Future of Health Care in America

       The long-term solution to America's healthcare crisis requires a shift in our nation's values, not just its resources. Peer-reviewed medical research supports that many of our physical health problems are directly influenced or caused by our thoughts and behaviors.

       What percent of your waking hours and resources are devoted to making a living, rather than living your life? How happy are you with the relationships in your life? Have you shined a light on all your childhood demons? Are you living your life's mission?

       It's no surprise to me, that heart disease is the leading health problem in our country. We don't have the energy to take care of our physical bodies -- we are emotionally exhausted from living in ways that are not true to who we really are, deep inside. Once we discover ourselves, we reclaim our personal power. Now, we can begin to show kindness and compassion to ourselves, and create the peace within us that we so want to see reflected around us. In the words of Ghandi, we have to be the change we want to see in the world.

      Heart disease will continue to be the number one killer of women, as well as men, until people evolve past defining their worth according to what they do, what they have, who they have relationships with, and what material accomplishments they've made in this world. Those things exist because of who you are, deep inside -- your spirit, and the combination of core traits and characteristics that define you. These remain inside each of us, even when our worldly things are taken away, a fact well-known by the survivors of fires, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes and war.

       We know the health consequences, and we know what we need to do -- eat more healthfully, exercise, get enough sleep, and manage our stress. We're stuck on the how, partly because we are tired -- we want the solution to be easy.

       Can't sleep? Take a pill. Feeling anxious? Take a pill. Depressed? Take a pill. Overweight? Take a pill. Daily, we are besieged by advertisers telling us to take a pill or potion to suppress or mask painful or annoying symptoms, cover up or hide our problems. The pharmaceutical and nutriceutical industries want you to believe the answer is easy, too. Although medications can be useful splints, many people use them as crutches. Why?

       Changing behavior takes a great deal of emotional and psychological energy. Healthy lifestyle efforts are unlikely to take hold for many of us, until we feel less tired, and that happens when we are happier. Many of us have emotional homework to complete, based on our national statistics on alcohol/drug abuse, childhood and sexual abuse, and domestic violence. Add to that, how many people do not particularly enjoy their jobs -- often choosing their careers based on earning potential more than interest, or just settling for what type of job is available where they live.

       The price of the pills is generally covered by insurance. Presently, few, if any, primary preventive medicine techniques are covered by insurance. Secondary prevention interventions are covered only rarely. Mental health coverage is even worse for disease treatment, and non-existent for preventive programs. Insurance companies and hospitals consider personal growth and development a self-indulgent luxury, rather than recognizing that a strong sense of self-worth, and the skills to confidently move through the world, are the essential cornerstones of both mental and physical health.

       The health care delivery system needs to be driven by the purchasing power of the health care consumer, not the industries that make a financial profit on illness. Until then, we will simply keep spending all of our resources on fishing people out of the water, rather than preventing them from jumping off the bridge in the first place. Please contact your local and national political leaders, and encourage them to push for insurance coverage of primary and secondary preventive medicine programs such as those offered by Shared Paths.

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