Whilst the health agenda in the USA has captured most of the headlines, the same issues are confronting other countries too. The central issue remains how to pay for the services, which are expected to be needed, by an aging population with a shrinking taxpayer base.

In Australia a tax review has just been completed and the third inter generational report is about to be handed down. This looks at projections for the next generation.

One of the snippets from the tax review caught my eye. It claimed that the cost per head of pharmaceuticals in Australia had trebled in twenty years from around $200 per head to over $600 whilst in the preceding twenty years it had remained stable. This was put down to the development of “blockbuster” drugs.

The cost of drugs in Australia is much less than in the USA due to a system called the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, which in simplest terms makes the government the “sole” buyer of drugs that are listed on the scheme. So where is most of the money going?

By far the biggest spend is on cholesterol lowering drugs (statins) which accounted for AUD $1billion in 2008/09. Other biggies were reflux drugs and blood thinners at around AUD $200 million each and a common antidepressant at AUD $100 million.

The next question is what are we getting for our money? Life expectancies have continued to gradually increase over the last century by about one quarter of a year per year. This rate has not accelerated over the last twenty years. Rates of heart disease and reflux have not plummeted.

Given the amount expended on pharmaceuticals you would think that questions about benefits would be asked. By this I do not mean clinical trials, which shows that the drug “works”, I mean questions about benefits to society in terms of longevity or better levels of health. There seems to be silence on that front.

In the whole “health care” reform agenda there are always arguments about how we are going to afford the cost of disease. There are never any questions asked about ways to reduce spending on disease by people being…healthier. When one looks at the “conditions” treated by the most expensive drugs they are mainly lifestyle conditions and the cleverly coined term” risk factors”.

In other words we are treating with expensive tablets that which we have brought about through our habits be they dietary, exercise or other. Logically then, if it was not a pill that caused the problem, why is a pill the answer?

What is needed is a change in the way we look at health care. Our current systems are disease systems. The cost comes from treating disease. There is little or no support for or investment in people being healthy. A genuine health system would be looking to keep people healthy rather than pick up the pieces after they have become sick.

As individuals we need to be responsible too. Around three quarters of spending on disease is for diseases that come about not through random action but by our daily actions. We need to be responsible for our own health. Here are eight simple tips

1) Each day do some slow deep breathing
2) Make water your main beverage
3) Eat food that till recently was moving around or growing somewhere
4) Be active each day
5) Get adequate, eight hours for most people, sleep
6) Manage your stress
7) Have good relationships
Have fun and purpose in your life

This is all easy and inexpensive. All that is required is for you to do it.

For great health info you can use to be a better you, sign up for your free newsletter at

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Dr Joe’s Do it yourself health (DIY Health) is based on the principle that your health is directly influenced by how you live your life.Do not wait to be a victim of disease.Visit my website to get knowledge and tips on ways that you can take charge of your own health today.You will look and feel better.

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It is remarkable that the American public, as tight as money is, is so fearful about some unexpected health crisis popping up, that we are willing to pay hundreds and even thousands of dollars per family each month for health insurance, which may get cancelled at the last moment anyway. This is a perfect example of how we have been conditioned to fear things we don’t understand.

Rather than taking the time to educate ourselves on how to eat to stay both thin and well, we allow ourselves to be manipulated by our fear of some nameless health catastrophe. And then, overcharged for high-tech solutions that treat only our symptoms. (To be fair to doctors, they can’t control what we eat.)

And yet, for all the “protection money” we spend, we are unwilling in most cases to do the things we are told by public health agencies that will prevent many of the most feared diseases. We pay exorbitant charges for health care insurance rather than correct our personal risk factors.

This being January, the month when most Americans decide to get serious about dieting for a week or two, it may be appropriate to look at how insane our dietary habits are.

The diseases that trouble us the most are caused by the junk we eat. Most of them can be prevented by correcting our diet–once and for all–and learning to ignore temptation. We should recognize slick advertisers of unhealthy foods as the Devil’s own representatives–and avoid their recommendations like the plague.

What we do instead, with the encouragement of our medical providers, is spend $70-100+ per month for a statin drug to allow us to go on eating bacon and eggs, meats, and ice cream, without worrying about our cholesterol levels. Would it not be simpler and healthier–and cheaper!–to stop eating extra cholesterol? But no, life in modern America wouldn’t be worth living without being free to graze on all the delectable goodies that food chemists concoct for us each day–or so we appear to think.

