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YOU: Docs: Health = Money

By: NWHF Staff | Posted on: September 28th, 2011 | Share:
Categories: Economic Issues • Policies & Laws • Food & Nutrition • Public Health

by Craig Mosbaek, CHP Contributor

Public health advocates often say that preventing disease is the best way to reduce the nation’s healthcare costs.  Two recent columns in The Oregonian by the YOU Docs bring this point down to the personal level.  The YOU Docs are Dr. Mehmet Oz, host of “The Dr. Oz Show,” and Dr. Mike Roizen of the Cleveland Clinic.

In last week’s column, the YOU Docs gave a few examples of tradeoffs between more healthy and unhealthy activities.  The right decisions lead to better health and lower health care expenditures.

The first example is great for us in the Northwest, “Grill a salmon burger instead of a beef burger.  Save $20 every time you do.”  The $20 savings includes the cost of future heart disease and wrinkle cream!  Other suggestions include:

Eating salad greens instead of chips and save $500 per month.
Cut out bad fats and eat more nuts, soy, and whole grains, saving $2,400 per year.
Do strength-training exercises and save $7 to $13 a day.

Do the financial incentives motive you?  Well, this week’s YOU Docs column starts off, “Suppose we said you could make yourself healthier, save the economy and bank a million bucks.”

We all know about the behaviors that make us healthier.  And, the YOU Docs explain how our country’s high healthcare costs our hurting our economic competitiveness.  If people become healthier and reduce healthcare costs, that will improve the economy.

The million dollars is part of the new Transformation Nation challenge from Dr. Oz and Weight Watchers.  The challenge includes seven activities to improve your health, from getting more sleep to enlisting a friend to help with losing weight.  One successful Transformation Nation participant will win the $1 million.

The YOU Docs think that the personal financial benefits can motivate people to engage in healthier behaviors.

What do you think? Can the benefits to the economy motivate policy makers to support effective public health policies?