Capitalism is designed to maximize resources and create the greatest amount of wealth for the most people.  It’s very clear, capitalism is working for less people each year.  Each time we allow the free market model to affect our sacred needs (food, health, education, and shelter) the worse the outcomes seem to be.  If the model was working, America would be the healthiest, best educated, best environment, and the place with the most freedom.  The results unfortunately don’t show this. As America gets richer, its citizens gets poorer and sicker.

Let’s be clear, today’s capitalism isn’t controlled by Adam Smith’s “Invisible Hand.”  The markets, I dare say, the world politics, are controlled by mega-corporations and billionaires.  Most markets are controlled by media perception (media is controlled by corporate conglomerates) and by policies enacted by politicians on the take from big money.  There is no REAL capitalism anymore, anyone who tells you that has something to sell!

If you are lucky, though most are not, you will find a healthcare professional with strong values who takes pride in serving their patients.  These unique individuals follow their patients' health and manage all healthcare activities.  This point person is exceptionally important as you get older. The idea of a quick fix is popular in medicine today, and giving a person short term relief is more profitable than managing a long term condition.  Each specialist has their own set of medications that aid them in helping people, but many of these drugs don’t play well together, and without a single individual responsible for your health, you might end up taking medication with conflicting effects or even dangerous consequences.

I know educated people who have died from fatal drug interactions.  When did staying healthy get so hard? The internet age ferried in a vast wealth of data, but unfortunately, not all data is accurate.  The misinformation doesn’t belong to any single group - college educated to high school, all races, no one is safe!  So what do you do? Use the Mirror Test!

When you look in the mirror, how do you look?  Evaluate yourself impartially, see what you are.  Are you carrying too much weight?  Is your complexion good?  Do you look healthy?  Are you happy, sad, manic, driven, what is it that you love to do?  We must acccept that we are our worst enemy, and if we can learn to “stop harming” ourselves, we as individuals can start being healthy.  Being healthy is a state of mind,  not just a list of eating habits and exercise.  A healthy person is healthy in both body and mind.  There can be no external health without internal peace. 

Therefore, no healthcare system can make you healthy!  A good healthcare system helps you maintain your health, but it can’t do it for you.  Keep in mind, your health is personal, but to a insurance system, you are just a customer.  Their job is to make a profit for the company by keeping costs low, accept that, and you will understand how to navigate the American Healthcare CON!  Fact: Insurance companies hate old people, they are considered bad business.  It benefits healthcare companies for individuals to have lower cost then higher, so young, healthy, rich customers are good business.  Then, it’s valuable to have individuals spend a great deal on pharmaceuticals - they have high profit margins, so you see the stunning increase in prescriptions for drugs that help you feel good again.

The healthcare industry is making their customers dependent on the service, so they must spend.  Americans pay more than any other country and healthcare results are in the low 20’s worldwide.  Maybe the problem is the name, if we called it the “Sickness Management System” there would be no mistaking what it was designed for.  Life in 2019 is toxic, and the services we have grown to need have been taken over by for-profit industries that give a poor quality product in return.  Truth be told, with all our advancements, we should be healthier and happier than any other time in history.  That is opposite of the current trajectory of human progress.  The last 50 years, my lifetime, has been a disappointing blip in the steady progress of human thought and development.  WE MUST CHANGE OR BECOME EXTINCT!