Americans are prodigious users of health care, spending up to 16% of the country's gross domestic product on it, even though almost 50 million people do not have health insurance. All that money and it still only ranks 37th in the world's healthcare systems, according the the World Health Organization.

This is going to get worse. We can expect:

• the number of uninsured to skyrocket as layoffs continue
• the quality of care to decrease as budgets are squeezed from high energy costs
• major breakdowns in an expensive, unsustainable system

If you have special health needs, you must take action now to secure access as best you can to the services and products you rely on.

Everyone should consider purchasing a copy of Where There Is No Dentist, Where There Is No Doctor and Where Women Have No Doctor. If you want to read them online, the PDFs are here.

The medical community is just as reliant on oil — and as unprepared for its peak — as the rest of society. 

Ask your doctor and local pharmacist whether they are prepared for electricity blackouts and brownouts. If they aren't, ask them when they will be and how they will get ready. (You may have to point them to this site.)

Get Fit

Probably the best thing you can do is to get fit. Begin putting exercise into your routine if it isn't already. Your life will include more work in the future as the energy from oil declines.

More Peak Oil and Health Resources

Health After Oil

Peak Oil Medicine