Health care costs in this country are high because America is full of hypochondriacs and pantywaists. Yeah that's right, I am talking to you!

The other day I was on the phone talking to a friend of mine who happens to be a doctor.

I decided to ask him what he thought of the debate over health care reform. He said that it was completely fucked up (I think that is doctor talk). He said that Obama and the Democrats went about it ALL wrong, and what they should have done is to get a bunch of board certified physicians in a room and have them create a list of all that is wrong with health care in this country and a list of what they think might fix it.

Now this doctor mentioned tort reform, and over billing by physicians, but the thing that he felt attributed most to the high cost of health care is that people have become too dependent on medicine and doctors. And remember, THIS was coming from a man who made his living because people THOUGHT THEY WERE SICK!

And then he directed me to read the article which I have linked to right here, and a portion of which you can read below.

Somehow we have developed an expectation that our health should always be perfect, and if it isn't, there should be a pill to fix it. With every ache and sniffle we run to the doctor or purchase useless quackery such as the dietary supplement Airborne or homeopathic cures (to the tune of tens of billions of dollars a year). We demand unnecessary diagnostic testing, narcotics for bruises and sprains, antibiotics for our viruses (which do absolutely no good). And due to time constraints on physicians, fear of lawsuits and the pressure to keep patients satisfied, we usually get them.

Yet the great secret of medicine is that almost everything we see will get better (or worse) no matter how we treat it. Usually better.

The human body is exquisitely talented at healing. If bodies didn't heal by themselves, we'd be up the creek. Even in an intensive care unit, with our most advanced techniques applied, all we're really doing is optimizing the conditions under which natural healing can occur. We give oxygen and fluids in the right proportions, raise or lower the blood pressure as needed and allow the natural healing mechanisms time to do their work. It's as if you could put your car in the service garage, make sure you give it plenty of gas, oil and brake fluid and that transmission should fix itself in no time.

The bottom line is that most conditions are self-limited. This doesn't mesh well with our immediate-gratification, instant-action society. But usually that bronchitis or back ache or poison ivy or stomach flu just needs time to get better. Take two aspirin and call me in the morning wasn't your doctor being lazy in the middle of the night; it was sound medical practice. As a wise pediatrician colleague of mine once told me, "Our best medicines are Tincture of Time and Elixir of Neglect." Taking drugs for things that go away on their own is rarely helpful and often harmful.

Essentially we are a nation waiting expectantly to become ill. We are bombarded by advertisements for medications to sedate our "restless legs", to lower our cholesterol, to help us sleep, to make our bones stronger, etc., etc., etc.. The fact is that the overwhelming majority of us will NEVER need any of those. But we THINK we will because they are such a prevalent part of our psyches.

Now days potential patients go to their doctors with a laundry list of advertised medications to ask their doctor about. "How about this one Doc? You know I DO feel dizzy if I stand up to fast. Or what about this one? You know after I spend a few hours in my garden my joints DO ache a little. Just point out the ones my insurance will cover. I will start with those."

It is ridiculous. And you cannot rely on your doctor to always steer you away from unnecessary medications either. The next time you visit your physician take a look at the logo on his pen, or on his coffee cup, or on the cute little digital clock on his desk. 99 out of a hundred times you will see the logo of some medication, whose (often very young and female) sales rep took your doctor out to lunch, or dinner, or paid their way to attend a convention at a resort in Hawaii (right next to the beach and golf course). If the medication will not do you any serious harm, and it will shut you up, the doctor may have no compelling reason NOT to write out a prescription.

However the more you rely on medication to make you feel better the weaker you are making your body. Essentially you are telling your body's natural defenses to sit this one out and let the drugs do the heavy lifting. This allows your immune system to get fat and lazy, so when you really need it to kick in and fight off something life threatening, it is unable to respond. Add that to our horrible diets, and lack of exercise, and no WONDER health care costs are through the roof in this country.

There is no profit in healthy people! But there is a buttload of money to be made on obese, inactive, and medication reliant people. So which side of the health care reform debate do YOU think has the most money to spend?

I have probably said this to you all before, but let me get up on my soapbox and say it again.

Going to your doctor is NOT health care, it is SICK CARE. You do not go because you feel healthy. You go because you don't feel well or because you want to be told if you should still THINK you feel well. "Give it to me straight Doc. Should I go ahead with my tennis game today, or check into the hospital?"

Real health care means eating a diet low in fat that avoids most processed foods and contains plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, getting plenty of exercise, laughing as much as possible during your day, and getting up off your ass. If more Americans made those choices we could bring health care costs down in no time.

Okay I am climbing down off of my soapbox now. You guys have a happy healthy Sunday.

Namaste

Update: Well this certainly elicited a lot of discussion.

Okay let me be clear about a few things.

I am not saying that people with REAL health problems should not seek medical advice. Of course they should. The problem is that people EXPECT to be ill and go to the emergency room for every little ailment. They also demand medication for things that their bodies are perfectly capable of defeating. But the reliance on medication is a serious problem, and the constant visits to the emergency rooms are a large part of what drives health care costs through the roof.

And I also have no problem with yearly checkups. I think you should go. Especially when you are my age. And if you are a woman then pap smears and mammograms should be part of your preventative plan.

But if you are really treating your body as if you want it to last a long time, then most of the time your checkups will be drama free. You will have been engaging in "health care" all along and if the doctor does find something which requires his expertise he will find that your body is capable of making a fast recovery.

Update 2: Just to clear up any confusion, my doctor friend and the person who wrote the article are NOT the same person. The words that I attributed to my friend are in the first few sentences. He DID however agree with much of what the article said, and told me that EVERY doctor he has shown it to also agreed with the majority of it.