Health Week: We Don’t Need Health Care Reform, We Need Health Reform

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[Note: I was planning to do a podcast today, but I felt this article might have a wider reach if written out. I have a feeling more people would rather read this than listen to my nasally voice for 20 minutes on the issue.]

There are lots of political and personal reasons why I’m not a fan of the Health Care Reform that’s being signed today (and why are we taking this advice from a group of people that hasn’t balanced a checkbook in 50 years?), but the biggest, farthest-reaching one is this: it fixes the wrong problem.

Yeah, health care costs are expensive. It can be difficult getting health insurance. I get that. But why is it so difficult getting health insurance for some people? Because we’re sick all the stinking time. The second we get the sniffles, we pop a pill. I know several people who work in different departments of health care (hi, honey!), and I know for a fact that there are thousands of people who go to the doctor the second they start feeling like crap. They clog up our emergency rooms and flood our doctor’s offices to hear that they have a cold, or those chest pains are just a little acid reflux (guilty of that one).

And the other group are just sick all the time – cancer, heart disease, etc. Is this a by-product of global warming (excuse me, “global climate change”)? Is it because vaccinations are making us sick? Nope – it’s because we don’t make our health a priority and a responsibility in this country. I think those that compare our health care system with those of other countries don’t factor in that many of those countries just flat-out take better care of themselves.

The people supporting this whole reform are assuming a few things about the American public:

• Everybody that doesn’t have health insurance is a victim.
• They’ve just been going about their lives like normal and suddenly get sick.
• They can’t afford health insurance.
• They all work really hard.

These are faulty. Americans, generally speaking, are the laziest bunch of people on the planet. Our priorities are out of whack, and we need to fix them. These are the real problems with the health of our nation:

We blame the system

Are you fat? Oops, I mean, “overweight”? Must be a genetic thing. Or it must be because you just can’t lose any weight. Or it must be because all the skinny people can lose weight like nothing. That’s okay, we have gastric bypass surgeries and things like that. We can shrink your stomach to the size of a peanut and force you to eat less. It may not work, but that’s okay – you can just blame the ineffective surgery. It has nothing to do with the fact that you eat garbage and sit on your can all day.

Hey, if you’re sick all the time, it must be because everybody keeps spreading stuff. It must be that crazy virus that’s sweeping the nation. It must be because you can’t afford medication. It can’t be because you don’t properly fuel your body and your immune system is shot as a result.

We do stupid things

I know it’s obnoxious to write this in all caps, but I’m going to do it anyway: HOW CAN THERE POSSIBLY BE ANYBODY UNDER THE AGE OF FIFTY WITH A CIGARETTE IN THEIR MOUTH?!?!? Is this some big, government secret that nobody’s heard? Smoking destroys your body. There are ZERO health benefits to smoking. I don’t care if it feels good. What in God’s name are we doing? Have you not seen or talked to somebody dying of emphysema or lung cancer because of smoking?

I know that smoking is one of the most addictive activities in the world. And if you’re over 50, chances are you started doing it at a time when nobody knew what was going on with smoking. But if you’re young enough to know better, you have got to be kidding me. It boggles my mind. You’re going to have the nerve to act surprised when the doctor tells you your lungs are shot when you’re 40 years old.

Also stupid things: drinking until your liver pickles, driving without a seat belt on, combining those two activities, etc.

We don’t prioritize health insurance spending

One of the most common examples proponents of the Health Care Reform have are the mother that gets fired from her job, loses her health insurance, and then gets cancer. I would have to assume that this example is by far in the minority.

Did that mother put aside some money for emergencies? Nope, she spent it and racked up her credit card debt on clothes and vacations. Does she have cable TV? Probably. And I wonder what’s in her fridge.

Here’s some full disclosure for you: I had a terrible year, business-wise, last year. I wound up having to go get a part-time job, and eventually a full-time job, to get myself back on my feet financially. My gross business income was $13,000. This is right along the poverty line in America, and I was paying over $600 a month in rent, $200 a month in credit card payments, $400 a month in student loans, and I tend to eat food. But I was able to get health insurance coverage for $60 a month. It wasn’t great coverage, but it was going to take care of me should disaster befall me. You know how much I used to pay for cable? $70 a month. If you have cable TV and no health insurance, you have no excuse in my eyes. Turn off the TV and go take care of yourself.

We sit on our butts

We’ve come to the conclusion that everything we do has to be fun. “I just don’t like exercising.” Well, then don’t complain to me when you’re sick. Exercising helps you lose weight, fights off diabetes and heart disease, and gives you a host of other benefits. I don’t even feel like I need to talk about this one for particularly long. Start going for walks, do some light yoga, run in place, hop on a bike, join some kind of sports team, whatever. Put down the remote and go get your blood moving.

We’re eating crap

I decided before this Health Care Reform thing that I wanted to make this week “Food Week”. I’m currently reading an awesome book by Michael Pollan called In Defense Of Food. In it, he discusses how eating habits in this country have changed over the past 50-75 years, and how disease rates have skyrocketed as a result.

Want an eye-opener? Take a look at the ingredients in that loaf of bread you bought. Water and flour, right? A little yeast? Didn’t expect to see “high fructose corn syrup” in there, didja? We’re going to talk a lot more about food this week, but take some stock in the following questions:

• How often are you going out to eat instead of cooking something?
• How many meals are you making by opening a box and following instructions printed on them?
• When you do go out to eat, where exactly are you eating?
• Compare the time you spend eating your meals and the time you spend eating snacks.
• The World Health Organization says you should only have about 10g of sugar per day. For some reason, in the United States, this number is 25g. A single bag of Skittles (my favorite candy) that you buy at the checkout counter contains 47g. How much sugar do you think is in your diet?

As I said, we’ll discuss food a little more this week, but I want you to really think about what you’re eating – and I’m not talking antioxidants and riboflavin and omega-3s. I’m talking food – vegetables, fruits, unprocessed meats, all that good stuff.

So, I think the problem here is we’re blaming the wrong people. We don’t need to reform the health care system all that much. We need to reform ourselves, and we need to reform our health. Stay tuned – we’ll talk about this more this week.