Real health care reform: preventive medicine

As Congress debates health care reform, missing from the discussion is the fact that Americans need more than a new system of health care insurance:  they need a new paradigm of health care altogether.

The essentials of healthy living — nutrition, exercise, a robust social network and a positive state of mind — have been well known for centuries, even millennia.  Yet our current health care system has little to do with these basic building blocks.  Instead, it focuses on the consequences of unhealthy living.  For most people, health only becomes an issue when they end up in the emergency room.

A system that focuses on consequence and not fundamentals is a system that is inherently dysfunctional.  It is also a system that generates a significant amount of money.  Instead of asking why cancer develops, for example, companies can make more money by “treating” it.  So we spend hundreds of millions of dollars researching “treatments” and very little money on figuring out what causes cancer.

A system that focuses on consequence and not fundamentals also produces a horrifying perspective on the issue of aging.  Under our current health care system, we slowly but surely find ourselves confined to a bed-ridden state as the consequences of a lifetime of unhealthy living take their toll.  An unnecessary obsession with “preserving life at all costs” strips people of their dignity.  Old age becomes a hellish existence of pain and suffering, when it should be a state of wisdom and preparation for the next state of existence, whatever that may be.

Our approach to medicine treats the body as a machine to be repaired instead of a living organism that must be brought into a different homeostatic state.  The fight against disease becomes a technocratic war against the body, as medical science attempts to wipe out invaders — be it a virus, a cancer or high cholesterol — instead of employing the body’s natural ability to heal itself.

A paradigm of preventive care would begin with a primary health care provider, who would analyze a patient’s entire life situation and identify sources of potential problems well before they materialize as a physical condition.  It would take a holistic approach to wellness:  analyzing not only physical conditions but also mental and social well being.

A paradigm of preventive care would focus on diet and would help people identify those foods that are most nutritious for them.  A paradigm of preventive care would focus on exercise and help people create an exercise regimen that would keep their bodies active.  A paradigm of preventive care would focus on a person’s social network and would help that person create a vibrant community of friends and family.  A paradigm of preventive care would focus on attitude and would help a person take a positive outlook on life so that he or she could materialize their dreams and desires without needing to worry so much.

Just a few little changes in our daily lives would do much to prevent disease down the road.  Eating right, reducing levels of stress, getting exercise:  we’ve heard these things a million times, yet ignore them in favor of a health model that says, “I’ll deal with it later.”

Is it any wonder that health insurance companies are so powerful?  The current health care model, which focuses on expensive treatments, pharmaceuticals and hospital visits, produces real inefficiences in terms of human health but tremendous amounts of money for the providers of those services.  These companies are literally make a killing off of human suffering.  Real health care reform requires questioning this entire model in favor of something much more healthy and sane.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 26th, 2009 at 11:52 am and is filed under Alternative Living and tagged with big industry, happiness, healthy living. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.