Enough With the Twinkies

This past week I saw a patient weighing 700 pounds who needed his tracheostomy tube changed. It got me thinking about how much is being spent on this person’s care who has a chronic disease that is mostly or predominantly self-inflicted. The real change that is required in today’s health system is to affect people’s health and lifestyle choices and incentivize people to live a healthy existence. A significant portion of health care dollars are spent on people with largely preventable chronic disease. By changing people’s behavior to live a healthier lifestyle we will be a more productive society, spend much less on health care, and empower the individual to control his own health status.

Where in this bill is the incentive to get people to get off their couches and go for a walk? Where is the incentive to stop eating twinkies and devil dogs and instead get a fruit or some nuts? Where is it in this bill that encourages people to stop lighting up those tobacco cancer sticks? Where is the incentive to empower the individual to take control of his/her decisions to pursue a healthy lifestyle? The answer is it is not there because the designers of the bill do not want to put any responsibility on the individual. They do not care to empower the individual, only to create more reliance on government.

The true method to control run-away health care costs is to create a system where good health is paramount and incentivized. This will lead to a dramatic decrease in the use of services. Continuous cutting of payments to providers is not productive. It leads to rationing, poor quality health care, and eventually a lower quality of providers. Remember, you get what you pay for. If you pay providers less you will get less, guaranteed.

The question remains how one creates incentives that will coerce the individual to put down the twinkie or get off the couch and go for a walk. One would think that just the fact that a healthier life leads to a longer and more enjoyable life would be incentive enough. For some this is the case but obviously not for many. Financial incentives would probably be an incentive for some and should be used. Encouragement by a role model such as a parent or doctor or athletic star may work. This is where I think BO could have a dramatic and long lasting impact.

BO should explain to his constituents that they should not rely on government but they need to assume personal responsibility to make the right health choices. He should actively encourage all people to throw down the yodels, turn off the TV and go for a walk with their child, spouse or parent. He has a powerful ability to influence the lifestyle of many people, especially young people, and should focus on empowering people to live healthier lifestyles. This is the most important step he can take as president to improve the lives of people and will also lead to a dramatic decrease in health care spending.