You Can Save Our Healthcare System
What we need is health reform, not health insurance reform. If we do nothing about health care inflation, we are all doomed. Every last one of us. Taking care of sick people is expensive. The only way to get rid of health care inflation is to stop spending money. At some point we will either have to
- decrease illness
- decrease treatment and/or
- decrease the cost of treatment
There are no alternatives. As an American which action plan would you rather see take hold? Realize that every cost action has a reaction. You can decrease disease by prevention. You can decrease treatment by bundling. And you can decrease the cost of treatment by making it more efficient or simply paying less until access becomes an issue. I am certain that keeping the financial stability of America will require all three. But the only one you as a patient have control over is #1. As a country, we can prevent 80% of diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer by taking care of ourselves with lifestyle modification.
You as an American could prevent being exposed to the unintended consequences that will present themselves as our country eventually learns it must decrease treatment and the cost of treatment if we are to survive and prosper as a nation. If you want to be subjected to the restrictions on your care that must happen in this country, then the action plan you must take as an American is to do nothing for yourself. For everyone else, it’s all about how you choose to live your life. Live well and die old, but young.
*This blog post was originally published at A Happy Hospitalist*
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