The 'drugs or surgery only approach that modern medicine uses to treat today's diseases is archaic.
Two weeks ago, I wrote a blog expressing my gratitude for some benefits of universal healthcare. A lot was left unsaid.
I believe all people have the right to emergency or acute care medicine - without judgment. If you have a broken arm or appendicitis, go to the nearest hospital. All will be well.
We should have options for how to manage long-term or chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, cancer and mental distress.
Conventional medicine focuses on treating the symptoms with drugs, surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. This is enough for some.
For others, a more natural healing approach that looks at the whole person, including all aspects of diet and lifestyle, and coaches them to take control of their health, is more sustainable.
Sadly, few of us have that choice.
The cost of care
Most Canadians cannot afford to pay out-of-pocket for natural healthcare practitioner fees and remedies, even though such costs are substantially more affordable.
We pay a lot in taxes for services which include universal healthcare and have a sense of entitlement to it. But we are completely unaware of the true cost of such treatment because we aren't billed for any portion of physician and hospital services covered by tax-funded healthcare insurance.
Not evidence-based
Much of what medical researchers conclude in their studies is misleading, exaggerated, or flat-out wrong. So why are doctors—to a striking extent—still drawing upon misinformation in their everyday practice? Dr. John Ioannidis has spent his career challenging his peers by exposing their bad science.
Monopoly in medicine stifles progress. Competition promotes innovation and change, potentially leading to a more integrative healthcare model that is likely to make sense to those from different walks of life.
When conventional care does not resonate with someone, coercing them to comply will not serve them well.
The medical establishment recognizes the power of thought, or placebo and nocebo effects, in healthcare outcomes.
When people feel they have more agency and are empowered to choose where they spend their healthcare tax dollars, better public health outcomes are more likely to be achieved.
Incentivizing innovation makes sense. When we favour funding research for lab-made patentable drugs and procedures, such that only the patent holder profits, we stifle much-needed progress. There is so much we have yet to learn about nature's medicinal bounty.
Closing thoughts
If there was ever a time to be bold in an attempt to fix the Canadian healthcare system, it’s now.
To repair our broken and unsustainable medical system, we need to help create awareness.
Medical care that focuses on parts, not the whole, numbing symptoms without addressing underlying causes, is archaic. We can do better.
Thank you for caring to read my random thoughts, Jillian. 🙂
Thank you for thinking out loud ❤️