For our 'non-American' readers, I'm sorry. This might not be at all applicable to you.
A couple of things have happened over the past couple of days that had me scratching my head. I have to share and vent...all at the same time.
Potential new patients contacted me via e-mail. She was sharing with me the concerns she had about specific health challenges. She called her primary care physician with these concerns and discovered that her doctor no longer took her specific health insurance. That's why she was seeking me out.
My father was lamenting about some of the medical tests that were not covered by Medicare. He determined that since Medicare did not pay for these tests, he could not have them done.
When did we, in America, determine that we could only receive the services paid for by our insurance plan? When did we decide to give our rights and free-will away?
Most of us have home owners insurance coverage. If a fire, tornado or flood befalls us, we call the insurance company and we get our home fixed.
If, however, our refrigerator breaks down, do we expect our homeowners insurance to replace our refrigerator? What about the washing machine? If it goes on the fritz, do we think about calling the insurance company? Of course not. An appliance breaking down is unfortunate. It's costly. Most appliances cost over $1,000 to replace, but somehow we manage to come up with the funds to replace our appliances.
When it comes to our health, it's quite a different story. At my office, in almost all cases, the first question asked by a new prospective patient is 'do you take my insurance'? Not, 'can you help me with my health challenge?'
I am a fan of health insurance, but I think we in America look at it all wrong. It should be like our home owners insurance. If a BIG catastrophe befalls you, such as a heart attack, stroke, trauma, then insurance should pick up the cost for the catastrophe. However, for the day to day maladies, we shouldn't expect our insurance companies to pay.
If health insurance was set up as a 'catastrophe-only' plan, it would be my hope that more people would become more PROACTIVE with their health instead of REACTIVE. If you knew you had to pay for your high-blood pressure medicine, your high cholesterol medicine, your type 2 diabetes medicine, maybe you'd make healthy lifestyle changes to eradicate those diseases.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) states that over 75% of all diseases in America are PREVENTABLE with healthy lifestyle changes.
The next time you seek out a doctor to help you with the treatment of 'chronic disease' or preventive medicine, please don't let their participation in a particular insurance plan be the guiding factor to your receiving care. The qualifications of the physician should rank very high. Their goal to get you as healthy as possible as quickly as possible should be of value.
If you're willing to pay out of pocket to buy an appliance, change the oil in your car and/or replace your tires, please be willing to pay out of pocket to receive exceptional care for non-catastrophe services.
And please never forget, 75% of ALL disease can be prevented or reversed with healthy lifestyle choices. It's not too late for you to reclaim your health.