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by Donald B. Ardell, Ph. D.
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Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)

Why Is America Still Without Health Insurance? A Call for a Wellness-Based, Starter-Set National Health Plan!

Tuesday January 20, 2004

Why Are We STILL THERE?

It is time to take a serious look at our involvement there.
Every day there are news reports about more killings. Every night on the TV are photos of violence and destruction.
Why are we still there?
The land is too large to secure all of it. The bad guys causing this damage can roam anywhere, and we can't possibly police the whole place.
Why are we still there?
We occupy this land of great history but it causes us nothing but trouble.
Why are we still there?
Their government is unstable, and in the process of changing.
Why are we still there?
Foreigners are entering the country in the dark of night.
Why are we still there?
It will cost billions to rebuild, which we can't afford.
Why are we still there?
We can't even secure the borders.
Why are we still there?
To repeat: Every day we hear of more and more Americans in jeopardy in this dangerous land.
It is clear!
We must abandon California.
(Anonymous E-mail)

We probably should not abandon California, but the time may have come for the die-hard opponents of national health care to give up their resistance to national health care, or universal coverage. National health care (NHC) is the only viable option to the random chaos, fiscal horror and dreadful inequities of our current fragmented medical mess. The national cost of health care equals 15 percent of GNP, a total of 1.55 trillion dollars or $5500 for every man, woman and child. Despite such a burden on the taxpayers, what passes for a system still leaves out 44 million Americans who have no health insurance and thus little access to care unless they are independently wealthy, which is unlikely for most else they would have medical coverage.

What we need is not an unrestrained national health plan that subsidizes whatever a doctor orders or a patient wants but a minimal level of foundation care-giving with attractive incentives for the citizens to adopt wellness lifestyles.

The existing potpourri of uncoordinated parts that we loosely call a health care "system" allows unnecessary sickness and death, hurts the economy and undermines the quality of life in our society. The Institute of Medicine has called for NHC by 2010, but we can't afford to wait that long. The time for small steps toward reform has passed, given the gravity of the problems. Many agree that a fragmented medical system is the number one domestic challenge for America, given the perturbations this disorder creates.

Dr. Arthur L. Kellermann, co-chair of the Institute and chief of emergency medicine at Emory University, remarked that there is a two-part set of obstacles to reform: "First is the knee-jerk response that we can't afford universal health coverage. The second is the 'it's my plan or the status quo' approach of many politicians." I think the third problem is that no plan yet devised provides carrots (in other words, positive incentives, not actual carrots) to those who live well in order to remain well in the first place.

The Devil lurks in details but somebody has to deal with them, other than me! Whoever does so should insist on, even if obvious, positive incentives for wellness behaviors. Such incentives (lower co-pays for those who can demonstrate healthy lifestyle practices documented at testing centers, fun set-asides for lifestyle education and so on) can be sprinkled liberally into any NHC reform plan.

If the compassionate president or other high (or low) officials want to avail themselves of my opinions on how to encourage staying well in the first place, all they have to do is send a message to this website. Come to think of it, that's all you have to do, as well--except, of course, to live wisely and look on the bright side of life.

Domain: mental
Subdomain: factual knowledge

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