Your Health is Costing You More than You Think
Fifty years ago, if you had enough food to eat and worked a usual day at your job, your health was pretty good. Medical advances were needed to fend off infection and diseases and trauma that occurred outside the realm of your normal day-to-day, general way of life. Unfortunately, where we are today is a different story. For many Americans, our general way of life does NOT keep us healthy any more. In fact, if you want to maintain your health through the years, you will have to swim upstream and fight the flow of cultural norms and overwhelming advertising in order to do so.
Let me say that the battle is indeed worth fighting. But before we ramp up our battle cry, let’s take a look at what your health (and the health of others around you) is costing YOU.
Before I throw numbers at you, I want to give them a little context. The costs you see below are those we spend each year to get BACK to wellness. If we define wellness as the body functioning normally, doing what it’s supposed to be doing and not being sick, then in our western medical world, what we spend is to return us back to wellness. (Not necessarily creating a buffer so we don’t get sick in the first place.)
So let’s dive in…
Health Care: Our main form of protection against major health costs. In 2017, the average monthly health care premium for an individual was $393. The average family? $1,021. Every month. To project your annual cost? $4716 and $12252 respectively. (1)
Prescription Medication: U.S. residents paid over $457 billion on prescription medications in 2015 (2), The most popular medications prescribed treat chronic pain, diabetes, anxiety, and infections (3). Your share of that cost? $1414 each year.
Hospital Stay: The current average hospital stay now costs around $10,000 (4).
While these first three may not hit you directly depending on what kind of policy you have, we are all tax payers. And it is our taxpayer money that is going toward the expenses claimed for any medical procedure.
Hitting a little closer to home…
Fast Food: According to 2017 market trends, Americans are now spending more money on restaurants and bars than groceries (5). Of the $7,023 the average American family spends annually on food, $3008 is on eating out (6), and that percentage is climbing. Grabbing something to eat is not a treat anymore, it’s becoming our lifestyle.
When you consider the cost of your own health, we’re not just talking dollars. How about our time?
Doctor Office Visits: The average amount of time spent on a doctor’s visit? 121 minutes, which includes travel, the waiting room, the patient room and check-out (7).
Hospital Stay: In 2012 (the most current year I could find) the average hospital stay was 4.5 days (8).
Keep in mind these are costs that RETURN us back to health.
However, there is a bigger cost, a secret cost.. the one we don’t always recognize, but plays a big role in the cost of our health…
Opportunity Cost: I remember first learning this term in Economics 101. This is the cost of NOT being able to do something else because of what you’re doing right now. And this is the big one.
How do you put a price tag on NOT being able to do something? Well, there’s a lot of gray area, but for many of us it’s measured in guilt, tears and sometimes money. This is the cost of you saying “No” to something because you either can’t or won’t do it.
In the realm of health, it can come in the form of declining invitations to 5Ks or obstacle courses because you fear you won’t be able to complete them. Or having to stay in the hospital to get your blood sugar under control because of decisions you made in eating. Avoiding those clothes in your closet because of the way they make you feel when you wear them. Sending regrets to social events or making an excuse why you’re not going on that vacation, or that trip, or that excursion.
If you’ve never thought of opportunity cost being just what it is, a cost, sit back and think a moment about it. What are you saying “Yes” to that is costing you? What are you saying “No, thank you” to that is costing you?
If adding your cost up is deflating, let me give you hope. Life doesn’t have to be a series of “No, thank you”s BUT it will require something different. You can’t dream it different or wish it different or even talk about how it’s going to be different. Only one thing can change where you are right now. And that one thing is: Action.
What kind of action you ask? We’ll talk about that next.
In the meantime… Keep moving,
Priscilla
Footnotes:
1-https://www.zanebenefits.com/blog/affordable-care-act-policy-costs-up-in-2017
2- https://aspe.hhs.gov/system/files/pdf/187586/Drugspending.pdf
3- https://www.searchrx.com/blog/2016-prescription-prices-and-purchase-trends/
4- https://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb168-Hospital-Costs-United-States-2011.pdf
5- http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/01/01/here-what-average-american-spends-on-restaurants-and-takeout.html
6- http://www.businessinsider.com/americans-spending-food-bls-2017-2
7- http://time.com/money/4063039/time-money-doctor-visit-healthcare/
8-https://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb180-Hospitalizations-United-States-2012.pdf
Note: As a fitness coach, it is my highest priority to keep my clients motivated and on track despite obstacles, distractions and just human nature. I work hard to determine what motivates each client and how much grace and truth they need to move forward. We all need a supportive environment to maintain healthy lifestyle and habits. If you are searching for that kind of environment, check out what we do here at CrossFit 1088: Hosted by Blue Wave Fit, where our mission is to bring CrossFit to All Ages. http://www.bluewavefitocala.com
Priscilla Jones and her husband, Brian, are owners of CrossFit 1088: Hosted by Blue Wave Fit. Their mission is to bring CrossFit to All Ages in Ocala, FL while raising their circus of four children.
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