What Kind of Healthcare Do You Buy? Soda
very day, we hear people talk about the high cost of healthcare in our country. Our government is struggling to figure out how to fix a system that many are unhappy about. On the evening news, we learn that once again, obesity and Type II Diabetes are on the rise. There are commercials on TV advertising prescription drugs for cholesterol and heart disease. Patients are frustrated and want to find a cure for their various health conditions that seem to be taking over their lives. So what is the answer for this healthcare dilemma? Let’s think about the type of healthcare that many people buy
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for themselves every day. We live in a capitalist society that revolves around supply and demand. Supply is what businesses provide when there is enough consumer demand in the market to support it. Con- sumers are starting to read labels and become more aware of pro- cessed foods and ingredients such as sugar, transfats, preservatives, and harmful chemicals. Consumers, whether they realize it or not, purchase their healthcare every day. What kind do you purchase?
Insurance To most people, the word healthcare means insurance. Yet insur-
ance doesn’t take care of your health, you do. What insurance covers isn’t healthcare, it is disease care. Your money goes into the pool of the plan, and when you get sick, you spend some of the money by going to see the doctor. The doctor will perform a diagnosis and prescribe a pharmaceutical, sometimes for life, unless you take charge of your own healthcare and eliminate the root causes of your condition.
Naturopathic doctors (NDs) understand the healthcare dilemma,
and yet have a different type of interpretation on this issue. NDs’ approach to healthcare focuses on cost-saving strategies such as prevention, healthy living, and natural remedies. Once an acute problem arises, for example a sinus infection, treatment focuses on finding natural remedies before a patient needs to resort to a pre- scription drug. Then we search for the cause of any chronic health issue that leads to acute conditions, and we address it. Insurance companies have figured out that if they push pre-
vention, you, the patient, cost them less money. While this is true, instead of actual preventive methods, most insurance companies instead encourage tests to see if you are preventing an ailment that they don’t want to end up paying for down the line. Yet tests don’t prevent anything. Tests probably wind up costing more insurance dollars because if the test doesn’t come out exactly the way it should, then you still end up with a prescription that the insurance will have to pay for. Sometimes for a lifetime supply. Sometimes for
something that could be treated and resolved for a lot less money. Insurance companies will pay for an expensive version of fish oil that a pharmaceutical company has created for people who don’t tolerate cholesterol medications. That’s right; insurance companies are paying for patients to take $120.00 per month fish oil. Yet those who don’t have insurance can get the same fish oil for $25 - $50 a month. If this is the healthcare you buy, it is helping to drive the cost of medicine higher, even if all you have to pay is your co-pay, in the end we all pay more.
Intervention The medical profession averts health disasters in patients
through intervention medicine which includes pharmaceuticals and surgery. Intervention medicine grows in response to the supply and demand of Americans with issues such as diabetes, obesity compli- cations, and heart disease. Many patients look to fix symptoms with a prescription drug. It is amazing that there is a demand for all the drugs advertised on TV with all of the side effects the ads disclose. Are you a consumer of this medicine?
The Sugar Demand
There was a recent TV ad in New York that educated viewers about the amount of sugar in a can of soda. It ruffled some feathers; there are about 11-16 sugar packets per can. Many were outraged because the ad might stop consumers from buying soda. This in turn would put other Americans out of work and soda companies would go out of business. But should we really consume soft drinks to keep workers employed? Don’t worry, the demand for beverages will continue, and jobs
won’t be lost. Soda companies listen to their consumers and the demand for more healthy choices is growing, and the supply will fol- low. (With that said, don’t be fooled by what appears to be a healthy drink. Read the label.) Something to think about though, if you do consume large amounts of sugary or diet soda every day, what kind of healthcare are you buying with that drink?
Processed Food
The processed food experiment is ongoing. The subjects in the processed food experiment are the general public, and the results are increasing obesity rates and Type II diabetes. People want to
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Major Medical
Health Insurance Policy
Summary of Benefits
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