Fat and Health Care Reform

A Toledo Blade editorial cited a recent study showing that obesity adds $147 billion to health care costs in the US everyyear. Every American deserves the opportunity to avoid catastrophic health care costs, and I sincerely hope that Congress and the Obama Administration find a way to solve the national disgrace of inadequate coverage for so many of us. But far more important than covering routine office visit care for acute illnesses is preventive medicine and incentives for healthy lifestyle choices. This is the only way we will achieve effective medical care and stop spiraling costs.Even Ben Franklin, who suffered terribly from Gout and Obesity, realized that an “ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.

See The Blade (click here), Toledo, Ohio, August 9, 2009