Consumers are getting pretty hard hit these days when it
comes to paying for health insurance. Do you go with HMOs,
PPOs or traditional indemnity plans? How about those
Health Savings Accounts? Usually the decisions are based on
costs, but are you really obtaining the best possible
coverage for the best possible price? When you purchase
insurance, are you encouraging wellness or are you just
going through the motions?
How good is your coverage?
Even the most costly of plans may not provide adequate
coverage for services that are instrumental in maintaining
wellness. Take for example, one of the most important of
medical services we all find necessary, dentistry.
Traditional medical insurance usually does not cover dental
and unfortunately dental insurance leaves you totally
shortchanged. Those services which are vital to your health
are either excluded or limited in scope. This forces you to
dig deep into your hard earned savings. Unfortunately, if
you don't have the money at the time, you may choose not to
get the work done at all, which greatly effects your health
and ability to work effectively.
The mouth is the gateway to the body!
Dental disease has great impact on your overall health and
wellbeing. The mouth is the gateway to the body and
certain adverse dental conditions can have lasting and
sometimes devastating effects on all the systems of the
body, including cardiovascular, digestive, hormonal and
structural. Neglecting oral health will have negative
implications for overall health and wellbeing.
Gum disease, which is present in almost 8 out of 10 adults,
has been associated with heart disease, stroke, and
diabetes, along with pre term and low birth weight babies.
Advanced dental treatments that help counteract gum disease
may include deep cleanings, antibiotic therapies, home care
programs and even involved surgery. Treatments like these
are expensive and in most cases are not covered by
insurance. They are either excluded or go far above stated
maximums of coverage. How much money could be saved by
helping prevent treatments for heart disease or avoid those
with pregnancy complications?
Traditional insurance falls far short of expectations
Take another example of severe dental stress that affects
the workplace: headaches. Many people don't relate
headaches to anything coming from the mouth, but nothing
could be further from the truth. The TMJ
(Temporomandibular Joint) happens to be one of the main
causes of facial pain including headaches ranging from the
mild daily one all the way to the disabling migraine.
Headaches are a major cause of absenteeism from work.
You're at your desk, but your level of functioning is
greatly diminished.
One would assume that insurance coverage exists for helping
people with these problems having such severe consequences.
The truth of the matter is that traditional medical
insurance doesn't cover TMJ therapy but the surprising fact
is that most dental plans don't cover it either. Imagine,
this incredibly important joint, the TMJ, is actually the
only joint in the body that has no insurance coverage at
all. Amazing!
You are what you eat
Proper digestion depends on a healthy mouth. A poor oral
condition equates to a lack of good nutrition which is a
key factor in lowering one's immune response and becoming
unhealthy. Obesity is a big problem in today's society.
Poor eating habits, such as being restricted to softer,
high caloric foods promote unhealthy weight gain. How can
one chew effectively with multiple missing teeth and
dentures? Options exist to alleviate such dental distress
that include crowns, bridges and implants. Unfortunately,
again, traditional dental insurance falls far short in
providing adequate coverage for such health promoting
solutions.
Can you imagine not being able to chew your food the way
you want? What if you have multiple missing teeth and your
bite is off? What if you have dentures whose biting force
is only one hundredth the normal chewing force as healthy
teeth? You're right, it is a big problem. It is hard to
believe but most of us are in that very boat. The reason
for such dental neglect is actually quite simple. People
can't afford to get their teeth fixed.
Health Savings Accounts offer a healthy solution
Considering that adverse dental conditions play such a
vital role in health and that you are looking to remain
healthy, doesn't it make sense to seek out insurance
alternatives that can address the dental component of
wellness? Wouldn't it be nice to find a way to be able to
pay for and plan for dental expenditures? One such way is
with the use of Health Savings Accounts and other forms of
Consumer Driven Health Plan options. Health Savings
Accounts, when combined with a High Deductible Catastrophic
Plan, allows you access dental services you normally could
not afford.
The healthcare crisis is here and getting worse. A great
financial burden is being placed on us all. Health Savings
Accounts are a wonderful alternative to traditional
insurance by lowering premiums, providing tax advantages
and giving you access to healthcare services that are vital
to health, including dentistry. All this leads to a
healthier, more productive you!
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Dr. Vincent DiLorenzo, President of T-Horizons, LLC, a
holistic dentist, specializes in Health Savings Accounts
and Consumer Driven Health Care Solutions for families,
individuals and employers by encouraging healthy lifestyles
to lower healthcare costs at home and the workplace. Learn
more => http://www.t-horizons.com
