Product description It’s not like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it’s like it A landmark book shows us how we have let health and medicine become a crisis in our society and what we can do to resolve it.

For millions of Americans, healthcare is now a crisis on their own doorstep. Personal bankruptcies are caused by the cost of medical care. Although policy makers have weighed in on all sides, bestselling author Andrew Weil, M.D., identifies the root of the problem. He gives us a solution that will not only make healthcare affordable, but will also put each one of us on the road to optimum health.

We have a right to good healthcare that is accessible and affordable according to Dr. Weil. Even though we spend more money on health care than any other country, our national health is not as good as it could be. America was ranked thirty-seventh in health outcomes by the World Health Organization. Dr. Weil shows how medical schools fail to give future doctors the education they need to care for patients, how insurance companies have destroyed our opportunity to get excellent care, and how pharmaceutical companies have come to rule our lives. The solution involves the creation of a completely new culture of health and medicine in this country, one that we can each start building today.

A question and answer with a doctor.

Why did you write Why Our Health Matters?

What is the answer? I wrote Why Our Health Matters because I care about health, my profession, and my country. I want to see people angry with the facts about health care in America. I want them to understand how much we pay and how little we get. I want to show them what needs to change.

Can you talk about the myths and realities of American health care? A: I think a lot of people buy into myths about health care in America.

American health care is the most expensive in the world, so it must be the best. Although we spend more per capita on health care than any other people in the world, our health outcomes are at or near the bottom compared to other developed countries. According to a survey by the World Health Organization, America is thirty-seventh in terms of health-care outcomes. We are on a par with Serbia. Whether it’s in terms of infant mortality, longevity, or rates of chronic disease, that’s any way you look at it.

The second myth is that having the most elaborate and expensive medical technology in the world must translate into medical excellence. Medical technology has aided in the management of trauma and critical conditions. It has not created cost-effective health care. One of the main reasons American health care is so expensive is that our interventions are based on expensive technology. Our doctors don’t know many low-tech methods of intervening in disease. Our health-care system is geared toward intervention in established disease, yet the vast majority of that disease is lifestyle related and therefore preventable.

The third myth is that we have the best medical schools and research institutions in the world and that they are producing the best physicians and the best research in the world. In terms of bricks and mortar and highly trained faculty, we have a great medical infrastructure. The curriculum of medical school and nursing and pharmacy schools has areas that are relevant to health and healing. Our health professionals don’t know much about nutrition. They do not know about botanical medicine. They do not know about mind/body interactions. We conduct a lot of research, but a small percentage of it is relevant to health and healing and to developing cost-effective treatment strategies.

Why are we not doing better at preventing disease in this country? A: Our model of prevention is not very robust, so our efforts at prevention are weak. lifestyle medicine should be the cornerstone of prevention. Teaching people how to make better choices about how they eat and exercise is part of that. This is mostly about education, but the whole society has to pull in the same direction. The government and corporations need to work together to make lifestyle choices easy and affordable. You can’t have the federal government telling people to eat more fruits and vegetables while at the same time making them less healthy and more expensive. A lot of our preventive efforts are limited because we have a preference for pharmaceutical drugs to prevent osteoporosis and heart attacks. The most cost-effective way to prevent disease is not this one. We need to think about prevention in new ways.

Who is responsible for health? A: Health is an inner state of balance and resilience that allows you to move through life and not get hurt by all the things out there that have the potential to hurt you. An image that I like to use is a child’s knock-down toy with a weighted bottom. It bounces back up to the center when you knock it over. If you let go, it will bounce back to the center. You can interact with germs and not get infections if you have that kind of resilience. You don’t have to have an allergic response to interact with allergens. You don’t have to be harmed when interacting with toxins. That is a quality that we are all born with. As we go through life, it is up to us to protect and enhance that quality. I think that health is an individual responsibility. Society has a responsibility to help us in that effort.