By: Alma

Alma — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 02:31:41 +0000

Here’s one small answer to one of your questions: health care is so expensive because most doctors–and people–focus more on treating symptoms once they’ve gotten bad (and expensive to treat) rather than prevention of symptoms. Prevention of symptoms of many diseases entails a lot of (relatively cheap but often emotionally difficult) lifestyle changes: decent exercise, decent nutrition, maintenance of a calm frame of mind most of the time, and access to lots of effective stress-reducing strategies. Here’s a thought: how many trips to the doctors, and expensive stress-related diseases, could we (as a nation) avoid if all insurance companies supported yoga classes, meditation workshops, nutrition/cooking classes, parenting classes, time management seminars, and massage therapies? (Here’s an example from my own life: Trying to recover from a herniated disc, I couldn’t get my insurance company to pay for therapeutic massages that might have helped heal the herniation–and prevented really expensive surgery…) And if employers gave time off from work to attend such activities, or even (for large employers) provided them on site? I’m not saying ALL diseases and trips to the doctor/hospital would be prevented by these changes–but I bet a lot would… Bottom line: from the pressures of modern life, so many of us have unhealthy lifestyles in all sorts of ways that eventually catch up with us, and contribute to soaring med. insurance rates… it’s in the insurance companies’ interest to support healthy lifestyle changes that would reduce their payout costs!

Comments on: Questioning, not blame

By: Alma