Healthcare Matters
We will periodically add articles about a wide range of healthcare subjects in this section of our website. You will either be able to read the article here or, for the larger articles, you can download them to your own PC to read at your leisure.
Marram's Healthcare Assistance Programme was one of the first private medical assistance schemes to be introduced and remains today as one of the most affordable. On its own Marram's Healthcare has proved popular, providing generous rebates from a wide range of healthcare professionals to those contributors who would not otherwise be able to afford private healthcare. However, over the years many of our contributors have also elected to use it as a top up to their own health insurance schemes. Using Marram's healthcare to top up your health insurer means that it may be possible to get 100% of your medical expenses back such as GP visits, prescription charges, physio, etc, depending on the type of cover you have.
Free Breast Screening
As a Healthcare organisation, our philosophy of 'A Legacy of Care and a Future of Wellbeing' means a lot to us and the way we care for our Contributors. In order to ensure our wellbeing is maintained, we would like to remind you of the screening processes in place in order to identify any potential life-threatening illnesses. New Zealand's free national breast screening programme checks women for signs of early breast cancer. If found early enough, breast cancer can be treated with positive results. Regular mammograms are available for women aged between 45 and 69 to reduce their risk of dying of breast cancer. To contact BreastScreen Aotearoa in your region, phone 0800 270 200 or click on the link below to enrol.
http://www.nsu.govt.nz/
New Benefit to reach all Member Organisations and their contributors
The Healthcare Grant
At the Marram October 2009 Board meeting the Board of Trustees approved the implementation of a new 'Healthcare Grant'. The Healthcare Grant incorporates new benefits to cater for all contributors and will replace the 'Sickness Assistance Benefit'.
New healthcare benefits are introduced to reflect trends in the healthcare environment and the circumstances of our contributors. We aim to optimize returns to contributors via claims payments, while ensuring Marram's contribution covers the cost of providing health care benefits.
Marram pays over $3.5M in healthcare reimbursements per year to employees within our member organisations and it is not just you who is covered – your partner and any dependent children are also covered. The new Healthcare Grant will not just cover you but also your partner and dependent children.
What does the 'Healthcare Grant' offer?
1. Where the contributor, contributor's partner or dependant is diagnosed with a terminal illness, a grant of $1,000 is payable.
2. A grant of $1,000 to assist with funeral costs for a contributor or a contributor's partner or dependant.
3. Where the contributor or a member of the contributor's immediate family requires treatment that is not available in their home town, such as a minimum of one week's stay in a hospital, then they would be eligible for a treatment grant of $500.
4. The contributor is entitled to one free week's holiday home rental subject to availability while or after recovering from a long term illness. Benefits will only be considered for illness involving at least 4 calendar weeks of absence from work.
The maximum a contributor may claim in any one year for a Healthcare Grant is $1,500 and up to one week's free tenancy in a Marram Holiday home recovering after illness.
When will the Healthcare Grant take affect? 1 December 2009
When will the Sickness Assistance cease? 1 December 2009
Healthcare Grant Guidelines
Please read the following before completing the Application Form.
For the purpose of these guidelines, Marram Community Trust is referred to as 'Marram' throughout.
Marram, at its discretion, will approve the payment of a Healthcare Grant. The Healthcare Grant covers the contributor, partner and any dependent children. To assist with each application Marram, for the time being, has adopted the following guidelines.
1. Terminal Illness Grant of $1,000. To be eligible for this payment, a letter from your Doctor confirming your illness must be received.
2. Funeral Grant of $1000. Copy of Death Certificate or funeral letter is required. If the grant is for the contributor 'Estate' details must be provided.
3. Distant Treatment Grant of $500. Claims will only be considered if the treatment is not available in your hometown and the travelling distance exceeds 100 kms return plus a minimum of one week's stay in hospital.
4. Holiday Grant for one week's free rental in a Marram holiday home. Holiday Grant will only be considered for illness involving at least 4 weeks of absence from work.
Where a contributor meets one or more of the above guidelines, Marram must be satisfied before approving an application for a Healthcare Grant.
The maximum you can claim in any one year for a Healthcare Grant is $1,500 per person and up to one week's free tenancy in a Marram Holiday home recovering after illness.
