Lower your medical bills over the long haul

Laura T. Coffey • Profile • E-mail

Health-care costs are going up, up, up, but consider this: Each of us can take simple, low-cost steps to ward off a variety of future ailments – and future medical bills.

Granted, most of us know that exercising, giving up cigarettes and curbing the excess fat in our diets can help us feel better physically. But these and other choices can help our wallets as well.

More and more employers are offering financial incentives to insured workers. Employees who demonstrate that they’re living healthy lifestyles and staying on top of important screenings may actually get to pay less money out of pocket for care.

I should acknowledge up front that this column may not strike you as overwhelmingly useful if you’re in the midst of a real health crisis and struggling to pay for it. If you are in such a bind, my past “10 Tips” column on how to handle health-plan disputes may be of at least some help to you.

Regardless of your status, though – healthy or sick, insured or uninsured – these ounce-of-prevention-type tips may help you feel at least a little bit better for just pennies a day.

1. Pop an aspirin. Particularly if you know you’re at risk for heart disease, you can take a small dose of aspirin daily and reduce your risk significantly. Dubbed a “miracle pill,” aspirin also has been credited with reducing strokes, cataracts and dementia. Consult with your doctor first before beginning a regular regimen of aspirin.

2. Drink to your health. Researchers have found that a glass or two of wine or beer a day can reduce rates of cardiovascular problems, cancer, hip fractures and strokes. But watch out: A recent compilation of data from 34 studies revealed that men who have more than four drinks daily and women who have more than two lose the health benefits and increase their risk of death.

3. Floss the teeth you want to keep. It can be a pain in the neck to do, but flossing regularly can greatly reduce your risk of tooth decay and gum disease, along with major dental bills from cavities, root canals and crowns. Gum disease has been even been linked to diabetes and low-birth-weight babies. Feeling a little bit more motivated to floss now?

4. Get fishy. By regularly taking a fish oil supplement, you stand to lower your risk of heart attack as well as your risk of complications if you already have heart or blood-vessel disease. For the same general benefit, eat oily fish and other foods high in omega-3 fatty acids, such as salmon, herring, mackerel, sardines, flax meal or hemp seeds.

5. Don’t forget about calcium. Millions of women are dealing with osteoporosis and low bone mass, conditions that can be prevented by getting enough calcium. Women should be taking in 1,000 milligrams a day or 1,200 milligrams daily if they’re over 50. Since that’s hard to do through diet alone, consider a supplement in tablet or chewable form.

6. Walk, walk, walk. Want to keep aches and pains at bay, reduce your cholesterol and blood pressure and lower your risk of heart attack, diabetes, stroke, osteoporosis, colon cancer and dementia? Then walk 30 minutes a day, five times a week.

7. Find fitness activities that work for you. If walking won’t work for you for whatever reason, find a form of exercise you actually enjoy and fit it into your lifestyle. Put your exercise times on your written or electronic schedule, and don’t break the appointment.

Next week's 10 Tips topic Aging on fixed incomes Many aging Americans who worked hard all their lives and now live on fixed incomes are being walloped by the effects of inflation in their older years. Do you have advice about how people in this situation can keep expenses in check and stay afloat? If so,   please share it here.

8. Maintain a healthy weight. This will help you feel better, sleep better and lower your risk for all sorts of ailments. To get a sense of where you should be, visit this Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and calculate your body mass index. Shoot for the 18.5-to-25 range.

9. Remember citrus fruits. These fruits contain cancer-fighting nutrients and immune boosters. In addition to eating them, you can grate the skin of a citrus fruit into your salads, dressings, baking and salsas. You also can squeeze a slice of lemon, lime or orange into your drinking water.

10. Take steps to reduce stress. Negative stress can affect your body and your overall health in horrible ways. Be alert for opportunities to relieve stress by telling the people in your life how much you appreciate them and care about them, taking a deep breath and calming down when you’re stuck in traffic, and setting aside a moment at the beginning or end of each day to reflect on what you have and be grateful.

Sources:

• SmartMoney Magazine
• January Jumpstart feature in msnbc.com’s Health section

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