Tips for Making Your Family's Health Insurance "Holistic Friendly"
By Daryl Kulak
Most people think that health insurance is totally incompatible with holistic health-care because health insurance in America generally does not cover anything holistic. Although some insurance policies advertise that they cover therapies such as massage and acupuncture, you may find that this is not the case when you try to get the company to pay for those services. However, you can make health insurance and holistic health-care work together – it just takes a bit of effort and a change of mindset.
Begin by transforming your view on the role of health insurance in your life. This process can be facilitated by comparing it to the role of other forms of insurance. For example, consider car insurance. Would you expect insurance to pay for the damage from a head-on collision? Of course. But what about a door handle falling off? That would be silly. Now think about home insurance. If your house burns down, your insurance company better be there for you. But when the railing on the stairs breaks, you really do not expect your insurance company to pay for it, do you? Imagine how high your rates would be if car- or house-insurance companies covered all the little damages.
Getting back to health insurance, you know that when you break your leg, your health insurance will cover it. But what about when you get a cold, the flu, a sinus infection or poison ivy? Do you expect those doctor visits and prescriptions to be covered by your insurance? You do! Is that not somewhat strange? As an American, you treat health insurance very differently than other types of insurance because, for many years, you were not made to foot the bill. Employers generally paid for your health-insurance premiums, so you did not care how much it cost. This has led to many of us wanting (or expecting) everything to be covered, including the smaller incidents.
But times have changed. Many Americans now are self-employed. And, for those who work for companies, they probably no longer pay for all of the health insurance premiums. Many small companies do not even offer health insurance to their employees anymore; and while large employers still pay part of the premiums, they ask the employee to share the cost of health insurance, especially for family coverage.
So what should you do? Start thinking of health insurance the same way you view home insurance or car insurance. Americans' current way of thinking is unrealistic; it enables us to avoid taking responsibility for our own health. The feeling that “every little thing” should be insured drives health care costs up and up. Meanwhile, the health of our citizens is not improving because Western medicine is much better at fixing big, urgent health problems than smaller or chronic ailments. In short, Americans are not taking financial responsibility for their own good health.
Here are some ways to adopt a new, more realistic mindset while also adequately budgeting for the cost of health-care for you and your family:
1) Once you have changed the way you think about health insurance, you may notice that the type of health insurance known as “high deductible” is actually the best type of insurance you can buy. A high deductible on an insurance policy is the amount you have to pay each year before the insurance benefit kicks in. The higher the deductible, the lower the cost of the monthly premium. Any deductible greater than $2,500 is good. Paying this higher deductible forces you to budget for the small things that come up throughout the year and then allows you to rely on the insurance to cover the big expenses (such as a hospital stay). Opting for a high-deductible policy often results in a yearly savings of $2,000-$10,000.
2) Establish a Health Savings Account (HSA). HSAs were introduced in 2003, and they are a great bargain. An HSA is a special savings account that allows you to save money for health-care costs. Money you put in an HSA is tax-deductible, meaning that every dollar you put in comes off your taxable income for that year. Even better, when you take money out for health-care expenses (Western medical treatments only), you do not have to pay taxes on what you spend. Learn more about HSAs to see how well they apply to you and your family by visiting www.ustreas.gov/offices/public-affairs/hsa. Use your HSA to ease the brunt of the high deductible policy.
3) Begin choosing holistic health-care as your first line of defense. With an emphasis on prevention, holistic treat- ments can help you avoid getting sick, reducing the need for medical intervention. And when you do get sick, consider using herbs, homeopathy and naturopathy. These approaches are safer and often just as effective as drugs and surgery, at a cost that may be less than half what you would pay for doctor visits and prescriptions. Since you will be paying for your own treatments until you reach your high deductible, do some price shopping. Although holistic treatments usually are not covered by insurance and cannot be paid for by using your HSA, you may still be better off using out-of-pocket money on them before you jump into Western medical treatments that are likely to provide only symptomatic relief anyway. Use the savings from your high-deductible policy to pay for these holistic treatments.
For the self-employed, the steps above are easy to take. For those of you who already have health insurance through an employer, you have a decision to make. Look at the amount you contribute toward the company health-insurance plan each month and compare it to what an individual policy with a high deductible would cost. Do your comparison shopping with the help of an independent insurance agent. If the individual policy is lower, consider opting-out of your employer insurance and taking the individual insurance.
Company employees, remember this: if you come down with an illness that renders you unable to work, your employment eventually will be terminated. That means your company's insurance plan will be gone, too. Can you imagine how difficult it would be to find affordable individual insurance in that circumstance? However, if you carry individual health insurance for your family, you will always have access to it. From job to job, you will have the peace of mind that comes from knowing that your health insurance is dependable.
Changing your approach to your health insurance is easier than you may initially think. In the long run, it affords you the opportunity to take advantage of both conventional and complementary/alternative/integrative health-care with an eye toward prevention rather than treatment of symptoms. Ultimately, you can save money, while at the same time minimizing the downtime and discomfort of illness.
Daryl Kulak is the author of Health Insurance Off the Grid, a free, downloadable guidebook for those who wish to live a holistic lifestyle and use health insurance to its best advantage. It is available at www.healthoffthegrid.com.
