Why We Need Health Reform | 1

I can't believe how the public is dragging their feet on the supporting healthcare issue.

Oh, but that's right. Their placated by the drugs so many of them are taking for their myriad of health conditions. Wake up people! In a civilized society provide universal healthcare should not be so difficult.

Here's an idea: I'll start a weekly post on the topic until the day comes we actually have a progressive and useful healthcare system that's putting individual health first and foremost--and not coporate profits.

So, for Why We Need Health Reform ¦ 1, may a please direct your attention to a quote Erika Gebel's article on Medscape Today

"Obesity, and with it diabetes, are the only major health problems that are getting worse in this country," said Thomas Frieden, MD, director of the CDC. "This is the first time the CDC has provided a comprehensive approach to obesity prevention and control."

"Childhood obesity has become an obsession of mine," said former president Bill Clinton, who gave the conference's keynote address.

[...]

In his speech, Mr. Clinton announced newly released figures indicating that obesity may have cost the United States $147 billion in 2008 — a sharp increase over the estimated $78.5 billion cost in 1998. The study, published in the journal Health Affairs, showed that an obese (body mass index, >30 kg/m²) person spends $1429 more per year on healthcare than the roughly $3400 per year spent by a normal-weight (body mass index, 18.5 – 25 kg/m²) person with similar characteristics.