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Is He Right?

By: NWHF Staff | Posted on: May 8th, 2009 | Share:
Categories: Editorial Notes

I was chatting with my friend, “Illinois” Doug Tracy the other day, and mentioned Community Health Priorities.

“What’s it about?” he asked.

“Well,” I started, “It’s based on the idea that in an enlightened society, you wouldn’t spend an average of $7,500 a year for every American on medical care, as we do in the United States, and relatively little to address the root causes of health, like access to healthy food and physical activity, and preventing behaviors such as smoking and substance abuse. It’s based on the idea that a properly organized state would empower people in their communities to walk and bike more. You’d have schools where kids have plenty of physical activity, and healthy nutrition. Connect schools with local farms, man!”

“Isn’t it insane,” I went on, “that schools continue to cut physical activitiy when research clearly shows that it makes kids study better?”

“Wouldn’t it be nice,” I asked, “if our office buildings were constructed in a way where people defaulted to using stairs when possible, instead of elevators always placed front and center the way they are now?”

I started to get a little louder so Illinois Doug took a step back.

“Don’t you think that in an enlightened society, we would be subsidizing local, sustainable organic farms, and not industrial corn producers, which leads to the dirt cheap high fructose corn syrup that ends up in sodas and sweets, and even in hamburger buns?”

“It just makes sense,” I said to him, “that instead of spending all those dollars on medical care, much of which is ineffective, and even dangerous, we spend even twenty percent of that on community programs that actually protect, monitor and improve the public’s health - like well baby visits for new moms, childhood obesity prevention programs, and tobacco-cessation services. After all, studies have shown that spending as little as $10 per person on proven preventive interventions could save the country over $16 billion in just five years!”

“And the way we’d get to all is,” I went on, “is by soliciting input from the public.”

“What do you think of that?” I asked.

“I think you’re making a fatal mistake,” he said.

“You’re starting with the assumption that we live in an enlightened society.”