Are you paying more money for less health care?
Just a few short weeks ago I attended a local farmers market and met a vibrant young man selling hummus. He had started his own hummus company and was there at the market selling his new product and giving away free samples. There were lots of new and strange flavor combinations. He really interested me somehow. He was a young entrepreneur who was out doing what it takes to meet the public and put his product in front of as many people he could. He told me a story of a woman who never liked hummus, but this, he said, she loved. So I had to give it a try. What, you might ask, does this have to do with health care?
Here is the story. The first thing I noticed is that his product did not have the typical creamy texture of hummus. It seemed to be some “whipped” concoction. It was very fluffy. He also said of the recipe that it did not contain any oil either. Maybe I am old fashioned but what little I know about a hummus recipe definitely contains sesame butter. Sesame tahini has a lot of oil. His hummus was basically fluffed garbanzo beans with different flavorings. It was also very expensive. Especially for what it was. I would not even really call it hummus. It was more like “whipped bean paste.”
It seemed this young man had tied his wagon to the new “less is more” or at least “less is more expensive” band wagon. Whip it up, fluff it up, repackage it into smaller handy portions, sell a smaller package for more money. This seems to be the new trend. The examples are too numerous to mention here, however a few do come to mind. One example is that they are now fluffing the good ole’ Hershey’s chocolate bar with air. That air infusion lets Hershey’s put in one less gram of chocolate per bar. This times millions of bars? That is a lot of dough, or chocolate! This comparison is a huge second place to the Hershey’s new “Air Delight” bar with which they actually advertise the air pockets visible in the bar as an advantage to the taste and texture. Sorry, air has no flavor. But, selling air for the same price as chocolate- that is corporate genius at it’s best and most devious.
What does this concept have to do with health care? Have you been to the emergency room lately? A short trip to the emergency room can put you back thousands of dollars. This, often with absolutely nothing to show for the visit. New and “better” drugs replace old standby generics that often work just as well. Chiropractors may pump up your bill with extra expenses for services that are touchy feely but add little to the healing value of the visit. It is common now for many offices to charge over a hundred dollars per visit. If you are getting the new decompression therapies, you may not even see the doctor and end up with a 6 thousand dollar care plan. To me, this is less for more. It is the adjustment that has value. The hands on healing that has led chiropractic into the 21st century as a unique service is often copied but never duplicated. Now physical therapists have a new “doctor of physical therapy” degree that will allow them to legally do “spinal manipulations.” ( I have an inside source that says these candidates get almost no hands on practical training during this program) However, a spinal manipulation, while it may have therapeutic value, is not a chiropractic adjustment. Chiropractors have a heritage and education that leads them to the correct area to adjust to remove nervous interference, not just to “manipulate” joints. You can bet this manipulation will be expensive too.
Where can you find value in health care? Start with a healing approach that works with the body’s innate wisdom and healing abilities. As the early chiro’s have said…”the body needs no help, just no interference”. Start a clear path to health by getting the fluffy, unnecessary elements from your health care. Less is NOT more, and it should not be more expensive. Eat right, drink clean water, breathe clean air and move your body. Get adjusted. That is more for less! Then treat yourself with a little chocolate infused air! You can afford it now.
