Personal Responsibility is Foundational for Health Care
I just read a Bob Burg’s blog (http://www.burg.com/blog/) concerning our lack of awareness to the impact of perspective has on our lives and watched a short vlog from the Trust Agents concerning the Bias of the Status quo and couldn’t help but think about how these two blinding factors erode our level of inquisitiveness and lead to a herd mentality.
One of the most costly areas where this show up is in relationship to health care. Some questions I have been wrestling with lately is why, amidst all the talk about addressing the “health care crisis,” is no one really talking about solving it. It seems as if the only options are to argue about who should pay for it, rather than to get clear about why these costs are growing out of control.
While cutting edge treatments within our borders remain world class, the average health as determined by chronic disease states and access to physical quality of life continue to diminish.
I am wondering why it is percieved to be political suicide to ask for American patriotism in the form of personal responsibility in regards to our own health.
Certainly, health care is not the only place where the actions of individuals have ramifications on the whole. It is true many people have been reckless with the sub-prime mortgages and excessive leverage, but the cost to the country of poor health makes all of these bailouts seem insignificant. We are spending approximately 15% of GDP on health care, year after year after year.
What will it take to get someone to take the political risk to not only challenge the American citizenry, but to help structure an influence strategy that can stem this tide? What will it take to make us proud enough to be American that we let our pride show through with the way we care for our bodies.
The great book Influencer begins by identifying the incredible cost of accepting the status quo as unchangable. Not only can we change the level of health and fitness in this nation but we must.
I encourage everyone to bring their fitness up a notch. It will save our nation trillions of dollars every year and we will all be happier and more energetic to boot.