Health Care Reform

Thoughts Regarding Health Care in the United States of America

I go into writing these thoughts without emotion... In fact I am writing on one of the few days where I am not emotional regarding this detail or that detail in the Health Care discussion... or better yet a detail in the actual experience of Health Care in New Mexico.

I notice a couple of things in this health care "debate"... the first thing is that I don't know that debate.

There is much lip service given to people talking about a health care plan; however, one rarely hears or reads any actual plan. These echo chambers are very dramatic enlisting those most afraid of this or that to insight violence. One side becomes frantic that the health reform will encourage something like abortion and a group becomes violent beating up those who would support a health care plan and the we see on the news that people are crazy around this health care bill... When at the heart of such a problem, all I can see is that powers that be are scaring people who really need to feel safe. Throughout this, no one reads the bill of the day. At the end of the day, this is what comes through the press.

The press and that vast information highway report not on the actual discussions in congress, not on the bill itself; but on those who insight violence around their fears for their own security. That is what health care is... personal security. I have been sitting with a friend who is on parental nutrition. She has to surrender to this nutrition that is stregnthening her as a tool toward her healing process. This is a security to go on and understand her illness and heal.

I watch, as I go to the hospital day after day for four to nine hours a day the incredible disconnect between health and the disease management approach to health care that our allopathic medical professionals practice. As we sat in the ER from 9am for the rest of the day, we sat with a full waiting room. Many patients to be had sat there for more than twenty hours. The only food available were candy machines. The only beverage was a soda machine. On the television set played soap operas... Every group of commercials had at least one ad for one or another prescription drug. These are the obvious signs of disconnect.

The subtle signs of disconnect are things such as the inability for patients to walk outside while they wait.. There is a total lack of natural light. They use very bright fluorescent lights that gie headaches and dry the skin. There is no water available. The paint makes very thing look sick. The room is not clean. There is trash from the paper towels from the bathroom. There are very few trash cans. And everyone around you is really sick and untreated. This can include infectious illnesses.

Now we are in a hospital room. My friend, who is being treated for something, for lack of a better term, is called "post infectious irritable bowel syndrome." Which by their own admission, means the GI docs don't really understand what is going on. For dinner yesterday, she was given
a beef enchilada with green chillies, milk, grapes, and french fries. This was sent by the nutritionists and dietitians to a woman who cannot digest foods. If we use use a little bit of logic, we, as lay people, can probably deduce that she will not be able to handle this food. Twice she has been served roast beef fried potatoes and milk. This disconnect between food and health is another indication of the disease management model. But can none of us remember what our grandmother's said? "You are what you eat."

I bring her food. I give her massage. They hire a candy striper to give her a magazine and plastic backscratcher and a fuzzy plastic frog. They hook her legs up to these large plastic funnels that are plugged in and squeeze her legs. What happen to people? A licensed massage therapist should be able to offer the massage, but this version of massage has the nurturing oil, human touch, compassionate healing. How is it that we forget that what we do is just as important if not more important than the drugs we give.

The Health Care System is broken. Pushing band aids through congress as fast as possible might make the appearance that the congress got something done, but band-aids on a sieve are still band-aids on a sieve. The promise to reform health care was the promise to overhaul the system from the bottom up. I am all for it.

The current Health Care paradigm encourages disease. Health promotion rewards General Docs for the health of their patients. This is a totally different paradigm. On the one hand no one makes any money on healthy people. PEople make money when people are sick.

Proper attitudes towards food and lifestyle and business and ethics are the greatest, cheapest, and easiest tools that we have. Learning and understanding and nurturing our bodies and minds brings health. Taking responsibility of our daily life bring health. But we have to get real.

Who is going to make any money on that? The current paradigm is a for profit paradigm. The pharmaceudical company has fiduciary to their stock holders. Their efforts are mandated by law to make the stock holders money. Although this framework works for many businesses, it does not work for medicine. There is no stock holder reward for the health of people. There is no incentive to cure cancer or anything else. There is no fiduciary to the consumer, the sick.

I am not saying that we should socialize. But I do think that a non-profit model would show a great shift in the ethics of the system. Reward healers for their healthy patients.

We have to stop catering to all of the companies and people who make as much money off of us as they can. I would rather be sued by a large corporation for saying that their "food" is killing us, than try to skirt the issue. But it seems that we are more afraid of being sued by fast food giants than saying you cannot eat that stuff unless you want to destroy your arteries and your heart. We need to get real and honest about the correlation between artificial sweeteners and ADHD. Soda is not good for you. It doesn't matter if you have regular or sugar free. Splenda is not natural. You body does not know what to do with these things. A box of something is never fresh. These are the reasons that we are sick. This is why we think it is normal to have horrible PMS or headaches or insomnia or osteoporosis. We are told it is part of aging or something else equally as unscientific. If you want to tax cigarettes, you should also tax trans fats and artificial sugars.

Someone once said, "if your grandmother would not know what to do with it, it isn't food."

How did you grandmother cook?

Or maybe your great-grandmother...

The point is that there are cultures in remote portions of Africa that have not been touched by our western progress who sport healthy bodies and a full set of large, beautiful, white teeth.

This is true natural living.

I want the promise of a Reformed Health Care System. Take you time. Talk to people outside of the current system. Go to the hospital. Watch the Bucket List. List to the Senate: http://help.senate.gov/Hearings/2009_02_26/2009_02_26.html

It's time to get real. We voted for change. Let's see some change.

Think outside the box.

Allopathy and licensed and unlicensed Complimentary and Alternative Medical therapies work well together. Lets find the best medical system in the world for the good humanity.

Promote Health!



Thank you

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“No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.”

einstein