Who’s in charge of your health? Seems like an odd question, but it’s worth pondering. I have seen a very scary… and dangerous… trend over the past two decades. People have adopted the idea that their health is dictated by their doctor. They believe that the quality of their health is dictated by the quality of their doctor, their access to better medications, their ability to utilize the biggest hospital systems, and even the type of health insurance they have. There is a growing trend where people think and feel like health, and their healthcare, comes from the outside-in. The truth is… health comes from the inside-out. All healing comes from within. The quality of your health and the risk of ill health and disease is determined, not by what doctor you have, or what insurance policy you have, but by the choices you make every day. You have MUCH more control over your health than you realize. Understanding this is not only empowering and liberating (as it takes the pressure off of feeling like you need access to the best doctors, hospitals, and health insurance), but also critical if you are to attain the highest level of healthy living possible.
I love writing about how the body is self-healing and self-regulating, and how incredibly well-designed it is. I love listing amazing facts about the human body to remind us just how powerful we truly are. And I love watching others get excited as they realize that they really do have the ability to heal themselves, take control over their health, and change how they feel and function. But, while grasping the concept of being in control of your health is exciting and necessary, it is important to understand why leaving it in the hands of doctors, or the current healthcare system, is so dangerous. I’ll note three things so that you can better see why you cannot rely on today’s healthcare system.
First, the current healthcare system is a business. It is run like a business, being profit-driven, and financially motivated. This means that what’s best for you and your health is not what comes first. Monday morning meetings in hospitals do not revolve around what is best for the health of the community, how to boost the wellbeing of residents, or how to maximize the health and lives of those they serve. Instead, it is about marketing strategies to fill hospital beds, procedures that produce the most profits, and how to streamline procedures and reduce the time doctors have to spend with patients. You are a customer to them, not a patient. This means that the best health outcome is not their priority, but rather how much they can do and how much they can bill.
Second, the more you think you must rely on the healthcare system, the better for them. The most powerful healthcare intervention is improvements in lifestyle. What matters most is what you eat, how much you move your body, the quality of your sleep, how you manage your stress, how connected you feel to others, how empowered you are by the work you do, and how you interact with the world around you. These are all things that are within your control. They have the biggest impact on your overall health, risk of disease, and ability to get and stay well. They also happen to be things that your doctor has very little knowledge of or training in. There is little money to be made when it comes to lifestyle modification, therefore it is heavily undermined by today’s medical doctors and hospitals.
Lastly, and probably the most important fact to note, is that our current healthcare system is the third leading cause of death. Yep! Hard to believe, but after heart disease and cancer, the third leading cause of death in America is… medical errors. This is super scary! To think that the system that is supposed to be in charge of keeping us healthy kills more people that diabetes and obesity COMBINED! The CDC lists the third leading cause of death as chronic respiratory disease (approx. 150,000 deaths per year), but that is because it does not include medical errors (over 250,000 deaths per year). This comes from a study out of the prestigious John Hopkins, and you can read more about that by clicking here.
Drugs, surgeries, and even many of the diagnostic tests in medicine cause harm, and even death. With such high levels of risk, and with such overwhelming failure to produce positive health outcomes, you simply cannot rely on today’s healthcare system if your goal is true health. In fact, it should be utilized as a last resort.
If you have turned your health over to medical doctors and the healthcare system, do not be surprised when you are left sick, frustrated, and drained of your finances. It is not a health-care system, it is a sick-care system. Getting people healthy is bad for business. Keeping them dependent on medication, medical devices and procedures, and more testing, is much more lucrative.
It’s exciting to know that you do not have to be dependent on doctors, rely on medications, or be a slave to health insurance. Not only is today’s healthcare system not reliable, it is dangerous, corrupt, and financially driven. It has its place, and we do need medical attention at times, but it cannot be your primary form of healthcare if you are to live a life of abundant health and vitality.
