What the new healthcare bill means to You

There is much talk going around regarding the new healthcare bill and how it will impact the public and the healthcare providers. I am by no means an expert, but I have taken the time to talk with my fellow practitioners and have done some reading, and I cannot seem to come up with much in the way of positive impact! As the plan is put into effect over the next few years, yes, the uninsured and underinsured are intended to reap health insurance benefits. Some flaws in the current insurance system seem to have been corrected, for example, coverage for persons with pre-existing medical conditions.

But apart from these possible benefits, I see every reason to be concerned with the “sick care” we are going to be receiving in the future under this plan. Firstly, I see premiums rising—how can they not? Somehow we must pay for these changes as our president assures us that we will decrease the deficit while implementing this plan. My math is not very good, but how do we spend more on care and reduce the deficit at the same time? I also see a continuation of the battle to get procedures and treatments covered by insurance companies as they try to maintain their profit margins.

Okay, I do not want to turn this into a political bashing, but I do want to bring a point or two to your attention that needs to be considered. Drs. Mark Hyman, Mehmet Oz, Andrew Weil and Dean Ornish met with Senator Harkin this past year to promote preventive medicine and functional medicine as a means to fix the healthcare system. In their appeal, they promoted heavily the ideas of wellness coaching and preventive self care—things I have been involved with for several years now. Unfortunately, the strategies did not make it into the final bill, but I encourage you all to take heed of what they were talking about! (And I assure you, you will be hearing more from them in the future!)

·         We cannot rely on the current or future healthcare system to provide the care we need if we develop a chronic, life-changing disease. This is not an area in which we excel  in this country—we are the best at acute trauma care such as heart attacks and motor vehicle accidents, but we fail miserably at fixing things like obesity, diabetes, cancer and heart disease.

·         We need to think about wellness and “health” care, not disease care. We are all so used to running to the doctor’s office when we feel sick—now is the time to work on attaining our own wellness state—our own brand of health insurance in order to avoid needing the healthcare system except in dire emergencies!

·         We need to develop a personal responsibility to ourselves and to our families with regard to our state of health. We need to promote wellness through proper self care, including proper nutrition, exercise, stress management and supplementation.

This is where I come in. As a registered nurse, herbalist and certified health counselor, I make it my business to research and implement every strategy that I can find to help my patients and my clients attain excellent health. One step at a time, I believe we all can improve our current health situation and set up our families for a lifetime of better health with less reliance on the health care system.

I feel so passionate about this cause that I am willing to work with people on a group or individual basis –whatever fits their needs, pocketbooks and schedules— so that I can reach out to as many people as possible. Please contact me to set up an appointment. Let me help set you up on the right track to wellness. Aging does not have to mean ill health. And living a fast-paced lifestyle can be done in a way that is less depleting and more energizing if you know how to do it! Children can learn from the start how to eat good, wholesome foods and to steer clear of junk and fast foods. But now is the time to start and there is no better time than today to set up an appointment to change the rest of your life and to give yourself and your family the chance at real “health care”.

I look forward to hearing from you and I wish you the best of spring!!

Warmly,

Diane