Health and Care

My family and I have just become part of the “health care system” again after several years on the outside. I hadn’t recalled what a lot of work it is! Endless paperwork serves to generate more paperwork and phone calls and appointments and other tasks to add to the list. Not that I’m not grateful to have health insurance once again – I definitely am.

The adults in our family are all (mostly) self-employed, and have been for about six years now. We haven’t had health insurance during that time because we simply couldn’t afford it. Now, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, we have it again. I’m not going to get into political beliefs and opinions on the topic, but I’m glad to have insurance because I know that accidents and illnesses can happen.

We are blessed with good health, and during the years we weren’t insured, I can count on one hand the number of times we sought out care. We never had to go to the emergency room. Quester used a clinic once for a fairly minor injury, and I used one once for an illness. The kids have only had sports physicals at a clinic, and were found to be in perfect health. None of us take any prescription medicines, which among the people I’ve talked to is quite rare, though we’ve never had to take them on a long-term basis anyway. The last time I had anything like that was antibiotics back in 2007.

I’m not a huge fan of Western medicine, but I do see its usefulness. Through witnessing members of my extended family deal with injuries and illnesses, and also having a c-section when I had Dryst, I know it has its place. When you break a bone or have a serious infection or get cancer, it’s important to have hospital care available.

Generally, though, my immediate family has been just fine without it. I attribute our overall wellness to making healthy choices. We’re all vegetarian, and for the most part we make our own meals, avoiding processed foods (mostly because we don’t like them). We stay active, we are loved, and we cultivate positive attitudes. We do things we enjoy and minimize stress, which I think contributes to health in a big way.  We do Reiki, and drink smoothies, and get outdoors a lot.

That said, some people do all these things (and others that are healthy for them) and still end up sick. I’m not judging. I just like to show that, despite what you hear and read in the media, there are healthy families living happily outside the mainstream.

The only issue we’re currently dealing with (the adults, not the kids) is weighing more than we’d like. We’re fine-tuning our eating habits and increasing our exercise in order to get back to physical fitness. I don’t think we need any medical help with that, so getting a physical at this point is really just for wellness and prevention, and to establish a relationship with a doctor in case we need one. So I guess I’ll suck it up and get back to the paperwork. To my amazement, even after all this time my former doctor’s office still has some records available to send to my new one! Which means yet another form to fill out…

May you be healthy and well!


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