Among all the hustle and bustle of the coming holiday season, this is the time of the year a great many companies will have open enrollment for their health care insurance plans. This is when employees can change or are forced to change the their health insurance. With health care costs going up and the amount of coverage going down, there may be some non-employer provided options that is better.

It was not to many years ago when my employer provided a family health care plan which included dental, and optical. The trade off was a deductible of only $10 per office visit, and only $5 per medication. Unfortunately, those days are long gone.

Last year I took a quick look at Open Enrollment. A couple weeks back I did a look at Health Insurance Overview. Today, I would like us to look at other Health Insurance Options. We don’t have to be lock into just what our employer has to offer us. Some of these other options maybe give us better coverage at a equal to or better price.

It was just the other day I was reading through Consumerist.com when I can across an article about deodorant. The article gave a link to where I could make my own deodorant. It was on a personal finance website even!

That started me thinking about some of the things I have done when I got out of the shower to find my deodorant stick was empty. Then I reached under the sick to find no backup deodorant stick. I was left to find an alternative. Some of those alternatives were my wife’s deodorant, my after shave, or something just get me by until I got to the store.

I started thinking about what other people have used as substitution for deodorant. So I started asking around. Some of the answers, I got were quite interesting, Some of the things I was told surprised me. I would never of have thought to use or would use to stop body odor akd BO.

The year is coming to the end. This is the time of the year where most companies roll out the benefit package, aka health insurance plan for the coming year 2011.

There are so many different types of health insurance plans. In addition to all the different types of people with different insurance needs. It is common for many businesses to offer their employees three or four different options for health insurance in the coming year. So today we are going to look a some of the basics.

The fundamental differences between the different health insurance plans can be summed up with three groups of three letters each.  I am taking this information from NAIC insurance education Web site, www.InsureUonline.org

It has been a proven scientific fact what we eat can affect our body, emotions and how well we think. Now taking that information and putting on the day to day level does take work. This is especially truth if it involves changes our eating habits.

I was once told that healthier foods cost more and taste bad. Well, that can be true if you are eating broccoli on the plate by its self. Truth be known some smart shopping and creative cooking can make healthy meals equal to or less than cost of the greasy hamburger and fries.

We are told we should eat so much from each of the major food groups. For healthy lifestyle we should eat spinach, yogurt, tomatoes, carrots, blueberries, black beans, walnuts, and oats everyday. Then there is the major disease fighting foods like; broccoli, pumpkin, blueberries, fish, spinach, and tomatoes.

Walgreens has long been the drug store for choice mostly because of them being open 24/7. Then there is the drive up window. Where I can drop off a prescription and pick it up one or two hours later.

The old fashion drug store was where you walked in and was met by some clerk cleaning up or stocking shelves. Then the pharmacist was in the back filling prescriptions. The three or four rows of shelves between the front door and the pharmacist was the over counter medication and other products the help my medical needs.

Now flash forward to today. The early part of the 21st century. The family drug has become a thing of the past. It has been replaced by the multi merchandise stop that happens to fill you prescription from the doctor.

Just like last Sunday when I walked into my local Walgreens. I did not seen any cold pills or cough syrup until I had walked 3/4 of the way to where the pharmacist’s hang out. Considering the wide selection of stuff I saw, Walgreen could be the local quick mart on steroids.

Walking in the front door I was met with a display of metal water bottles. From there I had the choice to turn right and go the ladies cosmetics or turn left and walk past two check out counter that were covered with candy and 100′s of other impulse items for me to buy.

Passing the check out counter there were wine and candy on my left and rows of Easter candy and other grocery store items. Straight ahead was the film developing and printing section. (I guess there is still a few people around that don’t use their computers to share pictures.)

Round the corner with a sweeping right turn was the 20 feet of beverage cooler on my left and a longer shelf of potato chips and other snacks on my right. I notice the overall prices of the beverages were equal to or about the same as those across the street at Winco.

Further down on my left was a shorter freezer section. There I noticed they were stocking the Marie Callender’s Steamers that are sold across the street a Winco. Walgreens sell them for $2.74 where Walgreens is selling them for $3.10.

Just about the where the over counter cold medications began was a break in the shelving. In that break was a row across the rows. In the cross row as a row to its self. with small table of back supports, candy, and cooking utensils.

In that big Walgreens store there where maybe three rows for my personal health the rest was wide variety of items that would be more impulsive purchase. These ranged from toys, candy, car care, wine, BSU gear, and a good selection of “As Seen On TV” merchandise.

Bottom-line: Walgreens has become a healthy mixture of the local mini mart and the corner drug store. Of course I must admit it is on a much larger level.

I do head for Walgreens when we are in need for the over counter medication. I find the Walgreens brand is the same as the name brand I would be paying 20% to 25% more.

What is your experience with Walgreens? I would like to hear from you.

How do you judge when you kitchen floor is clean? What about the counter top? Is it by sight? Is it by smell?

All the possible places in a kitchen that can make your family sick is quite scary. In fact more scary than any group of Zombies that may be outside your door on Halloween. If you don’t believe me read the detail report from the University of Florida on Food Processing and Handling.

Did you know that most household kitchens would fail the basic test of a hygiene monitor that is used in food processing plants? Then what can we do to protect our families when we eat at home? Should we be using stronger cleaners? Should we change the way we handle our food?

This is the time of the year where companies renew their employee health benefits. According to the LA Times McDonald’s may dropped their employee health benefit.  Over the past year there has been a lot of written and discussed on the news about the coverage of our health insurance. These discussion have made a lot of people nervous. Most of  them are afraid that their will be stuck with now health insurance. Some are fearful that they will be laying under a bridge  dying, with no way to get medical help.

“An out ounce of Prevention is worth a pound of cure”, has been quoted so many times, that it is to the point where it hurts every time I hear it. What hurts more is setting in a dentist chair with the dentist sticking that big needle in my gum.

Whenever one of my teeth that starts hurting, I head to the dental care section at Walgreen’s, Wal Mart or whatever store that happens to be handy. I quickly start looking for product that will will fix my bad tooth so I do not have to the dentist.

Yesterday, when I was at the gym. It was there while I was warming up on the treadmill. At the same time I was flipping through the channels on the little television, in front of me. Just about every channel had some commercial, infomercial, or discussion about living a better life through better physical or mental health.

Last Sunday, at church, our pastor proudly announced, during his sermon that he had lost 25 pounds last year. His goal for 2010 was to get in even better physical health.

It seems like anytime that I get concerned about out healthcare insurance is when there is a need to go to the doctor. This was true, last week, when I made a visit to my dentist.

After he did his drilling, flicking and poking, he sets me up in the dental chair. He moves to a more comfortable chair in front of me. Then we have our usually catch up talk for a few minutes before I leave. This time we started talking about health insurance and the changes that are coming up about next year?

He said that he is seeing quite a few people taking care of needed dental work, now. They are afraid that their benefits will be reduced to the point of not being able to get the needed dental work done.