A Heathy Earmark

Harvard Business Publishing's recent Daily Stat was one of those that amazed; it quotes a McKinsey report that 34% (yes, more than one-third!) of Americans are considered obese. This represents over 100 million people! Worse, this has doubled since 1980; so in the last 30 years, the number of obese people in the United States has gone from below 50 million (bad) to more than 100 million (horrible).

I wrote about preventative health a little while ago, where I related that we spend $2 trillion on health care in this country.  Someone who is morbidly obese (40+% Body Mass Index) is part of the fastest growing segment of the obese (mind-boggling) requires about $7,500/year in health care costs, almost twice what a non-obese adult costs. If we were to go back to the obesity rates of 1980 (just below 17%), we'd save the country $60 billion! That's on top of the $40 billion that Americans spend on trying to get thin in 2004. I'm guessing it's higher now.

In many cases, obesity is involuntary, due to medical causes. I figure (and I'm just guessing) that accounts for 15-20% of the population. Which leaves 80+ million people who are able to do something about their weight, and avoid the fate of being unhealthy, having a poor quality of life, and maybe even being unhappy.

Most of the 80 million people are adults; they are set in their ways, and would struggle mightily to alter their lifestyles and diets to regain their rightful shape, though this is not to say they shouldn't try. But I bet there are at least 15 million children who are obese or morbidly obese in this country, and for most of them, habit is not a problem. They can be helped.

What can be done? How can it be done at scale?

One obvious place to start would be the schools. And there, three things come to mind:

1. Improve the quality of food in the cafeterias and vending machines - only natural, healthy food allowed.
2. Change the rewards that teachers give students for doing good work, no more candy or sweets.
3. Require extensive physical education curriculum, and make it mandatory for all grades in every semester - every student must get exercise for at least an hour/day.

Each of these can easily be implemented, and end up saving money! The problem is, they will cost the education system money but save the health care system more. While this creates a net positive effect, the problem is that the education system is already strapped, and are over-budget already, and simply can't afford to add new dietary programs and physical education classes.

Well, can the health care system (public and private insurance carriers, etc.) just pay to do these three things in all public schools in the country? Think of the PR boost they would get, the amount of focus this would get in the national ethos, and hopefully how it might inspire those not in school to also evaluate their lifestyles? Remember that they'd actually come out ahead by doing this.

Imagine

Imagine if kids didn't need to bring lunch from home because a healthy lunch was available at school. Imagine if each child graduating from secondary school could run a 10K, play a team sport or do something else that demonstrated their fitness.

Imagine that after graduating, young people hate the idea of not exercising every day, and abhor junk food? I know that some restaurants (if you can call them that) would not be happy, so be it. Imagine a situation where we didn't have the incidents of diabetes, obesity, heart conditions, cholesterol problems, etc. that beset so much of this country today!

Now imagine if despite doing all of this, the nation's economy was made stronger because we were spending less on health care, and our citizenry was healthier and more productive?

That's something worth fighting for.

How does one lobby Congress to put earmarks for education diet and fitness in health care bills?