Medical Insurance

Archive for January, 2011

An air-condition gas leaking problem is extremely difficult and costly to solve.

An initial step to identify gas leak is by checking the gas pressure level with a pressure meter. If the pressure meter shows zero, that is the sign of gas leak because the compressor can never be emptied.

The air-condition technician will then pump in the freon, either R22 to 68PSI or R410a to 135PSI to the air-conditioner, this depend on what refrigerant your air-conditioner takes in. You can check what refrigerant your air-conditioner takes in by looking at the label beside the fan coil unit.

From there, the technician will monitor the gas level. If the pressure drops within a few days, weeks or even months, this is a confirmation sign of gas leak because if the gas is top-up fully, it will last at least for a year. The rate of leaking is also dependent on the size of the crack.

So where is the leak source usually from?

The leak can be at the fan coil, inside the condenser or the copper pipes. The cracks are usually found at the joint soldering portion and copper pipes near the compressor. The crack occurs when two copper pipes touch each other and due to the vibration of the running compressor, the copper pipes will crack and gas leak occurs.

There are few methods and equipment used for identify leak source.

1. Hand-Held Refrigerant Leak Detector which detects a leak. A beep sound will be heard when it touches the copper pipe.

2. Ultraviolet (UV) Dye which detects a leak by inserting a coloured dye into the copper pipe and the colour will show where the leak is.

3. Soap and Water. Bubbles will form when the soap and water is placed on the leak site.

Once the leak is found, here are the methods to seal of leaks:

1. Compression Tape is used. The tape will seal the leak source when the tape is placed over the leak area.

2. Soldering. Soldering is a process in which two or more metal items are joined together by melting and filling the leak area with a filler metal.

In the methods and equipment mention above, fixing the leak may sound simple. But in fact, gas leaks are extremely hard to detect and seal. Especially if the leak source is in the copper pipes, it is almost impossible to detect the leak as it is concealed inside the wall, and it is very hard to perform soldering to seal up the leak source.

Each year thousands of people rush to the emergency room with complaints of chest pains, shortness of breath, and nausea.

Most, if not all, think they are having a heart attack. Once tests are completed they find out their heart is fine.

What they’ve experienced is an anxiety attack. The symptoms of an anxiety attack vs. heart attack can be very similar.

How can you tell the difference?

Anxiety attack vs. heart attack?

Truthfully it is not always easy to tell the difference. Both an anxiety attack and a heart attack can cause increased heart rate and even irregular heartbeats.

Learning to distinguish the difference between the two is difficult for most people. Either type of attack can cause discomfort and pain.

The Heart Races Anxiety or Heart Attack?

Approximately eighty percent of people having anxiety attacks have a rapid or irregular heart rate. Many of these people think they are on the verge of having a heart attack.

They will complain that their heart is racing, or beating much too fast. In most cases if rapid heart rate is not accompanied by severe pain its an anxiety attack.

While heart rate will change during a heart attack, the more common symptom that is not usually present with an anxiety attach is extreme pain. Pain in the center of the chest that lasts more than a few minutes is one sign of a heart attack.

Upper body parts can also experience pain during the beginning of a heart attack. This includes both arms, the neck, the jaw, or the stomach.

This pain may come and go.

Those experiencing an anxiety attack don’t normally have the severe pain of a heart attack victim.

Another common occurrence with an anxiety attack is rapid breathing. Sometimes the person feeling the rapid breathing will think they can’t breathe.

In truth all they need to do is to reminder their self to take a deep breathe and self-regulate their breathing.

This can be very difficult to accomplish in the midst of a strong anxiety attack. Shortness of breath is another early sign of a heart attack.

It can occur with or without chest pain. Cold sweat, nausea, and lightheadedness can also be present in the beginning of a heart attack.

There is no connection between anxiety attacks and heart attacks other than the symptoms of both feel so much alike.

Often the person in the midst of an anxiety attack does not think clearly. They become much less rational and therefore it can be hard to convince them they are not having a heart attack.

Remember, the level of pain, the areas of pain, and the type of breathing is usually similar, yet different in a heart attack and an anxiety attack.

Medical evaluation is the only way to determine the difference during an attack. After the attack the person with an anxiety attack will return to normal and have no symptoms.

That’s not usually the case with a heart attack.

All medical professionals advise that if you’re not sure what’s happening you should seek medical attention immediately.

While it may be embarrassing to find out there’s nothing wrong except being anxious its better to get checked out.

A health insurance broker is no different from a stock broker or any other broker; he or she just specializes in the health sector. A health insurance broker helps you find the most suitable insurance company by matching your requirements with the provisions offered by the various policies offered by health insurance companies.

If you do not currently have an insurance policy or you do not belong to any group insurance, you may well benefit from seeking the help of a health insurance broker. Self-employed or people with medical conditions typically seek the help of a health insurance broker. A health insurance broker also works for the benefit of the coordinators of a group insurance. The health insurance broker is given a list of benefits sought by an individual or a group coordinator. What a broker does is search for individuals or coordinators which best match those needs. Then he presents his recommendations and if both parties agree, the broker formulates a contract between the two parties.

Does a health insurance broker work for any specific company?

Usually a health insurance broker does not work for any specific company. A broker’s job is to gather information about the policies offered by the various companies in the vicinity, the rates they charge, how they treat policy holders who submit medical claims very often and any other information. However, many a times it does happen that a health insurance broker is given a financial incentive for promoting a company among the health insurance seekers.

Will it be costly to get a policy through a heath insurance broker?

The answer to this question cannot be generalized. Many times a health insurance broker makes an individual a member of a group plan offered by the state or trade union or organization. In this case, the individual will find rates lower and coverage better than if he had opted to go alone and seek the policy from the issuer company. Health insurance brokers usually get a commission, which is given only if both parties reach an agreement. This implies that one party or the other, and sometimes both, are responsible for the payment of broker’s fee or share.

The rates, laws and rules related to health insurance keep on changing very frequently, hence health insurance brokers are few in number. Moreover, most of the states require that health insurance brokers be licensed before they can work. Also, these requirements are not uniform throughout the nation and differ from state to state.

You should seek the help of a health insurance broker if you are mired in the health insurance bureaucracy. In such a situation a health insurance broker might turn out to a great source of help for you.