By:Darren Rieck
Health care is expensive, overburdened and less available as now an estimated 45 million Americans are without health insurance. Costs of health care will continue to increase as no cost prevention mechanisms are in place or even proposed. This is a business, and businesses require profits to survive. In addition, many companies that are the major influences in the industry are publicly held and accountable to investors and stock holders to make a profit.
Health insurance for employees, if offered, is changing in structure with more out of pocket expenses being picked up by the individuals using the system. Large and small companies alike are having trouble dealing with the steady yearly increases in their costs, which affect their bottom lines. Workers are being forced to choose between paying for insurance or using that money for other essential life matters.
Other affluent countries, including Canada, Switzerland and Britain, handle health care differently by using socialistic policies that grant citizens health care at little or no cost. Prescription drug companies sell the same pharmaceutical drugs in these countries at 2-3 times less than the price in the US. The people of these countries generally have healthier lifestyles and better diets than US citizens.
We are the richest country in the world, and our health care system is failing us. When your health is affected, nothing matters more. These issues politically present a long and intricate puzzle that will not change anytime soon, as the system is deep rooted in our economy. But what can be changed, and the most immediate answer to getting health care under control, is ensuring your own good health starting today. This requires a proactive, preventative approach that is not what Americans are familiar with and that necessitates change: change in lifestyle, food choices and overall attitude.
Limiting Your Insurance Liability
Blaming the system and corporations is easy but useless. The changes required can never take place as long as we as a whole are not living healthy lifestyles. Taking some personal responsibility is not only the logical beginning, it will lessen your need for health care. This requires you to spend the time learning the basics to improve your health care strategy and also make the time to implement the plan. This isn't a call to be obsessive or to suggest that everyone’s goal should be to look like the models in the magazines, but to understand and accept that unhealthy living leads to disease and health problems, and these problems are a direct result of personal choices.
Today, an over-abundance of information that can get you on the right track may make the process burdensome for those who don't know where to start. Take your health improvement one step at a time as you have the rest of your life to continue becoming healthier.
Start with stopping or reducing bad habits, such as the obvious examples of smoking, drug abuse, or drinking too much. If you engage in several bad habits, trying to tackle them all at once is often too difficult. Instead choose one to concentrate on before deciding on which other behavior needs adjusting. Next, consider which foods you are eating and how much of them you consume. Look to choose healthier foods when at the store, improve methods of preparing these foods, and control the quantities you eat. After improving your diet, look to find ways to increase your activity level each day, and start moving more and sitting less.
This is a very general overview of how to begin improving your health. Using this as the guide to your strategy can allow you to get more specific information as you work on each step toward your health assurance. Over the course of your life, you will save money, save time, and feel better.
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