How to Stay Healthy!
Book Review: Stay Healthy, Live Longer, Spend Wisely by Davis Liu MD
Davis Liu, M.D. offers sound advice on how to be a wise patient, how to stay healthy and how to spend your medical dollars effectively.
For years, Americans have been told to be proactive in their own health care. Finally, Dr. Davis Liu, a board-certified, practicing family physician, turns a phrase into a plan. Stay Healthy, Live Longer, Spend Wisely offers easy to understand and helpful tips for making informed and intelligent decisions about health care.
Wise Patients Receive the Best Care
Dr. Liu, a board-certified practicing family physician, believes that the days of the physician dominated doctor patient relationship are over, and offers specific advice for patients for making informed decisions as partners in their own medical care. The pro-active patient checks to see that medical records and test results are sent to the appropriate physicians, takes the time for an office visit with a new doctor before acute need, knows his own medical history, and maximizes office visits by coming prepared with a list of issues and/or specific symptoms. Lui urges patients to demand more from physician’s offices in the area of communication, stating plainly that “no news is no news,” bucking the trend of informing patients only when results are abnormal. Thank you, Dr.Liu!
The Insurance Dilemma
According to Dr. Liu, an individual’s most important financial asset is the ability to make a living, yet unlike other important assets, such as a home and a car, this one often goes uninsured. As the days of automatic coverage through the workplace come to a close, more and more consumers will be forced to handle their own coverage, which means sitting across their paper-strewn kitchen tables with an insurance guy, trying to make a decision in a hurry. In The Most Important Policy You Will Ever Own, Dr. Liu describes in simple language, the advantages and disadvantages of various types of policies, and while he believes that everyone needs insurance, sometimes, depending on age and general health, it might be safe to play the odds, buying only catastrophic coverage.
Medications and Herbal Supplements
Medications are responsible for a large portion of medical expenses, and in the section on medications, Dr. Liu addresses the question of the quality of name brand over generic drugs, and the efficacy of herbal supplements. According to Liu, generics, as they are subject to the same FDA standards, are generally of the same quality as name-brand drugs, although there are some specific exceptions. Patients should discuss generic or name brand issues with their physicians.
Health care in America has become the most expensive in the world, but in terms of quality, lags behind other industrial nations. And, as our government has no workable solution in sight, it’s not going to get better any time soon. Americans must become knowledgeable consumers in partnership with medical professionals. Reading Stay Healthy, Live Longer, Spend Wisely by Dr. Davis Liu is a solid first step.
Stay Healthy, Live Longer. Spend Wisely by Davis Liu, M.D. 2008 Stetho Publishing, Sacramento California. ISBN-13:978-0-9793512-0-4 hardcover $24.95 US
