Take a look at your to-do list. Where do your items fall on the list? Oftentimes women put themselves at the end of their to-do lists—or don't even put themselves on the list at all! This is scary when you think about health care to-do lists.
According to a recent survey conducted by HealthyWomen and Working Mother magazine, which was revealed during the second annual Women's Healthcare Innovation and Leadership Showcase (WHILS), women ranked their time spent managing health care in the following order:
- Children
- Pets
- Elder relatives
- Spouse or significant others
- Themselves
Not only are women putting themselves at the end of the list, some women aren't getting around to it all. A shocking 78 percent said they often put off taking care of themselves or getting their health appointments made because they are so busy taking care of other family members' health.
It's not surprising women feel busy. Approximately 82 percent of women do most of the health-related research for their kids, 86 percent of women schedule the majority of the health care appointments for their kids, and 72 percent arrange for the payment of the majority of the bills for their kids health care. And, unfortunately, navigating insurance and health care bills can take lots of time because the process can be incredibly confusing.
During the WHILS conference, this topic came up a lot. We need to make navigating the health care world much easier. We also need to learn how to make our health a priority. Perhaps the two will coincide. Make yourself a promise to make and keep your medical appointments, make time to exercise and keep nutrition a primary focus. We promise to keep the conversation going with conferences like WHILS and by posting helpful content on our site.
