ABSTRACT
It seems sensible to believe that everyone wants to have “wellness.” After all, who does not want to be healthy and happy? Yet many people’s actions suggest that they are not interested in being healthy, or they do not understand the consequences of their choices, or their cravings overwhelm their judgment, so they eat too much of the wrong food, smoke, take drugs, etc. So creating wellness must include the following:
1. Explaining the consequences of making poor lifestyle decisions 2. Providing knowledge so that people can make good lifestyle choices 3. Offering programs to help people cope with cravings and addictions 4. Giving incentives to encourage healthy choices
Patient-centered care (PCC) and wellness are integrated, interdependent, critical activities. The concepts and principles contained in these two activities are the best ways to enhance quality of life, increase longevity, and improve healthcare because these ideas work together to do the following:
1. Improve the quality of care as patients become the focal point and decision makers
2. Eliminate delays because there is less demand for healthcare resources
3. Expand access for those with limited or no access to care because resources become available
4. Reduce the costs of healthcare as people consume less 5. Increase patient satisfaction as care improves and costs moderate
Wellness is also about personal responsibility. When people consume more healthcare because they make poor lifestyle choices, shouldn’t they pay more for it? There seems to be a direct and positive link between poor lifestyle choices and more health problems. Some argue that this is too harsh for people in poverty who are financially disadvantaged, often food-insecure, and in many cases, forced to make tough choices from among medical care, food, and affordable housing. Others argue that some people make the right decisions about wellness yet have serious medical problems. A key element in determining how much people pay for health insurance should not be how much healthcare they receive but if they make good lifestyle choices, which means they have a wellness plan and follow it.
