Living A Full Life

How To Lower Your Lifetime Health Bill

• Full Life Chiropractic • Season 3 • Episode 51

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The cost of staying healthy shouldn’t feel like a second mortgage. We dig into why premiums, prescriptions, and basic visits keep climbing—and what you can do today to lower your lifetime health bill without sacrificing care. From the structural incentives that reward treatment over prevention to the everyday decisions that compound your wellbeing, this conversation is equal parts candid and practical.

We start by contrasting socialized and private systems to reveal the shared problem: access and affordability are breaking for ordinary families. Then we name the sick care trap—how subsidies, ultra-processed food, and reactive medicine keep the cycle spinning—and pivot to a plan that actually shifts your trajectory. Movement becomes your first policy: thirty minutes a day to cut risk for heart disease, diabetes, and obesity, the biggest drivers of medical spend. Food choices follow: whole foods, lean proteins, and anti-inflammatory fats that calm the body and stabilize A1C. We round it out with stress and sleep—low-cost, high-return levers that prevent the slow burn of chronic disease.

You’ll also get a money toolkit: using Health Savings Accounts for tax-advantaged investing, demanding cash prices under transparency rules, shopping prescriptions with GoodRx or a warehouse pharmacy, and choosing providers who coach prevention, not just symptoms. We make the case for annual labs as early-warning systems you can act on before a crisis, and we share a striking family story of cancer, hard choices, and the power of intentional habits. The throughline is simple: you can’t control premiums, but you can control your inputs—and that control compounds.

Subscribe for more real-world strategies to build health independence, share this with someone who’s feeling stuck, and leave a review with the habit you’ll start this week. Your future self—and your wallet—will thank you.

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SPEAKER_00:

