Seems cliché, but to have a wellness visit every year or not to have a wellness visit every year, that is the question. There are always reasons and excuses as to why you shouldn’t visit your primary care or specialist. Examples could be, your child has an appointment or other activities to attend to, your husband needs more attention than you do, you feel fine and haven’t been sick, or you just don’t want to go or spend the money. Whatever the reason is, people feel that following up with a doctor nowadays just doesn’t seem as necessary or as important as it used to be. What isn’t always common knowledge is each insurance company covers one preventative care visit yearly. That visit should be used to keep you and your family members up to date on your health!
Why is a follow up or a wellness visit so important?
You may think you “feel fine”, but in reality there may have underlying conditions that can only be detected by a physician or various testing. Maybe your stomach hurts occasionally, but you think maybe that salad didn’t agree with me. Possibly you’ve been trying to fight off a bout of fatigue, but think it’s from the extra work you are doing with homeschooling or remote work. Maybe you feel a tickle in your throat more consistently, but put it out of your mind because you have more important things to worry about.
There are so many symptoms that seem normal, but some of these symptoms may be a hint that something could be wrong. Due to COVID-19, insurance companies have enabled the capability of telemedicine, which makes it easier to follow up with your primary care physician or specialist. It’s important to follow up and find out why you feel the way you do. We have seen way to many instances when a spouse finally gets around to focusing on their own health and makes an appointment for themselves, thinking that their fatigue, for example isn’t serious. In actuality, in this situation, that fatigue was cancer that had already spread and metastasized. This situation, is of course the most severe, but that is why insurance companies suggest a follow up yearly. No person wants to hear that it’s too late, so the answer to the question: to have a wellness visit or not have a wellness visit is simple. Schedule your appointment today! Don’t wait! If you are proactive in your health and follow up with your doctor yearly or even bi-yearly, certain conditions can be prevented or fixed more swiftly then if you wait years to follow up. Dr. Vinitsky is here to help! Don’t wait! Schedule your appointment today!
