Debt and health

‘Your health is your wealth’

In my experience health is never really given much consideration until something goes wrong. People tend to take their health for granted. However as soon as they get sick or need to visit the doctor their attention focuses firmly on their medical insurance.

If you are in debt then your focus should be on where you can cut your expenses. However cutting things that have an impact on your health can be disastrous in the long term. Health insurance, diet and leisure pursuits usually take a direct hit when someone is designing their budgets and debt management plans.

Getting out of debt requires cutbacks and savings. These cutbacks and savings should not be at the cost of your own or your family’s health. You can’t put a value on health and by trying to cut your health expenditure that is what you are doing – trying to put a value on your health.

The three main areas that come under scrutiny in any household budget but also have a direct impact on health are 1. Health Insurance 2. Diet and 3. Leisure pursuits.

Health insurance.

With money problems one of the first things to go is health insurance. Many people look on health insurance as a nice to have rather than a need to have. If their employer does not provide health insurance then for many it is the obvious choice to start budgeting with. However I cannot stress strongly enough how important health insurance is. By all means shop around for the best provider or see if you can bundle your home and car insurance to get a better deal but do not get rid of your health insurance.

The thing about adequate health insurance is that you hope that you will never have to use it. If you have health insurance then you can be confident that there is health insurance there if you need it but ultimately you never want to use it. Some may argue that you are in good shape and don’t get sick often so why bother? I say great! But you don’t want to be caught short if you have the misfortune of getting sick or need to visit the hospital.

Diet.

As it stands the average diet in the western world is pretty bad. Millions of us exist (or should that be subsist) on a diet of processed refined nutrient deficient foods. Sure they might taste good but they don’t contribute much to our health and in some cases they take away from it and in turn take away from our pockets.

The question you have to ask is whether or not it is more or less expensive to eat well. I have made the argument before about buying generic food products as opposed to the more expensive branded products. This makes sense as they are generally cheaper versions of the same thing. My argument here is that we should consider whether or not in the long run it costs more to eat well.

Eating well is a whole other topic – the field is enormous and the opinions vastly different. Everyone has their own opinion as to what exactly eating well means. The point I am trying to make is that eating something that is obviously bad for you just because it is cheaper than the more healthy alternative does not make sense and in the long run it will cost you even more in terms of doctors and dentist visits. Just because your local fast food joint is doing a two for one special doesn’t mean you have to eat there. To me that is a false economy.

Leisure pursuits.

What I originally called the title of this section was Gym membership but I realize that not everyone holds a gym membership. The nice thing about talking about gym membership is that it allows me to perfectly illustrate the impact that debt can have on a person’s health.

In my post about passive expenses I made the point that things like gym membership can be an unnecessary drain on your finances especially if you are paying a monthly subscription. However I want to point out that I was referring to unused gym memberships. If you are not using your gym membership then by all means try to cut that expense out. If you are using your gym membership then look on it as a legitimate budget expense and don’t beat yourself up over it – even if it is expensive. The long term benefits of going to the gym on a regular basis will serve you well in the years to come.

The same logic should apply to any of the other leisure pursuits that people enjoy. If it is done on a regular basis and is seen as being a positive then work it into your budget if at all possible.

Becoming fit and healthy is more important than getting out of debt. In reality if you are not fit and healthy you will find getting out of debt a lot more difficult. The reason why is because getting out of debt requires a lot of energy and focus. Debt is stressful and no matter what way you cut it getting out of debt takes time and energy.

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