http://www.gallup.com/poll/152912/Hawaii-No-Wellbeing-West-Virginia-Stuck-Last.aspx?utm_source=tagrss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=syndication

It is interesting to see "Bigger pic"- comparisons of well being/wellness represented in different areas Having lived in some of the poorest areas, esp. rural areas in the US..it seems more relevant and the impact comes down to one's own wellness/wellbeing and how one is impacted by illness in one's own family.

I know many people who live in these poor areas- who are quite healthy, without any major illnesses..seem physically and emotionally strong, live long lives- while someone who may be in the "most safe and healthy environments", due to other factors, are not in a "state of personal wellness/good health", obviously, even in a family- the individual health-status/conditions vary.

This article to me (about overdiagnosis), makes a lot of sense to me:

If You Feel O.K., Maybe You Are O.K.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/28/opinion/overdiagnosis-as-a-flaw-in-health-care.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

Excerpts:

"The basic strategy behind early diagnosis is to encourage the well to get examined — to determine if they are not, in fact, sick. But is looking hard for things to be wrong a good way to promote health? The truth is, the fastest way to get heart disease, autism, glaucoma, diabetes, vascular problems, osteoporosis or cancer ... is to be screened for it. In other words, the problem is overdiagnosis and overtreatment.

Screening the apparently healthy potentially saves a few lives (although the National Cancer Institute couldn’t find any evidence for this in its recent large studies of prostate and ovarian cancer screening). But it definitely drags many others into the system needlessly — into needless appointments, needless tests, needless drugs and needless operations (not to mention all the accompanying needless insurance forms).

This process doesn’t promote health; it promotes disease. People suffer from more anxiety about their health, from drug side effects, from complications of surgery. A few die. And remember: these people felt fine when they entered the health care system. It wasn’t always like this. In the past, doctors made diagnoses and initiated therapy only in patients who were experiencing problems. Of course, we still do that today. But increasingly we also operate under the early diagnosis precept: seeking diagnosis and initiating therapy in people who are not experiencing problems. That’s a huge change in approach, from one that focused on the sick to one that focuses on the well.

Think about it this way: in the past, you went to the doctor because you had a problem and you wanted to learn what to do about it. Now you go to the doctor because you want to stay well and you learn instead that you have a problem.Let me be clear: early diagnosis is not always wrong. Doctors would rather see patients early in the course of their heart attack than wait until they develop low blood pressure and an irregular heartbeat. And we’d rather see women with small breast lumps than wait until they develop large breast masses. The question is how often and how far we should get ahead of symptoms.

For years now, people have been encouraged to look to medical care as the way to make them healthy. But that’s your job — you can’t contract that out. Doctors might be able to help, but so might an author of a good cookbook, a personal trainer, a cleric or a good friend.

We would all be better off if the medical system got a little closer to its original mission of helping sick patients, and let the healthy be."