Skimping on your health care can be costly in the long run

According to a recent poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit healthcare research group, about one in three Americans said their family has had problems paying medical bills in the past year. Almost half of those surveyed said someone in their family was postponing or cutting back on medical care they needed. That’s alarming to say the least.

If you are forced to make these kinds of difficult economic decisions, here are three areas of healthcare that you can’t afford to ignore, since disregarding them may cost you more down the road.

Medicine. More than a third of the people in the Kaiser survey said they were splitting pills, skipping doses of medicine or not filling prescriptions at all. The danger with this is that even seemingly minor illnesses like an ear infection can turn into an emergency room visit if left untreated. If you’re having trouble affording your medicine, talk to your doctor. He or she may be able to switch you to a less expensive version of the drug you’re taking or help you enroll in a prescription drug aid program.

Symptoms. Skipping tests and treatments when you have symptoms or feel that something is wrong can be risky. If your doctor thinks you need an expensive diagnostic test, like a CT scan or MRI, ask about free or low-cost screening programs or clinics that can provide an affordable test. If your test or treatment is related to a specific illness, look up the website for the association that specializes in that illness, since they sometimes provide financial assistance resources.

General well-being. When you’re feeling financial stress, it’s easy to let positive habits and routines go out the window. But now more than ever it’s important to keep eating a healthy diet, get plenty of exercise and get a good night’s sleep, all of which have proven health benefits. Plus it may help relieve some of the other stress you’re feeling.

As you make the difficult decisions that the economy requires of all of us, remember that your most precious asset-and the hardest to replace-is your health.

n Lynda Metz is the director of community development at Bonner General Hospital. The statistics in this article were provided courtesy of the Kaiser Family Foundation.