Letter: Health care and you

From: Ron Rolf
Formerly Winsted
It seems that everyone has an opinion about health care reform, yet one thing I have not seen addressed is an issue that lies at the heart of our healthcare crisis – individual accountability.
In the end it’s up to us to take care of ourselves, not the government. Everyone will also agree that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” just as most will agree that treating everyone equal, or as close to it as we can, is the best policy all around. If people want to practice poor health habits then fine, but those that choose to refrain from those bad habits should not be subsidizing the health care costs of those who do.
Everyone knows that smoking and being overweight is bad for you. We need to exercise more, eat better and get enough sleep. In a nutshell, that’s the secret to good health: don’t smoke, exercise daily, have a well balanced diet and get enough sleep, which is around eight hours for most of us. So easy to do, yet few do it.
So what about this individual accountability? Two of the most serious health concerns are smoking and obesity. Let’s take a look at some statistics:
The United States surgeon general’s report stated that “Cigarette smoking is the major single cause of cancer mortality in the United States.” Because cigarette smoking and tobacco use are acquired behaviors – activities that people choose to do – smoking is the most preventable cause of death in our society.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that 43.4 million US adults were current smokers in 2007 (the most recent year for which numbers are available). This is 19.8 percent of all adults (22.3 percent of men, 17.4 percent of women) – about one out of five people.
About half of all Americans who keep smoking will die because of the habit.
There are many more facts I could cite, but we all get the idea. People I talk to that smoke, including my own wife, just don’t seem to get it. They reason that cancer, or any of the other diseases that smoking causes, will never happen to them. Yet I just had an uncle, a life-long smoker, who died of lung cancer not too long ago, and after 40 years of smoking my mother-in-law’s lung function is so poor that even with medication (which costs Medicare and herself about $500 a month) she cannot climb three steps without resting.
It breaks my heart to see her like that, yet her destiny has always been hers to control.
Both my uncle, wife and mother-in-law choose to smoke, and while hard to quit, it is not impossible. In the end, every smoker out there has a choice and if they choose to continue to smoke then they should be held accountable for what happens to them.
Just like those who are over-weight. The stats are even grimmer.
About 67 percent of adults over 20 years of age are overweight or obese. Today it is estimated that one out of three children are obese. In my opinion a parent that allows their child to become obese should be charged with child abuse. That is an epidemic, and the consequences of obesity are extreme:
• Coronary heart disease
• Type 2 diabetes
• Cancers (endometrial, breast, and colon)
• Hypertension (high blood pressure)
• Dyslipidemia (for example, high total cholesterol or high levels of triglycerides)
• Stroke
• Liver and gallbladder disease
• Sleep apnea and respiratory problems
• Osteoarthritis (a degeneration of cartilage and its underlying bone within a joint)
• Gynecological problems (abnormal menses, infertility)
It is estimated that the total health cost associated with being over-weight/obese is a staggering 147 billion dollars a year. That number is twice the amount associated with smoking. It is so large it’s incomprehensible for most folks to measure it, but here are a few ways of looking at it.
If we took every person living in Howard Lake, Winsted, Lester Prairie and all the country people living in close proximity of these cities, which is approximately 6,000 people, each one of them would get $24.5 million a year. Year after year.
If you filled up 53’ semi trailers with $1 bills (packaged in tight bundles and stacked 8 feet high) the convoy would stretch 23 miles.
That amount is more than the gross national product of 143 countries.
Think about those numbers for a minute and then consider the health care costs associated with just those two issues.
Regardless if your health care if private or public, a person should be held accountable for their choices. It should work like this:
1) If you smoke, or use any tobacco product, then you have to pay more for your insurance.
2) If you are overweight you will pay more for your insurance. Make it a sliding scale. The more overweight the more you pay.
Yes, some insurances companies and employers already do it like this, but the amount $5 to $10 per week deducted isn’t enough. Combining the costs I cited above with the number of smoking/overweight people, it rounds out to $50 a week. That amount still does not take into consideration the costs of the tobacco products, or junk food, which will be around another $50 a week.
You still need to consider the children in a household and not just the adult that pays for the insurance, so for each child that is overweight add another $5 to $10 a week. Realistically it would be extremely difficult to track and enforce any policy to this degree, nor would any expect 100 percent compliance, but when the parents choose good health practices the child normally follows. The goal here is not to take more of your hard earned money, but rather get you to make smart and healthy choices that will reduce our health care costs.
The numbers come out to $5,200 (net) a year, which for most people represents 10-20 percent of their net household income. Over 40 years that is $208,000 per person. At this level there will be more motivation to quit smoking and/or to start exercising and eating right.
Just telling a smoking or overweight person to stop their bad habits is not enough. They need to be hit where it hurts –the pocketbook. If they choose to continue their unhealthy ways then at least they are paying for the increased healt hcare costs associated with their habit.
Some may argue that this would put more government into our lives, not less, but the way we are heading is simply unsustainable. We have millions of people who will require health care that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars per person, yet throughout their lives they would have only paid in a fraction of that cost.
So why not start being accountable today? Put out that cigarette once and for all. You don’t need it and yes, you are strong enough to quit. Bypass the donuts and fast food junk and eat some fruit instead. Get off the couch and take a walk at a brisk pace, or jump on a bike, or lift some weights. You don’t need to join a gym to do these things either, just do them.
Then stop with the excuses and do these things every day. And yes, you do have the time. You don’t need to spend an hour or two each day; just 10 or 15 minutes will make a difference. The key is to do them every day.
Once you start to do these things you will find that your stress levels drop, your energy levels rise, your clothes fit better, you look good, you smell better (if only a smoker could smell themselves after a cigarette), and your overall well being has improved.
Then take pride in the fact that by doing these positive and life changing events you have become a role model for the rest of your family and friends, many who will join you on your journey to better health.
Oh, and there is a strong chance you just contributed to the reduction of America’s health care costs.