Health Sense: U.S. Health Care Priorities Backwards
The health-care crisis in America is not based in insurance coverage, lack of it, or who is going to pay for it. These are cynical questions that only serve to perpetuate the problem and the self-interests of the so-called health-care industry.The real health crisis in America is that we have too many sick people. The only real questions are why are there so many sick people and what are we willing to do about it?
The medical, pharmaceutical, insurance-based approach to health care is clearly broken. That model is largely catastrophe-based (illness, disease, injury) and, indeed, works best in that mode. For everyday health (prevention, promotion and care) it is an abysmal failure.
In 2004, medical doctors wrote four billion prescriptions for 300 million people; 15 for every man, women and child in the country. The U.S. has 4 percent of the worlds' population, yet we spend 50 percent of all the money in the world on health care in this country. And, for all that money and care, the World Health Organization ranks the U.S. as 37th in overall health.
Medical doctors, according to their own statistics, are the third leading cause of death behind heart attack and cancer. Some 28 percent of all hospital admissions are for adverse drug reactions. HMOs spend more on adverse drug reactions than they do on drugs! And on and on ...
How can anyone believe, with these daunting statistics and the rising rates of heart attack, diabetes, obesity, adverse drug reactions, medical mishaps and deaths, that we have the best health care in the world? We have the most health care in the world.
The best that I have heard it described is: "We are building hospitals at the bottom of cliffs, rather than building fences at the top of cliffs."
We need a new paradigm; one that is wellness-based and not disease-based; one that understands and teaches that health comes from you and not to you from doctors, drugs, medical procedures and insurance companies; that health is a personal responsibility based on daily lifestyle decisions about what and how you think, eat and move.
We need to know that health, like disease, is a process and that we were designed to be healthy; that our bodies are self-healing and self-regulating if nurtured responsibly and correctly. We need to know that the choice for health or disease is ours.
We need to flatten the playing field in insurance to stop directing patients to the disease based pharmaceutical model; to allow patients to access healthier care, wellness-based options. We need to pass legislation to end direct to consumer advertising by pharmaceutical companies that are literally creating disease diagnoses and marketing the so-called cures. We need to stop believing there is a magic bullet cure to solve our problems.
We need to start teaching about true health in our schools to include subjects such as: building self-esteem, posture, biomechanics, stress and relaxation management, exercise, diet and nutrition and goal setting.
The health-care reform our politicians bloviate about is purely a distraction. If we do not change the way we think about health, on the national and personal levels, we will continue to pursue the "quick fix" treatments that mask consequences, but do nothing to solve the problem.
Peter May is a doctor of chiropractic with an office in North Adams. He will be offering a regular column on health for iBerkshires.
