The last decade saw improvements in many health areas of the US. Vaccination rates improved, most workplace injuries are down, and death rates from stroke, hearth disease and cancer are dropping primarily from better technology. Despite these gains, we are generally less healthy. Our health care system is focused on taking better care of a population that is increasing less healthy. This is reflected in the problems we are facing with a health care system that is close to bankruptcy.
Despite setting goals ten years ago to lessen the rates of such things as obesity, high blood pressure, cesarean births, and untreated childhood tooth decay, these rates have unfortunately all gone up. Approximately 29% of the population has high blood pressure, 20% of children have untreated tooth decay, cesarean births have increased and a whopping, no pun intended, 34% of Americans are considered obese.
Progress? I think not. How can we, as a nation, control our health care costs and have a manageable health care delivery system when we obviously can’t, as a nation, take care of ourselves? The creation of a healthier decade for our country starts with the person in the mirror.
LouAnn Good
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