Now that is a headline I would like to see!

An article in The Wall Street Journal Health Section on September 22 essentially said, the woes of the U.S Economy are driving people away from healthcare.

When I scanned the article, I had to chuckle because I went to Parents' Night at my daughter's school last night, and her English teacher informed us that kids are reading less than ever, and importantly, that it's going to affect their ability to succeed.  You might argue that with the internet we do spend a lot of time on the internet (reading), however, he pointed out, we tend to scan rather than read.  I guess we are becoming a shallow, illiterate nation but that's a subject matter for another day, for someone else, on another blog.  For now we need to get this example of Adult Attention Deficit Disorder back on track.

While I'm inclined to believe some of what was reported in the article, I'm pretty sure the reporter was trying to scare the crap out of me.  It stated that Americans, in these difficult economic times are holding back on their healthcare.  They are forgoing procedures, medicines, and preventative care.  In a vacuum, this resistance to care will ultimately lead to greater health issues and even higher costs for treatment.  As I read the article, it seemed to me that the writer, for impact was stirring fear rather than exposing the potential upside of this trend.  Benefit, you ask?

Is it possible that an unintentional Peoples' war been declared on healthcare industry?  Perhaps this is also a sign that U.S. healthcare consumers are beginning to vote their displeasure with the U.S. healthcare system by zipping their wallets.  If enough people contract their spending, perhaps the law of supply and demand can begin to force a bit of rationality into the healthcare system.  Perhaps, U.S. consumers, some of the most creative and innovative minds in the world will actually begin to look inward at themselves for their health solutions, rather than outward for the pill, the quick fix, the instant gratification, that has begun to erode our society, and in my opinion has contributed to de-elevated status of The United States in the eyes of much of the rest of the World.

With war comes battles and with battles, casualties.  People who ignore their health while holding back on their care may become casualties, which of course is not good.  That said, I think this is a war worth fighting, but one where we must learn from the casualties.  By fighting with our wallets  we can advance transparency in healthcare, can demand alternative and creative solutions for insurance reform and in the way meds are priced and distributed.  We can first educate and then re-program ourselves to use insurance as a tool rather than an entitlement.  We can re-focus becoming and remaining a healthy nation rather than one which masks the symptoms of our nation's chronic diseases.   We can set our sites on living rather than slowing certain death.   We can welcome in efficiency and usher out deficiencies.

And where do Health Savings Accounts fit into all of this?  Those Americans with HSAs are already soldiers in this war.  Americans moving on their own or at the end of a whip into high deductible health plans (HDHPs) and HSAs, are also being given weapons to improve their health, drive healthcare costs down, and help bring rationality back into a sadly broken system.  

Remember when you were a kid and your parents kicked you out of the house, saying, "run outside and play."  This was good medicine for them and you.  It still is in fact.  With a health oriented mindset and our wallets WE can drive our own Change.  Pretty powerful stuff I reckon.