The costs of staying healthy are getting so out of hand
these days that many people are unable to keep up with it.
Insurance premiums keep skyrocketing; employers are
reducing benefits or eliminating coverage outright, and
many medical services that could prove beneficial for
health are not even covered at all.
So what can we do? How do we deal with this healthcare
crisis we all find ourselves in? What is the missing
piece? Simple: Just don't get sick in the first place!
Seems like a no brainer. But not so easy you say. The good
news, however, is that help is on the way. A Health
Savings Account may just be what the doctor ordered.
Remaining healthy in today's world is a big challenge. We
live in a world of fast food on every corner, noxious
chemicals in all our consumer products, environmental
pollutants destroying our water, air and soil, as we are
exposed to a multitude of toxic wastes. No wonder we are
sick!
Almost every day we hear of someone who got sick: a
relative, friend or a loved one perhaps. It would also be
safe to say that we probably know somebody personally who
has cancer, heart disease, is obese, has irritable bowel
syndrome or is depressed. You name the disease, we
probably know someone who has it. That is merely an
indication of how unhealthy we really are as a society.
Besides the obvious reasons, as stated above, of why
Americans are generally so unhealthy, our attention must be
directed to an industry that caters to this segment of the
population, the insurance industry itself, which in most
cases focuses on "illness".
As harsh as that sounds, when you really think about it,
our current health insurance model is based primarily on
treating illness rather than wellness. Insurance covers
drugs, surgeries, hospital stays, diagnostic tests and a
variety of other medical services. When you are sick your
insurance kicks in and pays the bill. (thank goodness it
does)
But how much of the insurance dollar is actually spent on
wellness? How many insurance plans cover nutritional
counseling, heavy metal detoxification, acupuncture, yoga,
chelation therapy or other preventive modalities? Not
many. Only a meager portion of insurance expenditures go
into promoting wellness. Why is that so when wellness
initiatives would save insurance companies millions of
dollars in the long run? Putting money into staying
healthy, while still providing benefits for the sick, would
be a wise move for the insurance industry. Increasing
wellness will reap great benefits and rewards for all.
So how can we be creative and find a type of insurance that
combines the benefits for wellness and the coverage for
illness? How can we begin to make inroads for creating a
healthier society? How do we go from a society based on
illness to one of wellness? What type of insurance can
bring us the best of both worlds? The answer: Health
Savings Accounts and other forms of Consumer Directed
Health Plan options.
You probably have heard of Health Savings Accounts or HSAs.
Their time has come. It is a hot topic in the upcoming
2008 presidential election. More and more employers are
offering this option to their employees. Families and
individuals are increasingly dropping their traditional
coverage for less expensive, more flexible HSAs. It makes
sense!
A Health Savings Account incorporates a traditional high
deductible major medical plan and a tax deferred health
savings account, which acts like a medical IRA. You have
coverage for illness with the major medical plan as you use
the funds accumulated in your savings account to pay for
services that are normally not covered by traditional
insurance for staying healthy. These include services like
dental, orthodontics, chiropractic, acupuncture, vision and
much more.
HSAs put you in control over where you spend your health
care dollars. Premium expenses that normally go to part of
your sickness insurance can now be placed into your medical
savings account, to cover wellness initiatives. All the
while you are building up your medical IRA which saves
money in taxes, is portable and rolls over from year to
year.
Health Savings Accounts represent the future of healthcare.
Now there is finally a way to effectively counteract the
traditional insurance model and begin to take back
responsibility for your own health. Now that is a smart
thing to do!
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Dr. Vincent DiLorenzo, President of T-Horizons, LLC, is a
holistic dentist who specializes in 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 at =>
http://www.t-horizons.com
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