This is not true. There are five key issues which are often ignored in the discussion on healthcare. Firstly, those that think that individuals themselves are  answerable for their well-being, and not any one else, not even doctors, have little representation.

It’s not often realised that simple but regular workouts prevent us from falling sick. Not just that, these routines also help us enjoy robust health, meaning not just lack of sickness but an ability to cope with stress competently, stay energetic, radiate health and spread good cheer around.

Some of us do not take any medication whatsoever, not even aspirin. People like me in the health insurance pool, rarely making a claim, are the hedge against the outsized dollar or rupee drains caused by patients that draw on upscale (Cadillac) treatments which in a sizeable number of cases have occurred needlessly. Some of us regularly practice yoga, as regularly as you brush teeth, and keep the doctor away!

Unfortunately, robust health has made some of us ‘outlivers,’ and so our views are deemed not very germane to the healthcare debate. Anyone to be part of the healthcare conversation, should be so ordinary and typical enough as to take some medication or the other, pop some capsule, pill, or tablet, inject insulin, and preferably must have had some heart, kidney, or cancer surgery or some other invasive procedure. Only then they become eligible to have a seat at the table and participate in healthcare deliberations.

My second point is that healthcare for all need not mean a worsening of the federal or national or state budget deficits. But it could only mean what persons so very different — Ayn Rand and Malcolm X, or in India Mahatma Gandhi — would all nonetheless, want everyone to be: stay independent of the government, and stand on one’s own feet in all such matters.

Alternative systems
Third, apart from the allopathic system of medicine, there are several alternative and complementary systems (ACS) of medicine that have stood the test of time for millennia. A survey of 2,700 persons conducted by the Yoga Biomedical Trust, London, revealed that yoga techniques were able to attain more than 80 to 90 per cent success rate in the cure of ailments such as alcoholism, back disorders, anxiety or nervousness, arthritis, cancer, duodenal ulcers, heart disease, neurological and neuromuscular diseases, haemorrhoids, high blood pressure, insomnia, menopausal disorders, migraines, etc. And the patients need to know about alternatives.

Fourth, the origin of healthcare problems can be traced to unawareness of the fact that the human body is basically an extraordinary bio-chemical factory that can and does self-correct, thanks to a process called homeostasis and a tough immune system.
There is an urgent need to launch a massive awareness programme to inform the common folk about the basics of anatomy and physiology. Lastly, there must be irresistible incentives for healthy habits, such as lower premiums for event-free wellness periods.