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October 20, 2008
Using Your Health Savings Account to Become CEO of Your Own Healthcare
At the National Consumer Driven Healthcare Summit, Elizabeth Bewley gave a fascinating talk titled "Consumers Need to Become CEOs of Their Own Health and Health Care." Health Savings Accounts can help you do just that.
During her talk, Ms. Bewley explained how our modern health care system is set up to benefit interests other than you. For instance, she spoke of a condition called ICU Psychosis, that affects many patients after spending time in intensive care. This problem manifests as a form of delirium or psychotic episodes, and is caused by the typical conditions in ICU - bright lights, noise, sleep deprivation, confusion about night and day, etc.
The first step in being your own healthcare CEO is to take care of your health. Simply staying out of the hospital could save your life. The Institute of Medicine reports that medical errors cause about 100,000 deaths annually, making this the third leading cause of death. Hospital-contracted infections kill another 100,000 a year. Adverse drug events kill an additional 125,000. Thus, approximately 17% of total deaths in the U.S. may be attributable to medical care.
Up to one half of prescribed drugs do not work for patients as intended, and physicians rarely explain possible adverse side effects or how long the patient should take the drug. Bottom line, the system is not individual-centric, but rather built for the needs of the providers. To take more control, consumers need to ask more questions; create a personal health record; and realize that they, not the doctor, are in charge of their own health.
If you don't have already have a Health Savings Account, I urge you to sign up for an HSA-qualified health insurance plan an open an HSA today. You can then become CEO of your own health care with the help of your Health Savings Account.
Posted by Wiley Long at October 20, 2008 03:30 PM