Welcome back to Living a Full Life. We where we talk about how to stay healthy, be energetic, and purpose-driven in every area of life, body, mind, and spirit. Today we're tackling a topic that's affecting every American household right now, and it's the rising healthcare costs. According to a recent AP NORC poll, most Americans are not concerned about their health care, or sorry, are more concerned about their health care expenses than they are about rent, groceries, or gas prices. And it's no surprise, premiums, medications, and even basic visits keep climbing. So today, let's talk about how you can thrive in this environment, not just survive it. We'll cover what's driving these costs, how to take control of your personal health spending, and most importantly, how to invest in preventative habits that actually lower your lifetime health care costs. Healthcare costs aren't just going up, they're accelerating. In 2025, premiums for employer-based insurance jumped again, averaging over$24,000 a year for a family plan. Medications, imaging, and outpatient services are all part of the spike. The frustrating part, many people are paying with more without even feeling any healthier. They're spending thousands for reactive care, fixing problems that might have been preventable. And that's what we're going to unpack today: how to shift from a sick care model to a full life model where your daily habits become your best insurance policy. Growing up in Canada, it was the writing on the wall with a socialized healthcare system because it got overrun with unnecessary visits. It's the opposite in the United States in a private healthcare system where you may have access to appointments quite quickly. However, the cost of doing it is just too high. So both edges of these swords are pointy and stab. And I've seen them both. And I have family in Europe as well that work both in the private in Greece and socialized care in Italy. And same things start to happen in those areas as well. The nice thing about socialized care is that you may not have to worry in the back of your mind if something happens. An ambulance will pick you up, bring you to the hospital, hopefully help you, and you'll be taken care of. You'll get medical care and you'll leave, and there will be no bill in the mail. In most cases, sometimes there are certain treatments, chemotherapies, special blood transfusions, there are costs of that. You will get a bill in the mail. And it could be$25,000. It could. So it's not perfect, but these things can happen. Or a helicopter ride in an emergency, you're gonna have to pay for the helicopter. So there are things like that. And then in in the US system, if you've got good health insurance, you know your deductible is 8K. Well, that's the cap. So there's there's wins and losses to it. But what happens when you're actually trying to take care of yourself? It almost feels like it's more expensive to try and go do the right things than it's not. And what we're seeing uh from a sociological perspective, from a sociology perspective in society is people are choosing to just not take care, not seek medical advice and just hope for the best. That's where we're leaning towards in both the socialized and the privatized systems. Interesting. Well, the socialized because they just can't get access to care. They're like, it's not worth waiting eight hours to go see my primary. So I'm not gonna do it. And it's not worth waiting five hours to go to the emergency. So I'm gonna hope I'm okay and I'll wake up tomorrow. This is exactly what's happening. Or if you call an ambulance, it takes 45 minutes to get to your house. So that's one problem. In the privatized, it's like, I can't afford it. I'm not gonna go spend$400 on a visit because I just don't have$400. There's these issues that are happening, and they're really real, and they affect most people in the middle. So this conversation needs to be had one way or another, instead of our politicians closing down government up front and saying, well, we can't stop, we can't continue spending on subsidies or whatever it may be on healthcare. Healthcare should be a right, it's not a privilege, it's a right to be taken care of if your health needs it. Then there's the dilemma of are we taking care of ourselves? And if you're a smoker, should you get to the top of the list for a lung transplant? I okay, those are different conversations for different days. We're in a sick care trap. That's what this really is. And it's been cultivated. Whether you're a conspiracy theorist or not, this is not conspiracy theory. This sick care trap has been built over the last hundred years, and it's by the simple things. It's by government subsidies to the pharmaceutical companies, the food companies, and the transportation companies, the mobilization companies of our food, water, and services. They all work together. They're like, if we keep this circle going, we'll all stay super profitable. And they've done it, and it's correct. Ultra processed foods make people sick, making people sick require medical care. They get those medical care, then they're sent home and they go back to the ultra-processed foods, and the transportation companies get all their money and everything just keeps working. It is, it is the system. It's why we can't break it. If the government keeps subsidizing this, we'll never break it. And we're never going to break it. It's just the way it is. Our system rewards treatment, not prevention. You're buying policies that will only help treatment if they're pre-approved because you have the pre because you have the condition. Otherwise, if you don't have a condition, it's not approved. And you're like, well, I don't want a condition. I don't want any conditions. I want to take care of myself and my family. Well, you're in the trap. And you're trying to, you see it, and you're trying to not live in the trap. We wait until we're in pain, fatigued, or burned out, then we seek help. By then, the costs are higher and the options are fewer. So here's the reality: a sedentary lifestyle costs you more over time than your gym membership. 100%. Skipping preventative checkups can turn a$100 problem into a$10,000 problem. And ignoring your stress or sleep leads to long-term metabolic issues that drive healthcare costs through the roof. The mindset shift is simple but powerful. Stop seeing health as an expense and start seeing it as an asset that pays dividends. It really, really, really does. Preventative health as a financial strategy is not what we normally talk about in dialogue. So let's talk about the habits that actually save you money in the long term. We got to prioritize movement. This is the probably the number one thing, even above nutrition, is because we're so sedentary. Most of the issues we get with arthritic conditions, joint pain, muscle stiffness, muscle inflammation, myofitis, um, respiratory conditions, breathing conditions, cardiovascular conditions, metabolic conditions, uh, venous issues with blood supply, vein conditions, artery conditions, arteriosclerosis, brain fog, brain decay, white matter slowdown. The list can just keep going on. In 30 minutes of day of walking, just or strength training can reduce your risk of diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. Those