Healthcare in the 21st Century

While there is no easy solution, this article is a brief exposé that offers some perspective. The future direction of America’s healthcare system is almost impossible to predict, but holistic education and alternative medicine will surely go mainstream.

Huge institutions wield incredible influence as they interact in this complex dance we call ’healthcare’. Insurance companies, healthcare providers, hospitals, factory farms, processed foods, Big Pharma, lobbyists, the FDA, federal & state governments, Medicare & Medicaid ... and of course the media.

America’s healthcare system is the most technologically advanced in the world, and miraculous in its accomplishments. 14 million healthcare workers, including tens of thousands of dedicated professionals, do an amazing job every single day. The infrastructure is superb … hospitals, clinics, spas, agencies, testing labs, suppliers and advanced diagnostic tools are well dispersed throughout the country. But the system is flawed and everyone knows it.

Some things are obvious and undeniable. Heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, Alzheimer’s disease, insomnia, arthritis, obesity, autism, A.D.D., depression and sexual dysfunction are just a few of the hundreds of maladies that have reached epidemic levels in modern society. In every city, hospitals are in danger of closing. Malpractice insurance rates have driven many doctors out of business. And the message that dominates the media is painfully obvious... DRUGS target consumers on prime-time TV with ZERO focus on holistic perspectives.

The fact is, a huge portion of everything we have come to rely upon is simply not sustainable. When it comes to quality healthcare, bigger will surely not be better.

A 2006 follow-up to the 1999 Institute of Medicine of the National Academies study found that medication errors are among the most common medical mistakes, harming at least 1.5 million people every year. According to the study, 400,000 preventable drug-related injuries occur each year in hospitals, 800,000 in long-term care settings, and roughly 530,000 among Medicare recipients in outpatient clinics. In 2000 alone, the extra medical costs incurred by preventable drug related injuries approximated $887 million – and the study looked only at injuries sustained by Medicare recipients, a subset of clinic visitors. None of these figures take into account lost wages and productivity or other costs. Statistics like these kind of make you want to stay OUT of hospitals, long-term care settings and off Medicare.

Tomorrow’s Healthcare

The US market for organics, nutritional products, integrative health care, dietary supplements and mind/body/spirit products now exceeds $120 billion per year. Non-conventional healing is now more commonplace within hospital settings, insurance plans and certainly TV infomercials. A rapidly growing audience – tens of millions of people – are actively seeking the truth, and they want to act on that truth. They want relevant, unbiased and highly detailed guidance regarding their family’s mental, emotional and physical well-being.