America’s Health Crisis. What Can We Do About It?
Here's some shocking (or not so shocking) news for your regular old work week.
I'm currently reading Metabolical by Robert H. Lustig and he brought up some troubling research that, despite hearing and reading about elsewhere, struck a cord in my perspective of the health problems we face as a country.
When comparing the thirty-seven richest countries on the planet, which together makeup the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), the United States has:
The best doctors, hospitals, and medical technologies
The most innovative surgeries
The newest drugs
The highest healthcare spend per capita
However, do these facts make us Americans healthier?
Do we enjoy better healthcare?
Do we live longer?
Unfortunately, the answer turns out as a resounding no. It's actually the opposite, as the U.S. has the worst health outcomes of any country in the OECD.
In fact of all the OECD countries, the United States is the sickest.
Our drugs and doctors are the most expensive and we spend the most on hospitals.
However, what do we get for all of these perks?
Just take a look at the graph below.
The U.S. spends the most but gets the least.
How can this be the case?
As I've learned over the past few years through my initiative to find the answers, the problem has been growing and compounding for decades and are multi-faceted.
Of the many sad truths that lie behind our current health dilemma, here are a few:
Our foods are highly processed, making them less nutritious and more addictive
Food companies don't provide transparency on the claims about the foods they market
Health Insurance corporations increase rates but still deny coverage
The rates of some of the most lethal chronic diseases are continuing to rise despite higher investments in research and individual treatment, including Diabetes, Alzheimer's, Cancer, and Cardiovascular disease
We've become a more sedentary country with less opportunities and incentives to participate in leisure and active lifestyle hobbies.
And much more.
So, what can we all do as individuals and as a collective to make our homes, communities, and country a healthier place to live?
I for one see myself as an educator.
After all, it's education that grants us the ability to make more informed decisions.
To leave you with a word of encouragement...
We're all one step, one pivot, one decision away from moving closer to a life filled with more energy and vitality.
What's one step you can take to move you closer to that reality?