HealthChecks

The worst and most uncivilized aspect of the USA, a country that many of us hugely admire and love, is the almost total lack of health protection it affords its vulnerable citizens.

In the UK we complain about the standard and timeliness of the care we receive as by right. My fellow British citizens cannot imagine how much worse this situation would be for them if there were no such care provided.

The number of people who drop through the health insurance net in the States is alarming. Many folk, when they get more mature, face an uncertain health future, just when they need it most.

I have an American friend who has to take medication costing him over $1,200 (£600) per month. Put this in context, I also have to take regular prescriptions and in the UK this costs me $15 (£7.20) per month.

Surely a very significant measure of a society’s civilization is how well it looks after its sick and infirm, by this measure America disgraces itself.

Many Americans have the mistaken belief that we all therefore are compelled to use the social medicine, which is free to all at the point of need. This is not the case. We also have a very large and parallel private medical system, available if you want to pay for it. This operates on a totally commercial basis and to obtain these services you need money or insurance, just like our American cousins.

British private medical costs are expensive, but not nearly as costly as America. However, to afford it comfortably you really do need to pay for medical insurance or major treatment could ruin all but the richest patient customer.

Maintaining good health insurance cover is very important if you can afford it, but we all know this becomes ever more unattainable and expensive as premiums increase as you get older. In Britain take a look at forming or joining a group plan which can very substantially decrease the cost of this premium.

An easy and obvious precaution is to look after your body; it never ceases to astonish me when people don’t. You only have the one body and you need it to work as well as it can.

At least once a year try and make sure you give your body a medical check up. You do this for your car if you have any sense, so do it for your own body.

Your bits need to be maintained or they might drop off or cease to function well or at all. The best of these check ups are provided by the big health care providers and health insurance companies.

In my own experience I have every reason to recommend such check ups. I am alive because of these simple precautions. A small irregularity showed up in one of my blood tests. I was called back in to see the doctor who referred me to a specialist. One thing very quickly led to another and before I knew it I was given a colonoscopy which led to the instant, and might I add painless, removal of a polyp. It transpired that this was pre-cancerous. The specialist sat me down and said that cases like mine made his career worthwhile. He told me that had I not discovered the problem I would, eventually have had inoperable bowel cancer. As it was I now had no problem whatsoever. What price that check up?

I recommend that you also have a full body scan every 3 or 4 years. This is a bit costly but its money very well spent. The scanner is extremely sensitive and picks up the very beginnings of medical problems. Watch out for special deals on this service that seem to appear at fairly regular intervals. In the case of my family we found some small issues that, because we were forewarned, should never become big issues.

Nothing, not the diet, exercise or regular health checks will stop you getting ill. However it might help you get through it. I complained to a doctor that it was unfair that I had just suffered a bad bit of health despite my looking after myself, his response was revealing, “if you weren’t so fit you would have died, as it is you survived and now can continue living an active life, so keep the good lifestyle going!”

We can’t keep the clock from turning but we can and should look after ourselves.