Watch the U.S. health care summit live...

...and make up your own mind = nyti.ms/health_care_summit

The medicine I need...

...to live a normal life—a life where I (as a rule) have never smoked, do no kind of illicit drugs, never eat fast food, do not drink soda, exercise daily and eat more vegetables & fruits in a day than the average American does in a week—requires a $150 co-pay every month in the United States (with very good medical insurance). Can that be right?

I didn’t think so either.

Let’s change this, starting tomorrow: the health care summit

Signaling protein identified.

A protein that may help identify proper causes and treatments for intestinal inflammations—like Crohn’s disease—has been found by researchers at UCSD.

More here: BusinessWeek.com
And here: privatemdlabs.com/news

I know this is a health blog...

...but I am a graphic designer after all. And, honestly, nothing would effect my health today (and many Americans I know) more than not having a job. Pretty amazing.

(Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Love found through a common affliction.

In some of my sickest days, one of my brothers used to joke that he was certain I was spending all of my time in the hospital searching for my own McDreamy. That always made me laugh. Turns out — an internet entrepreneur named Ricky Durham is not far off that idea with his site Prescription4Love.com.

“Finding somebody similar to you in terms of having that personal disease history, understanding what it means to you psychologically and physically, can have a very comforting effect... A shared disease can bridge a very big gap...” said Dr. Suzanne Miller, a clinical psychologist and director of behavioral medicine at Philadelphia’s Fox Chase Cancer Center.

More here = Lovesick: Hooking up over a shared disease

Eat your heart out.

It’s almost Valentine’s Day — which I secretly really like* — and with it comes something I truly love: chocolate eating with zero judgment. Aww yea.

Seriously though, if you’re going to choose a chocolate — choose dark. It not only contains antioxidants — it may even lower your risk of having a stroke (keyword may) and cancer. Eat responsibly while you watch the opening ceremony of the Olympics.

*I guess it isn’t a secret anymore.
Photo by f10n4

What's the big difference?

What is the difference between Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis? I tend to get this question pretty often and often respond by saying that neither are much fun in my opinion.

Joking aside though, I thought this was a nice, simple post about what the differences, in fact, are: Differences between Crohn’s and colitis*

Fascinating post, I know, but ignorance is not bliss when it comes to matters like this. Happy Tuesday everyone.

*In short, Crohn’s disease can attack any part of your digestive track from your mouth to, well, you know where. Ulcerative colitis tends to stick mainly to the large intestine and your you know where again.

Why you should continue to fight.

If you’re anything like me, you consider yourself a pro in medical insurance claims. I am the go-to friend/colleague when anyone has a medical bill that doesn’t make sense (which, as you can imagine, is fairly often). I credit the lawyer gene and tips my father passed along to me when dealing with legitimate claims that I, very often, must fight.

So naturally, I love this piece, “Fighting Denied Claims Requires Perseverance,” by Walecia Konrad in the NYTimes Patient Money section (of Health).

Konrad points out that insurance companies deny one of every 14 claims by their carriers. Sigh. Again, this really seems like a system that doesn’t need reform.