Suburban lifestyle, proliferation of fast food, time pressures pushing everyone away from healthy family dinners at the table, consumption of huge unhealthy meals from restaurants, lack of available grocery stores in many areas, overuse of pharmaceuticals. Communities which are not walkable.
Lobbyist influence leads to poor quality food in public schools. Overlitigation and budget constraints have all but eliminated physical education, recess, free time, and outdoor time. A national culture of fear perpetuated by a highly consolidated media means most parents won’t let their kids out of their sight (so they don’t do stuff like ride bikes to the park). A focus on watching rather than playing sports. Aburdly huge schools and an overemphasis on football also push kids away from participation in athletics. A cultural shift increasingly puts kids and adults alike in front of various screens for eight to sixteen hours a day. 90% of people would take an elevator or escalator up one or two stories rather than use an adjacent staircase.
And of course there are the most obvious causes such as the huge and widening wealth gap, lack of universal care, rampant fraud and greed in the health care and pharmaceutical industries, and a general culture of entitlement across the socioeconomic spectrum.
Nice list, ExciteBiker. Not sure about the football thing, though. I also woulndn’t group earned benefits into this list. I think those are a stretch. I don’t see that at all where I’m at. I’d say our food industry needs some blame. We’ve taught almost every animal to eat corn, and along with the hormones we are injected through various medicated feed, we are pumping many fats and poisons into ourselves than humankind did even just 40 or 50 years ago. The availability and affordability of sugary drinks and other empty calorie foods needs some attention. I’m in the food industry. I thought I ate healthy before and now I’ve completely reinvented my diet. Too many eye-openers. The Food and Modernization Act was long overdo. I also like how we are inspecting more of the foods we are importing. I applaud all efforts to make our food safer and healthier as it’s been slipping in those categories for too long.
You can also add that most of the other countries have laws against the chemicals that you find in cattle, chickens, etc. They also outlaw things like high fructose corn syrup, etc.
Restaurants in Europe seem to focus on *quality* of food over quantity–the reverse of the US.
Work-wise, the emphasis is placed on employee well-being. We have the longest work hours, shortest vacations, and generally much higher stress levels than anyplace outside of maybe Japan.
I hardly hold up Europe as the best place to live in the world, with their high threats of terrorism, ENDEMIC high unemployment and high costs of living. That said, we have much to improve here!
“the huge and widening wealth gap, lack of universal care, rampant fraud and greed in the health care and pharmaceutical industries”
– My mother came from extreme poverty. None of her 10 siblings are fat. Neither are their kids.
– Lack of universal healthcare? Even the article admitted those fully covered lag behind the most healthy. So that’s a non-starter.
– “rampant fraud and greed in the health care and pharmaceutical industries” Aside from over-billing those of us with private health insurance to cover the costs of the government programs, all in an attempt to hide the fact the government programs (Medicare, Medicaid) do not pay for themselves (in other words, a stealth tax on every hard-working American) and are outright lies and ponzi schemes to buy the votes of suckers, can you please provide some concrete examples? After all, if your doctor is a fraud and crook, it would be good to know.
While I don’t quibble with much of your post, I wonder where the “rampant fraud and greed” resides. I text my doctor with questions. My orthopedist and I email one another. They do not charge me incorrectly for visits or procedures. I do not get charged for an MRI unless I’ve had one. I pay for my family’s prescriptions.
It seems to me the biggest frauds involved with the entire process are the federal government, which has been bleeding private healthcare dry for decades now, and the trial bar, which drives up doctor’s biggest cost of doing business (malpractice insurance) through frivolous lawsuits designed to line lawyers’ pockets, causing all costs to rise accordingly.
This is one of the (multitudes of) reasons Obamacare is such a joke. The biggest cost driver is the federal government (Obama/politicians), who larded up coverage to buy-off voting blocks, and did nothing to restrain the trial bar (who gives 95% of their donations to the Democrat Party – SURPRISE!). Neither of these were covered by Obamacare, of course(once again, SURPRISE!). After all, campaign cash and buying votes is the priority. Well, at least if one watches their ACTIONS, rather than listen to their BS.
The American people can go to Hell, as far as these leftist politicians are concerned. They are in it for the money.
