This title probably sounds weird to you, right? How can spending money on chiropractic care actually save you money? Even though it seems contradictory, it’s an important concept that every family should pay attention to in today’s reality of soaring health care costs, insurance premiums, and still-sluggish economy.
This is especially true for my home state of Illinois that has sky-high taxes and a government that struggles to pay it’s own bills anyway.
Let’s begin with why I was compelled to write this from 30,000 feet as I make my way to train other Pediatric and Family Chiropractors. I wrote this after reading an article from a popular news site that highlighted the alarming fact that Americans spend upwards of $100,000 in prescription drugs EVERY YEAR.
Two Startling Trends in Healthcare
The statistics of America’s healthcare show two trends:
First: the money we spend on health care AND health insurance (premiums, deductibles, copays, etc.) has absolutely skyrocketed. We now spend an average of nearly $10,000 out of pocket per person on health care expenses: nearly 1 out of every 5 dollars we make.
Second: despite the money we spend on health care expenses, our health as a nation has plummeted. Even though we’re 1st when it comes to spending money on care, we rank 37th in overall health status, 39th for infant morality, and 36th overall for life expectancy. Not exactly what you’d call “getting our money’s worth.”
So what gives? How can we have the most brutally expensive health care system in the world but have such dismal results?
The Way Out
I’d like to share a different health care path with you today – a “way out” of sorts – that won’t leave you with a $100,000 medical bill and mediocre results. I’d also like to show you this different path by sharing hard facts and real-life experience alongside my personal and professional opinion- let’s jump right in!
A 2007 study done right here in Illinois found that people who used a Doctor of Chiropractic as their PCP (Primary Care Provider) had these “startling” results:
- 60.2% less in-hospital admissions
- 59.0% less hospital days
- 62.0% less outpatient surgeries and procedures
- 85% less pharmaceutical costs
*JMPT 2007 (May); 30 (4): 263–269
Are you re-reading those points in disbelief because they sound too good to be true? Trust me, they’re not: I am blessed to care for hundreds of families as their PCP, many who’ve been apart of the PWC family for about 7 years, interestingly enough. Because these families are under regular chiropractic care and have an understanding of how easy healthy living can be, they RARELY have to use pharmaceutical drugs and surgeries. And as a result, they’re not another family that makes up the dismal health statistics that they article cites.
Because our world is more stressful and toxic than ever, we are sicker than ever, especially our kids. Being forced to deal with extreme stressors early in life (excessive use of birth interventions, toxins in our environment and food, etc.) means that kids AND adults are suffering on a daily basis, putting them back in the hospital and under financial strain repeatedly. I’m not okay with this- not when there’s a different way.
Chiropractic isn’t anything new and honestly, it’s nothing fancy. We simply understand that as different stressors from physical, chemical, and emotional stress build up on our nervous system, it gets worn down, tense, and stressed. This stress and tension is found within the spine, our “conduit” or “window” into our nervous system. We find these patterns of stress and interference that are causing our body to malfunction (everything from immune to digestive health) and make safe, specific adjustments to clear the tension and restore normal tone and function to the nervous system. Healthy nervous system = healthy brain and body.
Health Care vs. Sick Care
Th
e more regularly our families visit us -their health care doctor- the less they need to visit their sick care doctor.
It’s important to note that as a Pediatric and Family Chiropractor, we’re health experts, not ‘sickness’ and ‘disease’ experts. We encourage our families to think of us as their real “health care doctor”- the one they see regularly to get well and stay well. Obviously, we still highly encourage them to have a “sick care doctor” that is very familiar with their child for those cases needing emergency intervention.
Over and over again we find that the more they regularly visit us- their health care doctor- the less they need to visit their sick care doctor. The less they need to visit their sick care doctor, the less money they have to spend in an expensive, high-risk, and often inadequate system, circling back around to the financial point of this article.
Though most of our patients seek us out for continued “wellness” care, we encourage them to come to us first when there are signs or symptoms of anything from an ear infection to an allergy flare up. We’d rather find their health challenge when it’s a minor issue that resolves easily rather than wait until it’s much worse. We are proactive in our approach, not reactive.
America’s health care system takes the exact opposite approach. Because it’s still such a reactive system, most of the patients we see in our office don’t find us until multiple rounds of medicine and medication have failed. By that time, most kids and adults we see need a fairly significant amount of work to get their nervous system and body back to health and need to come in multiple times a week for a period of 2-3 months. After that period of Restoration Care, they are so happy with the results they stick around and never leave, becoming lifelong Wellness Patients who come in routinely to keep their nervous system healthy and at full power. And the best part is that it doesn’t cost them $100,000!
Health Care Costs & Transparency
Most people in the US really have no idea how much they spend on health care and health insurance. The US health care system is not transparent with their fees because it’s all dictated by “3rd party contracts” that dilute and distract the harsh reality of the costs. However, now that deductibles and copays have soared, more and more are finally starting to pay attention to the fact that they’re being cheated out of their health AND their finances and are looking for a way out.
Once again, we take an exact opposite approach: we are completely transparent with our costs and procedures. There is no “3rd party” that can get in the way of us getting our patients better and keeping them that way.
Thanks for reading – be well!
Dr. Tony Ebel
Source: http://www.premierwellnesschiro.com/could-spending-money-on-regular-chiropractic-care-save-your-family-money/
Dr. Tony Ebel is a pediatric and wellness certified chiropractor, who specializes in neuro-developmental disorders such as autism, ADHD, sensory processing disorder, seizure disorders and other special needs cases. He has extensive education, experience, and passion in these areas, and has a large family practice in Crystal Lake, Illinois, serving this population, as well as general family wellness. He holds post-doctorate certifications in pediatrics and wellness, and also has hundreds of hours of continuing education and training in the areas of autism, ADHD, sensory challenges, seizures, neuro-immunology, and other pediatric topics.
Dr. Tony now frequently travels throughout the country as well as internationally, providing his Perfect Storm lecture and seminar to other chiropractors, staff, and related professionals, and also has done over 100 public/parent lectures on this topic and others. He has been a featured presenter at the world’s largest autism seminar, Autism One, held each year in Chicago.
He has a beautiful wife Kristina, three incredible daughters, Addison, Alaina and their latest addition, Emilia, and an amazing little boy Oliver who himself went through “the perfect storm” spending 6 weeks in the NICU with a very grave prognosis of lifelong epilepsy, autism, and severe developmental delays. However, thanks to the early application of chiropractic care, Oliver never had a single seizure, or a single delay, and today is a vibrant and healthy 6-year-old stud! Dr. Tony is a health and wellness “junkie” who loves CrossFit and juicing, spending time with his family, and sports.