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Blog Entry 22 of 39 The Donnanator Report
My favorite article topics have been soccer and healthcare issues related to my profession. I'm likely to keep focusing on those, and throw in social commentary and satire as necessary. There are plenty of health, nutrition and food behaviors just screaming for the kind of commentary possible with a blog, and who better to write those than a nutrition professional? I'm a big proponent of taking personal responsibility for health, and that philosophy will definitely influence my analysis of healthcare and health insurance issues. As for soccer, I've written about high school soccer, because that's what makes for good headlines, but clearly mainstream news organizations in the US need to improve coverage and analysis of all soccer, from local clubs to the World Cup.

Blog Url: http://denver.yourhub.com/~TheDonnanator

Only in Holland is obesity cheaper
Contributed by: Donna Feldman   on 2/5/2008

Headlines today: "Healthy Folks Cost More." Apparently a study of health expenditures out of The Netherlands (i.e. Holland) suggests that living longer means you cost the medical insurance system more money. Of course, the oxymoronic headline begs the question: if you're healthy, why are you using medical care?

The real headline is "People Who Live Longer Use More Medical Care". And the reason for this is peculiar to the single-payer system in Holland. Being government-funded and all, this medical system can't squander enormous sums coddling overweight people with a lifetime supply of expensive designer drugs to control lipids, blood sugar, blood pressure, inflammation, pain, digestive dysfunction, sleep apnea and arthritis. So the few obese people you can find in Holland (not many - they bike and walk everywhere) end up dying sooner than obese people in the US.

Meanwhile in the US, the medical system looks for more ways to facilitate obesity by prolonging life. This policy guarantees that drug and medical supply companies will make scads of money. They have a captive audience, so to speak, people who are dependent on medical care to stay alive and functional. The latest money-sucking idea is that stomach stapling surgery "cures" Type 2 diabetes. Well, duh. If the overweight diabetic person can't eat so much anymore, the problem goes away. Of course, you can accomplish this by using simple self-restraint and self-discipline to eat less and exercise more. Some motivated people have actually done this. Self discipline and self restraint cost the medical insurance system -- nada. Zero. Meanwhile the stomach stapling surgery costs tens of thousands, and that's just the beginning. The patient then needs a lifetime of follow-up to monitor the nutritional deficiencies and complications that result from the surgery.

Think obese diabetics in the Netherlands are going to get government-funded stomach stapling surgery? Dream on. Those patients will have to hope that the US creates a single-payer medical care system. Then they can emigrate here and get "free" surgery, because the US system won't deny anyone anything. At least not for the first year, after which it will go bankrupt on stomach stapling surgeries alone.


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Showing 1 of 1 comments
Submitted By: Gladys Mercier
posted on 2/5/2008 @ 9:01:37 PM
Rated Blog Entry
I thought that story was pretty ridiculous too.
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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Donna Feldman

Louisville , CO

Donna Feldman has posted 39 blog entries and 0 comments since joining on 9/14/2005. Donna Feldman 's average blog rating is 4.65.
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