Prevention and Early Detection FTW
It sounds borderline melodramatic, but seriously, preventative care visits to the doctor can save your life (and your wallet).
TL;DR DO YOUR ANNUAL DOCTOR VISITS!!!
It can save your life and drastically reduce the cost of medical expenses if you catch an issue early.
Last week, I mentioned it’s been a stressful time in our household. This week, I can finally share what’s been going on with permission from my mother-in-law.
On February 15, my mother-in-law sent me a text asking for me to call her when I could. I already knew what this meant. The polyp that had been found during a routine colonoscopy and had been sent for a biopsy, with a 20% chance of being cancer, did indeed fall into that minority percent. It was in fact a tumor and needed to be surgically removed.
The following five weeks were a whirlwind of activity including CT scans, bloodwork, doctor visits and a plan to cut out the cancer. She was able to get in for surgery within a month of diagnosis and had about nine inches of her colon removed and 36 lymph nodes removed for further biopsy to see if there had been any spread.
Two days ago, she received a call that miraculously there was absolutely no sign of the cancer metastasizing and she was formally staged at 1A with no need for chemo. For a cancer diagnosis, she truly could not have ended up with a better result. This result largely came from her being on it with a preventative care visit.
Her colonoscopy certainly saved her from having to treat the cancer more aggressively beyond a surgery and frankly, probably saved her life. It also drastically reduced her medical bills.
That’s why prevention is one of our best defenses against bloated medical bills. That means annual wellness/preventative visits, physicals, skin screenings, eye exams (which can be every two years), gynecologist exams, mammograms, and semi-annual dental cleanings. Probably good to throw a blood test in there for good measure! For example, going to the dentist and catching a cavity early is a much cheaper to fix than one that goes ignored and can lead to a root canal. Not to mention, early detection can save your life, and reduce the cost of necessary care. It’s a win for physical and financial health.
Knowing your family medical history is one of the ways in which you can prioritize annual visits and preventative care. I used to go to the dermatologist at least twice a year instead of just once. My family medical history contains quite a few cases of skin cancer, so despite an entire life of using the highest possible SPF sunscreen, I know I’m in a high risk category. About eight months ago, the dermatologist found a mole on the bottom of my foot. A location, I came to learn, that is a massive red flag to dermatologists. It’s easy to miss a melanoma (skin cancer) developing on your foot, especially the bottom, because it’s not a location we often check ourselves. Now, I go to the dermatologist quarterly in order to monitor the worrisome moles more closely. Catching a mole that’s turned into melanoma early could reduce the likelihood of it spreading and make a significant difference in the course of treatment and survival rate.
My mother-in-law is the third generation in her family to have colon cancer, which means Peach doesn’t get the luxury of waiting until he’s 45 for his first colonoscopy. He needs to be checked at 35 and may need to go every three years instead of five years.
Now, there is one important twist here.
You need to know the rules your insurance provider uses when it comes to annual visits. Some insurance companies refresh at the new year, so you can book your annual visit anytime that works for you once the calendar hits January 1. Others require it to be 366 days after your last annual visit. That means if you went on October 15 of last year, then you have to wait until October 16 or later of this year in order for it to be properly coded and accepted as an annual visit. Otherwise, you might end up paying more out of pocket.
Of course this advice to be proactive is all well and good if you aren’t afraid about the cost of going to the doctor in the first place. Being under or uninsured means that even a preventative visit can be costly. Partly because health insurance is often tied to employment, it can be cost prohibitive to access affordable health insurance, especially for those in states that haven’t expanded Medicaid.
There is currently no simple solution to the cost issue other than trying to find possible deals. A friend of mine once found a deal for a dental cleaning on Groupon, which she used because she had health insurance but no dental insurance. You could also try clinics or going to a dental school – the latter comes at a lower cost, but potentially higher risk.
If you do make plans to see a doctor, even without insurance, you are entitled to a good faith estimate about the cost of care upfront as part of the No Surprises Act. For the uninsured, or those who choose not to use their insurance, you are entitled to file a dispute if the total you are charged is $400 above the estimate.
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