So, because 68% of Americans are overweight, which should be an easy problem to remedy with a little self-discipline, we are prone to become diabetic, suffer from cardiovascular disease, and several cancers. This we know. What are we going to do about it this year? Another bout with the Atkins diet? Or will it be some new diet that is guaranteed to be a marketing success and a weight loss failure?

Weight loss is generally viewed as a simple math problem. Usually, we’re given the old choice: We’ve either got to exercise a lot more or eat a lot less, but most dieters want to do neither one.

There is, however another option that most of us ignore with a passion. And that is changing WHAT we eat rather than limiting how much we eat. Specifically, we’re talking about cutting out meats, eggs, and milk products.

That is the key that few of us want to use to unlock the weight loss riddle. More than being a problem of eating too much, weight gain is caused by eating the wrong kind of foods. Anthropologists point out that our digestive systems are not set up to be carnivorous. But since McDonald’s and Pizza Huts even provide the food service in many public schools now–and have for some time–most of us find it hard to imagine life worth living without fast foods, fried foods, and junk snack foods.

We have been trained to eat the wrong foods and to expect someone else to solve the medical problems this creates. (And now, it looks like we will all be forced to buy health care insurance, whether we want it or not.)

Health care, as we currently see it practiced, is not the answer, though.

Until we are each able to see the part we play in allowing ourselves to be manipulated by advertisers to eat unnatural, unhealthy foods, we will not be ready to take the first step to permanent weight loss. Short term changes in what we eat, diet pills, and all the new crop of diet books will not produce the desired results until we learn to see how we have been duped by food processors and our government-subsidized industrial system of farming.

We need real food, grown in healthy soils, not colorful boxes of factory-farmed “foods” with minimal nutrients and maximal flavor additives. And, we need to stop eating animals and their by-products. The alternative is to continue to pay outrageous prices for continuing to eat as we do.

One option to the unrealistic expectation of converting the nation to organic farming methods overnight is to encourage everyone to supplement their diet with high-quality vitamin and mineral supplements. It makes sense that much of our overeating is an unconscious urge to get the vital nutrients that should be in our food but aren’t, due to depleted soils.

If it seems extreme to suggest we stop eating meat, other animal products(milk, etc.), and processed foods, don’t you think open-heart surgery, knee and hip replacements, kidney dialysis on a regular basis, chemotherapy, and Alzheimer’s Disease are extreme, too? Countries where the populations live on simple, naturally grown foods, with little meat in their diets rarely get the diseases we do. We should learn from them.

If, as 45-year cancer researcher T. Colin Campbell tells us, our diet is responsible for 97% of the diseases we get, then it is up to us to stop offering ourselves up as prey for the health care industry. Change your diet and you can change your medical fate.

The irony of this whole milieu of sickness, obesity, and high health care costs is that we are doing it to ourselves by what we choose to eat. As soon as we realize that fact, we can start doing something to reduce our weight and our health care expenses.

As a happy side-effect, changing our unhealthy diet will take a huge burden off our environment and be a good example for the rest of the world.

Paul H. Kemp is an entrepreneur, writer, and amateur athlete.

For more information on how to reduce your personal health care expenses, while improving your health, visit his Web site: http://www.HealthyPlanetDiet.com

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Health experts believe that the present need is to address issues related to provision of public health and care facilities instead of focusing on disease specific problems. Investments from public as well as private sectors may be rising but the provision of quality health care still varies across the world. Besides the cost, there are several social, economic, political and cultural factors due to which provision of healthcare becomes a challenge in many countries.

There are several challenges associated with global healthcare facilities. People who don’t require health care too often are the ones who enjoy these facilities the most. Whereas the access to basic health care services is very poor for people who are not financially strong. This chasm is being predicted to grow deeper in the coming years if equal distribution of hygiene and healthcare is not implemented. The fact that the rich often benefit from such services as compared to the low income group, policymakers need to implement effective measures to fill the gap. Fragmented care is another challenge associated with global health care. A holistic approach is not being adopted by disease control programs at the community level due to which quality care is not reaching the needy.

There is no doubt that the health sector has undergone a revolution. Average life expectancy nearly doubled in several developed countries. New technologies are coming up with the help of which doctors are looking for cure to new diseases. Developing countries also witnessed less extensive yet notable improvements in the mortality rates. But one also can’t deny the fact that there are still many countries within which the poor section has minimal access to quality care and this calls for measures to attain health for all.

According to the World Health Organization, health care provision needs to be measured if countries want to attain health for all. Industry experts feel that a large part of investments in the health sector is leaking away without showing any result. Therefore, governments and healthcare agencies need to work in co-ordination and ensure that the money is used in the right direction.

