The House Health Care Bill and preventive health - what does it mean?

Proper Preventive Care can Help
Improve Overall Health and Reduce Health Care Costs

Late Saturday, November 7th, the US House of Representatives passed a historical Health Care Reform Bill by a slender majority.  Among a host of other stipulations, were requirements that, if the bill is passed into law, insurance plans must cover preventive care services.  But just what does this mean to the average American?

What Is Preventative Medicine?

Preventive health care is basically exactly what it sounds like — health care to help keep you from getting seriously ill in the first place.

It includes things like regular physician checkups, proper immunizations, and so-called wellness care like lifestyle coaching and access to education and programs to help lose weight, quit smoking, or manage chronic illnesses.

Why is Preventative Health Care Included in the House Bill for Health Care?

Generally speaking, paying for preventive care helps to improve the life of the patients in question, not to mention generally lowering the overall cost of health care.  As the old saying goes, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," after all.

It is, overall, much preferable to pay fifty – or even five hundred – dollars to help someone in the very earliest stages of an illness, where treatment may be as simple as a round of antibiotics or even a simple outpatient surgery, as opposed to paying thousands upon thousands of dollars when that person becomes severely ill because it went left untreated.

Simple Ways to Employ Preventive Health Practices

Even if the House Health Reform Bill is not passed into law, there are simple, everyday things you can do to help maintain optimal health.  

Just a few of these include:

• Get Enough Sleep - lack of proper sleep causes or contributes to a whole host of medical problems, including a general lowering of the immune system and its ability to fight of diseases, an increased risk of Alzheimer's and Type Two Diabetes, even obesity and high blood pressure.  Learn more about the importance of a good night's sleep, and ideas on how to get it.
• Eat a Healthy Diet - a poor diet has been linked to almost every health issue imaginable, in one way or another.  Be sure to include plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, and remember that balance is key.  And according to the CDC, Americans are still not getting even close to enough fruits and vegetables in their diets.  If it sometimes seems difficult to do, here are a few easy, everyday tips for healthier eating.
• Get Enough Exercise - an overly sedentary lifestyle – increasingly common these days – reduces the body's proper function and contributes to a wide range of health problems.  Even walking only 30 minutes a day, 3-4 days a week, can have a marked improvement on overall health.  It can even reduce back pain and prevent complications and high birth weight during pregnancy, among so many other things.
• Eliminate Unhealthy Habits - habits like smoking, excessive alcohol intake, and recreational pharmaceuticals – or even overuse of medicinal pharmaceuticals – can weaken the body and immune system function.

For more, be sure to read Most Americans want health reform to focus on prevention, says survey.

photo by Gordana Adamovic-Mladenovic

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