Last week my blog talked about how healthcare reform starts with the patients and not with the system. I wanted to follow up on this theme a little bit this week. And I have to thank several books and organizational meetings that I have read and attended over the last couple of years that have helped me to my perspective, which will I don’t think is very unique, is maybe not discussed as often as it should. The books are Whole, Rethinking the Science of Nutrition by T. Colin Campbell and Food Politics by Marion Nestle and the organization is the American Academy for Oral Systemic Health.
When health care reform has been discussed lately it should really be called ‘How we take care of you when you are sick reform’. It is all about the delivery of healthcare. Here in lies the double edge sword.
More people may have health care today, but for many the deductibles are so high, they still can’t use it. It is not affordable and as all of us found out, big increases in premiums for the next year. And I can’t think of a single individual or employer who wouldn’t want to lower the cost of premiums, they affect all of us one way or another (with either less salary increases, higher costs passed on to consumers etc. etc.). And even some progressive employers are starting small rebates to employees who meet certain health minimums or don’t smoke. For those of us who have to buy our own insurance and are not part of a group, there is not a single perk for staying healthy, except for not using insurance but paying a fortune for it.
Let’s look at big pharma for a quick second here. Do they make money when people are healthy or when they are sick? So do they see any value in funding preventive research? All cancer research is really on how to treat it, not prevent it, because there is no money in research. Research takes money and as Dr. Campbell so eloquently put in his book all you have to do is follow the money. But trust me, when there is money in prevention you will see it being research and shared and profited on.
Next we need to look at the food industry. Here we spend more on health care than any other country in the world and we are still leading the world in disease rates. The amount of young children having type 2 diabetes is alarming. The amount of sugar in our food is just obscene; over 20 times great sugar consumption than in the year 1700. To understand how powerful the food industry is you need to read Marion Nestle’s book, just understand they are about selling you food and profits with total disregard of health. I remember reading an interview in USA Today with an executive of Coke who said there were no studies that showed that sugar was addicting.
While I am not someone how follow’s Dr. Oz, I do remember seeing a quote attributed to him saying basically that health care reform starts with the individual. I totally understand this and agree with him. If you want to be healthy you need to take responsibility for it yourself…corporate American is not there to make it happen. It really is all about personal responsibility.
I have found from personal experience that making 1-2 changes and getting comfortable with them before I figure out the next change I want to do has worked best for me. But that’s just me. If you would like to discuss this more, feel free to get hold of me at Southern California Dental Health Associates.