Other than the Iraq war, an issue you’ll hear a lot about during the 2008 presidential campaign is healthcare. Why do so many Americans lack health insurance? What can we do to make sure everyone has access to affordable health coverage?

I would add two more questions to the conversation:

• What is the individual’s role in the healthcare system?
• Are you a passive healthcare user or an active, informed, healthcare consumer?

Across the country, and especially here in Texas - where our public health issues have been well documented - there is one thing all of us can do that would go a long way toward improving health, improving access to care and keeping healthcare more affordable: take responsibility to be healthier and to become better healthcare consumers.

As the presidential candidates debate the best way for our country to pay for health coverage, I’m here today to talk about the “pay for” part of that. No matter what our elected representatives in Washington come up with, we will all still share responsibility for paying for healthcare. And there’s much we can do to keep those costs as low as possible.

Getting serious about getting fit
Think about it. You’ve seen how rising healthcare costs have impacted the amount you pay for health premiums and healthcare over the past several years. Are you part of the problem or part of the solution? If you smoke, are you committed to quitting? If you’re overweight, are you really trying to lose weight? Have you stopped making excuses about not having time to exercise?

In Texas, all of our most serious public health problems can be traced to our lifestyles. By far, the most important thing you can do to be healthier and to become a better healthcare consumer is lessen the odds that you’ll need healthcare to treat illnesses and diseases that are self-inflicted. The people who spend the least on healthcare are generally the people who pay the most attention to their health.

Clearly, taking care of yourself is the most important variable in the becoming-a-better-health-care-consumer equation. Diet and exercise aren’t the only ways to be healthier. What else can you do? Here are some examples:

• Take a health risk assessment - If you have questions about this, ask your health-benefits administrator.
• Use online tools to identify low-cost prescription drugs - There may be a lower-cost generic substitute for the higher-priced prescription drugs you’re currently taking.
• Explore the use of alternative medicines and therapies.
• Use the internet to get information about illnesses and diseases.
• Enroll in a disease-management program (if necessary).
• Take advantage of 24-hour nurse lines (does your insurer offer this?) to potentially avoid unnecessary emergency room trips.
• Practice preventative health habits, such as a regular physical exam

Being a careful, smart shopper
Obviously, as healthcare consumers, we can’t determine specifically what healthcare costs, but we can work much harder to be effective health care consumers.

In so many other settings, we make every effort to be smart shoppers. We go online to learn everything we can about a car or truck before we buy it. We clip coupons from the Sunday paper. We watch for sales at the mall. But how often do we seek the best buys and values when we shop for healthcare? I understand that healthcare isn’t really like any other part of our economy. However, it needs to function more like the rest of the economy or prices will continue to climb much faster than the overall inflation rate.

I’m not suggesting that we can walk into the doctor’s office or pharmacy or hospital, tell them they charge too much and try the next door down. I know it doesn’t work that way. However, we can do a much better job of shopping for healthcare by spending more time researching our options.

What are you doing to become a healthier and better healthcare consumer?