There are only 4 reasons why we get health insurance.
This article looks at number 3and 4- The 4 goals of health insurance are: 1.
to avoid the risk of financial ruin from illness 2.
to save money, 3.
to stay healthy and 4.
to have the feeling of security that comes with thinking that our care is paid for.
We are looking at how realistic it is to expect our insurance to satisfy these needs and goals.
Reason 3 for getting insurance: staying healthy - is it Health Insurance or Sick insurance? Maybe instead of health insurance, we should call it sick insurance, not just because the system itself is sick, as costs rise at rates double or triple inflation, not just because the service is sick, as claims are often denied for shoddy reasons and care is progressively restricted, not just because quality of care is sick, as demands of insurance cause doctors to rush through patient care and the ever-increasing moves towards categorized and systematized procedures hold sway over more personalized medicine, but because 'sick insurance' accurately describes what it really is, coverage for when we're sick.
For the most part, insurance only covers us when we are sick, or have symptoms.
Ask any doctor - western or allopathic (MD, osteopath) or alternative (chiropractor, naturopath, acupuncturist etc.
) - about symptoms, and she will tell you that symptoms often are the last indication of a disease process which may have been developing for some time.
The most repeated quote about this is 'the first symptom of heart disease is often sudden death.
' Some insurance does pay for a version of 'preventative' care.
But the preventative care that is covered is not really preventative at all.
In the allopathic system, which is based on the concept of fighting disease rather than promoting health, the 'normal' values for a blood test, for instance, are quite broad.
Allopathy focuses on disease management or critical care, and alleviating symptoms, generally by suppressing the active biochemical process or removing the malfunctioning body part.
If there is no discernible pattern of findings that can be called a disease a common occurrence, there is not anything to be treated, simply symptoms to be removed.
By the time you show an abnormality, based on the allopathic model, the disease has already taken hold.
A colonoscopy or mammogram doesn't prevent cancer; it just finds it earlier so that maybe it won't kill you, a real benefit to be sure, but not actually prevention.
Real prevention improves and sustains your health, diminishing chances for illness to take root, and keeps you healthy, happy and energetic.
The restoration of healing functions of the body is on the other hand, the focus of what is often called "CAM" - complementary and alternative medicine - including chiropractic, acupuncture, naturopathy, functional medicine, and neurontogenic approaches.
A CAM approach to a blood test, for instance, looks at a much narrower range of 'normal' values, and uses nutritional or lifestyle adjustments to restore normal function.
Only natural methods that support the restoration of innate healing capacities of the body are capable of supporting true health, which is the body simply healing because that is what it was 'designed' to do.
All too often, this creates a situation wherein the preventative (not to mention treatment) measures covered by insurance end up built on questionable principles.
As an example, let's look at the anti-cholesterol craze.
If you listen to the media and look at general medical practice offices (i.
e.
what insurance will pay for without question), you would have the (wrong) impression that cholesterol is the primary cause of cardiovascular disease.
Why do we end up with the wrong impression? The media, to cover of the complexities of health, get hundreds of millions per year in pharmaceutical advertising.
The 'news' coverage itself is shaped by the same companies, who are glad to provide free 'information' to the media that takes for granted whatever mindset they want to promote.
Sally Fallon, the president of the Weston A.
Price Foundation, and Mary Enig, Ph.
D, an expert in lipid biochemistry, actually call high cholesterol "an invented disease, a 'problem' that emerged when health professionals learned how to measure cholesterol levels in the blood.
" Your doctor too, gets most of their ongoing education over free lunches and dinners by the same companies.
This is not to dis your doc, it is just the prevailing and accepted way things are.
For our cholesterol example, here is what is often missing from the story we get: 1) Cholesterol is a vital substance in your body for cellular repair and strength, and to help repair inflammation.
Blaming cholesterol for heart disease is like blaming the firefighters for the fire, just because they happen to be there most of the time.
2) Total cholesterol level is just about worthless in determining your risk for heart disease, unless it is about 300 or higher.
The important number is the HDL cholesterol.
The HDL/cholesterol ratio, should be above 24% - if your cholesterol is 200, your HDL should be about 50.
3) All statin drugs used to lower cholesterol are toxic, reducing Co-Q10, an enzyme that is needed to produce energy in muscles, particularly the ...
HEART! 4) Lowered cholesterol doesn't appreciably reduce deaths from heart disease.
5) The actual cause of elevated cholesterol and other factors that increase cardiovascular disease is inflammation.
There are many lifestyle factors which promote inflammation, and it is best dealt with through diet, exercise and nutritional or other treatments that address the cause of inflammation.
6) Most medical doctors, for all good intentions, do not look for the hidden causes of inflammation, if they look for it at all.
Treatment that addresses the cause of inflammation is not generally covered by insurance because it exists outside of generally accepted medical models.
7) There are cheaper and safer herbal and nutritional compounds that lower cholesterol, which your insurance will never pay for.
A similar analysis could be done with diabetes, thyroid disease, reflux, constipation, osteoporosis, and virtually any other disease.
Reason 4 for getting insurance: the feeling of security that comes with thinking that our care is paid for This is a psychological benefit.
For some of us, buying insurance is like buying a parent who will be there to take care of us, and therefore everything will be alright.
If we really look inside, most of us will see a bit of who we were as children, thinking or hoping mother or father will take care of us, because there was a time in the past when we could not take care of ourselves.
That feeling, even though it is now untrue can subtly persist even into old age! We may not actually believe this about our need for insurance, but still the feeling might be there anyway.
If this feeling exists for you, it is important to realize that it might be influencing your insurance choices.
Insurance companies, certainly understand this when they advertise for your business! If you can realize when and how these feelings operate for you, you will be more able to take the feelings out of making your decision, or leave them in and choose the insurance that makes you feel the best.