Back in 1990 my wife and I were faced with a decision of epic proportions.

Truthfully, I was unaware of just how staggering the potential consequences were until just recently as they have been brought into the national spotlight. Ss I look back, I see where that decision led us and the lessons it has taught us. And I see the paths of others we have crossed whose lives have impacted ours as a result, but for this one decision we probably never would have met. The decision we were faced with was that of health care, and as the company I worked for was making a change in that regard due to its own growth, I was faced with changing from the policy I had under Cobra to a much more expensive one, or going it alone.

Now, if we wanted, we could get mired in all the modern rhetoric regarding universal health care, your opinion versus mine. But the truth is that we need to get beyond opinion and find real answers. In Proverbs 22 we are told, “A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.” On that day in 1990 as my wife and I opted out of the insurance industry for the next 12 years, I told her that from then on out, it would be incumbent on us to take responsibility for our own health care and to do as much for ourselves as we could before relying on others. In short, we would have to put into practice in regard to health what Solomon is saying here in Proverbs, the same thing Benjamin Franklin meant in his maxim, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

While I recognize there are health issues for which there is no prevention, Americans by and large have the Humpty Dumpty syndrome: They engage in risky or damaging behaviors and expect others to put them back together when they get broken. The truth is that health care would not be so expensive if we would just learn to modify our own behavior. Take for instance orthodontics. While many orthodontic patients are treated for congenital abnormalities, I was amazed to learn that there are some who might otherwise never require an orthodontist’s services were it not for their childhood pacifier, but because of parents who allowed them to have it too long, their gums and teeth became malformed and then needed attention.

Folks, the medical industry will tell you that there are a whole host of preventable diseases out there. Sexually transmitted diseases are all preventable and condoms are not the answer, but keeping it monogamous and within marriage are. Type II diabetes is another one, medical science warning us about our diet and exercise, yet how many of us care to curb the waistline appetite?

Let me give you one more: Influenza. While I am not going to say “don’t get vaccinated,” I will say that I have never gotten one. Though vaccination may help, you need to know that because viruses mutate so quickly, they cannot vaccinate you for every strain. However, there are behaviors that can help, one as simple as just washing your hands. Think about it. We touch with our hands and then stick them in our mouths and eyes without thought. And bear this in mind the next time you leave a public restroom, trusting everyone else to wash their hands before leaving.

Another behavior is one we just stumbled upon which concerns the foods we eat. Early on in our marriage we could almost count on getting the flu each season, even violently so. After we began being more health conscious, we came across an article on pork that really pricked our attention because that had become our main meat source. This article cited many government findings that not only does pork contain over a dozen parasites that causes a whole host of illnesses, but the conventional wisdom about cooking it thoroughly was largely a fable. To make a long story short, while we didn’t completely kick the pork habit, we did severely restrict it, and since that time, the early 1990s, have had nothing more than a mild touch of the flu at most, and many years nothing at all.

While I am sure that there are those who will scoff at such suggestions, how health care is approached is indicative of who we are. What we really need today is for Americans to take the initiative so they won’t need so much health care. The only question that remains, biblically speaking, is whether or not, as a individuals, there is enough intellect to accomplish this on a national level.

Ron Hamman is pastor of Independent Baptist Church of Wasilla. Contact him at 357-4229 or rghamman@mtaonline.net.