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NY Medicaid Patients Win Dental Settlement, Expanding Coverage for 5 Million – The New York Times

NY Medicaid Patients Win Dental Settlement, Expanding Coverage for 5 Million – The New York Times

Medicaid programs, which vary from state to state, are not required to cover dental care; several states do not. But under federal law, if a state Medicaid program does cover an optional category of care — such as dentistry, prescription drugs or optometry — it must cover all medically necessary care in that category.

The suit argued that dental health was essential not just to overall physical health but also to psychological well-being and the ability to find or keep a job.

“You need to have teeth to function in our society,” said Belkys Garcia, a lawyer with the Legal Aid Society, which filed the suit. “It impacts everything in your life — your relationships, how people see themselves, how others see you.” Sign up for the New York Today Newsletter Each morning, get the latest on New York businesses, arts, sports, dining, style and more. Get it sent to your inbox.

For decades, Ms. Garcia said, New York’s coverage rules for Medicaid were “structured to pull your teeth rather than save them.” And because one of the main jobs of a tooth is to hold its neighbors in place, an extraction often has a domino effect: Losing teeth leads to losing more teeth.

5 ways to avoid sitting too much – Mayo Clinic

5 ways to avoid sitting too much – Mayo Clinic

What can you do to minimize your sitting time? Here are a few ideas:

Take a break from sitting every 30 minutes. Get up to get a glass of water, take out the trash, or do some squats or simple stretches. These breaks are also important during long car rides and plane trips. Set an alarm if this helps you stay aware of the time.
Stand during routine tasks. Take a walk while talking on the phone or stand during your favorite television show. Try a standing desk.
If you use a desk at home or work, consider switching to a version that allows you to change between standing and sitting. You can also improvise with a high table or counter. Treadmill desks, which add in physical activity, are another option.
Take your meetings on the go. Whether chatting with co-workers or meeting friends for a coffee date, suggest taking a walk while you talk.
Invest in a fitness monitor. These devices can alert you when you've spent too much time without moving. Setting a daily step count goal can also motivate you to get up and move.

Happy 4-20! 🚬

The air was full of sweet perfume as I stepped outside this afternoon, you could smell it on the buses.

Honestly I don’t have a strong preference one way or another when it comes to marijuana. Some people like to smoke or or eat it but I have very little interest in partaking in cannabis, especially not the over priced, highly taxed stuff sold in dispenseraries. Especially as I’ve grown older and more interested in personal health.

Cannabis might be more fun than drinking beer, as Phil Ochs once said. But it’s just as unhealthy, although it’s debatable how harmful the intoxication is compared to alcohol. But it makes you fat by stimulating your hunger and involves inhaling a toxic byproducts of combustion. It ruins your memory but does make you much more relaxed, easy going and open to new experience.

The war on cannabis never made much sense, much like the war on drugs. Addicts need treatment not jail time. A lot of people are passionate about their cannabis and the marijuana smoking lifestyle and I think it’s a gateway drug towards learning more about agriculture. And an interesting, if not somewhat oversold crop. But whatever…

Why is Gen Z drinking less? – The Hill

Why is Gen Z drinking less? – The Hill

Gen Zers are drinking less than young people in past generations: about 20 percent less alcohol per capita than millennials did at their age, according to a report from Berenberg Research.

And many are forgoing booze entirely. The share of college-age adults abstaining from alcohol has grown from 20 to 28 percent over the last two decades, a University of Michigan study found.

The shift away from alcohol stems in part from a heightened awareness of the risks that come with drinking, from poor decisionmaking to addiction to negative health impacts.

Young people “are actually learning that alcohol is toxic to humans,” said Charles Smith, an addiction specialist at the American Addiction Centers Recovery First Treatment Center in Hollywood, Fla.