How much are you worth?
“Dr. King…why are you asking me, how much I am worth?”
Simple, I want you to mentally, put a number on how much you are worth! Don’t think about your bank statement, real estate portfolio, or your 401(k).
Are you worth $1,000 (I sure hope you are worth a heck of a lot more than that), are you worth $1,000,000 (many people make, not take home, but make, well more than $1,000,000 during their lifetime) …$10,000,000 (now you are getting there)…
Why do people put a limit on how much they spend on their health?
Money is a touchy subject and I don’t plan to offend anyone by this article. I can promise you, I am guilty of what I am going to write, as well. So, I ask that you be honest with yourself as you read this blog.
Imagine this…imagine that it is the Thursday before your cousin’s wedding. You were going to fly a few states away and see a TON of family you haven’t seen in several years. While you were goofing off with your children (if you don’t have any, pretend you have some cute French Bulldogs…for any of my patients that have seen me in CA, you get that joke) you tried to perform a backflip on their trampoline.
WHACK!!!
Your head lands right between the springs that hold the nylon portion of the trampoline to the metal rails!
You are dazed and confused (Insert Movie Line: aight, aight, aight…), reaching up to wipe a little blood off your chin, you realize that half of your front tooth is missing!
Panic mode ensues, as you realize that your regular dentist, who takes your insurance, is closed!!!
Welcome to the fastest Google search for an after-hours/emergency dentist, ever!
After a few phone calls, you finally find a highly-recommended dentist that performs emergency procedures after hours.
NO INSURANCE!!!
Great! One minute you were nostalgically, bouncing high into the air! The next, you are able to drink from a straw without ever opening your mouth (your tooth is missing). Oh, by the way…you leave tomorrow for a slightly important event, your cousin’s wedding!!!
To make matters worse, you haven’t been back to that side of the US in three years! So, you must see all of your old relatives and friends with that beautiful new smile you have!
What do you do?
I bet you would rush your butt over to that dentist’s office, and let them get to work!
You would cough up the money, somehow, someway…even if it meant putting it on a credit card.
Now that you look good again, let me ask you this: why did you pay for that procedure when your insurance wouldn’t cover it?
The answer: because you didn’t want to be embarrassed at the wedding!
Now, I don’t know what it costs to fix a tooth, especially at an after-hour/emergency dentist’s office who doesn’t accept insurance, but I bet it will be somewhere around $1,000-1,200. Maybe, I am a little high, or maybe I am a little low…but I bet it is a decent amount.
“But, it was an emergency, Dr. King!”
Why Do We Only Spend Money, CASH Money, In Times of Dire Need?
Let me re-phrase that question. Why do we avoid paying extra money to help keep our bodies and minds healthy, but freely spend $1,000’s of dollars on other consumer products that will be out of style, gone in a month, thrown away after using it several times…I think you can see where I am going with this…
I am constantly amazed when I talk to patients and they ask me the price of blood work (my blood work is ordered through a Co-Op that gives me cash rates, the patients’ price is the same as my price) and I tell them, “It is $215, this same panel, ordered through insurance will be billed at $2,500-$3,000”. And then I hear, “Oh, no…I wont pay for that, my insurance SHOULD cover my blood work”.
Every now and then, I find a doctor who is willing to run all of the blood markers that I require (maybe 1 out of 150-200 patients). Heck, Natasha and I, have a great PPO insurance plan, and I still go through my own Co-Op to order our blood work.
Why? Because it saves time and I don’t have to hassle with some doctor who probably doesn’t understand how to manage autoimmune conditions. Listen to me on this…if your doctor does NOT specialize in working with autoimmune patients (i.e Hashimoto’s Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Type I Diabetes), he/she will most likely NEVER agree to run an in-depth blood panel.
How do I know this? Because it has happened to me, my fiancé, Natasha, and my own family members. And, not to mention over thousands of patients I have seen through the years.
$215!!!
Most families, waste $215 over the span of one year.
Think about this for a moment…people would rather drive a nice car, live in a better zip code, where the newest, fashionable clothes, and buy the newest iPhone that comes out…than get an in-depth blood panel run on themselves to make sure their body is functioning optimally.
And…people do this, year after year after year…neglecting their body, beating it up, putting in toxic beverages and food, and NEVER evaluating how their body is working.
Heck, I know men that check their stock portfolio like a nervous teen going to their first dance. These guys (sorry, gals…I just don’t know any crazy women like these men…LOL) pay more attention to their bank account (which has well over $215 in it, I am sure) without ever thinking about being proactive to evaluate their own health.
Am I laying it on thick? Guess what? I am not sorry, so there (as I pretend to make a stern and strict face)!
In all seriousness…if you are a chronically, sick patient, that has been using your insurance to go and see doctor after doctor, don’t you think it is about time you do something different? You need to step outside of that Medical Model Box and start putting your hard-earned money toward someone – I know of someone:) – that thinks outside of that box.
Hey, I pay for insurance as well. I understand, it stinks we have to pay more money to get the quality of health care we deserve. If you look at politics, and what is being voted on, it will eventually affect you in some way or another. No matter the outcome, chances are, your insurance will still NOT pay for something that can truly get you healthy.
There is too much money to be made in the medical industry by allowing people to heal their body, without all the fancy medications and surgeries.
I will leave you with this, and I am sure this statistic has changed a little since the last time I researched it:
Americans spend more money, than any industrialized nation, on health care, but we are one of the sickest countries in the world!!!
A majority of that spending goes right into the traditional medical model, which perpetuates the medical merry-go round of chronically sick patients…
Here is my challenge to you…invest some money into you! Over the span of the next 60-days, I want you to actively invest money in a way that will positively impact your health. This could be getting a massage to help you relax. Maybe, you could go and do a few yoga classes. Or, you may have to go and get some blood work drawn to figure out why you keep having “X” and “Y” symptoms.
Are you up for the challenge? Come on, it is only for 60 days. 2 measly months!
If you are up to the challenge, email me at drking@askdrking.com and share with me what you are going to do.
Above all else, have fun doing it!
Would you like to schedule a time to speak and talk about your health condition? If so, please call my staff at (866) 375-4641 to schedule your complimentary phone consultation.