BTW, kids and sports activity (as well as diet) are reflections on parental involvement. My kids play sports and exercise. In the next 4 days my two sons have 3 outdoor soccer games, 2 indoor soccer games, 2 outdoor soccer practices, one futsal practice and two basketball games. Parenting is the key (they get 1 hr/day of X-Box, PS3 OR TV – their choice). Unfortunately, it seems a lot of parents don’t do much parenting these days.
While I agree with a lot of what you said, doctors are systematically billing incorrectly for services. It’s a rampant problem that is unfortunately exacerbated by the current health-care insurance (HMO, and to a much lesser extent, PPO) system. The editorial written by the head of the Mayo Clinic a few years back was enlightening. If I can locate it, I’ll post it here.
Essentially, what it boiled down to is that HMO’s don’t pay for quality of care, they pay for quantity. Which is why you see so many “come back in 7-10 days” visits and you get seen for 15 seconds.
But if you know anything about medical billing an cpt/icd9 codes, you’ll find they billed your health insurance for a level 3 or 4 visit. (doctor’s visits have a range of 1-5, 1 being a 15 second stop-in, and 5 being the kind of visit where you are told you have terminal cancer.). Doctor’s bill that way, and often, because of the amount that HMO’s contracturally binding them to accept.
Frankly, our health care system sucks. It needs a drastic huge overhaul to really show a positive change and benefit to the general populace–and should be designed by the people who really know what, and how, patients should be seen and treated. It should *not* be designed by politicians.
I agree that our current healthcare system sucks and the ACA is not a panacea. I don’t know if our system can be fixed, but we have to try. What is the next step?
First and foremost, there needs to be a paradigm shift for both healhcare professionals and patients alike: Convincing them quality of care is more appropriate than quantity.
The next two things I would think need to happen are people need to start recognizing the value of preventative care (checkups, nutritional and health counseling, etc) be proactive instead of reactive. (Yet another paradigm shift.)
The last of the three things that come to mind (and systematic of a larger problem in the drug industry) is to ban all drug commercials from broadcast (news, internet, radio) media. It’s ridiculous that people go in telling doctors what they think they need, rather than putting the decision making in the hands of the people who are more qualified to make that decision.
January 11, 2013 at 10:43 am
youngin' says:
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I have repeated this many times here, but our healthcare financing system is not a free market system, and any attempts to lower costs without adding the critical ingredient are doomed to only scratching the surface. Patients need to be involved in cost decisions, but are currently shut out of the process by the health insurance companies and healthcare providers. It is the only industry I know of where a customer can visit a service provider, ask “how much is this going to cost?”, and be treated to a blank stare. Unacceptable IMO.
“The report noted that even educated, upper income Americans with health insurance “are in worse health” than similar people in the other countries.”
So when ObamaCare comes into effect and a large majority of Amercians will have health insurance could we not accuratly reason that this statement will be true?
How is access to health insurance going to make people healthier if the rich in the USA are not as healthy as their social-economic contemporaries in Germany, Britian etc?
I’m amazed at how many people on the floor where I work (2nd floor!) take the elevator. Also, two words have degraded peoples health over the years: Super Size!
I will ditto the parental problem. In poor communities (Inner cities) many parents are not really parents. I know I grew up in one. Many could care less what their kids do as long as the kids stay out of the parents face, The parents can collect welfare, get high, have sex and rely on medicaid when the next kid comes. That is one reason why Obummercare is such a joke. All the administration wants to do is dumb down care and try to “take care” of everyone while those who have care get to pay for it while their own healthcare goes to SH*T.
As far as fast food- come on people. You don’t have to stop at a fast food restaurant and you don’t have to buy it. If you can read or watch TV you know how much fat and calorie intake there is. This is another Parent problem. Why, because they are either lazy parents or don’t care what their kids eat. Or eat themselves.
As far as football- I don’t think so. There are so many exercise options for kids today it borders on ridiculous. The Parents need to get the kids involved in outside activities. Or what? or they sit around on their fat As*ess and play video games. Take the video games away and if they are not good enough to play football, enroll them in swimming class or sign them up to play basketball, soccer, baseball, hockey, swiming. archery etc etc. The inner cities have many athletic programs for kids that are free. My kids were involved in Football, basketball, hockey (Actually hockey and football part of the same season), baseball in the spring. My daughters were into gymnastics, on the club and high school swim team and won a state cheer leading championship. No, we did not drive them into everything. They wanted to do it. I had one son who liked to sit around and loved to pay video games. I told him- OK you can play for 1 hour a day. 30 minutes at a time and your done. However, your homework has to be done first and I or mom will check the work. In the summer you will take tutoring in classes you need help with. All of the sudden he wanted to play baseball and then football in the fall. He went on to play in high school and was a pitcher in college. A good pitcher. Imagine that.
