Psst: Want to make America more competitive for jobs? Want to save yourselves $1.86 trillion in taxes or debt over 10 years? We do, which is why we worked with senators to craft legislation that will make Americans healthier — and in the process, save America money.
Here’s the gist: America needs to start paying health care professionals to turn off the faucet. Right now, we have an overflowing sink — the overflow being the excess of chronic disease in the USA. America has two and three times as much chronic disease in the same age and gender groups as in Europe or developed Asia.
So far, most politicians have proposed sending more mops to clean up the problem — the mops being medical treatments for complications from the five illnesses that account for more than 30 percent of all health care costs in America: arterial disease, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and prostate and breast cancers. The insurance industry has proposed faster mopping. We propose a better and less-expensive solution: Stop the overflow. And we can.
How? By helping people avoid tobacco, make better food and portion-size choices, become physically active and reduce stress. Excellent studies show that when these lifestyle changes are made with utter commitment, they produce better outcomes in treating these chronic diseases than drugs and surgery do.
Recognizing the possibilities, three wise senators — Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and his co-sponsors, John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, — have submitted a bill known as “Take Back Your Health.” Along with several of our colleagues who have done major work in the lifestyle-intervention area — Dr. Ken Cooper, the father of aerobics in this country and founder of the Cooper Clinic; Dr. Mark Hyman of “Ultrametabolism” fame; and Dr. Dean Ornish, founder of the Preventive Medical Institute in San Francisco — we worked with Wyden and his staff (Eva, you are brilliant) to craft it.
The bill’s aim is simple: to give people expert support in making intensive lifestyle changes — improving their nutrition, doing moderate exercise, managing stress, quitting tobacco. Why? Because most people need help making these changes, and they’re most successful when they get help. If they succeed, health care reform will succeed: The government will save money, you will save money, and America’s health will improve.
The Take Back Your Health bill will enable people with these chronic diseases to meet with a physician who will design a lifestyle program specifically for them. Individuals then can get up to 72 one-hour sessions with other health care professionals (nutritionists and fitness experts, for example) to help them stay on track with these changes. The doctor won’t get paid unless the person sees results and the government saves dollars.
The benefits would be dramatic: Numerous studies show that making lifestyle changes costs a third of the price of current treatments and prevents a lot of suffering in the process. Plus, within five years, more than 80 percent of the “overflow” of people with chronic diseases into surgery and drug therapy could be stopped. Note that we’re not talking about preventing these illnesses; just about treating them. Even if only 30 percent of all eligible patients said yes to lifestyle treatment, it would save $600 billion over 10 years.
Why aren’t we doing this now? Because doctors and hospitals are paid for doing surgery and prescribing drugs, but not for helping people to make intensive lifestyle treatments. What’s paid for gets done.
P.S.: We don’t make money from anything in this bill; in fact, it would probably decrease the income of the medical institutions we work with in the short run. But in the long run, it’s good for all of us.
The YOU Docs, Mike Roizen and Mehmet Oz, are authors of “YOU: Being Beautiful — The Owner’s Manual to Inner and Outer Beauty.” To submit questions and find ways to grow younger and healthier, visit realage.com, the docs’ online home.
