If you ask any doctor or nurse what they think is wrong with our current healthcare system, they will give you a long list. Despite more hospitals, doctors, medications, and advanced diagnostic equipment, we continue to get sicker and sicker. And I am not talking about COVID-related sickness, I am talking about the chronic illness that has plagued Americans for the past several decades–conditions that are often preventable, like diabetes, heart disease, stroke, digestive disorders, and many cancers.
Many people are getting more aware of, and fed up with, this system that is so reliant on dangerous medications that merely treat the symptoms, while allowing the underlying cause to continue. I could rattle off statistics that would make your stomach turn, like the fact that properly prescribed medication is the third or fourth (depending on the source) leading cause of death in the U.S. and Europe, and it would be very clear how pathetic we handle health in this country.
When I state things like this, many have a first reaction to get angry with me, disagree with me, or feel I am being harsh. So, to be clear, most of the doctors and nurses I know are amazing individuals. They are smart, caring, have big hearts, and mean well. I am not being critical of these healthcare providers individually. I am being critical of the healthcare system as a system. And most doctors and nurses will agree with the shortcomings of this system.
In a virtual question and answer session after a presentation I gave, I was asked… how do we change the system? My answer to that very good question? You don’t change the system. That is the system. It’s broken. It’s failing. It’s costing us a fortune. But the system is what it is. That system will not change.
So, if the system is broken, and you can’t change the system, what is the answer? You choose a different system! You seek out a different model, a different way of doing things. It’s happening right now like never before. We are seeing the boom in natural approaches to healthcare, with acupuncture, chiropractic, naturopathy, massage therapy, and other therapeutic approaches.
It has become much clearer to many more people that more medical tests, more medical procedures, and more medication simply is not working to prevent illness, maximize health and wellness, and optimize our overall function. For these people, they are not expecting our current system to change. They are choosing a different system.
While many will roll their eyes, huff and puff, and try to argue with what I have just written, it is critical to note that I am not advocating the elimination of our current system. We need it. I use it myself at times. The distinction must be made that I utilize that system as my crisis-care system. We have the best crisis-care system on the planet.
But trying to utilize a crisis-care system for health-care is why so many people, despite having great doctors, having access to the best hospitals, and taking the most medicine, are still so sick. There is a big difference between having less symptoms and being truly well.
You cannot expect the same doctor that simply writes a prescription for you every time you have a health complaint, and he or she has done that for the past two, three, or four decades, to all of a sudden start recommending dietary remedies, exercise protocols, stress management strategies, or other lifestyle-related solutions. It is time to see our healthcare system for what it really is… a sick-care system, not a health-care system. And if you want a different approach to your care, you can’t wait for that system to change. You have to choose a different system.