One of the wrong questions you will hear raised in the upcoming health care debate is this one: Aren’t the poor outcomes in health care in the United States all the fault of the bad health choices Americans make? Stated baldly: “It’s not our fault, it’s those irresponsible citizens who account for the bad health care outcomes.” As it happens at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University researchers Peter A. Muennig and Sherry A. Glied, asked just this question. They compared the health care systems of 13 first world nations, including the United States, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland.

Their study, which covers the years 1975 to 2005, is particularly important, not only because it is recent and well designed, but because in addition to health care expenditures in each country, it focuses on 15-year survival for people at 45 years and for those at 65 years. As they say in their report published in the November Health Affairs journal:

Many advocates of U.S. health reform point to the nation’s relatively low life expectancy rankings as evidence that the health care system is performing poorly. Others say that poor U.S. health outcomes are largely due not to health care but to high rates of smoking, obesity, traffic fatalities and homicides. We used cross-national data on the 15-year survival of men and women over three decades to examine the validity of these arguments. We found that the risk profiles of Americans generally improved relative to those for citizens of many other nations, but Americans’ relative 15-year survival has nevertheless been declining. For example, by 2005, fifteen-year survival rates for 45-year-old U.S. white women were lower than in 12 comparison countries with populations of at least 7 million and per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of at least 60 percent of U.S. per capita GDP in 1975. The findings undercut critics who might argue that the U.S. health care system is not in need of major changes.

Nicholas Bakalar, writing about the 30 years of the study in the The New York Times said:

In 1975 the United States was close to the average in health care costs, and last in 15-year survival for 45-year-old men. By 2005 its costs had more than tripled, far surpassing increases elsewhere, but the survival number was still last — a little over 90 percent, compared with more than 94 percent for Swedes, Swiss and Australians. For women, it was 94 percent in the United States, versus 97 percent in Switzerland, Australia and Japan.
The numbers for 65-year-olds in 2005 were similar: About 58 percent of American men could be expected to survive 15 years, compared with more than 65 percent of Australians, Japanese and Swiss. While more than 80 percent of 65-year-old women in France, Switzerland and Japan would survive 15 years, only about 70 percent of American women could be expected to live that long.

One of the most cynical aspects of the Illness Profit System, is that it hides its rapacity, behind the smiling humanitarian face of the health professionals who administer the treatments. Thousands of hours of advertising, showing us friendly doctors and nurses being competent and compassionate, re-enforces the natural deference we show to those who care for us when we are weak or ill. The system understands and exploits this just as it does the health professionals in its employ, exploiting their calling to the service of healing even as the system is constantly trying to corrupt them.

It starts with the broad population of physicians tempted with conferences at great resorts and spas, that qualify for continuing education — read presenting information on pharmaceuticals, that just happen to be made by the sponsors.

A second level of the process addresses a more select population. This concerns the fees paid to prominent physicians for speaking at conferences. Tom Detzel writing on the investigative siteProPublica presents a survey of seven companies using data taken from the companies own websites — information in some cases compelled by litigation to be released. In 2009-2010, just seven of the big pharmaceutical companies paid 17,700 presenters a total of $281.9 million to promote their products. These physician presentations were instrumental in a “combined prescription drug sales amounting to 36 percent of the $300 billion U.S. market in 2009.”

But it is in the third, most exclusive, tier of corruption that real damage is done. Science depends on properly executed studies accurately reported in an unbiased way. It is the fundamental code of all experimental research. In medicine it may literally be a matter of life or death. And it is exactly at this vulnerable fulcrum that the Illness Profit System seeks to corrupt physicians and medical researchers.

The Project on Government Oversight, is an independent nonprofit that “investigates and exposes corruption and other misconduct to achieve a more effective, accountable, open and ethical federal government.”

Once, years ago, walking across Louis Kahn’s magnificent campus designed for the Salk Institute, Jonas Salk answered my question about how he had seen so clearly what others had not seen. He said, “The answers are not the hard part. It is the questions. Asking the right question. That’s hard.”

We are about to enter yet again into the great debate over American health care, and the discussion once again will be mostly couched in financial terms. I want to suggest money is the wrong question, and it leads us to the wrong debate. Here’s what I think we should be asking: Is the health of the American people an essential part of our national security and prosperity? Is America better equipped to deal with the challenges of the 21st century when it has a healthy population more capable of working at its full potential? If the answer is “Yes,” then the next question to ask is: Why is our health care system so very bad — 37th in the world according to the World Health Organization? To answer that, we need to accept this reality and to start fixing it by telling the truth to ourselves about money.

The Center for Defense Information estimates the cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars will total over $1 trillion by the end of fiscal year 2010. We have almost nothing to show for these wars, and the sacrifices made by young men and women motivated by honor, duty and a call to serve. Yet we have made these wars such a priority that in the midst of the worst economic downturn in two generations we continue to fund them at a cost of tens of millions each day. It’s not about the money.

We have a defense budget that is larger than the defense budgets of every other nation in the worldcombined – $683 billion, going to $743 billion in 2015. It’s not about the money.

The sense of spiritual consciousness, connecting to something greater than oneself, is one of the most intoxicating realms a human can enter. Across the millennia, such experiences have shaped the lives of individuals and, upon occasion, whole cultures. The question for science is not to deny them, but to seek to understand the processes by which they occur and the domain into which they lead us. Central to these true stories is a special state of mindfulness, what the psychologist Charles Tart described in his classic 1972 Science paper as a state of consciousness.

