News, Notes & Bylines

Amid the utter chaos that is the health care debate, I recently read op-eds that voiced an aspect of this issue I believe needs much more attention: health. Take a look at the unhealthy trends and increasing obesity in our society, and you’ll see my point. How can you furiously argue over health care reform when you don’t take care of your own health? Can you really oppose rising health care costs when you are also contributing to them?

In a Sept. 9 New York Times op-ed, Michael Pollan cites a study that explains why the US spends twice as much per person as most European countries on health care: we’re fatter. He writes: “Even the most efficient health care system that the administration could hope to devise would still confront a rising tide of chronic disease linked to diet.” This is an relevant, crucial point, yet one that goes largely ignored.

Wasteful spending has become a catchphrase in Washington, and politics in general, yet the media doesn’t make a fuss about how three-quarters of health care spending goes to treat “preventable chronic diseases”–most of which are related to diet. There’s a big problem here. So, why don’t I recall Obama discussing the food industry during his speeches?

Though I don’t agree with Bill Maher on all fronts, he does get it right in his Sept. 18 post on the Huffington Post. He writes: “President Obama has identified all the problems with the health care system, but there’s one tiny issue he refuses to tackle, and that’s our actual health.” Until that issue comes up, until the food industry and diet problems are dealt with, health care will continue spending large sums of money that could just as easily be saved.

By focusing on the big insurance companies with high premiums and unaffordable policies, we’re tackling part of the problem, but not the heart of it. They are symptoms of the more deeply-rooted societal problem of diet, lifestyle and the country’s food industry.