Cost of poor diet more than just grocery bill
I was shocked yesterday when I came across the cost of type 2 diabetes in the US each year: $132 billion!
In my opinion, the dramatic rise in type 2 diabetes over the last decade or so is very much attributable to changes in our choices in food, activity and lifestyle. This got me thinking: how much of our medical costs overall are self-inflicted?
It's estimated that obesity directly costs Americans another 50+ billion each year, and that smoking costs approximately 160 billion more.
To be conservative, let's assume there is some overlap in the numbers I've just quoted... in fact let's be very conservative and assume there is $100 billion worth of it. That still leaves us with around $250 billion each year spent covering the medical costs of smoking, inacivity and poor diet alone.
In 2002 total medical expenditure in the US was approximately $1 trillion. Based on what I've come up with above, that's a full 25% of medical costs on spent on very avoidable diseases, if a little preventative care were taken.
I think I've got a great idea on how the upcoming presidential election can be won. Promise to squash the above diseases, and to use the remaining medical budget to write each American a personal cheque! That would be about $750 per person, and if $300 was enough to get GWB back in office then Hillary should have no problem.
In my opinion, the dramatic rise in type 2 diabetes over the last decade or so is very much attributable to changes in our choices in food, activity and lifestyle. This got me thinking: how much of our medical costs overall are self-inflicted?
It's estimated that obesity directly costs Americans another 50+ billion each year, and that smoking costs approximately 160 billion more.
To be conservative, let's assume there is some overlap in the numbers I've just quoted... in fact let's be very conservative and assume there is $100 billion worth of it. That still leaves us with around $250 billion each year spent covering the medical costs of smoking, inacivity and poor diet alone.
In 2002 total medical expenditure in the US was approximately $1 trillion. Based on what I've come up with above, that's a full 25% of medical costs on spent on very avoidable diseases, if a little preventative care were taken.
I think I've got a great idea on how the upcoming presidential election can be won. Promise to squash the above diseases, and to use the remaining medical budget to write each American a personal cheque! That would be about $750 per person, and if $300 was enough to get GWB back in office then Hillary should have no problem.
