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A Basic Solution For Health Care

The solution for our healthcare system is to return to basics.

We have incredible technologies and procedures, but relying on them instead of preventive measures to improve our health is driving the high cost of our current system.

Eating more fruits and vegetables, moving more throughout the day, not smoking, and getting enough sleep can do a lot to make us feel better and also decrease our health-care expenses.

Preventive services -- such as getting vaccinations, controlling blood pressure, and cancer screenings -- save lives and dollars. Understanding your life goals to guide end-of-life care keeps it personal instead of out-of-control high tech when the need arises.

As a family doctor, I have helped patients negotiate all these choices to get the health care that makes sense to them. Medications for high blood pressure and cholesterol are affordable now and can help prevent a heart attack. Cancers can be found early, and this has saved lives because mammograms and colon screening are covered now.

Proposed changes to the Affordable Care Act could see free access to preventive primary care replaced by catastrophic insurance plans that only cover you if you get very sick.

If individuals must be financially responsible for health-care expenses through health savings accounts and high deductibles, basic care becomes a personal expense that many will not be able to afford. Relying on emergency rooms is expensive, and this cost reverts back to all of us.  

Taking care of yourself and having a trusted family doctor to help you spend wisely to offset illness will still be a sound investment worthy of insurance coverage.

I’m Chantal T. Girod, and this is my perspective.