Saturday, March 26, 2005
Health Has a New Spokesperson
Columnist David Sanders from the Arkansas News Bureau wrote a great article on March 16 titled "Health has a new spokesperson". In it, he credits Governor Huckabee for taking his personal story and using it to bring attention to the serious health and healthcare concerns facing this country. The following are excerpts from Mr. Sanders' column, including links within it to related articles we've published previously on this blog. You can find the column in its entirety by clicking the headline of this post.
It would be easy to focus only on all the theater that surrounds Huckabee's weight loss and discovery of athletic prowess. However, it would be a great disservice to ignore the message.
It is more than a feel-good story. His message should be a wake-up call for a country that has seen health care costs spiral out of control. To understand the U.S. health care system is to know that the current structure cannot be maintained.
A recent actuarial study of the system projected that within 10 years the average cost for health care per person will go from $6,000 yearly to nearly $12,000. An increase of this magnitude will further hamper the private sector's ability to cover the cost of health insurance and will create an enormous strain on federal and state budgets due to the increased cost in Medicare and Medicaid.
The payment structure is not the current system's only problem. Consider the increase in type 2 diabetes diagnoses. Some doctors claim the expansion of the condition is an indictment of a culture consumed with poor dietary habits and a lack of exercise. The governor's affliction with this disease is what caused him to change years of bad habits.
A message of healthy living is a must for a country that doesn't want its economy to go broke spending more on health care. There must be fundamental changes to the country's health care system, changes which give patients a stake in how health care dollars are spent and rewards healthy living.
Huckabee's newfound health makes him a natural messenger. I hope people will listen.
Great column, David!
BSR
