Your health is obviously important but what you may not realize is just how much damage your money problems are causing. People who struggle on a weekly or even daily basis to stretch their paychecks and support their families may have developed health concerns that are specifically related to money issues.

Here are some issues you need to consider about your finances, your health, and your future:

Stress Can Kill

Never underestimate the power of stress. If you battle ongoing stress over money matters in your daily life, you can be doing some serious damage to your heart, nerves, and overall immune system. Being stressed out on a long-term basis will eventually lead to more serious health conditions, including death. Stress often takes a toll over a long period of time without major recognizable symptoms. It is important to find ways to reduce stress in your life such as through exercise and hobbies you enjoy.

Missed Health Checkups

Many people cut costs in order to get by during hard financial times. One cost they often cut first is annual visits to their doctor, especially if they lack insurance coverage and can’t afford the cost of the visit. It is very important to your health to stay in touch with your doctor and make sure you are having your health evaluated, especially if you are enduring a lot of stress in your life. Missed health checkups on a regular basis can result in missed opportunities for an early diagnosis of a medical condition.

Missed Medications

It is no secret that medicine is expensive. For those that do not have prescription coverage for importance maintenance medication, paying the monthly costs can be near-impossible. However, neglecting to take prescribed medicines as directed by your doctor can have adverse effects on your health and lead to even more expensive medical problems down the line.

New Health Developments

Sometimes financial matters in your personal life can become so out of control, your mental health suffers as a result. There are increased statistics of suicides and even criminal acts by people who felt alone in their financial hardship. It is important to seek treatment and a proper diagnosis when you begin to feel overwhelmed and out of control. Without maintaining a healthy outlook on life, you can put yourself at risk for making poor decisions. There are free resources for mental health care and those who worry about being overwhelmed with their daily lives should seek help.

Growing Debts

If you do not pay attention to your health and find ways to reduce the amount of stress you are under, you are likely going to end up with even bigger debts when you can no longer go on without a medical intervention. If you suffer a heart attack or other stress-related situation, you will add medical bills and extended treatment costs to your already-overwhelming debt loads. Serious medical complications can also put you out of work for a long period of time which means you have even less income to work with.

Don’t neglect your health. You can start contributing to a separate savings account using funds from each paycheck. Even if you are putting $5 or $10 a week into the account, you can build up a nice little backup funding source when medical emergencies strike. This fund should be allowed to continue growing and only used for medical expenses especially if you have a family history of medical complications. You can also seek additional assistance in your local community where free or low-cost services are available to ensure you and your family gets the health care needed on a regular basis and prevent mounting medical debts associated with untreated and undiagnosed medical conditions.

Why Health Is an Important Factor in Your Finances was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

If you are unfamiliar with COBRA, it is a program that allows laid off employees the option to continue their health benefits package that they had been receiving from their employer. The great news with this program is that your benefits remain the same. The bad news is that you are now responsible for the full amount of the premium your employer pays each month to provide you with those benefits. Obviously, this can be very costly and a huge financial burden on individuals and families. Thanks to the Stimulus Plan, you very well may qualify to receive COBRA benefits for a substantially reduced rate.

If you were or become laid off between the dates of September 1, 2008 and December 31, 2009 you may be eligible to purchase, for up to 9 months, COBRA benefits at a 65% discount. For many individuals and families, this makes the benefit more affordable, and leaves less people without critical health care coverage. If you have been laid off you should receive a COBRA package that allows for you to sign up for this program. Once you have accepted the coverage, each month you will need to pay your reduced rate COBRA amount. The Stimulus money is then sent directly to the health care provider or your previous employer as a tax credit reimbursement.

There is of course, like any other Stimulus program, other qualification criteria that you should be aware of. If you are eligible to receive health care coverage in any other way, for example through a spouse’s benefits or Medicare, you will be unable to participate in the COBRA Stimulus program. If your former employer is no longer in business, you are also unable to collect this benefit. Finally, the COBRA Stimulus program is exclusively for those individuals who have been laid off from their employment. If you are fired or voluntarily terminate your employment, you will not be eligible for this assistance.

COBRA Stimulus Benefits: Recently Unemployed Eligible to Continue Full Health Benefits was created by and is property of American Consumer News.