Health Care/Joan Retsinas

What Would Pangloss Do in This Not-So-Best of All Worlds?

The health news rolls forth, drumbeat by drumbeat. COVID on the rise, followed by monkeypox. Opiates still killing Americans. The first case of polio surfaces in a — no surprise — unvaccinated child. The Supreme Court nixes legal abortion, gun regulations, clean air safeguards. Health insurance premiums are rising, to complement the rising costs of food, gas, housing.

As we enter this glum time, we must search for the foolhardy optimism of Dr. Pangloss, the naive tutor in Voltaire’s “Candide.” In the face of calamities, he exuded good cheer. His motto: “in this best of all possible worlds, everything happens out of absolute necessity, and everything happens for the best.”

So in today’s world, perhaps a bit — just a bit — of Panglossian optimism would serve us well.

What to do to find the glimmer of optimism?

Look forward to progress. Markets cycle up and down: We had high interest rates; we had low interest rates; we are returning to high ones. We have suffered from diseases where millions of people died; think of smallpox, polio, diphtheria, tetanus, influenza. But we developed vaccines that spared many of us. We outlawed abortion; then we allowed it; now we have outlawed it. Stay tuned for the next iteration. Today more Americans have health insurance than two decades ago. The scourges of today will ebb, though other scourges may succeed them.

We can bolster bolster our health, physical and mental, in these not-so-best times.

Drive safely. Accidents — if they are not fatal — leave drivers and passengers, regardless of fault, with serious debilitating expensive injuries. Forget the cell phones, the texts, the cocktail before leaving a party.

Stop smoking. You will improve your health risk profile, while paring your budget.

Lose those five or 10 or 15 pounds your physician has been telling you to lose. The secret: eat less prepared food, eat less junk, and overall eat less. You will reduce your food budget as well as your weight.

Walk more. Bicycle. Bundle shopping expeditions to be more efficient. With gas topping $5 a gallon, you will spare your transportation expenses.

Spend less on stuff you could do without. The COVID lockdown taught us that we need not shop as a recreational outlet. Most of us have enough clothes, gizmos, toys — we don’t need more.

For recreation, take hikes — they will lower your blood pressure, strengthen your muscles, bolster your mood. Read. Go to the library to grab the novels you’ve been meaning to read. Join a book group - sociable people live longer, are healthier than loners.

If you own a gun, lock it up, away from children. Children can get hold of unlocked, loaded guns more readily than adults imagine, and even young children can pull triggers.

Don’t skimp on preventive health care measures, like mammograms, pap smears, colonoscopies. Comprehensive insurers want you to get these — not so much for your wellbeing, but to save those insurers’ bottom lines. The cost of preventive measures pales beside the cost of surgeries.

Take whatever medications you are supposed to take. Hypertension is a national problem; drugs help, as do exercise and diet. Yet only one in four adults with hypertension has it under control. The CDC reports that 38% of adults have high cholesterol. Statins, as well as diet and exercise, help control cholesterol. If you have diabetes, take insulin.

Finally, get political: recognize that you influence the laws and regulations that govern you. Lobby for changes you want, lobby against changes you do not want. Join groups of fellow-minded citizens. Get to know your school board, your city council, your state legislators. They need your votes. Psychologists talk about the “locus of control.” Recognize that you are in control of more of your world than you may imagine.

Joan Retsinas is a sociologist who writes about health care in Providence, R.I. Email retsinas@verizon.net.

From The Progressive Populist, September 1, 2022

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