“One sine qua non for any future sustainable U.S. health system is the necessity to empower, rather than undercut each citizen’s right to choose health care and take responsibility for his/her own wellness. Countless chronic diseases result from the neglect of basic wellness measures. The blame for underutilizing such proactive, cost-saving approaches lies directly with the official policy of blind reliance on drugs and surgery, whatever the cost. The public has been lulled into medical apathy on the false assumption that if something goes wrong, fix-it mechanics will tune up your body the way a garage tunes up your car.”–Deepak Chopra

“[S]pecial interests are especially numerous and influential in the health-care system. Health care comprises one-sixth of our economy… since cutting costs is tantamount to cutting profits for many of these special interests, it is reasonable to expect (an) all-out war to defeat reform.”–former Sen. Tom Daschle

The premise of this site is the empowered health care consumer. As patients, as consumers, and as providers, we have to partner with the payers, whether they be employers, governments, or ourselves. Often we undermine our own health, thinking we will get a last-minute bailout. When we get the bill and realize there is no bailout, we’re angry.

Well, welcome to the future, in which “Health 2.0″ can produce healthy communities through readily available information. There is plenty of reputable health information online, most of it since Web 1.0, including such well-known sites as WebMD and Medscape. There are sites such as EmpowHer dedicated to women’s health issues, We will point to the trusted places here. We will also help by pointing to reputable insurance providers and ways to navigate the health care system, often entered by consumers when they are at their most vulnerable.

Our vision is to be a trusted source for an empowered consumer. To do that, we will build a community of people who can share experience and information. Aggregating and filtering information that already exists, we hope to create some shortcuts you can use.

If you would like to add your wisdom to this site, let’s talk.