This is a parental, societal problem ad we don’t need the Federal government to read labels for us and tell us not to eat at certain places.
The Food and Modernization Act President Obama signed into law should have more of an effect than the Right Wing Heritage Foundation’s Affordable Care Act that President Obama signed into law.
Bob Dole endorsed it and pushed it in response to Hillary Care. What side was he on again? Heritage Foundation is Sean Hannity’s pimp. What side is he on again? The Left wanted at the very least a public option. Instead, we got Republican reform. They just oppose it because a Democrat (black or not but depends on the Republican voting) implemented it. Barack “The Thunder Robber” Obama. Kind of fits, from what I understand, his jumpshot can bring rain.
Robert Joseph “Bob” Dole (born July 22, 1923) is an attorney and retired United States Senator from Kansas from 1969–1996, serving part of that time as United States Senate Majority Leader, WHERE HE SET A RECORD AS THE LONGSEST-SERVING REPUBLICAN LEADER.
I said CONSERVATIVE, not REPUBLICAN. Hell, that senator in Pennsylvania, oh what’s his name, who, when he lost the Rep. nomination, became a democrat. Arlen Specter. What a joke he was!
January 13, 2013 at 3:51 pm
youngin' says:
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You also asked what side he was on. “Conservative” is not a side.
January 14, 2013 at 7:30 pm
Bob says:
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Captain:
You have a bad habit of switching time, tense, and evaluating history.
You rewrite it.
Let me spell it out for you: Sean Hannity has never endorsed a mandate for health insurance, so it’s odd you would then link that to Heritage Foundation. Guilty by association I guess? *rolls eyes* you have a serious maturity issue with that comment.
Moving on, it does not matter if Bob Dole endorsed it. Republicans have not made a serious push for it. Bush endorsed a mandated 401k contribution. Obama tried to push it as well. So is Obama putting in place a right wing policy if it goes in place?
I think we can clearly also state many times you have said republicans are for deregulation.
So remind me: Is forcing people to buy insurance regulation or deregulation?
Your beliefs are never consistent and are twisted. Some of what I said sounds off topic but it isn’t.
Let’s weigh this: Republicans are actually anti government. Democrats are pro government.
Obama took away the tax credit for HSA’s, (costing my wife a tax bill of $450 annually) Bush put the tax credit for HSA’s (showing he wants people to have choices).
Putting a regulation on buying insurance is: Democrat. It’s regulation.
Republicans are against the mandate. This did not flip flop as you suggest. Did they pass it in the past or not? The answer: No. They did not pass it. This was not a republican law. And let me say that again for your ignorant mind: THIS IS NOT A REPUBLICAN LAW. Now moving foward, you hate that it’s a REPUBLICAN law, why don’t you hate the DEMOCRATS for passing it, or do we just never blame democrats for anything on your side?
The republicans forced the super majority democrats to put in place a republican health care bill! (then why didn’t the republican CBO scored plan go through, moron)
The republicans were for the health mandate! (then why didn’t they pass it during the 1992-2006 republican majority with a 2000-2006 republican plan moron?)
The majority of republicans, have always, been against, the mandate. That inclusive of Sean Hannity, who you labeled, as usual, which is WRONG.
Interestingly, if you remove recent immigrants-both legal as well as illegal from the mix, the numbers improve for both men and women. That alone makes us unique amongst developed nations-I think you can count the number of immigrants to Switzerland from 3rd world countries on 1 hand.
And the fact that we are more sedentary and eat larger portions(when McDonalds was initially popular the standard meal was a regular hamburger, what would be considered a “small” order of fries and a 8 oz coke-how many of us pass up the quarter pounder with cheese?) have made a huge impact on how we look and feel now in the 21st century.
Cut your portion size by about a 1/3 get out and exercise every day and you’d be surprised at how your health improves.
youngin’, I’m not trying to argue with you, what I’m trying to point out is that political party means almost nothing. Political philosophy means everything. :)
I love when people complain about health issues while eating a gallon of ice cream, or sitting in the drive thru at McDonalds. Hey Fatty McAss!!!! Put down the Double Quarter Pounder w/Cheese, large Coke and Fries, eat healthy foods and see how you feel in a year.
