Larry Witzleben - Health Motivational Speaker & Health and Wellness Practitioner - "You Are Extraordinary... By Design!"

Health Insurance and Car Insurance: Apples and Oranges!

I was stopped at a light in Winter Park recently and noticed the bumper sticker on the car in front of me. It read “My car has better coverage than I do. Pass health care reform now” Made sense at first glance. In the next moment, though, I thought, “Wait a minute! That doesn’t make sense. It’s apples and oranges!”

I’d have asked the driver:

Hi, friend! Do you put into your car only the fuel it was designed to need to run its best? I’m sure he’d have said, “Of course.” I’d have then asked, Do you put into your body only what it was designed to need to be at its best? If the answer weren’t the same immediate “Of course,” then the bumper sticker’s argument would start to fall apart.

Do you drive as though you alone are responsible for your car’s safe operation? (“Yes, of course.”) Do you use your body as though you alone are responsible for its optimum function? If the answer is not a resounding “yes,” then the bumper sticker’s reasoning further crumbles.

Do you buy the best car insurance you can, then drive irresponsibly because you have coverage in case of an accident? Do you eat poorly and fail to exercise adequately, but it’s okay because you have health insurance to cover you when your health falters?

What if I lived in every moment so that I were as vital and fit as I possibly could be? No amount of health care/insurance “reform” can give me that. Only I can. Whether my health insurance is a private policy or one that you all help me pay for, if I have to use it, it’s because I dropped the ball on my health somewhere.

There will always be those who truly need our assistance. May we be there for them. But for most of us, the start of vibrant health is only a daily walk away, shopping in the produce section, making different food choices. Vitality starts to build! We start to feel how good feeling good feels, and we want more! Because it’s what we’re DESIGNED for!!!!!!!

I’m left with nothing less than the freedom and joie de vivre that can only come from embracing unconditional, no-excuses, full responsibility for the whole outcome called my life and my health! Who else can give me that?

This is the fuller version of an article with the same title, by Larry Witzleben, which appeared in the “My Word” column of the Orlando Sentinel in the spring of 2010.