Your good health

- David Pine | NZIJ Risk Management Ltd


The best approach for anyone these days is to take basic surgery and tests cover, then stay as healthy as possible for as long as possible so that hopefully we don’t need the health system for a long time to come.

A doctor friend of ours has said that there are three, and only three, health factors over which we have full control. These are: whether we smoke, our blood pressure, and our cholesterol level. He says that as long as we deal with these three matters then pretty much everything else that happens to us is outside our control.

Whether or not we smoke is pretty much a no-brainer these days, with the vast amount of medical evidence around the world confirming the dangers of doing so. The other two factors are frequently controlled by medication but my doctor friend suggests they can both be controlled naturally.

I’ve had personal experience of reducing my cholesterol level by a significant margin, simply by changing my diet. My level was a rather dangerous 9 when my GP said I needed to do something about it. I’d been in the habit of eating a lot of cakes, biscuits and so forth, plus copious amounts of butter and cheese. I’ve drastically reduced my intake of the sweet stuff, cut out butter altogether, and heavily reduced the amount of cheese I consume. Without making any other changes, and without taking any medication, I’ve reduced my cholesterol level from 9 to 6, and it has been steady at that figure for 3 years now. (I have it checked every 6 months.) While 6 could be seen as still too high by some medical practitioners, my GP says that as this is the only adverse feature of my health, I should simply forget about it and get on with life.

While I have no personal experience of high blood pressure, my doctor friend is certain that in virtually all cases, this can be controlled without medication as well. I understand that the relationship between your height and your weight is one important factor. Also the amount of stress in your life can increase blood pressure. Excessive alcohol intake can be another cause.

Despite my doctor friend’s opinion, we’re not bullet proof, and so we continue to maintain our health insurance. We have chosen to take an excess on claims as a way of keeping the cost down. Some health insurers offer excesses up to $5000 which can make sense as we get older. An excess of $5000 isn’t a lot compared with the horrendous cost of some operations these days.

If you need help with yor insurance cover, please give NZIJ Risk Management a call on 0800 90 60 90 or 04 499 3592.