How many of our health issues are related to the chemicals put in food, mostly fast food? Most of my friends work out, bike, rock climb or do something OUTSIDE on the weekends. If you sit your fat ass on a couch and play your Xbox or Wii all weekend, you are GOING TO BE FAT.
This isn’t rocket science. Exercise = better health. There will be some fat person reply that I’m over-simplifying this, but I’m not!! Try this; Get off the internet for a little while and go walking. Can’t walk? Ok, put down the Candy Bar and pick up some Almonds, an Orange or even a Pear. You won’t do it. It’s easier to sit on your size 56 fat rear-end and complain that it is to fix the problem. The problem is YOU Fatty McAss. Do we really need Govt. intervention for you to put down the French Fries?! Geez….
I hear you, UCT. I personally haven’t had fast food in about 9 years. Heck, maybe longer. I try to work out at least 5 times each week unless I’m training for something, in which case I’ll work out more. It’s a simple equation, eat right + exercise (even low impact) = healthy. The toughest part is the eating right. Especially since healthy foods cost way more than the McChubby Sandwich and Lard Fries. That stuff doesn’t even taste good, who can eat that crap?
Believe it or not I actually have lost a lot of weight the past year and am in the best shape of my life and McDonalds is a major part of my diet. I would say I eat it on average close to twice a week. I just never have the buns, ketchup (loaded with sugar), or the fries (ok sometime fries but only a small order rarely, love thoes things lol)
Believe it or not, but you’d be even healthier if you avoided that “food?” all together and made your own meals from your local growers or, in the very least, the outskirts of the grocery store. Steer clear from all the processed food on the interior. And, if you can find a way, try to steer clear of produce not from the US. Irrigation practices in other countries are, how should I say, less than appetizing. I mean, I know what comes around goes around, but give me a break.
@LiveFree. If you think you are in good shape while eating McDonalds you should try NOT eating it – you will feel even better. Try eating real food – not processed, high sodium, high fat(saturated fat), highly unknown ingredient foods like McDonals.
This starts out with BAD data, so the rest of the report is bogus. Why? Well here one example of the misleading information taken at Gospel by people like Susan.
Infant mortality rates are CALCULATED DIFFERENTLY across the nations.
Infant mortality is the number of babies who make it to one year of age divided by the number of “LIVE BIRTHS” and THAT is where the problem arises.
What is a “live birth”?
In the US, we use the WHO (World Health Organization) definition of ANY sign of life–heart beat, gasp of breath, premies, etc. So our standards are the broadest, hence our rate is lower than if we used OTHER nations’ standards.
Austria & Germany don’t count very low birth weight babies; Switzerland doesn’t count those less than 12 inches long; Belgium & France don’t count those born before 26 weeks.
WHO economist John Goodman echoes her sentiments: “taking into account such data-reporting differences,” infant mortality rates in the United States are about the same as those in other European nations (Glueck and Cihak 2005).
Glueck & Cihak are physicians.
Infant mortality depends on your definition of “infant,” and other factors.
In the US, we routinely save babies whose birthweight is as low as 1500 grams. In some other countries, babies born at 2500 grams die routinely.
These babies count as
“stillbirths,” and are not counted as “infants.”
We count as deaths pretermers that other countries do not count as having had a chance to live (therefore not in the statistics). Further, one in 25 live births in the US are from LA County. One in 2 of those is from an undocumented alien. (Source, LA Dept of Health Website). 2% of all kids in the US are undocumented illegal aliens from one county. just think of how many undocumented aliens we have having kids across the entire border. Tell me that our statistics aren’t affected by third world prenatal Mexican medical care.
Suburban lifestyle, IMO.
A partial list:
Suburban lifestyle, proliferation of fast food, time pressures pushing everyone away from healthy family dinners at the table, consumption of huge unhealthy meals from restaurants, lack of available grocery stores in many areas, overuse of pharmaceuticals. Communities which are not walkable.
