NATIONAL HEALTHCARE--
A BETTER WAY TO HEAL THE NATIONOur efforts toward improving our national healthcare system are often misguided - focusing on financial solutions rather than concentrating on the improvement of our diets and our exercise programs, we have essentially placed the cart before the horse, and then are perplexed and amazed when the horse refuses to budge, or worse yet, responds by pushing the cart into the ditch. If the object in healthcare is to provide adequate coverage for our citizenry, while keeping costs at a reasonable level, our focus must be toward the development of newer/older dietary and exercise programs which can holistically be improved, modified and sustained for our lifetimes. Attempting financial solutions for what are essentially health-based problems only encourages unnecessary bickering, inaction and dysfunction within a system already burdened with inconsistencies.
Proper health care seeks to promote healthier lifestyles for people
of all ages because the quality of our lives can be drastically improved and
lengthened when we live according to principles which enhance our ability to
resist disease and increase our vitality. A proactive approach that builds a
proper foundation through a healthy diet and regular exercise program has been
shown to provide the best health results and avoid premature aging and disease.
It is in the interest of individuals, healthcare providers, insurers, taxpayers
and governments to promote our physical welfare, because in doing this we
greatly improve our health, reduce costs, and prolong the length and quality of
our lives. Throughout the 20th Century, healthcare workers increased
our ability to resist disease with scientific breakthroughs which greatly
reduced the effects of epidemics and helped to prevent their occurrence, yet
our lifestyles during this same period tended to become much more leisurely and
undisciplined. We seem to have improved our health in some key areas, only to
fall short in other ways. Obesity and diabetes have increased to levels of
epidemic proportion and seem especially to afflict wealthier nations. Careers
in the military and law enforcement which generally require strict physical
fitness standards set good examples for the rest of society, which we would do
well to emulate, but have failed to replicate. Exercise programs which are
well-begun during school years, unfortunately often fall victim to leisure and
entertainment pursuits which have negligible long-term benefits in sustaining
our health. The cost of maintaining physical conditioning is relatively
inexpensive and the outlay for a healthy diet is often less costly than for
unhealthy diets which lead to even more costly healthcare later on.
What
appears to be lacking is the establishment of good discipline in the formative
years, followed by strict dietary guidelines and physical exercise standards
throughout the educational process and continuing all the way through life.
Those habits of diet and exercise which are established in early life often set
the stage for our success or failure during the course of our lives.
Maintaining good habits is far easier than attempting to regain a healthy
lifestyle which has been forgotten or allowed to lapse. What roles can be
undertaken by the government, businesses and the family which would encourage
us to persevere in our efforts to achieve and maintain healthy lifestyles? Perhaps
by increasing the quality, variety and duration of our diet and exercise
programs, and by requiring the achievement and verification of high standards
of excellence in our homes, schools, businesses, and workplaces, which can be established
and maintained throughout life, we can accomplish an increase in overall health
and productivity, reduce healthcare expense and improve quality of life as well
as lifespan. Rather than focusing on creative financial solutions for this
healthcare crisis, we should concentrate our attention on the prevention of
disease and its costly treatment by proactively pursuing a unified plan of diet
and exercise improvement. It has been shown that even at an advanced age,
improvements in diet and exercise can have a profound impact on overall health
and longevity. Instead of throwing money at the problem, we should concentrate
our efforts on creative ways to encourage all age-groups to improve their
quality of diet and exercise, thereby improving our health and reducing our
expense. Some would argue that there are perpetually those diseases and
conditions which resist our best efforts to find a solution and that inevitably
there is a financial burden which must be passed-along to the
taxpayers-essentially, the healthy paying for the unhealthy and the younger
paying for the older. Admittedly, this is true, but virtually everyone's health
can be greatly improved through the development of healthier lifestyles. Instead
of conducting studies based on current and projected costs of healthcare based
on inherently flawed information which is outdated before the ink dries, our research
efforts should concentrate on the collaborative examination of various methods
of improving diet, exercise and wellness programs. The unavoidable costs
resulting from diseases which have no cure are diminutive when compared with costs
for diseases which have preventable causes. Succumbing to preventable diseases
prematurely and for no other reasons than ignorance and poor discipline, in a
wealthy and educated society is not only bad stewardship of our national health
resource, but a waste of taxpayer dollars as well. Sometimes it takes a crisis
to make us realize that another type of solution will provide better long term
results. Perhaps this economic depression will force us to take healthcare
action in a direction that will ultimately change the way we approach the
prevention and treatment of disease.
Some will say that people are just too
lazy to implement a prevention plan and that it is too late for some to see any
benefit from a formalized health program. I have never met a healthcare
professional who will say it is too late to begin the improvement of our diet
and to exercise. Even those in their "declining years" are helped greatly by these
improvements. There is still inertia that must be overcome, primarily by those
who haven't yet experienced the benefits of these improvements in their own
lives. We must not settle for easy transitional changes that allow hard-core
skeptics to ignore the benefits experienced by those who participate. Although
we can immediately improve the health of our children, both now while they are
still in school and later when they work in businesses which provide incentives
for maintaining healthy standards throughout their careers by assisting in the
improvement of their diet and exercise habits, we must offer further incentives
for the self-employed and retirees who maintain healthy lifestyles. By actively
encouraging citizens to participate in wellness programs by providing
inducements which motivate a positive response, we can improve the health of
the entire nation. In so doing, our healthcare costs will be drastically
reduced, allowing further incentives and available funding for still more
improvements.
I have been greatly encouraged by the success of advertising
campaigns which discourage smoking. Who would have envisioned that smoking
could be so drastically reduced across all segments of society through the
implementation of this program? Funding for these health-based programs can be
funded by those who reap the benefits of good health, as well as by those who
are penalized by non-compliance.
There will always be those who argue that
their freedoms include the right to choose an unhealthy lifestyle. Often they
seek to blame others for their poor choices and still more often demand that
the rest of us pay to fix the diseases which result from these same choices. These
same people are not as willing to pay the individual costs of their so-called
freedom-to-choose an unhealthy lifestyle. These individuals will be more likely
to comply with healthy lifestyle choices when they realize that unhealthy
lifestyle choices carry financial penalties which they must bear. Perhaps those
protesting loudest anticipate that the growing majority are no longer willing
to absorb the increased costs associated with the treatment of unhealthy
lifestyle diseases. When various healthcare warnings are frequently ignored and
deliberately disregarded, there must be consequences which affect the
individual financially and deter further non-compliance.
Employer-based
programs which reward employees for maintaining and improving overall fitness
markers and that penalize non-compliant workers by deducting larger portions
for healthcare benefits can influence large segments of the population to take
supervision of their health. Those who are self-employed and retired can
qualify for programs which similarly reward diligence with low rates. Those who
are non-compliant and can't be bothered with maintaining and improving their
health, should face steeper rates and coverage limitations. Those who are truly
victims of misfortune and diseases beyond their control will be eligible for
the appropriate benefits which government services provide.
There is no substitute for health which is sustained by proper diet, exercise and rest. Those who make a habit of practices that improve and maintain healthy lifestyles over the generations will reap physical and financial rewards for themselves and their families which raise the bar on acceptable healthcare standards. We should be satisfied with no less than our best proactive efforts to increase the health-portion of our standard of living quotient. Improving our standard of national health will result in greater financial ability to fund research and prevent disease for our nation and the world.
Mark Overt Skilbred
