Crisis medical care and the insurance coverage that supports its provision are both escalating in cost beyond affordability. Increasing numbers of people are uninsured or postponing the receipt of services as a result.

The headline of the Sept 21st Fresno Bee article "The 'High Cost' of Staying Healthy," is a bit misleading but very illustrative of the prevailing confusion surrounding health and disease and their respective costs.

The article actually had nothing to do with staying healthy. It was really about the increasing cost of insurance and the impact upon employees being asked to contribute more for their benefits. The implication is that good benefits at a fair price result in health.

This has not proven to be true as rampant increases in degenerative diseases have occurred over the last two decades of abundant insurance. The article paints a rather bleak picture but at the same time challenges us to think outside the current cultural box. I believe the growing dilemma is calling us to shift from the confines of the symptom and disease treatment model toward the greater freedom of a new paradigm.

This alternate world view is not truly new but has existed in varying forms for centuries. It has however been obscured by the seemingly loftier and dramatically impressive methods of crisis rescue and repair.

The progressive advent of modern medical technology has permitted the salvation of many lives and is therefore valuable and necessary, but has also blinded our eyes to the awesome innate self-healing capacity we possess. The "high cost" we pay as a result is staggering.

Human beings were designed to be self-regulating and self-healing having been born with an inner intelligence whose task it is to sustain us in an optimal state of well-being.

This is accomplished through countless adaptive strategies perfectly suited to the stressor challenges of our daily lives and is mediated through our nervous system. This inner wisdom doesn't require help but simply no interference. The primary message is that health is our natural inheritance. That didn't cost us anything. What we do with that gift from then on is what primarily determines the costliness of our health. True health is a matter of function and not feelings and in that confusion lies much of our trouble. How do we keep from interfering with the design and sustain and solidify optimal function? Positive lifestyle choices and the knowledge and self-awareness that support them are the key.

Loss of function

A commitment to extreme self-care of body, mind and spirit would greatly minimize the gradual, cumulative loss of healthy function. This loss precedes illness, disease and death. It creates the outrageous costs of toxic drugs and surgical efforts to redeem people from the crisis ledge upon which they cling. The optimizing of wellness does require an ongoing investment, partly financial, but mostly in enhanced awareness and responsible action.

Improved nutrition and regular exercise are two necessary commitments that can be accomplished with minimal increased expense. The most powerful action step you can take is to keep your nervous system free from interference, due to accumulated injuries and stress, which devastates your health without your awareness.

This epidemic problem can be measured utilizing computerized assessments and gently corrected at advanced wellness chiropractic offices. This care is very affordable without insurance if health is truly a priority. There are many other health supporting activities like prayer, meditation and yoga. Increasing the level of laughter, love, gratitude, and forgiveness have incredible healing effects.

Staying healthy through a wellness lifestyle beginning with our children is not expensive but does require a commitment and prioritization of our time, energy, and money. However, this is an investment of a lifetime well worth making.

Insurance can then be utilized as a necessity for unexpected crisis emergency only, with high deductibles, and much lower costs. This is the way we approach our car and home insurance. They are for crisis not regular maintenance. This liberates funds to invest in conservative wellness care for your family from the doctors and wellness providers of your choice.

Outside the box

This is important since increasing numbers of the best doctors have elected to practice outside the box of insurance confinement.

You have far more choice than you probably know to live at far higher levels of capacity and vitality than you imagine. Open your mind and begin the journey to explore the world of your wellness potential and save the "high cost" by minimizing the chances of crisis.

Printed in Fresno Bee under Valley Voices- Nov.1, 2003, entitled "Save Health Insurance for Crises, Not Maintenance"

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About Dr. Norton

Dr. Norton unites his passion for learning, teaching, and healing with a compassion for those who are struggling with pain and illness or not performing at their peak. He brings to his work a high level of academic achievement and cutting-edge bodymind research. However, he also brings a deeply caring heart transformed by difficult personal life experiences. Read more.