How To Lower Medical Costs

Some years ago, Democratic Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa wrote an article titled, "Shifting America From Sick Care to Genuine Wellness". In that article Senator Harkin had the following to say...

“. . . . The fact is, we do not have a health care system in the United States; we have a sick care system. If you’re sick, you get care, whether through insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP, community health centers, emergency rooms, or charity. The problem is that this is all about patching things up after people develop serious illnesses and chronic conditions. . . . “Consider this: Right now, some 75 percent of health care costs are accounted for by heart disease, diabetes, prostate cancer, breast cancer, and obesity. What these five diseases have in common is that they are largely PREVENTABLE and even reversible by changes in nutrition, physical activity, and lifestyle.”

“WOW! Senator Harken gets it! Now if only President Obama, the House, and the Senate can get it. This is exactly what I and Hallelujah Acres have been saying for over 20 years – most physical and even psychological problems are preventable! The question now is, will those in government have the guts to do what is right regardless of the pressures being exerted upon them by special interest groups and power hungry politicians? Only time will tell.”

Nearly 10% of Health Spending Is For Obesity

That was the head line for an Associated Press article dated July 28, 2009. Some of the highlights follow:

“Obesity’s not just dangerous, it’s expensive. New research shows medical spending averages $1,400 more a year for an obese person than for someone who’s normal weight. Overall, obesity-related health spending reaches $147 billion, double what it was nearly a decade ago . . . . Two-thirds of Americans are either overweight or obese . . . . It’s not an individual problem but a societal problem – as the nation’s health bill illustrates . . . . On average, health bills for a normal-weight person are about $3,400 a year, but that rises to $4,870 for someone who’s obese. . . . obesity related conditions now account for 9.1 percent of all medical spending . . . .”

Would it be unreasonable for me to ask: “Why should those of us who watch our caloric intake, exercise our bodies daily, and maintain a slim waistline, have to pay for the health problem costs that arise from those who do not watch their caloric intake, fail to exercise their bodies, and as a consequence have a distended colon and enlarged waistline?” And let’s not stop with that thought:

Smoking - Highest Source of Preventable Physical Problems

About 8.6 million people in the U.S. have at least one serious illness caused by smoking. The list of diseases caused by smoking includes chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema), coronary heart disease, stroke, abdominal aortic aneurysm, acute myeloid leukemia, cataracts, pneumonia, and bladder, esophageal, laryngeal, lung, oral, throat, cervical, kidney, stomach, and pancreatic cancers. Smoking by parents is also associated with a wide range of adverse effects in their children, including exacerbation of asthma, increased frequency of colds and ear infections, and sudden infant death syndrome. Secondhand smoke causes more than an estimated 202,000 asthma episodes, 790,000 physician visits for buildup of fluid in the middle ear, and 430 sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) cases each year. I don't smoke, nor live in a household where someone smokes, so why should I have to pay for the health care costs of a person who does smoke, or the health care costs of those affected by their smoke?

Refined Sugar Consumption Causes Physical Problems

Refined sugar suppresses the immune system, an immune system God placed in our bodies so that the body would resist germs, viruses, and bacteria. A person with a suppressed immune system will have little resistance to colds, the flu, pneumonia, cancer, and so much more. I do not consume refined sugar, so why should I have to pay for the health care costs of a person who does consume it, or the health care costs of the children whose parents feed their children – or allow their children – to consume products containing refined sugar? As a result of ceasing my own consumption of refined sugar 38 years ago, I have been able to keep my immune system so strong and protective with the Hallelujah Diet, that I haven’t experienced the flu, sore throat, or even a cold even one time since, nor have I received a single flu shot in that time period.

Animal Source Foods - Primary Cause of Cancer, Heart Attacks, Strokes, Diabetes, Osteoporosis, Heartburn, and more

Animal sourced foods such as flesh, dairy, cheese, and eggs are involved in 90% of all physical problems. By eliminating animal foods and moving to a plant-based diet we are able to almost "cancer-proof" our bodies, reduce heart attack and stroke risk by 96 percent; practically eliminate any fear of type II diabetes or osteoporosis, and within only a few days after stopping its consumption, usually eliminate acid stomach problems and heartburn. I do not consume animal flesh, dairy, or eggs (and haven’t for the past 38years), so why should I have to pay for the health care costs of a person who does consume these animal sourced foods? Are you beginning to get the picture? And maybe see health care in a new and different light?

Prevention Is the Only Solution!

Sickness and disease are preventable in most instances! So why do our elected leaders and the entire health care industry show practically no interest in the prevention of physical problems? The answer is as simple as – follow the money trail! Remember, there is no profit (monetarily speaking, of course) in wellness! My dear friend, do you realize that if everyone in this country was on the Hallelujah Diet, there would be practically no medical problems for the disease care industry to profit from or for the politicians to use to increase their power over the people? The American people of today are looking to the government to solve the health care crisis when they should be looking at themselves and to prevention.

