multiple apps on while driving, which can be considered a distraction, and if they happen to pick up a passenger who may be in a hurry they could be encouraged to speed.
“Stop pushing this on personal insurance,” Feliciano said.
The Personal Insurance Federation of California and the American Insurance Association also offered similar testimony.
Some TNC representatives at the meeting suggested that personal insurance companies could offer TNC drivers enhancements on their auto policies, while several who testified said they have been having difficulty finding insurers who will work with them to offer enhanced coverage, and the industry as a whole hasn’t expressed a lot of interest in the TNC business.
Geoff Mathieux, CEO of Wingz, which uses an app to enable to schedule rides with other drivers, said the insurers who are offering coverage seem to be pulling back.
“99 percent of insurance companies do not want to do business,” he said.
Wingz has a $1 million commercial liability policy similar to those held by Uber, Lyft and Sidecar.
According to Mathieux, Wingz’ policy has no exclusions, but if he had to shop around he’s pretty much limited to his current carrier, Berkshire Hathaway
“To my knowledge they’re the only company willing to cover TNC’s today,” Mathieux said.
Mathieux said James River Insurance Co., which is Uber’s carriers, Nautilus and Gemini have indicated to him they are getting out of the business and don’t plan on offering renewals due to the uncertainty over rules and regulations being created around the nation.
“I don’t know if in a year if there’s going to be anyone who wants to do this because there’s so much ambiguity,” he said. “People who want to be able to participate in this sharing economy … should be able to pay for it on their personal insurance policy.
Representatives from the carriers couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Since this article was published, a representative from James River told Insurance Journal the company wasn’t planning to exit the business.
“The fact of the matter is we’re not, we’re in it,” said John G. Clarke, James River’s senior vice president of marketing.
Clarke said the company wouldn’t comment on a specific insured or program, and he declined to state whether the company was developing any new programs for it client Uber or others.
John Zimmer, co-founder of Lyft, said right now there isn’t enough interest from the insurance industry to offer competitive pricing and develop innovative insurance products.
“There needs to be an insurance marketplace that’s available to address these things,” Zimmer said.
Zimmer and other TNC representatives at that meeting also argued that prior to a match being made between drivers and their rides, the driver could be doing other things that have nothing to do with looking for a ride, such as running personal errand. In such cases their personal insurance should cover them, he said.
Drivers could also be using multiple ridesharing platforms, which means that driver would be covered under the insurance of several different TNCs, the representatives said.
Beth Stevens, general counsel for Sidecar, referred to a “moral hazard” created by this gap coverage if it becomes a requirement because it creates potential for fraud if drivers get in an accident and want to claim they have their app on when they in fact are using their vehicle for personal purposes.
“These drivers are smart,” Stevens said. “They can quickly game the system.”

