Don't Get Sick

Not a bad day in the office...the usual array of deferred basic lab tests and immunizations. One individual performed minor self surgery, fearful of the costs that an ER or actual surgeon would have entailed. The minor self surgery resulted in a minor complication, but luckily, we were able to intervene. Nothing life-threatening, thankfully.
I can take some solace in the fact that, apparently, my patients and I are not alone. The current edition of the American Medical News reports on the October Kaiser Health Tracking Poll, in which "36% of those surveyed said they delayed medical care they needed, up from 29% in the April poll. Similarly, 31% skipped a medical test or treatment, compared with 24% in April, and 27% didn't fill a prescription, up from 23%."
This is the irony of American health care in the year 2008. The U.S. is the most powerful nation in the world paired with the most dysfunctional health care delivery system.
My advice? Take care of yourself. I'm only half kidding. The best way to protect yourself from the financial stress is to avoid getting sick, not making necessary that nasty battery of tests and prescriptions that we physicians tend to insist on (and tend to force patients into foreclosure).
Most (though not all) of the serious medical issues that we deal with have a large preventable component. The top causes of death, consistently, in the U.S. are cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and smoking-related lung disease. By my reading of the medical literature, healthier eating, regular exercise, and tobacco avoidance could prevent more than 50% of these problems. We don't have many (any?) medications or surgical treatments that effective.
So, your best defense is to take care of yourself, or risk becoming a victim of the system.
Be a rebel. Save your house by eating a salad and going for a jog.

BE HEALTHY