Am I trying to pull a fast one here? Who would not choose health care!? Allow me to explain.
- There is no right or wrong choice, but there are consequences to each choice.
- If you don’t understand the difference between the two, the choice you make may not be what you think it is.
- Sick Care and Health Care are not mutually exclusive to each other.
Sick Care: treatment that is delivered for a specific injury, illness or condition. Usually the main focus is to reduce/stop the symptoms. Diabetes, for example, the medical treatment is to stabilize blood sugar. With back pain, most people will use anti-inflammatory medication, ice, even chiropractic to stop the pain. Sick care is what most people will receive: “I have XX. What will you do for it?” (But with both examples, the underlying condition remains.)
Health Care: care that is designed to promote health in an individual regardless of any condition or symptoms that may or may not be present. Ideally, promoting those things that support health would make any medication unnecessary. Changing lifestyle diet and exercise has been proven to reverse most diabetes type 2. Chiropractic care supports the body’s attempt to react to physical, chemical and mental stress patterns.
With sick care, the intervention typically changes how the person feels by masking the condition. With health care, the focus is on providing essential nutrients and identifying toxic elements.
What are some of the consequences? Well, with sick care, there is the risk that a problem is never corrected, just masked. It becomes costly to use medications for years. There are short & long term negative effects. Properly prescribed medications are the 4th leading cause of death with 128,000 deaths per year. The consequences of health care are the effort and time it takes to implement lifestyle changes. It costs a bit more short term to buy better food (or receive chiropractic care occasionally). It takes patience to look beyond short term symptom change.
As I said, the 2 types of care are not exclusive. It is each person’s choice which care meets their needs and values. Just be sure you know which one you are choosing – and please let me know so that I can honor your choice.
Be Well!
Dr. Tom