Why Health Insurance is not “Health Insurance”

Many of us learned about insurance as we played “the Game of Life”  as children.   We purchased  insurance for protection against catastrophes.  Our first purchase of  insurance as adults was car insurance to protect from the disaster of an auto crash.  Health insurance was something to supplement our wages supplied impart or fully by our employers.  It was to cover work place accidents or injuries early on.  But as Insurance companies grew and hospitals became owned by for profit corporations, the relationship changed.  It became a paper negotiations  between hospitals and insurance companies and accounting departments.

Fast forward we have been conditioned to think that if we are broken, we can be “fixed” all because we possess insurance.   Having a “health insurance” card by no means guarantees health or the possibility to remain healthy.  Reporting once a year for a “complete physical” is merely a snapshot  of our current state of health and does little to protect our “healthy” future.  I cringe when I hear patients tell me that their doctor is “watching” their diabetes or heart disease.  The patient assumes this means that as long as someone is watching, their conditions will remain stable.

Wait…  Conditions? Diagnoses? Health?  As a nation we are becoming Insurance rich and health poor.  To maintain health, we as individuals need to be in charge.  Many if not most of lifestyle disease medications are merely treating symptoms and not the underlying problem.  Many believe the medications will keep them safe.  This could not be further from the truth.  The goal of our practice is to prevent lifestyle diseases and reverse those already present. To do this we need to evaluate the whole person and not just components.    Just as we use proper fuel for our automobiles, we need to fuel our bodies properly with the appropriate quality and quantity of nutrient dense foods.   The idea is to keep all of the parts of our body moving in their full range of motion like we would desire the parts of our car to move.  Whole foods such as  fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and limited nuts and seeds are the foods that have been shown to maintain a healthy weight in the short run as well as appropriately functioning parts in the future.  Whole foods are not dehydrated powders made from whole foods or grains milled into flour  and flour products.

It is very difficult to traverse all of the marketing and misinformation that abounds.  Packaged foods are very misleading with colorful labels and words such as healthy and natural.  Only the ingredient list will begin to divulge what is really in the package.   Our team is ready to help you navigate the choices and devise a plan for you  to achieve optimal health.