Hugs, Not Drugs

I read a very sad article yesterday about the rise in the number of teen deaths related to prescription drug abuse. It angers me to the core when I hear or read such stories as those needless deaths are 100% preventable. I know your immediate thought is "How are they preventable?", but give a moment and I'll lay it out for you.

First, let me tell you about my incredibly smart and energetic young English Setter named Zeke. Zeke is one of the most intelligent and trainable dogs I've ever been around. He has been amazing since the day I brought him home. For instance, when I first let him out for some exercise, we make our way to the tall grass surrounding the pond behind our home. It is here where he takes care of his business, if you know what I mean! And 4-5 times a day I would let him out to run, take him to the tall grass and let him get after it. Now, after a few short months, I can be exercising him, walking with him or just letting him roam and when he feels the need to do his stuff, he finds the tall grass. Deep inside that canine brain is neurologic pathway that connects his need to relieve himself and tall grass. How did that connection get made? Training. Over and over the tall grass was connected to the need for relief. From the consistent training we now have a new behavior. So, okay, enough about Zeke, back to these poor kids.

I wonder how many of the kids that use drugs illegally were given meds as young children? I would be willing to bet my right arm that every single one of them has or had at one point been given a medication to make them "feel better." We have created a culture where there is a pill for every ill. A culture that promotes taking medication for everything from a sore neck to a limp...well, you know where I was going.

So lets talk about little Sally. Sally was brought into the world by 2 loving parents that wanted to do everything they could to give her a great life. As an infant, though, Sally had lots of problems with ear infections and was always taking some kind of medicine to help ease those "painful ear aches." As she grew into toddlerhood, frequent colds and tummy aches along with the "usual" fevers and growing pains afforded Mommy the opportunity to push more medication into Sally to help her continue to "feel good." As Sally moves into those wonderful grade school years, she continues to have "the usual" childhood issues with hayfever, colds, runny noses and the like, all of which a loving Mommy doles out the meds. For the first 12 years of Sally's precious life, her loving Mommy has been training her to "go to the tall grass to relieve herself." No, wait. I mean... er? Mommy, who loves her little girl so much, has been training her daughter to believe that pills and drugs will make her feel better. And she has done such a good job at it that a new behavior has developed. "Mommy, my head hurts. May I please have some Tylenol?" Inside Sally's cute little brain, new neurologic connections have been created that link the idea of "feeling good" to "taking a drug". Just like Zeke learned to use the tall grass to make himself feel better, Sally has learned that drugs will "make her feel all better."

Now, fast forward to Sally at age 16. 16 years of training her brain that drugs make me feel better. Mommy and Daddy decide they don't love each other and get a divorce. Sally's best friend has to move away because her parents get divorced. Sally's new boyfriend decides he likes Amy more and dumps her, and, oh by the way, tells everyone in school that Sally is _____(you fill in the blank). Sally doesn't feel to good right now. Training and instinct kick in and Sally turns to what she has been taught and seeks out something to make her feel better. It doesn't matter if it's right or wrong, legal or illegal because her brain has been hardwired to know that "drugs make me feel all better."

This type of training of young minds happends around the US everyday and it's time to stop! Rather than doling out Tylenol likes it's M&M's, how about a hug? It's amazing what a little down time and hug can do to help a child feel better. Rather than giving medicines, give a little time, love and tenderness. Most childhood illnesses and problems are self-healing within hours, if not days. So the next time your son or daughter doesn't feel good, give her a hug.

Hugs, not drugs people. That's how we heal the world.

Please be sure to check back regularly for more insights. In the meantime, why don't you stop by my website at www.lifequestchiro.com and explore! Be Well!

REAL Health Care Reform (Part 2)

We know the problem, health care is expensive and the cost is destroying our economy. So, what is the solution. If only it were that simple...just spew out an answer. The issue with finding a solution is that so many people have so much to lose that no one is able to offer up a sufficient plan.

As a father, husband and health care provider, I'd like to offer my humble suggestion to the powers that be on a viable solution to our health care crisis.

1. Offer a catastrophic policy available to anyone and everyone who is willing to pay (be taxed) for such policy. The purpose of this policy is to protect Americans from a family catastrophe such as cancer, heart attack or stroke. These diseases and their treatment are crippling to families, as are many others not listed. This catastrophic policy has a $10,000.00 deductible with a $12,000 out of pocket portion. This means that the policy holder pays the first $10K of health care bills, 20% of the next portion until the out of pocket expense reaches $12K. At this point the catastrophic policy begins paying 100%. This policy will have a limit of reimbursement to the health care providers based on individual utilization of services. For instance, reimbursement to the providers would be at usual and customary fees for the first $25K in services, then a decreasing percentage as the services increase. It may look something like this: 0-25K reimburses providers at 100%, 26-50K at 80%, 51-75K at 70% and over $76K in procedures is 60%. How this looks in the real world would be something like this: A young boy is sent to Mayo Clinic for diagnosis of rare disease. Over a period of 17 days the family racks up a bill of $260K. The Clinic would be paid 100% of the first $25K in bills, 80% of the next $25K and so on. This plan would offer the following benefits in the Health Crisis:

• Universal coverage available to anyone and everyone.
• Rates are low so that the majority of Americans could CHOOSE to have it.
• Significant cost containment with the high deductible and descending reimbursement rates.
• Higher quality in care as Physicians will make better decisions regarding testing and treatment as Health Care Facilities will want to maximize the highest reimbursement rates to prevent losing money. Instead of trying to treat "on the cheap" to save money, care would be delivered on the "best possible"standard.

2. Free market Insurance Plans offered by the usual's (BlueCross, Medica, etc) aimed at filling the gap created by the high deductible of the Universal Plan. Insurance companies would be allowed to compete for consumers business by offering a variety of plans based on consumer needs. The purpose of these plans would be to cover the large deductible of the Universal Plan, ie. a plan may pay 80/20 of that initial $10K. These plans would be filled with wellness incentives that would help reduce consumer expenses and, ultimately, reduce insurance expenditures. One example would be smoking. If you smoke, and no we are not picking on you here as facts are facts, your policy will cost more as your utilization will be higher than a non-smoker. However, incentives to quit built in to your plan would allow you to save money the longer you are insured as a "non-smoker." The same can be seen for obesity. Insurers would also offer Wellness Plans that pay for services from providers aimed at keeping one healthy, similar to what they are doing now with Fitness Membership reimbursment. The key to these policies would be in rewarding the policyholder with lower rates by making lifestyle and health changes that reduce their risk for chronic, late in life diseases that are the most costly like diabetes and cancer.

3. Develop a co-pay system for the Universal and Private policies that makes the consumer responsible for a larger portion of "routine" office visits. This would drive up the the quality of care delivered as the consumer would now choose a clinic or physician based on standard market factors rather than if they are "in" my network. Under this system, clinics and doctors would compete for consumers business just as other businesses must compete to survive. When the consumer is given the chance to choose, wasteful spending will be reduced and results will improve.

So there you have it. Does it solve all of our problems? I think it's a great start and with any new idea it would have to evolve to meet the changes in the market, but I think overall it has great merit. I'd love to hear first impressions on my ideas as they are just that, ideas.


Please be sure to check back regularly for more insights. In the meantime, why don't you stop by my website at www.lifequestchiro.com and explore! Be Well!