Although these experiences, when they happen spontaneously, are often one-time events, almost every human culture on earth has developed practices, usually in a spiritual or religious context, for attaining this state. Similarly, all the martial arts have this component of mindful discipline, a practice of focusing intentioned awareness. Collectively, we have come to call these practices meditation.

Of all the things that you can do to know yourself, nothing will serve you as well as developing the practice of meditation. Although meditation is often associated with Asian cultures, it is not Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, Satanic or any faith at all. It can be done in the name of any of these faiths, or without faith in a religion — as distinct from a spiritual sense. Meditation is a single term defining many practices.

What is the true battle royale facing humankind?  Liberals vs. conservatives?  Fascists vs. libertarians?  Fundamentalists vs. infidels?

Strange as it sounds, I’m starting to agree with the people who point to ignorance vs. education, noting that recently, it’s become “cool to be ignorant.”  Think that’s far-fetched?  Check out Stephan A. Schwartz’ piece called Willful Ignorance.

I’ve been lucky enough to have been referred to one of the most enlightened writers on the planet, Stephan A. Schwartz, who has generously accepted my request to let me interview him for my next book. I invite readers to visit Schwartz’ website to get a sense for who he is in terms of the sheer breadth of his work.

While you’re there, note that he’s connected with some of the people from the landmark film/book “What The Bleep Do We Know?” and all the incredible thinking associated with that project, e.g., the confluence of quantum physics, metaphysics, and epistemology. My kind of guy, to be sure.

To me, all this raises an interesting and somewhat disturbing point, on which I’d like your feedback, if I may:

I have no doubt that the world would be a wonderful place in which to live if all our leaders – in both the public and private sector – were as enlightened as Schwartz. But the simple truth is that they’re not. In fact, most of them – while they may be smart, hard-working people – are on missions that have nothing whatsoever to do with improving the quality of life of the other seven billion people on the planet. As a result, we as a species have sunk to new depths of poverty, hostility, fascism, injustice, fanaticism, and environmental degradation.

Read the Rest of the article on 2GreenEnergy.com

Presented at: The Planetary Collegium’s 12th Annual international Research Conference, Consciousness Reframed: art and consciousness in the post-biological era. http://artshare.com.pt/cr12

Contact: Josette Hendrix
Cell: 360.914.0391
Office: 360.321.2101
Email: josette@nwlanguageacademy.com

Fireside Chats: “Cultural Values – Cultural Wellness” with Stephan A. Schwartz

February 25th, 2012, 7:00pm

Location: Langley, on Whidbey Island

Humanity’s lack of understanding of and value for diversity is deadening our ability to regenerate vital social, ecological, and spiritual systems.  NWLA’s new series, “Fireside Chats” is a forum on a human scale to engage around socially important issues central to our mission of helping people develop the capacity to thrive in a global community.  Join us around the fireplace in the intimate, relaxed surroundings of the Cultural Center’s large sitting room, and engage with renowned international speakers, researchers, journalists, and travelers.

Stephan A. Schwartz will lead the inaugural Fireside Chat on the subject of “Cultural Values – Cultural Wellness,” on February 25th, 2012.  The doors will open at 6:00pm for drinks and food provided by Whidbey Rice Catering.  Those who wish to eat must reserve by February 23rd.  Schwartz’s presentation and a question and answer session will follow from 7:00pm until 9:00pm, moderated by Dr. Craig Weiner of Transformational Dialogues.

Schwartz will discuss what he sees as the poor national wellness of the United States, and its roots in our ailing communities.  His talk, and the discussion to follow will explore the question: if we accept that the United States is currently in a dispute over cultural values, how will the values under debate contribute to the greatest state of social wellness, beginning with the individual and growing to include the entire society, and why?

Stephan A. Schwartz is a Senior Fellow at the Samueli Institute for Brain, Mind and Healing, a research associate of the Cognitive Sciences Laboratory at the Laboratories for Fundamental Research, and a Fellow of the BIAL Foundation.  He writes for the journal Explore and the Huffington Post, edits the web daily Schwartzreport.net, and is the author of four books, of which the most recent is Opening to the Infinite.

A donation on a sliding scale from $15-$25 is suggested at the door.  All proceeds benefit Whidbey Island Nourishes and the NWLA Cultural Center scholarship fund.

Whidbey Island Nourishes (W.I.N.) is a non-profit organization devoted to preparing nutritious meals for those in need on South Whidbey, focusing on young people.  With over 28.5% of the kids in South Whidbey’s school district, from K-12, needing help with consistent meals, W.I.N. is helping provide meals for non-school days as well as for those who don’t have a facility in which to cook a meal.
NWLA is a not-for-profit organization that makes it possible for residents of the local community to become residents of the larger, global community through the study of languages and cultural enrichment.  NWLA’s scholarship fund provides tuition assistance to South Whidbey’s low-income children, allowing them to attend summer language camps and classes regardless of need.
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NWLA is a not for profit organization that makes it possible for residents of the local community to become residents of the larger, global community.  Through the study of languages and cultural enrichment, we are preserving and honoring diversity while building bridges of understanding and appreciation between people of different cultures.

This recording was produced by the Institute of Noetic Sciences, which features the largest web library on conscious change, including work from more than 350 inspiring leaders such as Deepak Chopra. For more information, visit http://www.noetic.org/library/audio-teleseminars/

Part Two: A VISION FOR WHIDBEY ISLAND

This is Part Two of a talk by Stephan A. Schwartz where he offers a positive vision for Whidbey Island in the 21st Century. The piece on Ben Franklin’s role in American history is fascinating. Will we choose a life-affirming path to a just and sustainable future, or a coercive path to a dystopian state?