Keep your new year’s resolutions by enrolling in health coverage

Every year, millions of Americans make New Year’s Resolutions. Do a Google search, and you’ll find health-related resolutions are among the most common: lose weight, exercise more, eat healthier, stop smoking, drink less, watch less TV, reduce stress.

Unfortunately, most of us break our resolutions almost as soon as we make them. There is one resolution you can make and keep this year. Get a healthy start to the new year by signing up for health insurance through Washington HealthPlanFinder at www.wahealthplanfinder.org.

Making and keeping that one resolution can actually help you keep other resolutions in 2016.

Want to lose weight? Obesity screening and counseling are free preventive health benefits offered through Qualified Health Plans. Want to stop smoking? Tobacco use screening and cessation interventions for tobacco users are also free preventive health benefits. Want to lower your chronic disease risk? Diet counseling is available for adults at higher risk of chronic disease. Alcohol misuse screening and counseling are also available as a preventive health benefits. The peace of mind that comes with having health coverage can reduce your stress.

While some resolutions are on you, Health and Human Services is offering assistance to attain many health-related goals. From Coverage to Care (C2C) helps patients make better use of their health coverage. The materials are currently available in eight languages, with more to come.

The Healthy Self Initiative encourages everyone to take control of their own health. Knowledge is power. Knowing more about your personal, family, and ethnic/racial disease history and tendencies, can help you and your provider make smarter decisions about your health care. For example, if you have a family history of heart disease, your provider might monitor you more closely. Your provider might also encourage you to take steps to lose weight, to exercise, and to eat a healthier diet. Likewise if you have a family history of prostate or breast cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, or many other diseases with a genetic component, your provider might encourage you to take steps to reduce your risk.

Other HHS websites such as health.gov, healthfinder.gov, womenshealth.gov, the Office of Minority Health site, and Let’s Move, offer resources and suggestions for living a healthier, more active life.

So, whatever other resolutions you might make for 2016, make and keep that resolution to sign up for health coverage for you and your family. It’s really easy; just visit Washington HealthPlanFinder. However, time is limited. You MUST sign up by Jan. 31, or you’ll lose your opportunity to sign up for 2016 coverage unless you have a Qualifying Life Event.

Make and keep your first resolution of the New Year. Sign up for coverage today. You’ll get a jump on some of those other resolutions for the year and you’ll feel better for it!

Susan Johnson is regional director for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Region 10.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Opinion

RGB version
Editorial cartoons for Monday, March 18

A sketchy look at the news of the day.… Continue reading

Carson gets a chance to sound the horn in an Everett Fire Department engine with the help of captain Jason Brock during a surprise Make-A-Wish sendoff Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023, at Thornton A. Sullivan Park in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Editorial: Everett voters will set course for city finances

This fall and in coming years, they will be asked how to fund and support the services they use.

Devotees of TikTok, Mona Swain, center, and her sister, Rachel Swain, right, both of Atlanta, monitor voting at the Capitol in Washington, as the House passed a bill that would lead to a nationwide ban of the popular video app if its China-based owner doesn't sell, Wednesday, March 13, 2024. Lawmakers contend the app's owner, ByteDance, is beholden to the Chinese government, which could demand access to the data of TikTok's consumers in the U.S. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Editorial: Forced sale of TikTok ignores network of problems

The removal of a Chinese company would still leave concerns for data privacy and the content on apps.

Rep. Strom Peterson, D-Edmonds, watches the State of the State speech by Gov. Jay Inslee on the second day of the legislative session at the Washington state Capitol, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, in Olympia, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Editorial: Legislature has its own production of ‘The Holdovers’

What state lawmakers left behind in good ideas that should get more attention and passage next year.

Comment: Measles outbreaks show importance of MMR vaccinations

The highly contagious disease requires a 95 percent vaccination rate to limit the spread of outbreaks.

Harrop: Should ‘affordable’ come at cost of quality of living?

As states push their cities to ignore zoning rules, the YIMBYs are covering for developers.

Saunders: Classified document cases show degrees of guilt

President Biden’s age might protect him, but the special prosecutor didn’t exonerate him either.

Comment: Clearing the internet of misinformation, deep fakes

With social networks’ spotty moderation record, users need to identify and call out problems they see.

Eco-Nomics: Price of gas, fossil fuels higher than you think

Greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels force unseen costs in climate disasters, illness and more.

Vote against I-2117 to keep best tool to protect climate

We voters will be offered the opportunity to repeal Washington state’s Climate… Continue reading

Lack of maternal health care raises risks of deadly sepsis

In today’s contentious climate, we often hear political debates about maternal health… Continue reading

Trump’s stance on abortion isn’t moderate; it’s dangerous

Voters deserve to know the facts and the truth about what will… Continue reading

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.