In this day and age we, the public, are subjected to the ever increasing cost of medical treatment. In the USA there is no National Health Service like there is in the UK, and it is essential to have good insurance cover. In the UK, the NHS sinks ever deeper under the pressure of trying to keep the population healthy and more and more people have to see consultants on a private basis, and there is a definite need for private medical insurance as an adjunct to NHS treatment.

The "system" shows cracks due to constant pressure. Insurance costs go up not only because of cost of treatment, but also because of the number of times those in the medical profession are sued. Our culture of "sue for whatever you can get" hurts the individuals in the end.

How can we help ourselves to maintain good health? Awareness is a great start. The medical profession put out a lot of literature to encourage us to check ourselves for various things - indicators of potential breast cancer, prostate cancer and so on. We are encouraged to go for a medical on a regular basis so that illness or disease may be identified at an early stage. We are encouraged to look after our diet, not drink too much and to get some exercise. There is a lot which we can do ourselves.

There is more that a lot of us could be doing as well. We need to take responsibility for our own health. The medical profession is there to help us but we need to be pro-active in our own health and well being. It is far too easy for us to abrogate responsibility in the sense that we many times knowingly put ourselves at risk (perhaps through unnecessary contact with others who we know are not unwell, or through drinking too much, not exercising enough, using sun-beds, not using sunscreen, not checking our breasts, etc) more because we "turn a blind eye", thinking "that won't happen to me" than for any other reason. We rely on the fact that we have the NHS or insurance and so if anything goes wrong they are there for us - we act in a way that infers that our health is "their" responsibility, and not our own. This is wrong.

Our own health is our own responsibility. We need to be aware of our own body and do our best to ensure it functions to its maximum potential. There is no point bemoaning the fact that you cannot afford treatment, or you cannot get an appointment for several weeks or months, if you have not met the "system" half way. Please don't get me wrong, many of us are conscious of what we should be doing and diligent in looking after our own health.

Another thing we can do in this day and age is to arm ourselves with information. The more aware you are, the more informed you are the better choices you can make. Google is a wonderful thing. You can get bags of information on anything and everything. There is information on main-stream medical treatment and also on the many complementary health therapies which are available. These therapies are there because there is a need for them. They are not to be dismissed.

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