Patient, Heal Thyself

I'm really afraid we're screwed on health-care no matter what. And I do try to be so positive.

American health-care spending, measured in trillions of dollars, boggles the mind. Last year, we spent $3.2 trillion on health care -- a number so large that it can be difficult to grasp its scale.

I really believe that we have to take more responsibility for our own health. Feel like Paul Ryan saying that. We're just chasing our tails otherwise. 

"Few public health dollars focus on lifestyle conditions that ultimately contribute to the majority of chronic illnesses seen today," Emanuel wrote. Low back and neck pain, for example, ranked low on the list of public health expenditures with $140 million in public health funding, but high on the list of health-care spending. Tobacco control received $340 million in public health spending, but smoking contributes to several diseases that drive health-care spending.

Money spent on educating people to adopt healthier lifestyles might be better spent. Less meat, less dairy, less sugar, less fat. Of course, the government now subsidizes many of those same things. That's why we're screwed.