Report: U.S. Is Very Sick - But There Are Inexpensive Fixes

WASHINGTON - Oct. 5, 2023 - PRLog -- A new comprehensive report (https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/interactive/2023/american-life-expectancy-dropping/?itid=hp-top-table-main_p001_f004) shows that the U.S. is a very sick nation with a plummeting life expectancy, chronic diseases debilitating far too many Americans during their most productive years, and enormous and completely unnecessary medical care costs which everyone winds up paying.

But the successes which have already been achieved in the U.S. with regard to smoking, and in other countries with regard to obesity, show how we can fight these two most deadly and most expensive public health crises,

The CDC warns (https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fast_facts/cost-and-expenditures.html) that "Cigarette smoking cost the United States more than $600 billion in 2018."

Unfortunately, almost all of that totally unnecessary cost is borne by nonsmokers in the form of higher taxes, increased costs of goods and services, and ever increasing rates for medical insurance, says Banzhaf.

Another study (https://milkeninstitute.org/sites/default/files/reports-p...) explains that "The total cost of chronic diseases [in the U.S.] due to obesity and overweight was $1.72 trillion."

But there are simple and very inexpensive and proven steps which the U.S. can and should take to slash the costs of obesity.

For example, the U.S. can slash its obesity rate by taking the same simple steps which Chile took more than four years ago, and which other countries are beginning to follow:

● Raising the tax on sugary soft drinks
● Adopting advertising restrictions on unhealthy foods
● Enacting bans on commercials for unhealthy foods during certain hours
● Employing bold front-of-package black-box warning labels on especially fattening foods
● Insuring that there are no more cartoon characters on sugary cereal boxes
● Imposing a ban on junk foods in schools

Restrictions on smoking have been proven to be the most effective way to get people to quit or not to start smoking.

Yet almost 40% of current U.S. workers are still exposed to secondhand smoke on the job, and over 30% of the U.S. population is not protected by a law requiring restaurants and bars to be smokefree.

Similarly, increasing federal, state, and even local taxes on tobacco products - which both forces smokers to bear more of the cost of their unhealthy and expensive habit while providing them with a powerful incentive to quit - has also proven its effectiveness in reducing smoking rates.

Charging smokers more for their medical insurance - just as they have long been charged more for their life insurance - has also been very effective for the same two reasons.

Finally, using these same tactics on e-cigarettes would also result in far lower costs to all Americans.

http://banzhaf.net/   jbanzhaf3ATgmail.com   @profbanzhaf