Mis-diagnosing the health care crisis

In talking with over 20,000 people about health care, and the “crisis”, over the last 20 years, they often say, “our healthcare system is broken”, but most don’t care about the cause of the problem—they just want it fixed.  The truth is, “America doesn’t so much have a health “care” crisis as a “health” crisis.” The World Health Organization would agree, stating a few years ago that “…the US is experiencing the worst epidemic of chronic and degenerative disease that mankind has ever seen.” 

The root cause of our “health” crisis?  We’re sick—of the way we live.   80-90% of all disease in America, say the experts, is due to poor lifestyle—mostly poor diet, and lack of exercise and hydration—not just tobacco, drugs, alcohol abuse, STD, etc.  Nutritionists say we are the most “overfed and undernourished” population on earth.  We wouldn’t feed a dog what we eat: sugar, processed, refined white flour, fake food, lacking in nutrient and fiber—the veterinary bill would skyrocket.  Eating ourselves to death, we’re drowning in the flood of western diseases: heart disease, diabetes, cancer, obesity, colitis etc, resulting in the highest utilization of medical services per capita in the world.  We’re reaping what we’re sowing.    

The administration, understanding neither the crisis, nor the cause, sees the opportunity to create a massive, micro-management takeover of the whole national healthcare system.  (Wow, already $65-100 Trillion in unfunded liabilities, and they want to indebt us to yet another multi-trillion entitlement?) The DEMS blame the crisis on the insurance industry primarily, and also, the medical industry.  However, our doctors are seen as among the best in the world, and our insurance companies as good as any.

Let’s stop playing the “blame game”, and start looking in the mirror.  Our bad health habits have come home to roost. The price tag for our behavior is creating a crisis that invites another government NON-solution that does NOTHING to solve the real problem. 

The Government either doesn't know what the actual crisis (or its cause) really is—or they are using this as an opportunity, “too good to waste”, to implement the BIG government control agenda they’ve always cherished,  using a full court press to rush bills through on “red” alert—before the  public notices that the healthcare systems of UK, France, and Canada are so deep in the red that they’re about to unravel.  The Canadian Medical Assoc. just stated:  “We all agree that the [Canadian] system is imploding… things are more precarious than perhaps Canadians realize.”  As Margaret Thatcher observed: "The problem with socialism is you eventually run out of other people's money." 

If we Americans cannot learn to individually manage our health ourselves, we will end up discovering that the overhead for “government managed care” is not to our liking. Manage yourself, or you will be managed. There’s no solving our national “health crisis” apart from Americans individually taking personal responsibility to manage their own health.  As the experts say, “The best healthcare is self-care.”

Joe Foreman