are the top cost drivers in our healthcare system today. They make up 80% of all the healthcare. I think we're approaching 1 trillion in healthcare costs. No, sorry, we're over a trillion in America of healthcare costs, and almost a trillion of that dollars is heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. That's what drives everything. That's why it takes forever to get in with your cardiologist, it takes forever to get in with an endocrinologist. They're backed up because those are the diseases. So eat like your health bill depends on it because it really does. The processed food companies thrive on this. They don't care if you get sick or not. Their job is to make super delicious addictive food. That's that's their job. How do we make this cardboard taste good? Make it certain crunch, add salt to it, or add high fructose syrup to it, and either way, we'll hit the right taste buds and it will taste good. An Oreo is a piece of cardboard with slime in the middle that has the right consistency of crunch and just the perfect amount of sugar that can kill you, and you love it. That's why Oreos taste so good. There's nothing else to them, and it's because it's addictive. The crunch, the texture, that's what we're addicted to, instead of just biting into a strawberry or an apple or pear or vegetables. Okay. So people are like, I hate the texture of chicken. Are you stupid? Like, eat the freaking chicken. Like, what are you talking about? Um, but you love the texture of an Oreo. Like, come on, we gotta get our priority straight here. Um eat like your health bill depends on it. Ultra processed foods cause inflammation, insulin resistance, joint pain, all of which translate to medications and office visits. Choose whole foods, lean proteins, and anti-inflammatory fats like olive oil and avocado. Manage your stress proactively, not reactively. Chronic stress drives cortisol through the roof, which leads to weight gain, fatigue, and blood pressure spikes. Meditation, journaling, chiropractic care, and deep breathing are all low-cost, high-return tools. Sleep like it's your part-time job. Some of you work harder at your work than you do on your family or your faith or your home or your finances. I say work on your sleep, make that a part-time job. Like it every night, it's like, oh, going to work. Gotta make sure the pillow's right, the temperature's right in the room, the lighting is correct, the blue light's not in the room, uh, exterior lights are blacked out. Um, like just it's comfy. I can, you know, I can roll the pillows at the right height. Like, make it a job to go to sleep. Every hour of sleep lost increase your risks of chronic illness that we talked about earlier. Rest isn't lazy, it's free medicine. These shifts can create compounding effects through your life because prevention is always cheaper than core correlation, right? Or correction. There you go. How do we reduce the cost of this? We got to take control of our health spending as well. Here are practical steps you can take to keep your health care dollars under control. Number one, use health savings accounts wisely. HSAs allow you to invest money tax-free for medical expenses, even for alternative care like chiropractic, acupuncture, supplements if if they're prescribed, uh, gym memberships, all this stuff. All the stuff we talked about, it can be used within health savings accounts. The healthier you are, the less you're going to use. Health savings account can be used as investments. That's what I do. You're allowed to put, I think now$8,300 a year for a family into this thing, been doing it for eight years, and we don't spend that amount in health care. And this thing is compounded into a point now where I'm like, even if something bad happens to me, there's money there. I've got this covered for emergency care. Um, and that's what it was supposed to be. And it keeps compounding. Well, God love America, capitalism. That's amazing. Um, so use the health savings accounts. If you work for a company that has FSAs, utilize those as well. Ask questions before procedures, ask questions about everything. Price transparency is your right. The affordable um, not the affordable care act, the um no surprises act passed in 2022, I think, January 1st, 2022, by uh no, this was passed in 2020 by I think Trump. Um, anyways, the you have full transparency, and you'll catch front desk off guard in most medical practices, but they have to give you full transparency for all cash rates. Some in most cases, your cash rate is cheaper than your copay, they're often lower than what insurance negotiates. They'd rather just take your cash up front than wait 60 days to get paid from Blue Cross Blue Shield. They'd rather just take the$50 difference or the$100 or you can see I send people for MRIs for$300. Some people get$600 copayes for this stuff for like a brain MRI or thoracic MRI. So I know it works, and we utilize these to our advantage. Shop your prescriptions if you're on any. Uh, good RX or Costco Pharmacy can save hundreds per month. Use them. Use them first before. Always ask and use the internet and use Chat GPT to figure out what and where you can save money on. Uh, choose providers who focus on wellness, not just symptoms. This is probably one of the biggest things you can do. If your chiropractor, nutritionist, or primary care doctor talks about lifestyle change and long-term function, you're already in the right place. After doing this for almost 20 years and seeing families grow up healthy without some of them without insurance, uh, some of them do have insurance, both in Canada and the United States. They just repeat the same things. They all have one thing in common. They sleep well, they stay together, they eat well together, and they just go to see the chiropractor together. These families are healthier. Do they have issues? Do they still um have uh you know thumb sucking or some colic at a young age or maybe develop scoliosis as a teenager? Yeah, they still go through life things, but they're not going through diabetes, chronic heart failure, or any of these things because there's the mindset and the repetition of seeing the chiropractor every month or every two weeks where they just keep going in and they're revitalized with the proper information of foundational health. Okay, and invest in your own annual wellness testing. Please don't skip this. So many of you are like, oh, it's been like six years since I've had a blood test. Oh my word. This has to be done every year. Most insurances that you take, whatever you choose, give you one wellness visit a year. Do you know why? They want to see your um your wellness blood work once a year to gauge whether they should keep you insured. There will be risk factors that will show up, which they can gently since the Obama Healthcare Act passed, they're not allowed to do this anymore, but they still do. They're not supposed to, but they cannot slide you out for a pre-existing condition. So if your A1C is running higher and higher and higher each year, they can drop you off this knowing that you're gonna turn diabetic soon and they don't want to pay for it. It's a messed up system. But who cares about the system? We care about you. If your A1C is starting to creep up, you will be on