Choices
The Debt Deal and Fiscal Health
So Congress finally agreed on another “debt deal”, after the last of the umpteenth times our politicians have brought us to the edge of a fiscal cliff.
Our society’s spending has been out of control for some time because our leaders, and we as a nation, have a problem with instant gratification and a lack of discipline. Besides worsening our nation’s economic situation, this problem also affects us each individually, and at a very personal level with our health.
Our health costs also continue to soar, and our society’s physical health continues to worsen dramatically. According to the Center for Disease Control, fully two thirds of our population is either overweight or obese; and the problem is worsening exponentially. And as we’ll see, our bad health can stagger our nation economically!
The High Cost of Poor Health Choices
The health consequences of our poor choices are very expensive, according to the CDC (obesity, coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancers, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, liver and gallbladder disease, sleep apnea, respiratory problems, osteoarthritis, and gynecological problems). Almost all expensive chronic disease in our country is related to obesity and more specifically to our poor choices.
One main reason for our unhealthy lifestyles is that we’ve believed the lie that health care is (or will be) mostly free, paid for by insurance companies or the government. If we think a minute, though, we know that nothing is free. No matter how one might try to “redistribute” the cost of health care, it still has to be paid for by us 330 million individual people. The insurance companies and the government get their money from us (or they borrow, and we incur the debt). The more of us who get sick, the more costly it will be for every one of us, individually and collectively, as premiums and taxes continue to rise.
Lifestyle Choices and Their Impact
Insurance and government programs can only work when most of us do not need their services and can afford to spread out the cost of the few who do. With health, if we allow the trend to continue, more than half of us will experience chronic disease, disease that is catastrophically expensive, and categorically preventable (in most cases) by healthier lifestyle choices!
It’s important to realize that our fitness choices matter. One of the best psychological tips to help us take exercise, for example, seriously, because it does matter, is to put it on your calendar. Whether it’s an electronic or a paper calendar isn’t important. Put your exercise times on it right alongside other important appointments. And then treat each exercise session just as seriously as everything else on your calendar. And get it done. But when you do have to skip (for an important reason), just reschedule it for another time that week. So go ahead – schedule your next exercise session!