“Health Span”: A New Paradigm

He said:

I did a recent Google search on “a new paradigm needed for health care” that turned up many articles on how the less-than-optimal delivery of current managed health care could benefit from a new paradigm.

I want to share with you my story of how I have embraced a paradigm shift regarding how I view my own health care and make decisions around it.

For all my working career, I ‘ve participated in my Employer’s health care plan, selecting an option of a monthly fee deduction from my paycheck, with an annual deductible and co-pay. I chose the lowest cost plan and under that type of plan I needed to stay “in-network,” or otherwise I would pay a much higher price for medical services.

What I didn’t realize was that I had been subconsciously indoctrinated into our current cultural and western medicine mindset on health care. I would wait until I had a problem to happen, and then see how much of the potential solution would be covered by insurance. In fact, “Is it covered by my insurance?” was my favorite line. Sadly, if it was a preventive measure, I would wait to get it done as long as possible. I always saw health care as taking care of symptoms and problems after I’d experienced them, rather than proactively participating in preventive health measures.

“All we are saying, is give Peace a Chance”  John Lennon/Yoko Ono Whenever we put out a Speranza San Clemente blog, we write about a subject that is near and dear to our hearts, often a subject that we are learning about ourselves, so here goes. Years ago, I used to sing with others the words to the song by Lennon and Ono, “All we are saying, is give Peace a Chance.” It sounded good and made me feel temporarily better, but the song in itself didn’t really produce a lasting peaceful change in me. Over the years, I have begun to understand why.