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Secret Health

When I first arrived to America, I was not aware that a person's health is a deeply private business in this country. Once I wrapped my head around that concept, things I observed around me started to make sense. It is no surprise that Google's foray into healthcare is triggering all kinds of concerns. 

I grew up in a family of hypochondriacs who loved to discuss their many imagined ailments and compare notes of such with each other with great earnestness. There were also a few "protesters" in the mix that refused to participate in any of this negativity. Their strategy was to not discuss any health issues at all until they ended up in an emergency room with some complex, full-blown problem. My maternal grandfather never left that emergency room and he was not yet sixty at the time. 

Given the extremes we saw around us, it was hard for my generation of kids in the family to work out their relationship with health. I find we tend not to discuss it - it ranges from disinclination, to disinterest to denial. This is not a topic to bring up when we meet each other after years sometimes decades - so much easier to chat about the hijinks of our childhood and youth. While its great to laugh together and relive times past, I don't think it serves us particularly well though. There is no need belabor the minutiae of every ache, pain, numbness, tinging, cracking, ringing etc during dinner, at lunch, at tea-time, on vacations, at weddings, at funerals and more - but maybe it is healthy not to shroud health in complete secrecy. 

 I have to admit I have benefited from the wisdom of the crowds myself without overwhelming anyone with too much information.
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