I have a very important topic in this week’s blog. We are so used to Health Insurance being called “Health Care” that I wanted to take a few minutes to talk about the difference between true Health Care and Sick Care. We actually have a sick care system in the United States. You get sick and something gets done to address the symptoms of what you are experiencing. Nothing is done to find the cause and address that. It’s like sticking duct tape over the check engine light in your care. The indicator (or symptom) is gone, but the real problem continues and usually makes things worse in the long run.
I get asked about insurance all the time. Preventative/Wellness services just are not covered by insurance. In fact, Medicare states that “Any treatment plan that seeks to prevent disease, promote health, and prolong and enhance the quality of life: or therapy that is performed to maintain or prevent deterioration of a chronic disease is deemed not medically necessary” Medicare guidelines are what most major insurance companies follow when it comes to deciding what services they will cover and pay for.
I don’t know about you, but preventing disease, promoting health and prolonging and enhancing my quality of life is EXACTLY what I am looking for in healthcare! Waiting until I get sick with some diagnosable disease and have to then receiving medications to treat the symptoms is not the kind of care I’m looking for. I believe that if we invest in the prevention and root cause of health issues early on, both the financial and quality of life savings are huge.
So, let’s look at the differences between sick care and health care… The Traditional Health Model is more of a “Sick Care” model and the Aligned Health model is my idea of true “Health Care”:
If the Aligned health model seems like something that aligns with your vision for health care, I highly recommend a consult with a functional medicine doctor to help you find and address the root cause of your health issues so that you can feel and function better long term.
This is the model that I use in my practice and I have seen wonderful, amazing results. I want you to have that same experience. I think this is the type of healthcare everyone deserves. It’s a shift in thinking and honestly not everyone is on board, so I like to interview clients to make sure they are qualified before we get started. If you have questions about that, you can check it out here
To your health,
Dr. Jeni
