What’s the Most Valuable Possession You Own?

January 18, 2010

This past Wednesday I had the opportunity to attend a Health Care Forum entitled “What Will Health Care Reform Mean for You?”  The Panel was provided and moderated by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy.   After hearing the panelists debate this very timely and at times heated topic, I came away with the realization that the Health Care Reform being discussed on Capital Hill and that permeates our newspapers and televisions on a daily basis has very little to do with our individual health or the physician patient relationship, rather it involves enormous sums of money, political power and a oversized helping of rhetoric that will likely leave us no better off as a Nation struggling to address an unquestionably important issue. 

Fortunately, there is some good news in the midst of all the shouting occurring in Washington.  The good news is that we all own our own health.  Not to say that many do not fight to survive with horrible diseases we had no choice in living with or that that many struggle to taking better care of ourselves on a daily basis, but rather we can control how we choose to care for our own bodies.   By no means am I arguing that health care reform is unnecessary, but why must we rush to fix a system that has been in need of reform for decades simply to check something off the “To Do” list of our elected officials.

I strongly believe that some measure of consumerism needs to be part of meaningful reform.   I feel this will help restore the physician patient relationship that has eroded over the years as well as encourage one another to take control of our own health.  Slowly over the past several decades we’ve let others influence our decisions about our own health based on whether or not a service will be covered by insurance.   We need a paradigm shift to occur where we take ownership of our health and along with our licensed providers decide what is best for us.   Certainly, these decisions have financial implications and I by no means think the ability to receive the proper care should bankrupt an individual, but we as owners of our own health have to make choices about how we spend our hard earned money.  The paradigm shift I speak of involves us owning the maintenance portion of our health and purchasing high deductible coverage to cover catastrophic incidents related to our health.   This shift has started in part with the adoption of Health Savings Accounts by many employers and individuals, however, these plans are at risk in the current health care reform proposals.   Our auto insurance policies do not cover oil changes or new tires and our homeowner’s policies do not cover a depleted water heater or worn out carpeting.  Yet, we’ve grown accustom to our health insurance covering most every ailment under the sun.   We should take steps to maintain our bodies much like we maintain our material things in our lives and realize that we have to budget and pay for our health, just like our cars and homes.

Food for thought if nothing else.  No matter what happens when the dust settles in Washington, remember YOU own your health.   Personally, it has taken me quite a while to arrive at this conclusion, but my health is the most valuable possession I own.