How Consumers Can Force Health Reform

What the government can do

There are many known parameters and food preferences which affect health. Eliminating obesity, restricting trans fat and saturated fat, keeping cholesterol in check, eating whole grains in lieu of refined, white grains, elimination of processing foods while adding fat and salt, among others. If we want to reduce health care costs, it is our government which should restrict access to health care to those who do not do what they can and should do on their own to protect their health. Alternativelty, they might be required to contribute more of the cost, with the saving as an incentive to healthier living and lower contrtibutions. We know how to reduce the chances of getting a heart attact or needing stents for angina. Now you can eat all the fats you want and get the procedures from the health are system. So there is no incentive to live a healthier lifestyle and reduce your need for medical procedures.

HELP YOURSELF

I totally agree with the two T's. Working in the healthcare industry for the past 35 years I'm still amazed by what I see and are asked by patients. Everyone wants a fast and easy way to get well after abusing there bodies. They want a quick and easy fix but don't want to be apart of there rehab. The health care crisis is mirrored by the gas crisis that has occurred for somewhat similar reasons.

The two T's

I'm a ranch woman and these health care issues always look simpler to me than the politicians make them out to be. For the majority of people in the U.S., the best "universal" health care prescription involves the 2 T's: Tennis shoes and television. Get outside, and walk. Resist the temptation to join a club or pay a fee for this option. If paying fees is embedded in your psyche, spend what you would have on pet chow for a local animal pound - That way, it's guarantted that 100% of your investment will not be consumed by administration! : ) Truly, with time, you will wean yourself from paying unnecessary upcharges to join unnecessary cliques altogether and your costs of living will decrease despite other increases.

The second item is your t.v. Turn it off. (I know, I know, it's like mama's breast for many of you.) You turn to it when you are bored, lonely, depressed, hungry and tired. There is some weird comfort in watching other people live with automatic applause tracks primed at the right moments and you're probably jealous. The problem is, your own life is suffocating every time you succumb to it because no one applauds when you need them to. Money aside, can you "afford" to continue spending your life minutes this way?

For the next week, every time you want to turn on the t.v., go for a walk and look for something uplifting (this helps your brain recover from massive doses of negativity that it was conditioned to absorb from the t.v.) If you have a pet, spouse, or child, spend time with it. If you don't, volunteer to walk a dog for an animal shelter in your area. Those animals never gripe or complain and are better buddies than most of your so-called friends. They're probably more loyal, too - and they NEVER spill your secrets. All virtues that will help you rebuild your physical and mental health again.

Everyone seems to forget that they could get run over by a truck tomorrow and that spending today thoughtfully and soberly might be the best gift you can give yourself.

Lastly, as brain candy, if everyone in America just drank more water and began exercising, 80% of the hospitals would empty out in a hurry and over half would close permanently. Don't let your mind rest on that, else you'll begin to wonder why that industry is flourishing and why they didn't prescribe the obvious earlier.

Totally missed the point

I am sorry to see you publish such a thoughtless piece.

There are big problems in the healthcare system--but they are not the fault of patients, and can't be fixed by smarter "shopping."

Insurance corporations make billions in profit for denying care to patients. They provide no service to patients, but get paid handsomely for it. Nearly every other industrialized democracy has solved its healthcare problems by replacing their private insurers with universal, non-profit coverage--sometimes known as a "single payer" system, or "Medicare for all."

We know how to fix the healthcare crisis, and it isn't by taking buses up to Canada for discount drugs.

I hope you will explore this in future columns.

Empowered Patients

The important first step in engaging consumers to be proactive about their health care is to educate and to inform them. I have spent years researching patient safety issues after my late daughter, Katherine, faced a life-threatening hospital infection, misdiagnoses, medication errors and privacy violations.

My book entitled "The Empowered Patient: Hundreds of life-saving facts, action steps and strategies you need to know" is a compilation of all the information patients need to know to have a real impact on the safety and the quality of their medical care. Patients want to assume a meaningful role in their care, they just don't know how to translate concepts into specific actions. Please see my website at www.TheEmpoweredPatient.com.

Thank-you for your coverage of this important issue.