Transparent Health Care a Must

You might be wondering how having transparent health care costs would make much of a difference. Think about this. If you know the precise price of something versus not really knowing how much it costs because someone else pays the bills, you tend to budget wisely.

Budgeting wisely is what not only saves money, but reduces the abuse of the health care system. How is that you are wondering? If you knew exactly what it cost to see a doctor for a minor cold or cough you would think twice about running to see him at the drop of the hat. Think about this in relation to having children who tend to have a lot of ear, nose and throat infections while growing up.

If you have three children and take all of them to see a doctor for the sniffles and don't know what it costs because your co-pay is so low it doesn't matter, think how you would change that habit if you found out it cost about a $100 a pop for the doctor to see each child just to say, "You have a virus, take aspirin and rest."

You would then have spent $300 for something you could have done on your own at home without further taxing the health care system, which is really there for serious illness, not the sniffles.

The bottom line here is that the resources in the American health care system are sadly limited and this isn't getting any better. The more we tax those resources to the limit the more the system suffers in terms of physician burn out, increasing medical errors and rising costs. We need to start taking responsibility for our own health care.

This isn't to say you stay at home and suffer if you have a cold that may turn to pneumonia or something else that you know you cannot treat alone without medical help. It is saying however that discretion and being smarter about running to the doctor for small things s/he does not need to deal with will make an enormous difference on how available that same doctor is when you really NEED him/her.

Clelland Green is with Benepath.com, a leader in providing health insurance quotes. Benepath provides individuals, families, and businesses with affordable health insurance quotes in just a few mouse clicks. To learn more, visit http://www.benepath.com