If an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, what’s a lifetime of prevention worth?
It’s easy to take our health for granted until something happens—an accident, a medical emergency, or the onset of symptoms. In this article, we explore some ways we can nurture our wellbeing and longevity through preventive healthcare. We’ll go over the importance of preventive health check-ups, the different preventive healthcare strategies we can apply to our daily lives, and the alternative therapies that can help us enjoy better health for longer.
What is preventive healthcare?
“Preventive healthcare.” Let’s define what that means. Also called proactive healthcare, this approach to self-care and medical care means living by a set of habits that help you avoid potential health problems and quickly identify any that do arise.
Now, what does prevention in healthcare look like in action? Broadly, it means getting regular checkups and screening for potential medical issues. It can also mean monitoring your own physical and mental health to notice deviations from your normal. For example, you might regularly examine your moles to identify abnormalities, or monitor yourself for symptoms related to conditions that run in your family.
Prevention in health care also includes the proactive things we do to maintain good health. These include getting vaccinated, getting regular dental checkups, exercising, eating a nutritious diet, and managing stress.
Where does preventive health care start?
Scheduling regular visits to your doctor or dentist is the first steps to accessing preventive healthcare. According to the University of Toronto and John Hopkins Medicine, preventive health assessments can include (but are not limited to) pap smears and mammograms for women, diabetes screenings and bone density screenings. They can also include services covered by insurance, such as:
- Regular dental check-ups
- Dental maintenance like cleaning, polishing and filling
- Vision care
- Naturopath and dietician services
- Custom orthotics and podiatrist visits
Manulife CoverMe offers a variety of health & dental insurance plans that can help you access the preventive care you need.
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Mental health is health!
Next, preventative health care includes the small actions we take every day to preserve our health. These include managing stress and taking steps to improve or maintain our mental health.
We often discuss the long-term impacts of chronic stress, like immune problems and heart conditions that can arise as a result. However, several other conditions are correlated with chronic stress, and these can have their own separate, equally insidious impacts. They include weight fluctuations, insomnia, anxiety and depression, and digestive issues.
Preventive mental health care and stress management can mean different things to different people, and there’s no single formula. However, regular exercise, mindfulness practices such as meditation, and talk therapy all play an important part in preventive care for mental health.
For some people, psychiatric assessments, counselling and medication also play a part in preventive healthcare. CoverMe Health and Dental insurance plans cover mental health services like psychologist and counselling services. It also covers access to virtual care platforms like Telus Health Virtual Care, which provides personalized support from clinicians and healthcare that can be accessed 24/7.
Alternative therapies as complements to preventive health
Now that we’ve looked at the foundations of proactive healthcare—education, regular checkups, self-monitoring and maintenance—let’s take it a step further.
What are alternative health therapies?
There are many alternative therapies that complement basic preventive healthcare practices. The term “alternative” can conjure images of snake oil salesmen and crystal healing—but that’s a misconception. Complementary and alternative medicine (or CAM) refers to a range of practices designed to improve health and prevent problems. Some of these practices date back thousands of years.
Alternative therapies can include:
- Acupuncture
- Chiropractic care and massages
- Meditation
- Nutritional supplements
- Yoga and Tai Chi
- Traditional Chinese medicine
- Indigenous medicine practices
IMPORTANT: While these therapies can work together with standard medicine to proactively maintain your health, they should never be used as a replacement for medical care. Always talk to your medical provider before incorporating alternative health therapies in your self-care routine. This is the best way to understand how the treatment will benefit you and what possible side effects you could experience.
Incorporating alternative therapies in your preventive care routine
There are many ways to incorporate alternative therapies into your preventive health practices. Depending on the advice of your primary care physician, you could choose to get massages, chiropractic treatment or acupuncture to help with your physical health, or you could choose meditation to help reduce stress and treat mental health challenges you may experience.
Research, referrals from medical professionals and recommendations from friends and family can help you identify qualified alternative therapy practitioners near you, and some may even be covered by your insurance.
Manulife CoverMe offers plans for people with pre-existing conditions, helping you cover unexpected out of pocket expenses related to accessing medical and preventive care not covered by government health care.
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Insurance, preventive care and you
Insurance plans such as Manulife CoverMe can help you access the preventive care you need. Whether you need to address gaps in your provincial insurance coverage or your job doesn’t provide benefits, there are a variety of plans that can help you meet your needs. Some CoverMe plans also come with Manulife Vitality, a behavioural insurance product that rewards you when you engage in preventive health behaviours. These can include:
- Getting vaccinated
- Quitting smoking
- Exercising, including walks and bike rides
- Getting dental checkups
- Taking online courses
- And much more!
Manulife Vitality also does something more important than rewarding you with lower premiums, points and even gifts: it helps you stay motivated.
The benefits of preventive healthcare
Beyond education and access, motivation can be one of the biggest obstacles to implementing preventive health care. Behavioural insurance and rewards are great, but they only go so far in helping us stay consistent.
One way to improve how we view preventive health is to reframe it as part of a trend that’s taking over our Instagram feeds: self-care. This changes preventive care from something onerous and medicalized to an essential part of taking care of ourselves, and a privilege that we can turn into a daily habit, like taking care of our skin or our hair.
Our health affects every aspect of our lives, and vice-versa. So why not do everything we can to take care of ourselves and stay ahead of potential problems? The answer to “what is a lifetime of prevention worth?” may well be more years enjoying the things we love in good health.
To learn more about how Manulife CoverMe can help you cover the cost of unexpected expenses related to preventive healthcare, explore our plans and get a quote today.
FAQs
How to prevent health issues?
You can’t avoid all health issues; however, with some simple preventive measures, you can stay ahead of them. Getting regular medical and dental checkups is a good place to start; monitoring your own physical and mental health, knowing your family’s medical history, and living a healthy lifestyle are all ways to apply preventive healthcare to your daily life.
What is the preventive health approach?
The preventive health approach is a holistic way to manage your health before problems arise. It can include your daily habits—like eating a nutritious diet, getting plenty of exercise, and practicing good sleep hygiene—and getting regular checkups and screenings, going to the dentist, getting complementary alternative therapies.