The guidelines set out above are those current at this time. From time to time the Trustees may review and, as a result, change the guidelines. Whilst every effort is made to keep this web page up to date, every application for a Healthcare Grant will only be considered based on Marram's current guidelines.
To apply for a Healthcare Grant you will need to fill out a Marram Claim Form. You will also need to provide adequate supporting documents such as:
• Documentation confirming terminal illness
• Death Certificate/copy of funeral account
• Documentation confirming hospital stay
• Documentation confirming absence from work
Swine Flu
(published 19 June 2009)
Follow this link to read all about Swine Flu on the Ministry of Health's website.
Molemapping
(taken from Outlook, Winter 2009)
The sun's rays might be weaker during winter months but this doesn't mean your chances of developing skin cancer have also been reduced. The trouble is skin cancer, and in particular melanoma, isn't the result of yesterday's sun but an accumulation of UV radiation damage over the years.
Summer sun does most of the damage but its potentially cancerous effects take months or even years to present. And the longer a melanoma is left, the more problematic it can become.
So winter is no time for complacency. In fact, it should be the time to look for changes in your skin. Medical data from Australia indicates that while fewer melanomas were discovered in winter, those that were detected were 7% thicker and potentially more deadly than melanomas discovered in summer.
If you have a mole that is itchy, changing in size shape or colour, or is just generally worrying you, then you should get it checked.
MoleMap is currently offering a $25 discount to all Marram members*. Simply phone 0800 MOLEMAP or book online at www.molemap.co.nz and mention that you are a Marram member to receive this discount**.
*Offer valid until 30th September 2009
**Remember Marram members also receive 75% reimbursement of their MoleMap consultations
What makes my nose go red?
(taken from Outlook, April 2008)
When you're skiing down a snowy slope, or walking on a cold winter's day, a red nose gives you that "I'm-having-healthy-fun" look. However a red nose can be embarrassing when it suddenly appears after you simply enter a chilly room, drink hot coffee or alcohol or give a speech in front of a crowd.
This is all caused by oversensitive blood vessels, where the blood vessels clamp down as tight as a vice. This diverts blood away from the skin's surface. When the body warms up, however, the blood vessels open super wide. This brings a rush of blood to the nose, turning it rosy red.
A red nose can also be triggered by emotional stress. This causes a surge of adrenaline, which over dilates the blood vessels. Sudden redness on the nose and face can also be caused by medications used to treat high blood pressure, alcohol, spicy foods and spending too much time in the sun.
But if your nose turns red frequently or the redness persists, you could have rosacea - a common skin disorder in which the blood vessels in the nose become enlarged. This usually becomes noticeable around age 30 to 40. Rosacea's exact cause remains a mystery, but women are more likely to have it than men, which may point to a hormonal link.
Is sunshine good for you?
(taken from Outlook, April 2008)
For years now we have been told to stay out of the sun, but is it doing us any good? Most scientists these days admit there is good and bad in the sun. So what is the good?
- Ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun is our main source of vitamin D, important for your bones, muscles and immune system. Ten minutes of daily exposure to sunlight will supply us with all the vitamin D that we need.
- Scientists believe sunlight and vitamin D has the ability to combat the development and spread of cancerous tumours. The principal function of this vitamin is to promote calcium absorption in the gut which may reduce the risk of several types of cancer i.e. breast, colon, ovary, bladder, womb, stomach, prostate gland.
- Apart from the obvious positive associations with a sunny day, the sun can alter your mood chemically and even prevent depression. The onset of spring gives thousands of people relief from 'seasonal affective disorder' or SAD. This miserable condition is a suppression of serotonin experienced by many who are deprived of sunlight during the dreary winter months.
- Sunlight stimulates the pineal gland in the brain. This produces certain chemicals called 'tryptamines' which improve our mood.
And the bad?
- Exposure to solar and artificial UV radiation is widely recognized as a leading and preventable cause of skin cancer.
- Exposure to high levels of sunlight makes you four times more likely to develop cataracts in your eyes.
- Sunburn can change the distribution and function of disease-fighting white blood cells and damage our DNA.