Many people make their health care decisions based on the health insurance coverage they have. I see this almost every day in my office. This is extremely risky and will lead you down a road of disappointing health. The problem is the philosophy behind insurance. Most coverage is to help overcome a health crisis, rather than improve your health.
Four key components to health are exercise, rest, nutrition, and attitude. Each component will help to improve your health. Improved health means a happier, more fulfilling, and longer life. If you want your health to improve, you have to eat better foods, get more exercise, get ample rest, and maintain a positive attitude.
If your insurance was, in fact, “health” insurance, it would pay for the things that improved your health. Coverage would include your gym memberships, healthier foods, bottled water, better mattresses, and positive books or mp3’s. This will never happen! Therefore, your health insurance is actually “crisis” insurance. They will help you out in times of a health crisis.
Here is how it works. You pay a high, or extremely high, premium every single month. This premium puts you into a particular plan. Based on this plan, the insurance company will help you pay for care if you run into a health problem. Most plans dictate where you can go and what doctors you can see. Some tests that are needed are covered completely, some require you to pay a percentage, and some are not even allowed. Your doctor may not even be allowed to order particular tests that he or she feels are necessary because the insurance company said so.
This just happened to me with one of our patients. This gentleman needed a lumbar MRI, but Anthem said I, as a chiropractic physician, could not order it, or it would not be paid for. I in turn, had to send the patient to his family physician, (1-2 week wait), who then ordered the MRI (another 1 week wait), then had to wait for that doctor’s office to fax me the MRI results(1 more week…). In the end, the diagnosis was exactly what I had suspected, yet we had to wait almost another month to begin the proper treatment!!!! Unbelievable right? It happens every day though.
Insurance is big business. These companies are profit driven. The decision that are made are based on reducing costs, thus increasing profits. Maximizing your health is not an issue. A company being profit driven usually is not a bad thing. But when the decisions being made affect your health, this is a problem!
There have been many stories in the news regarding people getting sicker or even dying because particular health care services were not covered, or were not covered in time. In the past, when you went to the doctor, the first question was “where do you hurt?” Now the first question is “what insurance do you have?”
Please do not allow you health decisions to be dictated by your insurance company. Just because they may not cover a particular service you need does not mean you do not need it. You will have to do more work and spend more money to be healthy. There can be no better investment than the one you make into your own health.
Chiropractic care may be what you NEED to get well. Whether you have insurance coverage or not, if chiropractic care is what will get you well and get you healthy, then you NEED it. Our office has plans in place to make care affordable, regardless of the type of insurance that you have. So stop relying on your “insurance” list of available doctors, and do what you need to get answers regarding your health care needs. After all, if you wait too long, your problem may become uncorrectable.
Dr. Raymond runs a family Chiropractic practice in Austintown, OH. Consultations are offered at no charge to determine your specific health needs. To schedule an appointment, have questions answered, or to have a free health information packet sent to you, call 330.799.4400 today.