Dr. Ornish on Rising Healthcare Costs

Dr. Ornish, who is the Huffington Post’s Medical Editor, offers a radical alternative to rising healthcare costs in this series on three issues that were not being discussed at the 2012 national GOP and Democratic conventions: the drug war, poverty in America, and money in politics.

Health care costs (really, sick care costs) are now reaching a tipping point.

Sick Care Costs

He writes:

Health care costs (really, sick care costs) are now reaching a tipping point. Many Republicans are recommending that Medicare be privatized or even abolished since Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program accounted for 21 percent of the Federal budget in 2011, or $769 billion. Many Democrats are advocating raising taxes and letting the deficit increase. Not much common ground when the issues are framed in this way.

Here’s a third alternative: address the underlying causes of illness. These causes are primarily the lifestyle choices we make each day: what we eat, how we respond to stress, whether or not we smoke, how much we exercise, and how much love, intimacy and social support we have in our lives.

Read the full article here.