top of it every 12 months to be like, whoa, what's going on here? I got to change something. You talk to a chiropractor like me, boom, your A1C is gonna start going down. We're gonna fix that. Um, and there's other markers too. Are we getting anemic for some reason? Are we losing red blood cells for some reason? What's happening? Why are the numbers changing? Is our white blood cell count going up? Do we have a chronic infection? Do we have something going on behind the scenes? Is a pathology building? You can catch these things super easy. Your annual preventative wellness check is probably the most important thing to do. You can do this for about$120 across the country, no matter where you're listening to this from, to get a full panel done. This is your thyroid, your vitamin D, and the full red blood cell count and cholesterol, liver panel, all that for about anywhere between 100 and 150 bucks. You can get this done across the entire country, depending where you're at. Get good connections like us in functional medicine, we'll get you even the cheapest rate possible. So that's where functional medicine doctors can play a huge role in as well. So, from my 20 years of experience, these families that have been staying healthy are on some type of, instead of buying insurance or instead of buying all this other stuff, some type of monthly subscription to a gym, to a sport, to a chiropractic facility with functional medicine, some type of primary care and motion combination for a couple hundred dollars a month, two to three hundred bucks a month, is the app for the family, which is way cheaper than any health care and premiums that are out there to help preventative care. Then all you can have is an emergency care, some type of off-site or third-party insurance for the emergency thing that will cover an ambulance or cover five nights in the hospital or cover something for you to prevent catastrophic financial loss. So check your lab. There you go. And then the mindset of you know, health independence. This is what this creates is health independence for you. At the heart of all of this is mindset. You need to believe that if you do the right things, uh, you're gonna be better off. You can't control insurance premiums, but you can control your daily actions. You can't stop inflation, but you can make choices that keep your body strong and resilient. Living a full life isn't about perfect health, it's about ownership. When you build daily routines that strengthen your body, balance your hormones, and claim and calm your mind, you gain freedom from medication dependence, from constant appointments, and from the stress of wondering what's next. The cost of healthcare will probably keep rising. If I had to put money on it, it's gonna keep rising. But that doesn't mean your health, uh your health costs have to. You have more power than you think. Move more, eat real food, sleep deeply, manage your stress, and work with wellness-focused practitioners who look at the whole picture. The greatest return on investment you'll ever make isn't in stock or property, it's in your body and mind. My father barely saw doctors, did his annual preventative, and at 67 for some goes in for a colonoscopy, stage three cancer, colon cancer. He ate at home all the time. Stress was up and down through his life, ate at home most of the time, worked every day outside construction, um, worked hard, moved a lot, slept every night well. He was a deep sleeper, did all the right things, and then boom, one day there. But he wasn't intentional on his health ever. He wasn't ever looking into things and prioritizing his health. He just went through the motions. And luckily, he had healthier habits to make it to 67. Guess what happened when he got that diagnosis? He had the medical route to go or the natural route to go. He looked at medicine and said, chemotherapy, 67 years old, radiation. I may lose uh function to my right leg with uh radiation and chemotherapy. He's like, I may not survive this. He looks at the natural way, he's like, but that's not chemotherapy. He goes the natural way, he loses 45 pounds in 99 days. Raw food diet, uh looked the best he's ever been. Uh, no chemotherapy, no radiation. 99 days later, he's cancer free. That's my story. I've been working on a book as we talk. My dad. So I can share that story very easily. He's now just he's turning 82 in a couple months here. Um, so there you go. 15 years post-care, never's come back, doing great, has benign hypertrophy of the prostate, like every other man his age. Kept his bowels, kept everything, um, and went the natural route, and then went back to medicine and said, Hey, how do I take care of myself? They didn't believe him, told him he needs surgery. He actually signed up for it, did it. This was two months later, and they went in, they're like, There was there was nothing there. Cut him from side to side, his entire abdomen, went in there for like a colonal rectal surgery to remove part of the colon because they're like, no, the cancer's got to be there. It wasn't there. The surgeon literally sewed him up and said there was nothing there. There was like a there's like a gooky little, almost like something disintegrated. I'm like, could it have been the tumor that was disintegrated? He's like, could have been, but there's no way he didn't do chemo. And you can imagine how the rest of that conversation went with my hot headed 20, how old was I, 30, 29-year-old hot head? Yeah, didn't go well. But that's how that all goes. And uh, and then he went that just down the natural route. He got two chronic infections after that surgery, and he was like, forget this. I should have never ever listened to them. And then that's not health advice for colon cancer. Please do not take that home to your family or anything like that. There's multiple things that he had to do to do that. But that's my personal story. That's my dad's personal story of when we get to a fork in the road, it's a hard decision to make. And we want to avoid those forks as much as we can. You can't control everything, but you can control the things that you can control. And it boggles my mind when people are like, I don't sleep, you know, I go to bed at 12, I wake up at five, uh, I'm on the screens all the time, I don't work out, I don't do anything. I'm like, oh my word, why did you have kids? Like, why would you put them through this? Why would you put them through this train wreck and of them watching you? Going, you're gonna hit a wall. So there you go. Don't have kids if you're gonna be like that. But if you're gonna move and you're gonna take care of yourself, go ahead. Uh, because it's unfair to your family if you make those choices. Stay well, stay healthy, take care of yourselves. And if you need anything, info at fulllifetampa.com. We can link you up with good functional medicine doctors that you can add to your team, to your for your family, that can be there on call anytime you need anything. And bypass, when you get those no's and those denials from your insurance, they can help you get to true health. Take care, stay well, see you next week.

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Dr. Enrico Dolcecore

Host
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Dr. Christine Hafer

Co-host