Obama says he will slow the rise of healthcare costs.

Healthcare costs are constantly up for debate right now, but costs are high enough already...there should be a way to decrease them rather than slow the increase. In our current healthcare system, we try to cover up whatever ails us. Have a headache? Take an Advil. Don't worry about asking why you have a headache. But what if we did ask why? What if we actually started targeting the root causes of the diseases and ailments rather than simply treating the effects? As a whole, we would require fewer doctor visits, fewer tests, and fewer medications. That would equal less cost for us.
However, for this to be cost effective for the average American consumer, insurance companies would actually have to pay for more than medication. They would have to look at chiropractors, certain therapists, nutritionists, and others as vital to healthcare. Also, doctors don't get paid for talking. The typical goal is to see how many patients can be in and out each day. They don't get paid extra to talk for an hour to diagnose the cause of the problem.
Targeting the cause instead of the effect is not easy. Most of us don't want to change our lifestyle or give up our favorite foods. But if we're unwilling to change any of it, then we can't complain about higher health costs. As a nation, our health is getting worse. With the current healthcare system, our worsening health requires more doctor visits, more tests, and more medication. That all has to be paid for somehow.
I believe the government is looking backwards at the healthcare problem. Their current stand keeps us sick so that an expensive healthcare system is necessary. They slack on junk food advertising regulations and allow medicines to enter the market without proper testing (Have you ever noticed how many medicines are recalled or taken off the shelves because of health problems that arose from it? Or the TV commercials where a lawyer asks if you took a certain medicine because you may be able to sue the pharmaceutical industry for a disease caused by that medicine?)

I'm not sure where all of this rambling got me or if I even made any sense. I just heard it in a radio broadcast that "Obama says he will slow the rise of healthcare costs" and thought it was a ridiculous statement.