Roughly, 80% of health care spending the in United States - that's eight out of every ten health care dollars - goes to treat chronic illnesses that can be completely or predominantly treated with diet, exercise, and lifestyle changes. Hypertension, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, joint problems, back problems, type-2 diabetes and all the associated liver and kidney problems: these are all lifestyle diseases.
If Americans would cut out the sodas and unhealthy snacks, walk thirty minutes a day, and weight trained a couple times a week, America's health care costs could be cut dramatically. Dare I say, we could cut wasteful "health care" spending in half. Medicare and Medicaid would be in much better shape because we could be consuming far fewer services. And, this should appeal to people of all status and ideology. Personal responsibility needs to be part of the health care discussion. And we all do have an interest (financial) in the eating and exercise habits of others.
As Michael Pollan says,
Eat food.
Mostly vegetables.
Not too much.
And take a walk.
4 comments:
People will only change when the pain of changing is less than the pain of keeping their same health habbits. That is not the way forward for Americans.
Well said, Kody. Insightful ... but also a bit disheartening. I'd guess there's not much hope that it gets better before it gets much worse.
This is how I used this post in a debate round about universal health care. Thanks much!
Nice one, Jordan. Glad to be off service - and thanks for the compliment.
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