Hello readers,
This past year in my workplace, employers / insurers required that we sign an affidavit claiming that we do not smoke and have not smoked for the last six months. If we did not provide the affidavit, an additional $50 per month would be added to our health insurance premiums, deducted from each bi-weekly paycheck.
One of my co-workers called to my attention today an article (see links to two articles above) about chain pharmacy retailer CVS requiring their employees to provide highly personal information such as body mass index, weight, and glucose levels if these employees wish to benefit from reduced health insurance premiums. In other words, employees are fined or charged higher premiums if they refuse to provide this information – whether they are healthy or not.
I find it difficult to understand how attempting to make people feel insecure about their privacy and well-being can contribute to their general health and welfare. Obviously, many large corporations have little interest, care, or stake in the happiness and general health of their employees. Since individuals are seen as largely replaceable units and not valued contributors and creators within the system, it is somewhat logical that “healthcare” in the United States is neither caring nor particularly health-oriented.
Also, it is noteworthy, I feel, that the same systems which produce and promote the consumption of unhealthy foods and lifestyles also contradictorily try to pressure the same consumers / employees to lose weight and “be healthy” so that these corporate entities can make profits on both fronts.
I wonder how long it will take before people start to revolt against the system at hand, or simply create new ways of thinking. Of course, the corporate mentality has infiltrated the belief systems of the American people for the most part, who are now conditioned to be passive consumers of propaganda, chemicals, and a materialist philosophy of life and being. It is interesting that a country supposedly based on a culture of action and can-do philosophy has produced a majority of passive individuals who refuse to think for themselves. Of course, those who are in control don’t want everyone else to realize that in fact, we are each in control of our own destiny, and that we need not submit to anyone else’s vision of life. That is the nature of freedom. It starts with the mind and the spirit.
I am ready for a totally new way of living life, a new way of approaching healthcare, and a new way of experiencing freedom. There are so many books, workshops, documentaries, programs, diets, and products circulating on the market that promote healthy living, yet the general American lifestyle is completely out of sync with human rhythms, desires, aspirations, and potential. There are so many distractions that are purposefully designed to prevent people from being in the moment and from getting in touch with their higher selves and true potential. Will there come a day when the majority will reject those distractions disguised as entertainment and goals for self, learn self-awareness, and learn to live to enjoy the energetic connectivity that is life? I certainly hope so. Life will then become an exciting adventure, even amidst challenges, and true health will be easier to maintain…without the need of a top-heavy, expensive, and impersonal healthcare system.
adamevenevenadam 