Health anxiety and concerns about healthcare rank among the highest issues currently worrying Americans.
According to the 2013 HealthCare Worry Scale survey of over 1000 Americans conducted by Chase Communications, 74% are extremely concerned or very concerned about healthcare, just slightly behind the 79% concerned about the economy and ahead of the 67% about joblessness.
The survey also indicated that the main focus of our specific healthcare worries is not over urgent health issues such as chronic disease, quality of life, caring for aging parents or end of life care; rather, these issues are usurped by alarm over the cost of healthcare, with roughly half (49%) reporting that being able to afford healthcare is a major worry. (Source)
The Rising Cost of Health
Just how much are we actually spending trying to stay healthy? By 2021, it’s estimated that total health care spending in the United States will reach $4.8 trillion, up from $2.6 trillion in 2010 and $75 billion in 1970. To put it in context, this means that health care spending will account for nearly 20 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), or one-fifth of the U.S. economy, by 2021.
Increasingly, Americans are having problems paying for care — 26 percent report they or a family member had problems paying medical bills in the past year. Fifty-eight percent of Americans reported foregoing or delaying medical care in the past year. Escalating health care costs also are straining federal and state budgets, hindering the nation’s ability to pay for important initiatives needed to address other significant issues.
Though the rate of health care cost increase has slowed in the past decade — from 9.5 percent in 2002 to 3.9 percent in 2010 – the rate continues to be well above the general rate of inflation. (Source)
Wellness: Our Natural State
During a recent US visit, Sadhguru joined Dr. Mark Hyman for a conversation on maintaining health and wellbeing in our modern society.
Dr. Hyman is a family physician, a eight-time New York Times bestselling author, and an internationally recognized leader in his field, identifying and addressing the root causes of chronic illness through a groundbreaking whole-systems medicine approach known as Functional Medicine. He is Chairman of the Institute for Functional Medicine, and currently serves as medical editor at The Huffington Post and on the Medical Advisory Board at The Doctor Oz Show.
In the excerpt from their conversation below, Sadhguru and Dr. Hyman discuss reconnecting with the body’s original and natural state of health.
Watch the Excerpt Below:
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