The healthcare debate rages on. Politicians on both sides of the aisle insist that they have the answer to the staggering cost of healthcare in the United States, but no concrete solutions have emerged. One party tends to favor socialized medicine while the opposition, agreeing that healthcare should be available to all citizens, hasn’t figured out how to pay the staggering bill.
Rather than villainize both political parties as either “pie-in-the-sky liberals” or “uncaring rascals”, it is time to admit that the entire country is facing a dilemma. Everyone agrees that the wealthiest country in the world should be able to make healthcare available to all its citizens, as many developed countries already have. The problem is, how will we bear the astronomical cost of US healthcare?
Everyone, (both parties) blame insurance companies, doctors and drug companies. It’s easy, they say; “follow the money.” These big-three villains are obvious targets. Because they invent, innovate, and administer care and they get paid. But isn’t that the American way? They insist that providing quality healthcare to an advanced country of 300 million people is a costly endeavor. Critics insist they are charging too much.
The root cause of the U. S. healthcare dilemma is – CHRONIC DISEASE.
“Treating people with chronic disease accounts for 86% of US HEALTHCARE COSTS.
Chronic diseases and conditions—such as arthritis, obesity, cancer and heart disease—are among the most common costly and often preventable of all health problems. These expenditures reflect the cost of caring for those with chronic or long-term medical conditions, an aging population and the increased cost of new medicines, procedures and technologies.”
Americans’ lifestyle and behaviors are linked to costly chronic conditions many of which are preventable through behavior and lifestyle changes, such as losing weight or quitting smoking.
These insights provided by social workers in the medical field shed a little light on the healthcare debate that rages continuously in this country. It’s not as simple as evil drug companies and greedy doctors running up the cost of medical care in the U.S.
Only a radical change in our lifestyle can begin to dramatically reduce the cost of healthcare.