Lobbyist influence leads to poor quality food in public schools. Overlitigation and budget constraints have all but eliminated physical education, recess, free time, and outdoor time. A national culture of fear perpetuated by a highly consolidated media means most parents won’t let their kids out of their sight (so they don’t do stuff like ride bikes to the park). A focus on watching rather than playing sports. Aburdly huge schools and an overemphasis on football also push kids away from participation in athletics. A cultural shift increasingly puts kids and adults alike in front of various screens for eight to sixteen hours a day. 90% of people would take an elevator or escalator up one or two stories rather than use an adjacent staircase.
And of course there are the most obvious causes such as the huge and widening wealth gap, lack of universal care, rampant fraud and greed in the health care and pharmaceutical industries, and a general culture of entitlement across the socioeconomic spectrum.
Great post!
What youngin’ said.
Nice list, ExciteBiker. Not sure about the football thing, though. I also woulndn’t group earned benefits into this list. I think those are a stretch. I don’t see that at all where I’m at. I’d say our food industry needs some blame. We’ve taught almost every animal to eat corn, and along with the hormones we are injected through various medicated feed, we are pumping many fats and poisons into ourselves than humankind did even just 40 or 50 years ago. The availability and affordability of sugary drinks and other empty calorie foods needs some attention. I’m in the food industry. I thought I ate healthy before and now I’ve completely reinvented my diet. Too many eye-openers. The Food and Modernization Act was long overdo. I also like how we are inspecting more of the foods we are importing. I applaud all efforts to make our food safer and healthier as it’s been slipping in those categories for too long.
touche’
Great post.
You can also add that most of the other countries have laws against the chemicals that you find in cattle, chickens, etc. They also outlaw things like high fructose corn syrup, etc.
Restaurants in Europe seem to focus on *quality* of food over quantity–the reverse of the US.
Work-wise, the emphasis is placed on employee well-being. We have the longest work hours, shortest vacations, and generally much higher stress levels than anyplace outside of maybe Japan.
Visiting Europe was an eye-opening experience.
I hardly hold up Europe as the best place to live in the world, with their high threats of terrorism, ENDEMIC high unemployment and high costs of living. That said, we have much to improve here!
“the huge and widening wealth gap, lack of universal care, rampant fraud and greed in the health care and pharmaceutical industries”
– My mother came from extreme poverty. None of her 10 siblings are fat. Neither are their kids.
– Lack of universal healthcare? Even the article admitted those fully covered lag behind the most healthy. So that’s a non-starter.
– “rampant fraud and greed in the health care and pharmaceutical industries” Aside from over-billing those of us with private health insurance to cover the costs of the government programs, all in an attempt to hide the fact the government programs (Medicare, Medicaid) do not pay for themselves (in other words, a stealth tax on every hard-working American) and are outright lies and ponzi schemes to buy the votes of suckers, can you please provide some concrete examples? After all, if your doctor is a fraud and crook, it would be good to know.
While I don’t quibble with much of your post, I wonder where the “rampant fraud and greed” resides. I text my doctor with questions. My orthopedist and I email one another. They do not charge me incorrectly for visits or procedures. I do not get charged for an MRI unless I’ve had one. I pay for my family’s prescriptions.
It seems to me the biggest frauds involved with the entire process are the federal government, which has been bleeding private healthcare dry for decades now, and the trial bar, which drives up doctor’s biggest cost of doing business (malpractice insurance) through frivolous lawsuits designed to line lawyers’ pockets, causing all costs to rise accordingly.
This is one of the (multitudes of) reasons Obamacare is such a joke. The biggest cost driver is the federal government (Obama/politicians), who larded up coverage to buy-off voting blocks, and did nothing to restrain the trial bar (who gives 95% of their donations to the Democrat Party – SURPRISE!). Neither of these were covered by Obamacare, of course(once again, SURPRISE!). After all, campaign cash and buying votes is the priority. Well, at least if one watches their ACTIONS, rather than listen to their BS.
The American people can go to Hell, as far as these leftist politicians are concerned. They are in it for the money.
BTW, kids and sports activity (as well as diet) are reflections on parental involvement. My kids play sports and exercise. In the next 4 days my two sons have 3 outdoor soccer games, 2 indoor soccer games, 2 outdoor soccer practices, one futsal practice and two basketball games. Parenting is the key (they get 1 hr/day of X-Box, PS3 OR TV – their choice). Unfortunately, it seems a lot of parents don’t do much parenting these days.
Have a great day.
Great post Mike N
Not quite, Mike.
