Right now in America there’s a growing debate about health care reform. The one thing almost everyone agrees on is that health care costs are out of control. For years, the price of medical services has gone up faster than regular inflation. Health care spending is now more than $2 trillion annually and still rising.
The reasons behind this rise are many, and many of them are beyond the average consumer’s control. They include things like advanced medical technology – such as the invention and use of high-tech diagnostic imaging machines – and pharmaceutical companies’ spending on advertising their drugs. Other factors include malpractice suits and legal issues, government mandates, fraud and waste, and the cost of caring for the uninsured.
But the good news is that there are things you can do manage your own health care costs. With medical services, each of us should behave just like we do when shopping at a grocery store or the mall. We should act like consumers and spend our health care dollars like they’re our own, not just something funded by an insurance company. Because even if your employer pays for your health insurance, ultimately, those premium dollars do come from your pocket.
Here are several ways you can help hold down health care costs:
- Maintain a healthy weight – obesity is linked to many chronic, costly diseases, such as diabetes.
- Exercise regularly.
- Eat a balanced diet that is low in fat and high in fiber.
- Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables.
- Don’t smoke.
- Get adequate sleep.
- Try to keep stress to a minimum.
- Learn relaxation techniques to help manage your stress.
- Limit the amount of alcohol you drink, and don’t ride with drivers who have had too much to drink.
- Always wear a seat belt and use protective gear, such as a helmet, when riding a bike.
- Practice preventive medicine. Get the immunizations and screenings, such as mammograms or prostate cancer screenings, that are appropriate for your age and gender.
- Get a flu shot every year and a pneumonia shot, unless your doctor advises you not to.
- Use self-care when possible.
- Use the emergency room only for true emergencies.
- Work to build a good relationship with a primary care doctor.
- Make sure your doctors know all of the drugs you are taking, to help avoid any harmful interactions.
- Ask questions when you don’t understand something; you have a right to be fully involved in your own care.
- Choose generic prescription drugs when appropriate.
- Carefully review your doctor’s office and hospital bills to be sure there are no errors and that you were charged only for services performed.
Many of these items have one thing in common: they are aimed at improving your own health and preventing future illness. In that sense some may seem like longer-term solutions to an immediate problem. But if you keep from getting sick in the first place – whether it’s the flu or a serious illness – you will save your hard-earned dollars for another day.
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