Self-care is not just a personal choice; it is a vital component of health insurance, particularly in the context of the American healthcare system. This episode highlights the challenges faced by doctors who genuinely want to help their patients but are restricted by the profit-driven insurance model that prioritizes sick care over preventive health. Listeners will discover how health insurance policies often fail to cover essential aspects of wellness, such as nutrition and exercise, while readily providing for medications. Zoa’s discussion emphasizes the importance of making proactive lifestyle choices to avoid significant medical expenses later in life, advocating for a shift towards investing in one’s health now rather than paying for disease management in the future. Ultimately, the episode encourages listeners to reflect on their own wellness strategies and consider what adjustments they can make to better support their long-term health.

Zoa discusses the challenges faced by doctors in the current health insurance model in the United States. She highlighted that health insurance primarily supports sick care rather than preventive measures, and doctor visits are often too short to allow for proper patient care and relationship building. Zoa also pointed out that insurance coverage for essential vitamins, minerals, and healthy food is not available, but coverage for medications like high blood pressure and anxiety/depression medication is. She further criticized the lack of insurance coverage for bioidentical hormones, which are important for maintaining health in aging individuals.

Zoa discusses the high costs of healthcare and elder care, expressing concern about the financial burden on individuals and families. Zoa emphasized the importance of investing in prevention and self-care, rather than just treating diseases later in life. Zoa also highlighted the need for healthier lifestyle choices, such as using natural personal care products and choosing low-sugar diets. The discussion ended with Zoa asking others to share their own needs and adjustments for better wellness and self-care.

Takeaways:

  • Self-care is a crucial investment in your health and future well-being.
  • The current health insurance model in the U.S. prioritizes profit over patient health care.
  • Preventative measures and healthy lifestyle choices can reduce future medical costs significantly.
  • Many essential health services, like nutrition and exercise, are not covered by insurance.
  • Investing in self-care now can prevent costly medical treatments later in life.
  • Choosing natural and recognizable products contributes to long-term health benefits.
Transcript
Speaker A:

Your self care is your health insurance.

Most people who become doctors do it because they want to help people.

Doctors want to help you stay healthy, but they struggle to do that within the current insurance model, at least in America. Health insurance in the United States is a for profit business and most doctors these days would absolutely support that.

Health insurance supports sick care, not health care and definitely not the prevention of disease. Doctor visits are short because that's what the insurance companies will pay for the minimum amount of time.

There is definitely not time in a 15 minute doctor visit for the doctor to hear how your health has been since they last saw you. 15 minutes allows no time for asking questions and receiving answers.

No time to build a relationship, establish trust, or explore your health supporting options. Testing is minimal until you are so ill or disease rich that you will have a hard time staying off of pharmaceutical medications.

With health insurance being a for profit endeavor, someone has to make money.

In the realm of nutrition, no, you can't get insurance coverage for your essential vitamins and minerals or for healthy organic food, but you can get insurance coverage for high blood pressure medication and anxiety and depression medication.

In the realm of exercise, no, you can't have your health insurance pay for your exercise program or for your personal trainer, but you can get physical therapy coverage if you hurt yourself at the gym because you are not working with a knowledgeable trainer. In the realm of Bioidentical Hormones, most other countries give their aging male and female constituents bioidentical hormones.

It is understood in those other countries that in order to preserve the health of the body and mind of our aging parent people that hormones are an important part.

But in America, no, you can't get cognition supporting bioidentical hormones, but you can expect your family to pay two arms and a leg for you to live in a memory care facility with dementia. Health insurance and health related costs are a huge chunk of the cost of retirement planning and elder care.

I met with a financial planner recently and I was shocked and dismayed at the projections that she gave me about what I would need to cover my health costs after the age of 65. They were very large numbers. My response? I love large numbers, but I want them to come into my bank account, not out.

No way am I spending over $20,000 on health care when I am older and that is assuming that I am still living independently. That's the cheap version.

All I could think about by looking at these projections of costs of health care when I'm older was how I might have to skimp on the quality of my food in order to cover medication costs. How I might have to stop investing in exercise in order to attend doctor visits and pay for co pays.

How I would have to avoid travel in order to pay for Medicare B and Medicare D and Medigap. I feel like Medigap is a telling name. It attempts to cover the gaps in health care and coverage.

Since my intention is to live a long vibrant life, I would much rather spend my time and money now on prevention of disease rather than spending money later on treating disease.

I would rather learn how to exercise and eat to sustain a healthy body and a healthy brain instead of living with a compromised body and a compromised brain. I don't want to live it up now and pay later. I would rather rid my home of the questionable cancer causing household cleansers.

I would rather choose healthy paint, not stinky paints when redecorating my room. I would rather choose personal care products that have ingredients that I can pronounce and can identify where they came from in nature.

I would rather put my money into my health now rather than living cheaply and paying for it later. I would rather live well now and well later. Then live well now and die early. I would rather shift my diet towards low sugar.

I would rather shift and support my liver function. I would rather address my hormones now. I'll skip the diabetes diagnosis, thank you. I'll skip the insulin shots, thank you. I'll skip the cancer.

I'll skip the memory loss. I'll focus on self care. What about you?

What do you need to add or subtract in order to make your wellness, lifestyle and self care choices better serve your future health?