Mike
Carruthers:
When you're healthy it's easy to take your health for granted,
however…
Davis Liu,
M.D.:
Good health is priceless and it's the most powerful financial
asset we have. For example, with good health you can always
make more money but with more money you can't always get good
health.
Family physician
Dr. David Liu, author of the book
Stay Healthy, Live Longer, Spend Wisely, says according
to a recent study…
Eighty-three
Americans died prematurely simply because they didn't get their
right things done. Stuff that every doctor knows needs to be
done. That is twice the death rate of breast cancer in the United
States. Had those individuals been in a top tier health care
program they'd be alive today.
One of the reasons
people don't go to the doctor is money.
Well one of the
things patients need never be embarrassed about is their ability
to pay for medications or treatments. In fact one study showed
that more patients want to talk about costs than doctors do
and doctors believe patients want to have discussions about
costs but in the end neither one actually talks about it.
But it's your
money and your health and you should speak up. And Dr. Liu says
if you do have to pay for some medical care out-of-pocket, you
should say so because you may be able to pay less.
And it's very
important for individuals if they're getting tests or procedures
to tell the provider whether it's an x-ray department or a laboratory
that you are paying out-of-pocket. Often there might be a cash
discount that is actually very different than the schedule the
insurance company pays for.
Tomorrow - how
to make the most out of every doctor visit - I'm Mike Carruthers
and that's Something You Should Know.
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