Sick Care or Health Care?

For the last few months we have been privy to an unfolding in the media of what for all intents and purposes seems to be a battle for the hearts and minds of the American people. The vehicle has been the debate on national health care. No one can deny that health care in the US is in need of some kind of reform, the fair solution has yet to be revealed.

I was watching the movie Food Inc., a documentary about food processing and the nutritional disaster that has become the diet for most of the US, if not the world. A family was confronting the high price of food in the supermarket, and the inexpensive alternative of the Dollar Meal at a fast food restaurant. The family consisted of two overweight parents and their two children. The father was diabetic, and he was spending $150 each month for his medications.

The debate was, do I buy broccoli at $1.29 a pound to feed my family healthy food, or my medication at $150 a month and eat fast food. There is a total disconnect between what he is eating and how it affects his body. I couldn't control myself at that moment, and blurted out in the middle of the theater, “buy the (@*^&% broccoli.” I got a laugh from the ten people who shared the screening with me in the 100 seat auditorium.

Why were there only ten people watching this movie about food, health, and nutrition?

This question lies at the crux of the health care debate. Could it be that nobody cares enough to approach this from another angle. And the powers that be, don't want the economic engine of sick care in the US to get stalled.

How about a health care program that empowers people to learn to be healthy in the first place?

How about a health care program that educates people about a lifestyle that enlivens them, enriches them, and fortifies them nutritionally, mentally, and physically?

How about a health care program whose mandate is to reduce the number of doctor and hospital visits simply because people don't get sick?

How about a health care program that demands that each person take responsibility for their health, and provides the training, resources and information to make that happen?

Run to see this movie. Food Inc