I have a down-to-earth solution to the health
care crisis in the US.
In
two words, it’s broccoli and sneakers.
Maybe I’d better explain or better yet, let
Deepak Chopra, Dean Ornish, Rustum Roy and Andrew Weil explain it for me. These
four champions of holistic lifestyles recently nailed their views to the
cathedral door in a Wall Street Journal article claiming that so-called
alternative, holistic medicine was now mainstream and it was the drug-reliant,
surgery-happy establishment medicine that is questionable today.
OK, they were more dilplomatic—and they really
are for integrating mainstream medicine that works with alternative modes that
work---such as meditation and herbs. But they and other experts today are
making a strong case for preventing illness in the first place through
lifestyle changes such as a good diet---that’s the broccoli---and
exercise---those are the sneakers.
Still, people have trouble believing that such simple
affordable things can keep them out of the hospital and out of medical trouble,
but it’s true. As the four experts say: “The evidence is mounting that diet and
lifestyle are the best cures for our worst affllictions.” And one of their
goals is to move the US medical system from disease care to real health care
and disease prevention. It’s cheaper, safer and it works. What else could we
ask for?
The High Cost of Staying Stuck Where We Are
So why are Americans coughing up almost $100,000
for each coronary bypass procedure to the combined tune of 44 billion dollars a
year? And why do we pay close to $50,000 for each angioplasty to the combined
cost of 60 billion a year?
Because we don’t believe simple prevention works?
Because lifestyle change takes a little thought? It is, after all, easier to
open a package of chips than to steam veggies---easier to push buttons on the
remote than to push oneself to walk.
Me, I don’t know all the blocks to health
behaviors that work, but thanks to recent studies, I do know what mostly
doesn’t work, at least when it comes to heart health.
(Prepare to be surprised.)
What doesn’t work are expensive, invasive
operations on the cardio system. Here are the facts as published in the New
England Journal of Medicine and summarized by the four health professionals in
their Journal article: Angioplasties and stents “do not prolong life or even
prevent heart attacks in stable patients (i.e., the 95% of people who receive
them). Coronary bypass surgery prolongs life in less than 3% of patients who
receive it.”’
Wow. We don’t get what we are paying for.
So I think it’s time to stop the stupid behavior,
especially mine own. For me now, it’s a half hour a day of exercise of any kind
and 5 to 9 servings of fruit and veggies, no matter how many faces Cranky Pants
makes about plants on his plate. (Tip: if you have juice for breakfast and heap
your cereal with a cup of fruit—think berries and bananas---you have 3 servings
in the bag before lunch.)
What To Expect From Barack
You already know. Barack exercises most mornings
and reportedly eats salmon, broccoli and brown rice for dinner. The prez is
tuned in.
Me, I expect future programs where health is
rewarded and incentives put in place to behave ourselves health-wise. And,
looking at the future high costs of Medicare and the fact the Feds are broke, I
ask myself what will happen if taxpayers begin to wonder why they should
subsidize older people with bad dog lifestyles who incur high medical expense
through Medicare. Our kids may grab the cookies out of our very hands so they
don’t have to subsidize our heart surgeries.
So, bottom line, isn’t it time to bypass the
bypass?
As I said, broccoli and sneakers.
