What role do you think insurance should play in your health goals?
With costs higher than
ever, our collective answer to that question will ultimately help determine the
future of healthcare and health insurance.
A few months ago, in Part 1 of this exploration of modern insurance, health was clearly defined as the
condition in which an organism performs its vital operations properly and a
simplified process was identified to serve as the basic standard for how to achieve
it; in review, health is most readily restored or maintained through the
combination of optimal nervous system function, proper nutrition, stress
management, regular exercise, and structural balance.
The process of regaining
and sustaining health is analogous to car maintenance. The human body is a well-oiled machine designed
to heal itself but, like an automobile, it has foundational requirements. We are educated at a young age of the
importance of car maintenance; we become aware that there are certain items on
a list that must be checked off to ensure that our vehicles work as well and
last for as long as possible. Oil
changes, tire rotations, fluid level checks, air filter replacements, etc.,
they are all part of a preventative model established from the time a car is
purchased. We budget for car maintenance
accordingly.
Most of us treat our cars
much better than we treat our bodies. When
the check engine light comes on in a car, for example, we know it to be a small
warning sign of a potentially bigger problem that may not have yet exhibited
significant symptoms. In healthcare as
we know it today, the common protocol for the physical version of the check
engine light coming on is to do the equivalent of covering up the light with a
piece of electrical tape and pretending it is not there; the underlying problem
persists without addressing the early warning sign and eventually manifests as
a more substantial issue sooner or later.
Particularly apt for the
current season, the example of the air conditioning unit provides another
relevant analogy. Having it serviced is
far more cost effective than waiting for something major to malfunction because
it was not maintained. Like any other
machine, it needs maintenance to ensure that it operates at peak efficiency and
will otherwise break down; the human body is the same.
Insurance is designed to
act as a failsafe should health requirements not be met and should your body
experience the catastrophic results of physical decay; it is also designed to
meet the needs brought about by the unforeseeable circumstances that we have no
control over such as car accidents.
Treating sickness and disease is not the same thing as becoming (or
staying) healthy; neither is crisis management.
The preventative-maintenance model utilized with our automobiles and A/C
units is the type of mindset that American healthcare principally lacks and needs
to adopt.
Redefining health and
reshaping our understanding of how to become healthy are vitally important to
establishing economic equilibrium for healthcare costs. Right now, there is a huge demand for health,
but basic health education and knowledge about those practitioners who can
facilitate and guide you toward maximizing your health potential is in
comparatively low supply.
Consider that 99% of the
$3.27 trillion total expenditure for healthcare in the United States
last year was spent on conventional medical practices (mainly drug therapy and
surgical procedures) and on the health insurance designed to cover these
treatments. The unfortunate facts of the
matter are that the average American spent over $10,000 on healthcare in 2015,
all but 1% of which went toward a methodology that has yielded America as a
whole dead last among its peers in the industrialized world, statistically,
when it comes to being healthy.
We are collectively stuck
in a vicious cycle. For several decades,
we have demanded health from sources that are primarily tasked with treating symptoms,
disease, and trauma. That alone has kept
healthcare spending higher (15% of the average American yearly income) because
we have utilized insurance coverage more often to help cover medical fees. The basic law of health insurance is that the
greater the likelihood of using medical services, the more money it will cost
to have medical insurance. Insurance is,
therefore, most affordable when fewer claims are being filed for medical
services.
The cycle will not slow
down – much less end – until we command it to change. First and foremost among the changes is our
mindset. Health is a goal, its various aspects
in need of evaluation and intention.
Education is very important in changing the way that we think about
health; we need to bring greater awareness to the gaping holes in our current
system and put programs in place to outline for the general public the pillars
of healthy-living. If we jointly move
away from the symptom-based model and toward a preventative model, we will be
collectively healthier and be more consistently productive members of society, resulting
in less insurance usage and decreases in cost accordingly.
Coinciding with a more
constructive approach to healthcare will be a shift in our way of thinking
about who should cover health expenses.
Going back to the opening question, insurance should go back to playing
its original role of disaster relief – the role it plays in all other aspects
of life. So, just as maintenance of a
car or AC unit is a separate cost from car or home owner’s insurance, it is
important to recognize that the associated costs for the education and guidance
that health professionals can offer to help you and your family become healthy
are understandably separate, in many cases, from your “health” insurance. In reality, being healthy is the best
insurance, its premiums small and its dividends large.
Sources: Centers
for Medicare and Medicaid Services, National Institute of Health
Dr. Chad McIntyre
owns and operates the Triad Upper Cervical Clinic in Kernersville. Specializing in Upper Cervical Care, his
practice emphasizes a proactive, goal-oriented approach to health heavily
rooted in thorough patient education.
