Insurance is for sickness, not wellness
Insurance. Oh the quandary we are in. Insurance is a God-send for a crisis and there is no other country I would rather be in for a crisis whether it be due to a severe infection, trauma, heart attack, strokes, or any other crisis. However, how are we for chronic diseases though or the average day to day? We ranked 34th in the world per JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) 2014 for quality of health care systems in the world! We are number 1 for Infant and Maternal Mortality.
We have to realize that insurance is a system set up for a crisis of your health care but not wellness. With the ever shortening visit to your doctor (often 5-15 minutes), we have to consider what can be done during that time. Doctor's have a check list of quality care measures to complete to qualify for future bonuses or lose them if they do not complete them. Sounds great until you realize that your lack of sleep, digestive issues, quality of nutrition, exercise, financial constraints, and much more all impact the health of the person but the doctor doesn't have time to address those. So we have to give more pills to manage the numbers because we don't have time to address the underlying issues. Get it?
Insurance covers physical exams which helps us check off those boxes but how much wellness do we help with? Insurance has limited if any nutritionist visits covered and many nutritionists are still teaching on the 1980's food pyramid that has contributed to the obesity, heart disease, and diabetes crisis.
Wellness needs to be disconnected from the insurance/"healthcare" model. We need to realize that we need to invest in our own health and not wait until we are in the crisis to bank in on our insurance investments. Proper nutrition and exercise are not covered by insurance. Nutraceuticals (natural supplements) often are not covered by insurance. Extra time with your doctor is definitely not supported by insurance.
Our healthcare system certainly needs to be revamped. I think your average person is realizing that something is amiss. Let's speak with our dollars and our motivation to take health into our own hands!
Functional Medicine is an answer to this crisis. We address the system as a whole. We address hormones, inflammation, gut health, environmental health, sleep issues, mood disorders, spirituality and more. You have to have all the pieces of the puzzle to get health back on track because you can't fix one piece and expect the rest to improve. That is what I love to do because we are getting people to a greater state of wellness and less dependence on the system by looking at the entire system of a person. Check out www.bentonintegrative.com for a list of my services.
We have to realize that insurance is a system set up for a crisis of your health care but not wellness. With the ever shortening visit to your doctor (often 5-15 minutes), we have to consider what can be done during that time. Doctor's have a check list of quality care measures to complete to qualify for future bonuses or lose them if they do not complete them. Sounds great until you realize that your lack of sleep, digestive issues, quality of nutrition, exercise, financial constraints, and much more all impact the health of the person but the doctor doesn't have time to address those. So we have to give more pills to manage the numbers because we don't have time to address the underlying issues. Get it?Insurance covers physical exams which helps us check off those boxes but how much wellness do we help with? Insurance has limited if any nutritionist visits covered and many nutritionists are still teaching on the 1980's food pyramid that has contributed to the obesity, heart disease, and diabetes crisis.
Wellness needs to be disconnected from the insurance/"healthcare" model. We need to realize that we need to invest in our own health and not wait until we are in the crisis to bank in on our insurance investments. Proper nutrition and exercise are not covered by insurance. Nutraceuticals (natural supplements) often are not covered by insurance. Extra time with your doctor is definitely not supported by insurance.
Our healthcare system certainly needs to be revamped. I think your average person is realizing that something is amiss. Let's speak with our dollars and our motivation to take health into our own hands!
Functional Medicine is an answer to this crisis. We address the system as a whole. We address hormones, inflammation, gut health, environmental health, sleep issues, mood disorders, spirituality and more. You have to have all the pieces of the puzzle to get health back on track because you can't fix one piece and expect the rest to improve. That is what I love to do because we are getting people to a greater state of wellness and less dependence on the system by looking at the entire system of a person. Check out www.bentonintegrative.com for a list of my services.
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