The cost of healthcare in our country continues to rise and it is becoming more and more difficult to pay for your healthcare expenses. Premiums rise, benefits decrease and you find yourself spending a lot of money for medical expenses mostly with out of pocket money. What can you do?
Many of you have insurance coverage provided by your employer. This helps when you get sick, but how helpful is it when you want to pay for other wellness promoting services such as acupuncture, chiropractic or advanced dental treatments? You might resent your employer for intruding into your routines and assessing your health risks, but what choice do they have? Health insurance is expensive!
However, if you are footing the bill for your own insurance, then that is a different matter. You would like coverage in case you get sick, but you also want to have the ability to go to other types of practitioners that offer more preventative types of therapies. Traditional insurance doesn’t help in that model, but Health Savings Accounts do!
What am I not seeing?
The trend today is wellness. Your company may even be among those who have initiated wellness programs that include blood pressure and cholesterol screening, weight loss, smoking cessation, fitness promotion, and stress management. You expect great results, wanting to be healthy and vigorous, but you and your coworkers still come in with migraines, digestive problems, and are depressed.
People’s habits are hard to break. Insurance utilization remains high and your return on investment for all your health initiatives may not live up to your expectations. You wonder, “What more can I do?”
Consider health-promoting health care that rewards you with lower premiums
Medical care concentrates more on treatment of symptoms and less on eliminating the cause of health problems. And most health insurance doesn’t cover services provided by many other types of health practitioners. The unfortunate result is that people will choose the treatment that costs them less, regardless of the health consequences. Here are a few examples.
Dental care
Certainly is necessary for health, but even with dental plans, there is little coverage for crown and bridge, implants, periodontal, and orthodontic services. Without the money to pay for this, people often neglect this area. You may pay in spades later for this lack of treatment with weight problems, headaches, pregnancy complications, or even a heart attack.
Chiropractic care and Acupuncture
Often helps with so many health complaints without the side effects (and costs) of prescription medications. Most traditional health plans severely limit or completely exclude these health-promoting services.
Psychological services
Another health benefit that seems to have inadequate insurance coverage even though stress reduction, mood elevation, and restful sleep (without the use of drugs) positively affect everyone’s health and productivity.
Give yourself a health plan that pays for health and you become a winner!
You want lower premiums but ample coverage for catastrophic health. You want choice in making your healthcare decisions while trying to maintain a healthier lifestyle. You want a plan that helps you when you’re sick and yet also provides for wellness promoting services. The solution is responsible proactive health and it comes in the form of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and other Consumer Driven Health Care options. The motivation is in having sufficient health insurance coverage for hospitalization and tax-favored funds to pay for health promoting products and services.
You have your choice of health providers, accumulate tax-free interest, and roll over unused funds that can be used for planned future health expenses or saved (like an IRA) for retirement.
The cost of healthcare in our country is now beginning to cut into our hard earned savings. Find out more about Health Savings Accounts (and other Consumer Driven Health Plans). You can save thousands of dollars every year and become happier, healthier, and more productive.
Vincent DiLorenzo, DDS is President of T-Horizons, LLC and a licensed health insurance agent specializing in Consumer-Directed Health and Long Term Care. The former co-owner of Valley Green Center for Holistic Dentistry in Philadelphia, PA, he practiced general dentistry for over 30 years with his wife, Dr. Andrea Brockman treating the dental needs of chronically ill patients. It was in this training ground as an integrative health practitioner, employer, and health consumer that he developed a strong understanding of health savings accounts and a desire to elevate health responsibility. Learn more at => www.t-horizons.com