Let's face it, in America today we don't have a health care system, we have a sick care system.
Interpretation
The quote critiques the American health care system, suggesting it emphasizes treating illness rather than promoting overall health.
Tom Harkin's quote highlights a significant concern regarding the American health care system, emphasizing that it primarily focuses on addressing health issues after they arise, rather than fostering preventive care and holistic wellness. This perspective argues for a paradigm shift towards a system that prioritizes health maintenance and disease prevention, rather than merely responding to sickness.
In practice
In a discussion about health care reform, one might quote this to emphasize the need for a preventative approach.
Let's face it, in America today we don't have a health care system, we have a sick care system. We wait until people become obese, develop chronic diseases, or become disabled - and then we spend untold hundreds of billions annually to try to make them better.
Insurance companies, whether private or government owned, must be compelled to pay for health-promoting measures. In turn, this will encourage physicians to offer such treatments in earnest.
The way to health is to have an aromatic bath and a scented massage every day.
It's not that diabetes, heart disease, and obesity runs in your family...It's that no one runs in you family!
Health is not an objective condition which can be understood by the methods of natural science alone. It is rather a condition related to the mental attitude by which the individual has to value what is essential for his life.
Health is relative. There is no such thing as an absolute state of health or sickness. Everyone's physical, mental, and emotional condition is a combination of both.
People who are in a position of finding out that they're at risk for some illness, whether it's breast cancer, or heart disease, are afraid to get that information - even though it might be useful to them - because of fears that they'll lose their health insurance or their job.
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