Offer the Careless Less Care Dr. David Demko, gerontologist and editor AgeVenture News Service You heard right. America's careless approach to healthy living has resulted in sky-rocking health costs. Those high costs have, in turn, caused cuts in the level (quantity and quality) of service. Result? You're paying more for less. And it's your fault. Upset? You should be. But, don't kill the messenger. Read on. "Health care." No two words are more capable of striking terror into the hearts and minds of Americans. Pronounce those words and consumers sweat, corporate benefit officers dash for the exit, and politicians shrug their collective shoulders. Consumers worry over the continual inflation of health plan costs while the quality of service erodes. Like a choral chant ever increasing in volume, consumers voice the words, "We can't afford to pay more." Corporate coffers, long since seen as a bottomless well for all employee needs, are fast depleting, resulting in today's business bankruptcy boom. Politicos are willing to create new "cost-saving" public health care programs ... just as long as they're not required to participate in the wacky plans they create for "everyone else." Instead, politicos create "country club" health plans for themselves. The way I see it, the health cost crisis is best solved by opening our minds, not our wallets. Start thinking "one" health plan for all. Everyone in the same boat, and everyone rowing in the same direction ... a partnership of preventive health care. Here's how. Consumers ... stop eating faster than you walk. Start taking responsibility for your health status. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to promote your health status. Turn off the boob-tube, and read all the free government literature on exercise, diet, and nutrition. Corporations ... provide annual physical exams to identify health-harming habits (smoking, alcohol abuse, over-eating, lack of exercise). Give unhealthy employees a six month "medical grace period" break bad habits. If the employee opts not to change, exempt coverage of any health problem originating from their health-harming habits. Live the way you choose. Just don't ask the rest of us to pick up the tab for your irresponsible life. Government ... the nation has 128 medical schools. Offer qualified applicants full tuition scholarships in exchange for post-graduate practice in areas of great need for three years. This would guarantee a continual flow of newly trained doctors into priority communities. Free preventive care cheaper than allowing a patient to erode into an expensive emergency room candidate. One more thing. HMOs and nursing homes ... killing off your most expensive patients is no way to "manage" your bottomline. Finally, seventy-five percent of America's health problems are the result of our passive, over-eating, self-indulgent lifestyle. Practicing preventive health reduces incidence of lifestyle diseases which reduce national overall health costs. Let's re-think our notions about health and health care. Everyone in the same boat, rowing in the same direction, toward a renewed sense of partnership in health. See related articles in the AgeVenture archives. AgeVenture Headline News AgeVenture Lifestyle Features AgeVenture News Service, www.demko.com BACK TO TOP