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A group of us at Helfgott are discussing the current state of our health care system, specifically the place where the rubber meets the road – the care a patient receives. We are most interested in people having direct access to the care that they want. To us this means patient-centered care, where all options are made available to them. For this to be possible the health care discussion needs to be de-politicized. The discussion ought to be placed in the hands of the people whose health the system should be designed to serve. Up to now the health care dialogue has been controlled by different special interest groups with specific perspectives. At times it appears that these special interest groups have goals that are at odds with the health care needs and desires of the individual. To this end we have identified three main priorities for health care:

1. You should never have to worry about a preexisting condition.
2. All diseases and conditions should be covered by an insurance company. There should be no denials of coverage for any reason.
3. You can rest assured that no matter what your socio-economic status, that if a situation would befall you, you would remain eligible for the best health care available.

We would like to hear from you!
It is our belief that people have a lot to say on this subject and we want to hear it! This forum is an opportunity for all of us to express our thoughts about the care that we have access to and receive. Moreover, to consider the possibilities of what optimal care can be. This is an important point. Often, change feels daunting and so we don’t let ourselves even consider what we truly desire. This has been true for us participating in this dialogue. We have three basic questions to get you started; yet we would like to hear any and all you have to say. Feel free to include others in this discussion.

What would your ideal system of health care look like?
What is your experience with health care?
Do you feel that your needs are being met?

Post your response by clicking on the “comments” option below.
In addition to your comments being part of a compelling dialogue on this site, it would be excellent if our elected representatives were made aware of our thoughts. You can follow the link below to open a window to contact your representatives. Cut and paste your comments into an email and bend an ear.

Write to your elected official here.

Senator Kennedy heads the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. On his website, he says he lives by the following credo: “One person can make a difference and everyone should try.” Let’s show him our efforts; here’s his email.

To Brandon Brown,

I appreciate you taking the time to read my letter. I can see that as a CCM student at NCNM you have already begun to develop a well-aware and holistic point of view.

Insurance companies are businesses, designed to produce monetary profit, make a positive gain from one fiscal year to the next.

Despite this one-sided business planning, I believe that change is always possible, and your economic reasoning is more than fitting. I agree that it would more beneficial if programs were in place to support individuals that chose preventative medicine over last minute resorts. Strength and speed with the promotion of that idea!

Your comments about personal relationships with death are more than apt. I applaud your thoughtfulness and well rounded approach to the subject of dying; it was in a word, insightful.

I wish, too, that the responsibility of self was not seen as a daunting task, reserved for those that seek enlightenment. Rather the process is seen as simple, designed for anyone. Learning patience and compassion for self, and in turn for others, is necessary to “bow out with an open heart.” The imagery you suggest of bowing denotes surrender and not that of a fight or a need for a sense of control.

Humans seem captivated by stress, struggling within self-induced, self-constructed conflicts, buying into systems that are not sustainable to themselves or that of the surrounding community or environment. Our litany of current events serves as ample evidence for this.

Being a literary geek, I liken life to that of The Golden Thread, first coined by William Stafford, and later described by inspired poets throughout countless well-worn pages. If life is truly one’s personal thread, woven with interactions and experiences with other people, then for me, the undone quality that you reference signifies a period of time where two strings were interlaced haphazardly, without thoughtfulness for each piece involved. Perhaps forming knotted messes that one would care to “just move on from” instead of untangling the moment right then, in the thick of discomfort. These moments appear as snags in our road maps of life, where we are unable to truly move forward due to tension that results from our unsightly disruptions.

Over time, our health reflects just that. An educated health practitioner is taught how to examine the landscape of the body and how the patterns of disease overlie and affect a patient.

A keenly observational health practitioner can identify snags on the emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual levels, and in turn, uses a specific tool set to restore balance and harmony for each individual patient.

In regards to each patient’s personal thread: knots and tangles get exposed, and the vulnerable disheveled comes into view. Individuals who choose to fully embrace an unveiled view of their personal tapestry can move forward and begin the process of change. Those that choose not to assess and address these binding life experiences, well, let’s just say that the tension does not go away unless the lines are cut. Dying under catapulting circumstances can appear a little frightening, and if that’s not reason enough t change, well, perhaps in this lifetime, this was the lesson to learn.

I am thankful that you chose to enter the field of medicine and health. We’ve got a lot of knots to examine, may compassion and patience help to loosen any tension that may come your way.

