With responsibility comes opportunity . . . when we take on more responsibility for the way we live our lives and the health care choices we make, we earn opportunities for a better life. How?

Choose to live a healthy lifestyle. Eat right, check out Dr. Gundry on Google for some good advice.  Get enough sleep, always easier said than done, but so worth the effort. Workout, find a cardio routine that you enjoy and do some resistance training as well. Manage your stress by taking some time to reflect and slow down. And see your doctor once a year to get a routine physical.  Getting to know your numbers (bloodwork) is important and so is having your skin checked . . . it’s the largest organ in our bodies and often overlooked. All of these behaviors will help you feel better physically and help you catch things early if you’re not so lucky.

Choose to make informed health care choices by thinking about what you are going to do first and then where you are going to do it. Quite often, when you consider overall cost and quality, more expensive is not always a higher standard like in other areas of our life. It’s “you get what you negotiate” – that’s the standard in the provider to insurance carrier relationship and the challenge we all face to effectively manage our healthcare costs.

The principle of opportunity suggests when you make healthy choices and maintain your health – you earn the opportunity to feel better physically and be more productive.  At the same time, when you make cost conscious choices to manage your health concern, you earn the opportunity to save money today and also for the future.

The principles of consumerism, health and wellness are transparency, responsibility and opportunity. They are the pillars of a bold change in the way we think about how we live our lives and buy our health care and health insurance – and I think that’s a good thing, don’t you?