I was asked recently why I thought health care costs are rising through out the world. I feel there are a number of reasons and no single reason to explain this.
I would like to start with China, when I was growing up much was said about all the starving children in China and how we had best clean our plates. I could never understand how my clean plate was going to help those in China, any way the point is there was a lot of starvation.
There was a recent news report (here) that reported that China now has a diabetes epidemic! what a turnaround, from starvation to diabetes. It turns out that as the Chinese became more affluent, they started eating more of what we do, more salt and sugar especially. So food is clearly a reason for increasing health care costs.
You may have seen chef Jamie Oliver's recent attempts to improve school lunches in West Virginia (pizza for breakfast)
I feel another reason is stress, as people go through the cycle of wanting more, having more, consuming more and then having to work more to pay for it, life becomes very stressful. Not that wanting more is necessarily wrong, let's face it a lot of what is bought is just junk that doesn't get used much if at all, we are influenced by the media and want to fit in with others.
People are stressed at work, many work more for less as the drive for efficiency and more profits it takes a toll on people who seek a quick fix in this instant gratification world.
Drug companies are creating smart drugs that are more expensive and drugs are heavily advertised in the media, if you watch them you could easily conclude, oh I have that too and go get the drug from doctors who may have been paid to promote the drug.
I'm sure all of those things contribute to a lot of the health care costs.
How can you help yourself? Use the example of China, watch your consumption of salt, sugar especially high fructose corn syrup and wheat. Follow the many ways to lower your stress level and realize we really don't need instant gratification it can be delayed and may save you a lot of money in the process.
Just a few ideas!