Enjoy your summer
vacation,

Smiles,

C. Biscuit

My dad doesn’t know much about cars. He taught me everything he knows, which was to call a tow truck if it doesn’t start. With no mechanic in the family to teach me, needless to say, I don’t know much about cars either.

I do know what a spark plug looks like and they are supposed to be replaced at some point. I believe it’s called a “tune-up” but I was not really sure. Rather than ask someone, and have my manhood questioned, I decided I’d just drive my car until the spark plugs stopped working. That’s what you do, right? Drive it until it brakes down then replace the part that stopped working. What’s the big deal? Isn’t that why I have AAA?

Apparently, as the mechanic informed me with a scolding tone, spark plugs need to be replaced due to the increasing gap between electrodes, which occurs with use. The larger gap makes it harder for the plug to fire, decreasing the performance of the engine, until it won’t work.

Feeling like I was going to be sent to my room, I asked, “How much will it cost to replace the spark plugs?”

The mechanic responded, “Spark plugs are cheap. They only cost $17.”

I smiled. I was worried it was going to cost a small fortune to fix.

Then he continued, “But since you waited so long to replace them, you burned out your igniter and blew your distributor. The distributor is going to cost you $300.”

I stopped smiling.“And,” he added with a disapproving look, “the distributor is a lot harder to install than plugs. With labor, you’re looking at about $450. Had you brought the car in for a tune-up like you’re supposed to, it would only have been $50.” Then in a complete Father Knows Best tone he let me have it, “You could have prevented this problem.”

My approach to the maintenance of my car is the same approach the majority of Americans use for their health. The prevailing attitude is to just keep doing what you’re doing until it breaks down, then have the insurance pay to fix it. As I learned, this is a very expensive approach. I didn’t know about the importance of changing my spark plugs because no one taught me.

Americans don’t know the true impact diet and exercise have on their health simply because they are not being taught.

Sure, a proper diet and exercise are recommended because they are “good for you”, but the direct connections down the road to obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, depression, and many cancers are not stressed. Over 60% of Americans are over weight and that number is growing, literally.

Our current system of “health care” focuses nearly all of its attention and money on treating the sick, much like me waiting for my car to brake down before I did anything. This is not health care. This is sick care. What we need is a true health care system that focuses on preventing people from getting sick in the first place.

Much like my mechanic, Benjamin Franklin said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” It would cost a fraction of the money we spend now on sick care to teach people how to be healthy and prevent chronic health problems from developing. In the long term, this approach would decrease the over all cost of care, improve the quality of care due to less strain on the system, and improve people’s quality of life.

Implementing a system of prevention will take some work, but anything worth having requires work: creating a Democracy, abolishing slavery so all could enjoy Democracy, and the iPhone. Fortunately, Americans already understand the idea of prevention. We change our oil every 3,000 miles to prevent engine failure. We invest a little bit of money to improve our engine’s performance and extend its life.

Americans need to take what we’ve learned at Jiffy Lube and apply to our health care.

-Lou

Sickness, suffering and death are shrouded in fear. The price of overlooking these three concepts and the connection to fear is costing human lives. Americans seem to pay any price to avoid it, including compromising the quality of our lives, our environment, and the welfare of those yet to come.

It is a steep bill in comparison to the quality of life that is possible and obtainable if we examine how to perceive these concepts with compassion, understanding, and thoughtfulness.

Rather than ignoring the rising costs, perhaps it is time that we form a health professional conglomerate. Create a collective that chooses to listen and understand each another, in order to use our skills and tools more efficiently and effectively, thereby meet the needs of the public. In order to remove the fear-based model that current drives our medical system, let us begin with a common goal: to organize our efforts and create a low-cost, effective, and widely available healthcare system.

America’s current medical system is unable to cope with basic necessities and maintain health and well being for our patients.

Adherence to this antiquated model contains limitations and in a way appears disconnected from the public despite our intentions. Therefore, an examination of the present state of affairs for America’s healthcare is necessary in order fully understand our current limitations and to make roadmaps for brighter future for healthcare.

It is essential that all parties from patient to practitioner and the supporting companies in between are involved.

This dialogue between the different aspects of our system will be thorough, addressing everyone’s needs and concerns for healthcare. Far too often medical assistance is financially unaffordable for our working class citizens, the backbone of our economy. Healthcare affects everyone, young and old, across ethical and racial backgrounds, and therefore should not be divided upon socio-economic lines. Of great importance is to seek unity through our diversity, try to understand how each health profession can play a part in the new phase of medicine

How is this endeavor possible considering the epidemics of obesity and cancers that plague our society? Here’s a big hint: preventative medicine prevents disease.

