Curmudgeon's Corner

For All Our Getting...

Posted by Al Campbell on June 12, 2009

Healthcare, Quality of Life, U.S.

For all our getting, let us get healthy.

The CEO of Safeway Stores published an Op-Ed piece in the Wall Street Journal this morning and his story was remarkable.  On a purely voluntary basis, 74% of the non-union workforce participate in their "Healthy Measures" program in return for discounts on their health insurance premiums.

During the four years that this program has been in use, Safeway has kept its per capita health care costs flat...no increase...in spite of the fact that health care costs have increased nationally by 38% in that time period.

The "secret"?  We are our own worst enemies when it comes to our own health.  70% of health care costs are driven by our behavior.  74% of of all costs are caused by four chronic conditions: cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity.  80% of cardiovascular disease and diabetes is preventable.  60% of cancers are preventable.  More than 90% of obesity is preventable.

Our health care insurance premiums reflect our own bad behavior, our own bad judgment about self and our our own health.

We can begin to solve the "health care" problem much less expensively than through a government mandated program that will cost trillions of dollars over the next ten years.

Look in the mirror and be honest with your self, then get started on the project.  Look around you and encourage family members to take similar action.

Really, haven't we known secretly that we are our own worst enemy when it comes to health? Isn't it finally time that we do something about that, or do we really think that government can cure the problem?

Are we really in such a sorry state as to be unable or unwilling to admit to ourselves that we could do better?

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The Curmudgeon Blog today is titled "Only Union Health Care Won't Be Taxed?".