While I agree with a lot of what you said, doctors are systematically billing incorrectly for services. It’s a rampant problem that is unfortunately exacerbated by the current health-care insurance (HMO, and to a much lesser extent, PPO) system. The editorial written by the head of the Mayo Clinic a few years back was enlightening. If I can locate it, I’ll post it here.
Essentially, what it boiled down to is that HMO’s don’t pay for quality of care, they pay for quantity. Which is why you see so many “come back in 7-10 days” visits and you get seen for 15 seconds.
But if you know anything about medical billing an cpt/icd9 codes, you’ll find they billed your health insurance for a level 3 or 4 visit. (doctor’s visits have a range of 1-5, 1 being a 15 second stop-in, and 5 being the kind of visit where you are told you have terminal cancer.). Doctor’s bill that way, and often, because of the amount that HMO’s contracturally binding them to accept.
Frankly, our health care system sucks. It needs a drastic huge overhaul to really show a positive change and benefit to the general populace–and should be designed by the people who really know what, and how, patients should be seen and treated. It should *not* be designed by politicians.
I agree that our current healthcare system sucks and the ACA is not a panacea. I don’t know if our system can be fixed, but we have to try. What is the next step?
That’s a hefty question for a quick reply!
First and foremost, there needs to be a paradigm shift for both healhcare professionals and patients alike: Convincing them quality of care is more appropriate than quantity.
The next two things I would think need to happen are people need to start recognizing the value of preventative care (checkups, nutritional and health counseling, etc) be proactive instead of reactive. (Yet another paradigm shift.)
The last of the three things that come to mind (and systematic of a larger problem in the drug industry) is to ban all drug commercials from broadcast (news, internet, radio) media. It’s ridiculous that people go in telling doctors what they think they need, rather than putting the decision making in the hands of the people who are more qualified to make that decision.
I have repeated this many times here, but our healthcare financing system is not a free market system, and any attempts to lower costs without adding the critical ingredient are doomed to only scratching the surface. Patients need to be involved in cost decisions, but are currently shut out of the process by the health insurance companies and healthcare providers. It is the only industry I know of where a customer can visit a service provider, ask “how much is this going to cost?”, and be treated to a blank stare. Unacceptable IMO.
What Mike N says!
“The American people can go to Hell, as far as these leftist politicians are concerned. They are in it for the money.”
Since when did the right become immune to money interests?
“The report noted that even educated, upper income Americans with health insurance “are in worse health” than similar people in the other countries.”
So when ObamaCare comes into effect and a large majority of Amercians will have health insurance could we not accuratly reason that this statement will be true?
How is access to health insurance going to make people healthier if the rich in the USA are not as healthy as their social-economic contemporaries in Germany, Britian etc?
I’m amazed at how many people on the floor where I work (2nd floor!) take the elevator. Also, two words have degraded peoples health over the years: Super Size!
ObumaCare will fix it all, and for free! Anyone need a unicorn?
Mike N hit it on the head- Go Mike Go!.
I will ditto the parental problem. In poor communities (Inner cities) many parents are not really parents. I know I grew up in one. Many could care less what their kids do as long as the kids stay out of the parents face, The parents can collect welfare, get high, have sex and rely on medicaid when the next kid comes. That is one reason why Obummercare is such a joke. All the administration wants to do is dumb down care and try to “take care” of everyone while those who have care get to pay for it while their own healthcare goes to SH*T.
As far as fast food- come on people. You don’t have to stop at a fast food restaurant and you don’t have to buy it. If you can read or watch TV you know how much fat and calorie intake there is. This is another Parent problem. Why, because they are either lazy parents or don’t care what their kids eat. Or eat themselves.
As far as football- I don’t think so. There are so many exercise options for kids today it borders on ridiculous. The Parents need to get the kids involved in outside activities. Or what? or they sit around on their fat As*ess and play video games. Take the video games away and if they are not good enough to play football, enroll them in swimming class or sign them up to play basketball, soccer, baseball, hockey, swiming. archery etc etc. The inner cities have many athletic programs for kids that are free. My kids were involved in Football, basketball, hockey (Actually hockey and football part of the same season), baseball in the spring. My daughters were into gymnastics, on the club and high school swim team and won a state cheer leading championship. No, we did not drive them into everything. They wanted to do it. I had one son who liked to sit around and loved to pay video games. I told him- OK you can play for 1 hour a day. 30 minutes at a time and your done. However, your homework has to be done first and I or mom will check the work. In the summer you will take tutoring in classes you need help with. All of the sudden he wanted to play baseball and then football in the fall. He went on to play in high school and was a pitcher in college. A good pitcher. Imagine that.