Guidance on hospital community benefit programs

A new analysis led by the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health offers insights for nonprofit hospitals in implementing community health improvement programs. In a special issue of the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved that focuses on the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a multidisciplinary team of Pitt researchers explore published research on existing community benefit programs at U.S. hospitals and explain how rigorous implementation of such programs could help hospitals both meet federal requirements and improve the health of the populations they serve.
"Hospitals have long provided uncompensated care to people who could not otherwise afford it, and this in part has justified their nonprofit status. One goal of the ACA is to provide health insurance to more individuals, thereby potentially reducing uncompensated care," said lead author Jessica Burke, Ph.D., M.H.S., associate professor of community and behavioral health sciences at Pitt Public Health. "By working with public health professionals, hospitals can design and implement effective community benefit programs, such as preventative care outreach, that will improve the health of people in their service area and ultimately support continued nonprofit status."
Dr. Burke and her colleagues note that "community health needs assessments," which are required by the ACA and rely on large surveys and input from community stakeholders, including minorities and underserved populations, can provide information to help guide the development of community benefit programs, as well as provide data needed to assess their impact.
By evaluating 106 scientific articles detailing hospital-based community benefit programs, Dr. Burke and her colleagues were able to categorize the programs into those based in the hospital and those administered at a community facility, finding that the programs were split almost evenly.
Hospital-based programs typically included preventative screenings or health education. Outside the hospitals, the programs included hospital after-care and benefits and coverage counseling, but were largely community-based programs, either with or without a community partner organization, such as a local school or community center.
"More than 80 percent of the community-based programs included a community partner, which can facilitate greater reach into a community," said Dr. Burke. "The more you can engage the community in the benefit programs you are trying to provide, the greater the likelihood of a positive outcome."
The analysis reinforces the value hospitals and health systems can derive from partnering with public health professionals to design their community health needs assessments and determine the best community benefit programs to address those needs, said senior author Everette James, J.D., M.B.A., professor of health policy and management in Pitt Public Health and director of Pitt's Health Policy Institute.
"Public health researchers add methodological rigor and experience with a range of evidence-based interventions to hospital community health implementation strategies," said Mr. James, who recently served as the 25th Pennsylvania Secretary of Health. "Our study is intended to strengthen this link between hospital programs and population health, and to provide useful information for hospitals and their public health partners as they comply with new ACA requirements."
UPMC worked with Dr. Burke and her colleagues at Pitt Public Health and Pitt's Health Policy Institute to conduct community health needs assessments for 13 of its hospitals, which the health system then used to guide its community benefit programs and set community health improvement goals.

Same-sex married couples now qualify for Medicare benefits

The Obama administration announced on Thursday that same-sex married couples can for the first time qualify for Medicare hospital and physician benefits.
The decision, coming after a 2013 US supreme court ruling that struck down a federal ban against same-sex marriage, allows the Social Security Administration (SSA) to determine the eligibility of married gay applicants to Medicare, the federal government's healthcare program for the elderly and the disabled.
"We are working together with SSA to process these requests in a timely manner to ensure all beneficiaries, regardless of sexual orientation, are treated fairly under the law," health and human services secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said the government has begun the enrolment process for some same-sex spouses while handling requests for special enrolment periods from others. CMS oversees the $635bn Medicare program. But SSA determines eligibility.
"If you're in, or are a surviving spouse of, a same-sex marriage, we encourage you to apply for Medicare if you think you might be eligible," CMS said in a web posting.

More spent on private health insurance by Canadians for smaller payouts

Spending by Canadians on private health insurance has more than doubled over the past 20 years, but insurers paid out a rapidly decreasing proportion as benefits, according to a study published in the CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).
The study, by University of British Columbia and University of Toronto researchers, shows that overall Canadians paid $6.8 billion more in premiums than they received in benefits in 2011.
Approximately 60 per cent of Canadians have private health insurance. Typically obtained as a benefit of employment or purchased by individuals, private health insurance usually covers prescription drugs, dental services and eye care costs not paid by public health care.
Over the past two decades, the gap between what insurers take in and what they pay out has increased threefold. While private insurers paid out 92 per cent of group plan insurance premiums as benefits in 1991, they paid only 74 per cent in 2011. Canadians who purchased individual plans fared even worse, with just 38 per cent of their premiums returned as benefits in 2011.
"Small businesses and individual entrepreneurs are the hardest hit - they end up paying far more for private health coverage," says study lead author Michael Law, an assistant professor in UBC's Centre for Health Services and Policy Research, "It's essentially an extra health tax on one of our main economic drivers.
"Our findings suggest that private insurers are likely making greater profits, paying higher wages to their executives and employees, or spending more on marketing," Law adds.
The authors call for greater transparency from private insurers and for the federal government to introduce new regulations. "Obamacare requires insurers to pay out 80 to 85 per cent of their premium income as benefits, which resulted in $1.1 billion being returned to policyholders in 2012," says Law. "Our numbers suggest that Canadians are getting a worse deal than Americans."