More importantly, preventative medicine empowers the individual with quality of life while relieving the economic burden of health care costs. This may appear as a redundant statement, it is not, in fact is shall be stated again to prove the point of its simplicity: preventative medicine prevents disease. Implementation of this simple concept will not be through an over-night or one-time program, rather it will be successfully implemented through a thoughtful, thorough, and baby-steps fashion.

Health professionals: let us follow the lead of some innovative thinkers right in our own back yard, like New York Mayor Michael Bloomburg and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Let us begin to focus on what can be done about the situation. Let us create an open dialogue and find a viable solution for the betterment of the American citizens.

I look forward to what we all can accomplish.

Sincerely,

C. Biscuit

Originally posted at http://www.deepesthealth.com

This is a post infused with no small amount of irony. Why? Because I want to implore my fellow lovers and practitioners of natural health modalities to move beyond their fear of technology. I want to shout it from this electronic pulpit with all my heart - raining the sweet revolution down upon them, liberating themselves from the tyranny of a Luddite existence.

Most of all, I want to sell them - US - on the amazing potential of technology in general, and the Internet in particular. This is ironic, of course, because most of them won’t read this.

Why? Oh god, why? I don’t know. It seems that among natural medicine practitioners, those most likely to embrace the Internet sell mostly herbal Viagra-type products or are chiefly interested in weight loss. It’s a crying shame, my friends. A crying shame.

I will put my call out there, though, in hopes that it will reach the ears of some of my colleagues. To make it easy on the eyes I will keep it short and digestible. Without further ado - I present my Top 5 Reasons Natural Medicine practitioners (and students, and consumers!) need to embrace the Internet.

1. Ease of delivery of information.This is the same reason it is advocated for any sector of society. If you have information you need to get out there (and who doesn’t?) the Internet is a cheap, effective and efficient way of getting it out there. With blogging software, wiki creation programs and the glut of web designers looking for work our options are WIDE OPEN. Internet usage is only going to increase - people are beginning to surf the web on their and-helds and cell phones, free Internet is becoming ubiquitous in many parts of the US… getting on board with this easy method of communication can only help our mission - to bring human-scale.
2. Health-care access to the maximum number of people possible.
3. Natural medicine is often left out of traditional media like newspapers. This will sound familiar to anyone in a marginalized political or social movement. In many ways, the Internet has democratized media in a way I certainly couldn’t have predicted. Anyone can put their voice out there (mixed blessing, yes) and a group of dedicated, well-spoken folks with some tech expertise or help on that front can put their voice out there and get it both HEARD and RESPECTED. This can be a way into more traditional media as well, particularly if an online movement gains significant momentum.
4. Do we really want to leave it to the herbal viagrists? Now, my mother taught me to be positive and this is a negatively worded reason - but bear with me. At this point, Western medicine and people peddling “alternative” medicines of varying quality and efficacy dominate the health niche on the Internet. Thus, when a person types in “help with depression” they are likely to be pointed either in the direction of various and sundry pharmaceuticals or in the direction of whatever holistic-light-therapy-colloidal-moonstone remedy happens to be being promoted a the moment. Either of these options may be ok for some folks - but expanding the availability of excellent information on the Internet about natural health-care expands the options accessed by average people. This should be our goal.
5. The creation of community. Unless you live in Portland or a similar town, you may be the only natural health-care practitioner in your area - or at least one of very few. While the type of community created via the Internet can sometimes be less than healthy, the ability to make it positive is in the hands of individuals. By the creation of blogs, blog networks, websites, blogrolls, forums and other centers of communication we can network, share information and be supported by people who share our vision and values even when they’re 1,000 miles away.
6. Financial opportunities abound: Between blog monetization, creation of easily available affiliate programs, online sales of products and the ability to promote your brick-and-mortar business - the ability for natural health practitioners to make money using the Internet is significant. You don’t need to be a web design genius to use any of these features. Diversification of income streams is good for your long term stability and, thus, is good for your patients. No one is served by your going out of business.

   So if you’re out there, friends, if you’re out there reading this and DYING to get off the computer - stop. Stop for a second and take a deep breath. Find a way to make friends with your computer and consider for a moment the infinite possibilities this whole new world represents. When you’re ready to get something going - drop me an email.

   Eric Grey

   3rd year student of Classical Chinese Medicine
   Blog = http://www.deepesthealth.com