The value of preventive care

Staying on top of your health early and often could be a lifesaver down the line.

By WP BrandStudio

It likely could have been avoided with a regular check-up.

The 35-year-old man was in the hospital after suffering a sudden heart attack. He had shown no signs or symptoms other than occasional dizziness and shortness of breath. After three days at the hospital, it was clear that undiagnosed high blood pressure and cholesterol had caused the heart attack. At this point, a bypass surgery would be necessary.

This kind of story is common. High blood pressure is the kind of thing that can be caught in an annual physical and treated before it worsens. This man was among the 80 percent of Americans who don’t bother to schedule preventive care doctor’s appointments, such as wellness visits, screening tests or annual physicals. It can be time-consuming, expensive and feel pointless if they don’t actively feel like anything is wrong—particularly for employees of the federal government who often have demanding work schedules. The resistance to preventive care is even more prevalent in younger generations; 93 percent of millennials forgo preventive visits, even with health insurance. But ignoring symptoms and not being diligent about routine check-ups could mean bigger problems later on.

That’s why some of America’s biggest health insurance providers are finding new ways to engage federal employees, retirees and their families in the benefits of taking a proactive, preventive relationship to their health and wellbeing. For instance, there is a new plan available to them from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Federal Employee Program (FEP) that offers low premiums and copays, wellness incentives and time-saving mobile apps that may go a long way toward reducing the friction that young adults, in particular, feel about preventive healthcare: FEP Blue Focus.

The high stakes for preventive care

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, preventive care services could save over 100,000 lives in the U.S. every year. Chronic diseases alone—like heart disease, diabetes and cancer—are responsible for 7 out of 10 American deaths annually. Conditions like these can be manageable, and sometimes even preventable, if detected early.

These types of diseases also have a long development period, and frequently show no obvious symptoms until years later, so there can be a lack of urgency in scheduling periodic screenings. A new study by Blue Cross Blue Shield found that millennials in particular generally believe themselves to be healthier than they really are. And even the best healthcare plan doesn’t amount to much if people don’t think they’ll benefit from it. While 83 percent of millennials consider their health to be “good” or “excellent,” a comparison of their actual health across a number of common conditions determined that the preceding generation, Gen X, was healthier at the same age.

What’s behind the millennials’ generational decline? “I think that translates into their weight, how much exercise they get, the diet they’re eating and the drugs that they’re consuming—you know—alcohol, smoking,” said Dr. Ateev Mehrotra, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and hospitalist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. “While you may feel really healthy, your twenties is really when a lot of this stuff is accumulating. So it’s not like you can put this off until you’re fifty and then all of a sudden take care of it.”

Mehrotra also argues that, across all generations, emphasis needs to be placed on the value of the specific kinds of preventive care visits that have been empirically shown to make a real difference. He cites the continually updated U.S. Preventive Services Task Force list of government recommendations as a good guide for the various types of preventive care that are known to be effective for different age groups, including vaccines for infants, mammograms for women over 40, and diabetes screening for at-risk adults aged 40 to 70. “Their recommendations are quite reasonable,” he said. “I believe these kinds of preventive services are really critical to get from your provider.”

Blue Cross Blue Shield Federal Employee Program’s Preventive Care Plan

Introduced in 2019, FEP Blue Focus is designed to take millennial federal employees’ healthcare concerns into account—but it isn’t just for younger people. Any government worker looking for a health insurance option that prioritizes cost-savings and convenience, without sacrificing robust coverage, would appreciate what FEP Blue Focus manages to include in the plan. Current members might also benefit from learning about the available preventive care resources they could be missing out on.

For starters, FEP Blue Focus provides free and full coverage for preventive screening tests, and the first ten visits to a primary care doctor or specialist are just $10 each. Add to that the Routine Annual Physical Incentive Program, which offers members rewards for attending an appointment with their primary care physician—like a 4-month gym membership, a free Fitbit or other great healthy options —and there aren’t many excuses left to avoid a doctor visit.

FEP Blue Focus also offers resources for those pressed for time. Fifty percent of Americans who aren’t participating in preventive care say they often have to cancel appointments due to work obligations. But FEP Blue Focus includes two free virtual doctor visits per year through the Teladoc website or app, which allows patients to have a video conference with a U.S. board-certified physician. One may be too busy to travel to a doctor’s office, but who is too busy to open an app?

Finally, there’s the plan’s sheer breadth of options when it comes to healthcare providers. The FEP Blue Focus network includes 95% of doctors, 96% of hospitals, and more than 65,000 pharmacies across the U.S., along with overseas support from a network of more than 14,000 international hospitals, clinics, doctors, and specialists.

Along with the user-friendly fepblue app, Blue365^® health and wellness discounts program, support for tobacco cessation and hypertension management and health club discounts, the preventive care offered by FEP Blue Focus is truly comprehensive and an ideal partner in keeping frequent tabs on your health at any age.

Learn more about Blue Cross Blue Shield’s Blue Focus Program

This content is paid for by Blue Cross Blue Shield and published by WP BrandStudio. The Washington Post newsroom was not involved in the creation of this content. Learn more about WP BrandStudio.