With Congress debating President Obama’s health-care proposals this week, media coverage is extensive. I have a proposal that will reduce the amount of hot air, save on printing costs, and eventually lessen the budget burden Congress’s bill is going to cause. Instead of using health care (10 letters) to refer to this medical and financial train wreck, let’s switch the discussion to talking about health. In so doing we will save 4 letters or 40 percent.
Why do we need to use two words to describe the field of taking care of our well being when one will do? Think of the other big line items in your budget like food, housing, education, clothes, entertainment, taxes, and, if any money is left over, savings. All get by nicely when described by a single noun. So does defense, one of health care’s biggest rivals in the federal budget.
Wellness (8 letters) meets the one-word test but seems a bit too new-age and holistic to appeal nationwide. And it’s the nationwide understanding and buy-in that we need to reduce costs. People should be thinking about improving their health and not just who is going to pay for their health care. Of course we are always going to need doctors and hospitals to treat people when they get sick, have accidents, need check-ups, and a thousand other things. But there are medical conditions that are better treated preventatively by methods like improving nutrition and diet, getting more exercise, dealing with addiction, and reducing stress. A good way to keep medical costs down is to reduce the number of doctor-patient encounters we require.
Switching the debate from health care to health won’t magically save 40 percent in cost. Nor does it relieve the need to have health-care coverage for all Americans. However, what started as a provocative title followed by a tongue-in-cheek suggestion has a serious side. It’s going to take time, maybe several generations, but improving the nation’s health is the best way to keep medical costs from taking an ever-increasing share of the GNP.
Mud Bay Blog 
I like this better. You might take a look at the uses of health care and health-care in the article. I’m not sure why you used the hyphen in the last sentence. Can you think of ways not to use “health care”.