Health Care Reform

The other day I went to Costco to stock up on my usual supply of organic veggies as well as some frozen fruit for my breakfast fruit smoothies. When I got to the checkout the young woman who was unloading my cart said, "This is the healthiest cart we've seen all day. No chips or other junk food!" I sometimes get that comment. It makes me wonder why buying healthy is the exception.

I once read that people in this country don't know what healthy looks like. When asked about general health, most people say, "Oh, I'm in good health. I do take something for my high blood pressure and something to keep my blood sugar in line, but other than that I'm fine." What that person has just told you is that they have hypertension, a disease, and diabetes, another disease, but in today's world this is considered normal health. Think about it.

Story number two. One day I was shopping at another location that had just added a pharmacy. A group of employees were walking around handing out certificates that were good for a free prize if you went over to the pharmacy and got quotes on your prescription medicines. The thought was that the price would be so much better than what you were already paying that you'd become their customer. When approached, I said to the gentleman who was trying to hand me a certificate, that I didn't take any prescription medicines. He stopped dead in his tracks, not sure of what to say next. I broke the silence by pointing to the contents of my cart, showing him that there was no junk food in my cart, in fact, it was almost all fruits and vegetables. "So that's the secret," he said.

Is this really a secret? Somebody better get the word out! Health care reform? Imagine what would happen if great masses of people took responsibility for their health and were able to go off their prescription medicines.

"Imagine" - John Lennon