This is a parental, societal problem ad we don’t need the Federal government to read labels for us and tell us not to eat at certain places.
The Food and Modernization Act President Obama signed into law should have more of an effect than the Right Wing Heritage Foundation’s Affordable Care Act that President Obama signed into law.
Right Wing? Riiiiiiiiiight, and if you believe that,I’ve got a nanoproducer who is invisible, but writes $3 Million in premium per week.
Just because 10 years ago some political ivory tower type thought it was inevitable, doesn’t mean it’s a “Right Wing” idea.
Bob Dole endorsed it and pushed it in response to Hillary Care. What side was he on again? Heritage Foundation is Sean Hannity’s pimp. What side is he on again? The Left wanted at the very least a public option. Instead, we got Republican reform. They just oppose it because a Democrat (black or not but depends on the Republican voting) implemented it. Barack “The Thunder Robber” Obama. Kind of fits, from what I understand, his jumpshot can bring rain.
I’m not sure what side Bob Dole is on, haven’t heard of him in ages, and he was never a conservative.
Robert Joseph “Bob” Dole (born July 22, 1923) is an attorney and retired United States Senator from Kansas from 1969–1996, serving part of that time as United States Senate Majority Leader, WHERE HE SET A RECORD AS THE LONGSEST-SERVING REPUBLICAN LEADER.
http://www.bobdole.org/
Happy to help!
I said CONSERVATIVE, not REPUBLICAN. Hell, that senator in Pennsylvania, oh what’s his name, who, when he lost the Rep. nomination, became a democrat. Arlen Specter. What a joke he was!
You also asked what side he was on. “Conservative” is not a side.
Captain:
You have a bad habit of switching time, tense, and evaluating history.
You rewrite it.
Let me spell it out for you: Sean Hannity has never endorsed a mandate for health insurance, so it’s odd you would then link that to Heritage Foundation. Guilty by association I guess? *rolls eyes* you have a serious maturity issue with that comment.
Moving on, it does not matter if Bob Dole endorsed it. Republicans have not made a serious push for it. Bush endorsed a mandated 401k contribution. Obama tried to push it as well. So is Obama putting in place a right wing policy if it goes in place?
I think we can clearly also state many times you have said republicans are for deregulation.
So remind me: Is forcing people to buy insurance regulation or deregulation?
Your beliefs are never consistent and are twisted. Some of what I said sounds off topic but it isn’t.
Let’s weigh this: Republicans are actually anti government. Democrats are pro government.
Obama took away the tax credit for HSA’s, (costing my wife a tax bill of $450 annually) Bush put the tax credit for HSA’s (showing he wants people to have choices).
Putting a regulation on buying insurance is: Democrat. It’s regulation.
Republicans are against the mandate. This did not flip flop as you suggest. Did they pass it in the past or not? The answer: No. They did not pass it. This was not a republican law. And let me say that again for your ignorant mind: THIS IS NOT A REPUBLICAN LAW. Now moving foward, you hate that it’s a REPUBLICAN law, why don’t you hate the DEMOCRATS for passing it, or do we just never blame democrats for anything on your side?
The republicans forced the super majority democrats to put in place a republican health care bill! (then why didn’t the republican CBO scored plan go through, moron)
The republicans were for the health mandate! (then why didn’t they pass it during the 1992-2006 republican majority with a 2000-2006 republican plan moron?)
The majority of republicans, have always, been against, the mandate. That inclusive of Sean Hannity, who you labeled, as usual, which is WRONG.
Moron.
Interestingly, if you remove recent immigrants-both legal as well as illegal from the mix, the numbers improve for both men and women. That alone makes us unique amongst developed nations-I think you can count the number of immigrants to Switzerland from 3rd world countries on 1 hand.
And the fact that we are more sedentary and eat larger portions(when McDonalds was initially popular the standard meal was a regular hamburger, what would be considered a “small” order of fries and a 8 oz coke-how many of us pass up the quarter pounder with cheese?) have made a huge impact on how we look and feel now in the 21st century.
