Chewing on Real Health Care Reform

With health care reform braced to begin debate on the Senate floor, America is closer than ever to passing historic legislation. The months of debate and wrangling seem to be heading somewhere on one of the most politically toxic issues of our generation. And though the passage and signing of the bill by President Obama will certainly be one of the triumphs in Washington of the last few decades, it will only be the beginning of solving a much larger problem.

Lower health care costs in themselves will not get to the root of why America is so unhealthy. Here is one of my favorite statistics in the whole debate, which I pulled from Michael Pollan In Defense of Food. In 1960 the nation as a whole spent 5.2 percent of income towards health care while the average American used 17.5 percent of their income towards food. Today that number is 9.9 percent on food and health care has skyrocketed to 16 percent.

There are a variety of factors that can account for this turnabout in how we spend our money. Health care costs have ballooned as doctors, insurance, and drug companies have set out to maximize their profits. Aging baby boomers need more care than ever before. But all in all, I believe the most overwhelming factor contributing to the discrepancy in numbers is the deteriorating quality of food in America and the health problems they cause.

Some of the most dire and expensive health problems our generation face are all closely linked to the food we eat. Eight percent of our population has diabetes due to our overconsumption of sugar substitutes and it is estimated that number could reach twenty percent by the time our generation is graying. Heart disease and obesity, linked to diets high in saturated fats, are simply out of control and growing as well. Various forms of cancer are connected to the preservatives and chemicals we consume every day.

PUTTING MONEY WHERE OUR MOUTH IS

Since the conclusion of World War 2, the food industry has gone about maximizing efficiency at the expense of our health. They adopted the military chemical industry for their own designs, which boosted food production but we lost more environmentally-friendly farming practices. Several laws and regulation passed in the 1970’s by either congress or the FDA gave way to the growing coorporate interests of the food lobby. Food became a major commercial entreprise based solely on the profit model, thus denigrating what food is actually supposed to be (nourishment!).

While one could argue that its up to individuals to make the right decisions eating this just simply is not the case. The food system has become so complicated that even individuals who believe they are eating healthy often are doing otherwise. With so many labels in the grocery store proudly proclaiming their products health benefits, its hard to decipher what actually is healthy and what is not.The food guideline passed in 1977 made it even more complicated, with nutrition standards in the form of industry backed food labels telling us what is good for us.

It is time for the government to step in and make a few changes. Banning high-fructose corn syrup, a cheaper substitute for sugar, would go a long way in reducing the occurrence of diabetes. The meat industry is atrocious, both ethically and for our health, and reforming it would go a long way in improving a handful of things. Reducing and more stringently regulating the use of chemicals in agriculture would reduce the amount of compromised products reaching the grocery store aisles

Regulation such as these would inevitably drive food prices up a bit. But it would restore balance between what we we spend on health versus food, instead of deferring it all to later in life with hospital and medicine bills. With the government on the foothold of passing a 900 billion healt care bill, it is time to step up and change other parts of our way of life which will bring America to a healthier tomorrow.