THE SPIRIT OF HEALING
Not in the Current System
Mark L. Hoch, MD

Spring 2009

In the true spirit of healing everyone is working for the common good. In the true spirit of health all levels of being are cared for and all is balanced. In the true spirit of health we honor the health of our bodies, our feelings, our minds, our family and community networks, our environment, and our spirits as one spirit. If we really want to be healthy we must honor all of these aspects of our health now and always.

I often wonder where the true spirit of healing is in our “so called healthcare system”. Is there much that is truly healthy in our “healthcare” system? Who is really looking out for our health? Who is leading us in the spirit of healing?

As one who has studied health and healing for the past 25 years it seems to me that we are fundamentally lost in our ideas of health and healing. Do we teach our children how to be healthy in school? Or do we feed them poor quality processed food in school, take away their gym class and then become amazed when they are overweight and out of shape and do not know how to take care of themselves. Do we teach our doctors and health care professionals about health and how to take care of themselves so they can truly teach others how to be healthy? Or do we overwork them, denigrate their feelings, and teach them to look for diseases after they manifest and to manage diseases primarily with external means such as drugs and surgery? Are our hospitals run to truly meet the needs of the community? Or are they increasingly focused on specific procedures and managing diseases that earn them the highest profits? Is our health insurance system designed to make sure our people are healthy and cared for when they are sick? Or are our health insurance companies focused on maximizing the return on investment for the Wall Street crowd and paying their CEOs $20 or $100 million a year?

Is anybody minding the store? Or are our policy makers and healthcare industry leaders continuing to promote and tweak a dying, disastrous, ineffective, bankrupting system that really is not serving anyone well? Is it really going to work to try to make a leaner, less expensive monster? If we do that we may be able to provide disease care for more people (or prevent the loss of disease care insurance for more people), but we will continue to do it at the expense of real health and financial responsibility.

It is time to wake up THE DISASTER IS NOW!

How much longer are we going to wait as fewer of us are able to even get the current quality of care. As less people can afford health insurance or the ever-increasing out-of-pocket expenses of our current policies? Is it really smart to believe as the medical journals try to convince our doctors that if they were only smarter or more efficient in using their 6 or 15 minutes time for an office visit, that they will be able to really meet our health needs? Can we reasonably expect our elders to get good care if Medicare often reimburses the health care system for less than the cost of that care? How healthy are we if we are not dealing with any of these things? How healthy are we if we are not acting as if these things are really important?

How healthy are we if we live in and accept a so-called “health care” system, where we think the interests of patients, and healthcare professionals, and employers, and government, and the insurance industry, and the pharmaceutical industry are all different? Sure, everyone needs to make a decent living. But, what is our current focus? Are we all in this together for the common good and for our common health? Is what we are doing really working? As Americans we spend more money in actual dollars and as a percentage of our GNP on health care than any other nation on earth? Are we getting the best healthcare in the world? No study that I have ever seen has come to that conclusion. All the studies show that we do not have the best quality of health. They consistently show that we have the poorest value in terms of the quality of health per dollar spent!

It is time for a new way. I believe that we must make a system that is truly focused on our health and optimal functioning on every level. I believe that we must make a system that truly cares for people. A system that teaches us how to be healthy from an early age. A system that fosters self responsibility and gives us the tools to be able to care for ourselves. A system that gives our health professionals the skills they need to help people be healthy, care for them when they are ill, and puts a high premium on fostering healing relationships between our health professionals and those in need. A system in which hospitals and healthcare delivery systems will truly be looking out for and working with people in their communities to meet their health needs. A system in which we can all benefit from our collective efforts to be healthier and happier and lead highly functioning lives. A system in which government is an active community partner with us. In which government and other third parties does not try to micromanage the values of our individual blood tests as the means to our health by shaming doctors and punishing them economically for not following artificial protocols that may have nothing to do with an individual’s best health or personal values. A system in which we work together for the common good and not as competing parties focused on making money off each other or not spending money on our health because we can’t afford to or because we just don’t value it. Without health and community how far will all the money in the world get us?

Mark L. Hoch, MD
Partners in Healing of Minneapolis
Past President, American Holistic Medical Association
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health, University of Minnesota
Community Faculty, Center for Spirituality and Healing, Academic Health Center Univ. Minnesota
Bush Medical Fellow