Drink water, work out, and take care of your wallet
Today we’re talking about our health. After a global pandemic, I think we all got a very clear and urgent message that our health – physically and mentally – is a priority and not something to take for granted. Since I already make a lot of parallels between food and money – like how thinking of budgeting like a strict diet is doomed to fail – I think it’s appropriate to continue that trend and broaden it into a larger episode about our health and wealth in general.
I think most of us know that taking care of our bodies, whether by working out, drinking water, or eating mostly healthy, is important. Your motivation to stay healthy could be to prevent chronic diseases like diabetes, making it harder to become injured, or looking good in your clothes! And now here’s another reason to stay healthy: it affects your wallet.
Not just because if you gain too much weight, you can’t fit into your clothes and have to buy a whole new wardrobe, although I guess that could be part of it. But because actively taking care of our health can prevent really expensive medical bills in the future!
Let’s take a step back and look at the big picture. In 2019, healthcare spending in the U.S. increased by 4.6% to $3.8 trillion. That’s over $11,000 per person. Now, I could go into a really long rant about the healthcare system in the U.S. and the cost of health insurance and the amount of medical debt we have but then we’d be here for days, so I’m going to move on…
Ok, just a couple of quick facts. Did you know that in 2016, a quarter of Americans had trouble paying a recent medical bill? And no wonder, considering the fact that the average hospital stay in the U.S. costs over $5,000 per day! In comparison, it’s less than $800 in Australia.
Anyway. My point is: One big issue that this leads to is that about a third of us delay getting medical care because we’re worried about the cost. Plus, even if you do try to shop around and get pricing beforehand, you’re pretty constrained by your insurance options and it’s really tough to get exact pricing on your bills beforehand. Which is also insane.
I’ve definitely been through all of the above. When I didn’t have great health insurance – and frankly, even when I did – my first thought was never “Oh, I’ll just go to the doctor”. It was always, “Let’s see if this gets any worse…” I didn’t want to risk spending who knows how much just for it to be something I could take care of by popping a few Advil’s. And that’s not even taking into account the process of having to call to make an appointment, waiting on the phone and waiting at the doctor’s office. I’ve also been hit by the surprise bill. One time, I had a routine lab test done and the doctor’s office sent it to a lab that wasn’t covered by my insurance. They obviously knew my insurance – I had to show them the card every time – and even though they worked with a lab that was covered by my insurance…they just happened to send it to the other lab.
Long story short, I found out about this over a year later when a collections agency called me about a $1,000 bill I never paid for. I was extremely confused because I hadn’t received any invoices or anything. It turns out the lab had my address from seven years ago and were sending bills to an apartment I lived in while I was in college, on the other side of the country. The doctor’s office never contacted me about it. When I did call them, their accounting person was never there, or they’d send me around in circles. The worst part was, the lab was at this point – a year later – covered under my insurance…but because it wasn’t at the time of my visit, literally two months before they made the change, I had to pay out of pocket. Even though I had nothing to do with the decision making.
End rant.
So yeah, it’s no wonder most of us don’t want to deal with going to the doctor’s office!
But the thing is, routinely going to the doctor to get proper preventative care and routinely taking care of your body by working out, etc. can save you a lot of money in the long run. A study from 2018 found that only 8% of adults received all of their recommended preventative services, which is really bad!
This type of preventative care – both within the hospital room and in your daily life – can help prevent chronic diseases like heart disease, cancer, and strokes that end up being really expensive to treat. In fact, remember that $3.8 trillion dollar healthcare expenditure I told you about earlier this episode? 90% of that is for people with chronic and mental health conditions! It makes sense if you think about it, right? A routine annual checkup that’s free or has a low copay will keep you healthy or catch issues early on, rather than ending up in an expensive emergency room.
Let’s talk about our teeth as an example. I used to never floss. I brushed my teeth regularly, I’m not a total psycho, but flossing was something I did when I remembered. Which…was rare, if I’m being honest. I then ended up with a couple cavities that had to get treated, which I put off because I didn’t have enough money at the time. And to be fair, it wasn’t as expensive as I thought it would be. But still. You think I want to pay for being stupid again? No! I floss every single night now. I never want to pay for something at least mostly preventable like a cavity again.
Or, as my dermatologist friend would say, it’s much easier to put sunscreen and a big hat on now than deal with skin cancer later.
In 2019, healthcare spending in the U.S. increased by 4.6% to $3.8 trillion, or over $11,000 per person. This could be why only 8% of adults received all of their recommended preventative services, which in turn can lead to expensive chronic diseases.
And look. I’m not a dentist or a healthcare professional. I’ve severely neglected my health in the past, was so anxious and stressed out that I got shingles at age 30, and gained enough weight in the pandemic that I did need to buy a couple pairs of new pants.
What I do know is this. Healthcare costs, no matter how healthy you are, do increase as you get older, whether it’s medication, care like assisted living, or a walker. That’s part of the reason why it’s so important to put money away for retirement! But until we get to that point, don’t you want to spend your money on more fun things? And also be healthy enough to enjoy those things? I could have had a couple of nice dinners with the money I spent on my cavity!
And I know it’s not so black and white. There are always things out of our control. But I do think that for those of us who are lucky enough to have good health right now, this is just another reason why it’s important to make those annual doctors visits, work out, and eat healthy! Most of the time.
Let me know how you’re taking care of your health and wealth @moneywithmegumi on Instagram and Twitter and share this with your friends to make sure they’re staying healthy and wealthy, too.
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