Do You Feel Rewarded For Being Healthy?
Sure, if you are an individual who takes pride in sustaining a healthy lifestyle, you may find the intrinsic benefits in cognitive function, bodily strength and even a fruitful appearance. The science is clear, the more health conscious decisions you make the better outcomes you will have. Yet, are the rewards of a healthy lifestyle worth the travails in doing so?
The Set Up
Our collective health as a nation is turning out to have much more of an impact than expected. In addition to rising cancer rates and chronic conditions, the impact comes in the form of dollars out of pocket. The pockets of both yours and mine.
The U.S. healthcare system, with the inclusion of the food and agriculture industries, has completely capitalized on the free market economy. There is no doubt that this free market healthcare system has lead innumerable advances in medicine and treatment. Innovation is maximized in a free market. Nevertheless, the extreme capitalists have capitalized and introduced waste into the system (again, looping in food and agriculture) to the detriment of the consumers of healthcare.
These Are Your Choices
The food industry has nailed it down to a science. When walking into a large company such as Tyson Foods or Kraft Heinz, you don’t see a traditional setting such as one you would see at your favorite local restaurant. You would most likely notice men and women in white lab coats testing formulas with synthetic components.
With high comparison to the recidivous algorithms of Facebook and Youtube, the calculated formulas designed by food corporations target specific receptors in the brain reeling you back in. All while making you unhealthier by the handful. This is what psychologists term ‘addiction pathways’.
Why is it legal for food corporations to do this? Because. It’s only one box of cereal. It’s only one bag of pizza rolls. It’s only one quarter-pounder meal. Consumers have the choice to consume whichever they choose. It’s a free market after all. Though, when consumers by the millions begin to buy products like these for nearly every meal of the day, there begins an epidemic.
Inflammation shoots through the brain, clouding the communication between the amygdala and prefrontal cortex. Decisions become poorer, relationships start to suffer, and mental health begins to degrade. A growing increase of belly fat storage has begun straining the ligaments and muscles of the back putting the spinal cord under unexpected pressure. These are among the countless symptoms of a life devoid of nutritional value.
You Reap What You Sow
Speaking of nutritional value, this might be a good time to introduce the mesmeric role of agriculture. A role that has overseen the staggering decrease of literal nutrients from our food. Since the introduction of the plough, farmers have used a process of ’tilling’ the soil before planting seeds. This process, over decades and centuries, has reduced the biodiversity found within the soil that accounts for nutrient accumulation.
The corn you purchase from the grocery store has significantly less nutrient density than it a century ago, organic or not. This also goes for the steak you purchased (think: what do factory cows eat?). The agriculture system supports these processes because it produces the largest quantity of food for the lowest price. The only nuance with that philosophy is how you define food.
The nutritional choices you make as a consumer are not as free-willed as you might have hoped.
“Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness.” — Thomas Jefferson
Save Me, Doc
Thankfully doctors are able to save and treat us. They perform under the segment I like to call ‘reactive medicine’. A sudden gunshot wound, an athletic injury, hip replacements, are under the umbrella of reactive medicine. This of course, also includes reacting to the subsequent issues of individuals living a life devoid of nutritional value.
Whether chronic heart disease or diabetes is the subject of treatment, there is an ever-growing list of conditions healthcare providers must tackle. Billions of dollars in research grants and investments in new hospital developments, in tandem with a constant flow of patients to treat, has lead to an expansive market in reactive medicine.
There is little doubt that medical professionals are making constant progress in treating those afflicted with the various diseases of the world. The only issue is, the medical field has little power in altering the decisions individuals make prior to initially entering the doctor’s office.
Pay Up
Why does the health choices of others concern individuals like you and me? The answer is complex, yet one can confidently point a finger towards insurance. All individuals need health insurance and there is little nuance in policies. Whether you are the one who takes pride in sustaining a healthy lifestyle or not, young or old, insurance organizations treat everyone more or less as equals. Therefore, the amount people pay for insurance is more or less equal, especially when discussing government insurance (Medicare & Medicaid).
With more individuals and conditions to treat, medical providers must somehow be reimbursed for the services they provide. That’s where insurance groups step in.
Insurance corporations, such as United Health Group or Anthem, earn revenue through the premiums you or your company pays to them. If you pay for your own health insurance, you certainly understand the hardship this might have on your pocketbook. If you are enrolled in your employer’s health insurance, you may be unaware of the cost your organization endures.
For scale, Starbucks pays more for health insurance than they pay for coffee beans. General Motors pays more for health insurance than they pay for steel. The unfortunate truth here is companies often pay for health insurance out of the same bucket as employee wages. To add more, insurance premiums are rising each year due to the constant need to reimburse medical providers treating chronic conditions.
Shelling out more money for health insurance leaves less money to pay salaries and wages. This trend is certainly a contributor to the reason wages have become relatively stagnant since the 1970s.
With any end-of-month paycheck, there is more to pay. A portion of payroll taxes is designated to pay for programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, the two programs that provide healthcare to elderly, disabled, and low-income Americans. With an aging population, medical providers are once again tasked to treat the ailing conditions of those afflicted.
Low-income individuals face a similar fate as it becomes more and more difficult to commit to a lifestyle of nutrition. Federal and state governments now must confront the reality of reassessing budgets, shifting contributions to healthcare rather than infrastructure, all the while contemplating whether to raise payroll taxes.
From a financial perspective, our collective health matters more than you imagined.
It’s Not Just Laziness
In the year 2020, living a healthy lifestyle requires effort and sometimes, sacrifices. It comes with an increased budget. The financially consuming choice of purchasing vitamins and nutrient-dense foods coupled with the time consuming choice of cooking those foods may serve as a deterrent to some. The gritty nature of a weekly fitness routine may serve as a deterrent to others.
For those who have found success in maintaining wellness, they will often mention the intrinsic rewards of doing so. There is immaculate, limitless value in striking the note of good health. Though for so many Americans, where has the motivation gone? Was it lost along the road of food and agriculture? Within the paycheck at the end of the month? Or laziness? No matter the reason, for the majority of Americans, the incentives are not in place.
“Life is like a game of cards. The hand you are dealt is determinism; the way you play it is free will.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
Incentivize, or Demise
We are on a slippery slope. Experts in healthcare are reminded of the housing bubble when discussing the current state of the system — paying for things we ultimately, as a society, cannot afford.
I’ve always admired the philosophy of incentivizing option B, rather than disincentivizing option A. Somehow, we’ve got to convince the masses to choose wellness over indulgence. To convince food and agriculture to choose nutrition over degradation. To convince healthcare to choose proactive over reactive health.
The rewards of being healthy have, to this day, remained limited. With an epidemic of unhealthiness, it’s time to incentivize.
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