How to be an Empowered Patient

Do you feel powerless at the doctor’s office? Do you wait for hours in waiting rooms, only to have 7 ½ minutes with a doctor who doesn’t answer your questions? Do you pay way too much for pharmaceuticals, receive letters from your insurance company refusing coverage, and wind up with unnecessary procedures you didn’t understand to begin with? Do you feel like you pay more and more for less and less care? If so, you’re like millions of others.

Tips For How To Be An Empowered Patient (adapted from The Empowered Patient)

1. When your doctor makes a diagnosis, ask your doctor “What else could it be?” (especially if your current treatment isn’t working).
2. Don’t be afraid to get a second opinion.
3. Ask for a copy and read your own test results.
4. Listen to your instincts.
5. Google your doctor.
6. Learn how to “Go Beyond Google” and use specialized search engines that filter out misinformation when you research health care issues on the internet.
7. Seek out and share wisdom with patients who share your diagnosis.
8. Avoid becoming a “cyberchondriac” who thinks she has every disease she reads about on the internet.
9. Make sure your insurance company is legitimate and will actually cover you when you make a claim.
10. If your insurance denies your claim, APPEAL.

What about you? How has the system failed you? What lessons have you learned about being a health care advocate for you and your family? Tell us your horror stories, your successes, and your tips for staying healthy. Maybe, by becoming empowered to speak up and be heard, we can send a shout out to the Universe, and maybe, just maybe, something will start to shift.