My Answer to the Public Option--Affordable Health Care Reform Begins At Home

I’m absolutely sick to death about the amount of whining that goes on about unaffordable health care, and I’m absolutely sick to death with our government’s proposed best efforts to handle this issue—always employing the “Let’s throw money and political power at the problem!” approach without even once considering the consequences (intentional or not), or what the effects of such decisions would look like years later.

Just like the obesity battle begins with the shopping cart, the battle for affordable health care begins at home, continues with the shopping cart, returns home, and maybe ends up at a hospital when all else fails. But the hospital should never be the starting point.

In order to see who should provide you with health care, go in your bathroom and stand in front of your sink. Now look up in the mirror. That’s right—it’s YOU. While you’re in there, wash your hands with hot water and soap—we don’t know where you’ve been or what you’ve been doing.

Okay—now that you’ve gotten a glimpse of who your health care provider is, and taken the first step in providing disease prevention for yourself (by washing your hands), go out to your kitchen and stand in front of THAT sink. To your left, right, down below, and/or maybe overhead, there should be some cabinets with food items in them—reach over and pull out an item (can, jar, or box), turn it around until you see the nutrition label on the back.

If you’re suffering from hypertension, salt is your enemy, and it comes in two forms: table salt for shakers, and hidden sodium for food preservation. The government tells us that 140 grams of sodium per serving counts as “low sodium”—how much sodium does that item you just grabbed contain? If it’s more than 140 mg. per serving, you’re contributing to your own hypertension without even using a salt shaker!

Now, if you happen to be a diabetic, check that same item for the “sugars” content and high fructose corn syrup. Any good dietitian will tell you that you should avoid high fructose corn syrup, and consume no more than 6 grams of sugar per serving PER DAY—how much sugar is in your chosen item? If it’s more than 6 grams per serving, you’re contributing to your diabetes without ever having touched the sugar canister!

You can go through your entire food collection and survey the damage you’re doing to yourself by eating this salt-and-sugar-laden food.

Congratulations—you’ve just completed Step 2 of a long road to illness prevention and providing yourself with health care reform: becoming aware of the nutritional content of the foods you eat. Now you have two choices: either consume it and replace it with more healthful selections, or give it to a food bank and replace it with more healthful selections. Maybe now you’ll take the step of actually READING the labels while you’re still inside the grocery store! Now go wash your hands again.

All done? Okay, now let’s go to the computer and get on Google. Enter “foods with lowest sodium and sugar” in the search bar, and see what comes up—it’s likely to be fruits and vegetables, meats and dairy. Your next stop should be the grocery store, so go wash the computer cooties off your hands (you don’t know who else has been there), get your keys and checkbook, and I’ll meet you at the car. Meanwhile, you have just completed Step 3 on the road to better health and self-reform: becoming knowledgeable about healthful and more nutritious foods…now let’s go get some! Don’t hesitate to repeat this step as needed.

While you’re in the store, why not go over to the pharmacy area and peruse the smoking cessation products (if you smoke)? Stopping smoking is Step 4 of the Health Care Self-Reform project. Decide to quit and get some today.

Now that you’ve been to the store and presumably loaded up on (or at least brought home) some more healthful foods, and maybe some smoking cessation products, let’s head over to the hardware store in search of a faucet filter for your kitchen—you need to drink and make drinks with clean water, and some cities don’t do a good job of filtering the water (or maybe you’re on a well). Cutting down on water-borne contaminants does a wonder for your insides, as well as helping you complete Step 5 of your project.

With the new food, faucet filter, and maybe some smoking cessation aids, you head home…to install your new filter, and to wash your hands again. After taking these very important steps, you settle into a new food routine with your new-found nutrition knowledge. Later, you begin to wonder about fat, so you look up “good fats” in your search engine, check your cupboards and clean out the bad fats, then make notes for the next shopping trip. Mark off Step 6 and go wash your hands.

After eating your new food, and being on your new regimen for awhile, you notice some things: you have more energy, you probably lost a little weight, your skin may be clearer, your hair may be softer, and you haven’t been hampered by colds, sniffles, and sneezes like you used to. Not only that, but your family is improving as well—they, too, seem healthier, more energetic, and better behaved.

Perhaps by this time, you’ve directed your new energy toward your job duties, and your new vigor has earned you a raise, a promotion, or maybe you found a new job with benefits—now’s the time to take Step 7: go to a doctor or clinic (even a freebie clinic will do) to get your blood and urine analyzed (a CBC and urinalysis). Get a blood pressure check while there, and you’ll probably notice it isn’t as high as it used to be. Your blood test will likely also show normal-range blood sugar, but it’s the cholesterol and uric acid numbers we’re after. If the cholesterol’s high or out of line, keep eating in your new way, but increase your fiber. If you have a family history of gout or osteoporosis, increase your calcium. Other than that, keep eating those fruits and veggies! Don’t forget to get copies of the blood and urine test results—you’ll need them for Step 8.

As you earn and save more money, your next step is to locate a dietitian to look over your test results—he or she will then instruct you how to improve your eating so your test results will improve. Basically, it’s help in refining your eating—what to eat MORE of, and what to avoid. Once this is done, you can wash your hands and mark off Step 8.

Step 9 would be to consult with a doctor about any needed immunizations for you and/or your family—these should be kept current. At this point, you might be thinking that you feel so good, and your family’s doing so well, that you won’t be sick ever again. The same cannot be said for people around you, people you work with, people at your kids’ school, your spouse’s co-workers, customers, relatives, etc.—they all get exposed to others who may carry a communicable disease, and let’s face it, not everyone is on your new disease-prevention regimen. So far, it’s looking like H1N1 doesn’t really care what anybody eats, so get immunized and stay current if you can afford it. Wash those hands.

If you can afford it (or eventually get coverage), do seek out the usual annual stuff: physicals, mammograms, Pap smears, PSA tests, CBC and urinalysis, and whatever else you or your family may need in the way of preventative care—this is Step 10. Whatever you do, don’t stop with Steps 1-9 on the way to 10, because you aren’t done yet!

If you’ve managed to come this far, you’ve reached the Bonus Round—hidden benefits to your eyes and teeth. All the good eating you’ve been doing has also worked on you (and your family’s) eyes and teeth too, making them healthier, easier, and cheaper to maintain—a slowing of vision degradation, and a slowing and even reversal of tooth decay and/or gum disease problems.

Now that you—emphasis on YOU—have learned how to take better care of yourself and others, do you still feel you need the oppressive hand of government (not to mention unwilling taxpayers) to provide you with something you provide for yourself, starting in the bathroom mirror? Affordable health care really DOES begin at home!