Posted April 19, 2013
Today’s health quiz is both a riddle and a life-saver:
Question: What’s the best way to stay out of doctors’ offices?
Answer: Visit your doctors more often when it’s your choice.
A study of how Americans access preventive care finds most of us don’t do it nearly as often as we should. Two big reasons are lack of understanding about the importance of regular checkups and concern for the cost of these visits.
TeleVox, a company that markets software to improve doctors’ communication with patients, underwrote this study and reports some fairly stunning findings:
— More than 100 million people in the United States suffer from a handful of “possibly preventable” chronic illnesses, including diabetes, cancer, arthritis, cardiovascular disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD).
— Only 32 percent of baby boomers regularly receive the preventive-care measures recommended.
— Some 11 percent of mothers say they “have no idea” what preventive care means.
Are we more disturbed about the 50-year-olds who are not doing things they should have learned the importance of by now? Or about the women who have given birth to a child without understanding their responsibilities to provide preventive care?
One more finding reminds us accessing health care can be hard work and requires focus, much like attention to staying within the family budget: About 30 percent of Americans don’t know what their insurance covers in terms of preventive care.
We encourage a family discussion:
When was your last checkup? Visit to the dentist? How about each of your other family members?
Do you know what tests are recommended, and at what ages? When was the last time you had …
Just as important as these questions, find out what your insurance covers — not just by reading the policy, but by visiting with your agent or human resources professional. They can explain things you might miss. And one of these might be that your policy covers more costs of preventive care than previously.
©2013 the St. Joseph News-Press (St. Joseph, Mo.)
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