Cut your portion size by about a 1/3 get out and exercise every day and you’d be surprised at how your health improves.
You just had to go and mention the Quarter Pounder with cheese. Now, I’m craving grease. Thanks a lot.
Agreed. Great point, said this guy who tries to stay fit. :)
youngin’, I’m not trying to argue with you, what I’m trying to point out is that political party means almost nothing. Political philosophy means everything. :)
I love when people complain about health issues while eating a gallon of ice cream, or sitting in the drive thru at McDonalds. Hey Fatty McAss!!!! Put down the Double Quarter Pounder w/Cheese, large Coke and Fries, eat healthy foods and see how you feel in a year.
How many of our health issues are related to the chemicals put in food, mostly fast food? Most of my friends work out, bike, rock climb or do something OUTSIDE on the weekends. If you sit your fat ass on a couch and play your Xbox or Wii all weekend, you are GOING TO BE FAT.
This isn’t rocket science. Exercise = better health. There will be some fat person reply that I’m over-simplifying this, but I’m not!! Try this; Get off the internet for a little while and go walking. Can’t walk? Ok, put down the Candy Bar and pick up some Almonds, an Orange or even a Pear. You won’t do it. It’s easier to sit on your size 56 fat rear-end and complain that it is to fix the problem. The problem is YOU Fatty McAss. Do we really need Govt. intervention for you to put down the French Fries?! Geez….
I hear you, UCT. I personally haven’t had fast food in about 9 years. Heck, maybe longer. I try to work out at least 5 times each week unless I’m training for something, in which case I’ll work out more. It’s a simple equation, eat right + exercise (even low impact) = healthy. The toughest part is the eating right. Especially since healthy foods cost way more than the McChubby Sandwich and Lard Fries. That stuff doesn’t even taste good, who can eat that crap?
See, Cap’in, we can agree on something. :)
Cheers, Bill!
Believe it or not I actually have lost a lot of weight the past year and am in the best shape of my life and McDonalds is a major part of my diet. I would say I eat it on average close to twice a week. I just never have the buns, ketchup (loaded with sugar), or the fries (ok sometime fries but only a small order rarely, love thoes things lol)
Believe it or not, but you’d be even healthier if you avoided that “food?” all together and made your own meals from your local growers or, in the very least, the outskirts of the grocery store. Steer clear from all the processed food on the interior. And, if you can find a way, try to steer clear of produce not from the US. Irrigation practices in other countries are, how should I say, less than appetizing. I mean, I know what comes around goes around, but give me a break.
@LiveFree. If you think you are in good shape while eating McDonalds you should try NOT eating it – you will feel even better. Try eating real food – not processed, high sodium, high fat(saturated fat), highly unknown ingredient foods like McDonals.
This starts out with BAD data, so the rest of the report is bogus. Why? Well here one example of the misleading information taken at Gospel by people like Susan.
Infant mortality rates are CALCULATED DIFFERENTLY across the nations.
Infant mortality is the number of babies who make it to one year of age divided by the number of “LIVE BIRTHS” and THAT is where the problem arises.
What is a “live birth”?
In the US, we use the WHO (World Health Organization) definition of ANY sign of life–heart beat, gasp of breath, premies, etc. So our standards are the broadest, hence our rate is lower than if we used OTHER nations’ standards.
Austria & Germany don’t count very low birth weight babies; Switzerland doesn’t count those less than 12 inches long; Belgium & France don’t count those born before 26 weeks.
WHO economist John Goodman echoes her sentiments: “taking into account such data-reporting differences,” infant mortality rates in the United States are about the same as those in other European nations (Glueck and Cihak 2005).
Glueck & Cihak are physicians.
Infant mortality depends on your definition of “infant,” and other factors.
In the US, we routinely save babies whose birthweight is as low as 1500 grams. In some other countries, babies born at 2500 grams die routinely.
These babies count as
“stillbirths,” and are not counted as “infants.”
We count as deaths pretermers that other countries do not count as having had a chance to live (therefore not in the statistics). Further, one in 25 live births in the US are from LA County. One in 2 of those is from an undocumented alien. (Source, LA Dept of Health Website). 2% of all kids in the US are undocumented illegal aliens from one county. just think of how many undocumented aliens we have having kids across the entire border. Tell me that our statistics aren’t affected by third world prenatal Mexican medical care.