Not Everyone Will Accept Prevention

If people are not willing to turn to prevention by the eating of the foods God told us to eat in Genesis 1:29 (and thus eliminate most physical and psychological problems), what can be done to reduce health care costs? Following are some suggestions: 1. Let people set aside X number of dollars in a tax-free, interest bearing account, to be used for health care expenses only. At the end of the year, whatever they have not spent can be withdrawn. This will give people incentive to eat healthy and be rewarded for doing so with extra money in their pocket. 2. Tort Reform – Lawyers are increasing the cost of health care significantly through multimillion-dollar lawsuits. Doctors, in order to protect themselves, have to purchase insurance policies often costing $100,000.00 per year, which has to be paid for in the fees they charge. While the legal system needs to be free to work, ridiculous compensation amounts, with more often going to the lawyers than the victim, need to be stopped. 3. Provide people with accurate nutritional information. The nutritional information being disseminated by the American Dietetic Association is not accurate; it is not reliable. Nor is the information coming from big business, especially the meat and dairy industry. Nor are most doctors aware of what constitutes a truly healthy diet, as they are just as sick as the people they treat. If our tax monies are going to be spent, let’s spend them on informing people how to eat properly so that they can prevent disease rather than spending taxpayer money to treat the symptoms of disease after the fact. 4. Provide incentives for healthy living. This is a difficult one! Can we place a higher tax on animal source foods, products containing sugar, etc., like we do on tobacco and alcohol products? 5. Provide rewards for those who eat healthy and thus take care of their health. In what form could these rewards take? Lower insurance rates would be a good start! 6. Let government (taxpayer monies) pay only for catastrophic expenses, thus forcing people to pay for minor health care expenses with their own monies. If the people are paying the bill for their health care costs, there will be incentive to eat healthier and not seek medical attention for unnecessary problems. As a child, I experienced frequent colds, the flu, chicken pox, mumps and measles, and numerous bumps and bruises, and mother did not take me to the doctor or give me drugs for those conditions. Yet I got well! 7. Place a high deductible on all insurance policies. This would cause people to have to pay for incidentals and thus be more careful in their use of the medical system. (While I am not in favor of ObamaCare, many of the ObamaCare insurance policies carry a very high deductible – some as high as $12,000.00. In other words, the policy does not pay for medical expenses until the policy holder has spent out of their own pockets many thousands of dollars.)

I Haven't Purchased Health Insurance For 38 Years

That’s right, after adopting God’s Genesis 1:29 diet following my being told I had colon cancer in 1976 (almost 40 years ago), and seeing my cancer simply disappear after adopting God’s original diet, I realized that I could control whether I got sick or not by taking charge of what I ate and how vigorously and faithfully I exercised my body. Even as a senior citizen (I’m past 80 years old now), and though Medicare Part “A” is automatic, I have refused Part “B” which costs over $1,200 a year and pays for doctor visits and drugs outside the hospital. During the past 38 years, I have saved well over $150,000 in insurance premiums by not carrying a health insurance policy. During the past 15 years since being eligible for Medicare, by refusing Part “B” I have saved an additional $18,000. My total doctor and hospital costs for physical problems during those 38 years has been less than $3,000. That expense was incurred when I experienced that hemorrhagic stroke in 2001 (due to stress which I was responsible for creating), was rushed to the Shelby, NC hospital, refused medical treatments, and was restored to full health in weeks through a diet that included lots of raw vegetable juices. I also had a hernia repaired in 2013 due to lifting something that was too heavy. Normal health care costs per individual in America currently are over $6,000 per year. If we used that figure, my health care costs for the past 38 years should have amounted to over $200,000.00. Yet my costs have only been a few thousand dollars for those two incidents mentioned above.

How Can You Lower Your Health Care Costs?

The easiest and fastest way to lower your health care costs is to stop doing those things that are increasing your physical problems and thus increasing your health care costs. A simple change in diet and lifestyle is that simple change I made 38 years ago that made such a profound difference in my health and health care costs, and can make the difference in yours also. It’s no fun being sick! If you are not already on The Hallelujah Diet, may I encourage you to give it a try! Hallelujah Acres is a Christian Ministry that teaches health from a Biblical perspective! Hallelujah Acres is trying to help the Christian community (as well as anyone else who will listen) realize that God's original diet, as given by God in the Bible, in Genesis 1:29, was God's perfect plan for the proper nourishment of His human creation. Friend, God did not design us to be sick! Rather He wants us to "be in health” (See 3 John 1:2). Multitudes have made this diet change that we teach here at Hallelujah Acres, and experienced normalization of weight, as well as the elimination of almost all their physical and psychological problems. For more information, click here! Next week, the good Lord willing and if the creeks don’t rise too high, we will return with another exciting issue of the Hallelujah Health Tip. Trust you will join us and that you will share these Health Tips with friends and loved ones.