About The Author

Florida has got a boom in Medical and health care facilities within state. It has hundreds of fantastic medical centers, high level of services in medical and world class care facilities. Through modern equipments and state of the art technologies medical centers are providing the best health care to the people in the state Florida. Furthermore it has medical and bio tech industries throughout its metropolitan areas.

Medical Centers should have:

* Medical centers facilitating in almost all types of diseases and medical problems.
* Proper health care resources addressing different aspects of health and medical facilities are governed by the government.
* Medical Centers are equipped with up-to-date laboratories and imaging facilities.
* Instant Medical Care is one of the good Health Care Providers and providing their services in almost all major hotels and theme parks and important locations.
* The doctors and providers are highly educated and well trained.

Health Care Facilities:

* Ambulances have the preliminary medical equipment and first aid medications.
* Patient safety and Risk management plans in the hospitals and care units are enforced by the government.
* HIPAA laws are also enforced in different aspects of caring the patients.
* Mobile clinics are also operating and equipped with most of the desired facilities.

Medical Insurance:

* There are several organizations working in the field of health insurance.
* Florida’s health insurance plans are little complicated and sometimes are difficult to obtain.
* The health insurance plans are normally comprised of two major categories; Individual and Group health insurances.
* There are some new health insurance reforms and as these will be implemented these will for sure facilitate the small employers and older people.

WHAT IS HEALTH CARE?

Most of us will probably agree that health care is caring for your health. Well, for the most part that is our intentions, however would you not agree that health care should make you feel and look healthier?

Thanks to modern science and research we can get medical help using prescription and non- prescription drugs that may address our health issues, but with it comes side effects.

So how can we attain and maintain proper and adequate health care for the entire family so that we feel better and look healthier?

Before we answer that question, Let’s take a closer look at what we consider to be HEALTH CARE.

DOES YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE COVERS HEALTH OR SICKNESS CARE?

When you or a member of your family goes to see a doctor or make a hospital visit, the whole idea is to get quality care to feel better.

DRUGS, DRUGS, DRUGS, don’t get me wrong, they have their place and we do need them in some cases, however, without good and proper nutrition, we will not feel or look healthier.

Drugs are designed to address the needs of sick people, not to address the need to stay healthy or to improve your health.

So the truth of the matter is, health insurance in truth addresses the issues of sick people and their illnesses where it should be providing some assurance that will educate people on how to improve their health so that they can feel and look healthier.

HOW TO ATTAIN AND MAINTAIN ADEQUATE HEALTH?

So where do we start to stay healthy? Well, medical experts agree that health starts at the cellular level. So how can we feed our cells to keep them healthy? Well, the cells need nutrients and minerals. So to a certain degree our lifestyle plays a role in good health for the cells.

However, the cells ability to performs it’s duties is solely dependent on it’s Glutathione levels. Glutathione(GSH) is a tri-peptide molecule manufactured by the cells, it is referred to as ‘food for the immune system”.

Three amino acids: glycine, glutamic acid and cysteine are the key ingredients for Glutathione production.

Glutathione synthesis in the cell protects the cell from damaging free-radicals. These radical molecules can destroy cell components like the DNA and mitochondria in a matter of micro-seconds.

Glutathione neutralizes these free-radical, thus converting them into water, being removed as urine or sweat. Low levels of glutathione leaves the body susceptible to carcinogens, bacteria, and even cancer.

Dr.Jimmy Gutman–’Your life depends on glutathione. Without it, your liver would shrivel up and die from excess accumulation of toxins and your cells would disintegrate from unrestrained oxidative stress, your body would have little resistance to bacteria, viruses and cancer’.

‘Glutathione is important in DNA synthesis and repair,.. detoxification of toxins and carcinogens, enhancement of the immune system and protection from oxidation’.. The Immune System Cure, Lorna R. Vanderhaeghe & Patrick J.D. Bouic, Ph.D.

‘Glutathione(GSH) deficiency contributes to oxidative stress and therefore appears to play a key role in the pathology of many diseases’… Dr.Patricia Kongshavn, MSC, Ph.D

So here it is, healthy cells make up healthy tissues, healthy tissues make up healthy organs, healthy organs make up healthy systems, healthy systems make up healthy bodies.

Now to find the food chain that has all three of those amino acids at it’s highest quality is a unique whey protein discovered by a research team in Canada.

So, whether you have health insurance or not, remember your health starts with you. Staying healthy starts at the cellular level.

Don’t take my word, check it out for yourself, I promise you this.. you will be glad you did.

About The Author