The Economics Of Health, Dollars Or Health?

This is an excerpt from the book "Toma's Diabetic Diet, a layman's guide to controlling type 2 diabetes with diet"

I must preface my comments on the economics of health by saying I do not believe there is a conspiracy to keep us all unhealthy. While there may be some who are knowingly doing harm for profit motives, I believe most are producing products and providing services with the intent of doing good and providing value for the compensation they receive. I do believe that many are misguided in their beliefs and are unknowingly doing harm. We need to consider that diabetes treatment is still in its infancy and was not considered a major medical problem until recently. In 1950 the percentage of the population diagnosed with diabetes was less than 1%. It grew to 3% in the 80s and is currently over 7%. The percentage of the population diagnosed with diabetes is expected to go over 14% by 2050. This closely parallels the increase in obesity and correlating dietary and social changes that have happened over the past 60 years.

We all know money is the driving force of most things in life. We rail against it. We want to believe we are more noble and motivated by higher ideals, but when we boil it down, economic incentives are the driving force to most things in life. Health care is no exception. There is not a lot of money in keeping people healthy. There are huge economic incentives in producing drugs and treatments for sick people.

Since this book is about how to use nutrition for better health I will limit my comments to the economic incentives of teaching people to be healthier through proper eating habits.

Start at the source of our food. Farmers are paid for producing the largest crops they can sell to an existing market. There is not a strong financial link to producing the healthiest foods they can. There are a growing number of “organic” food producers. The “organic” foods cost more, but there is not a huge market for them. Even at this level there are economic pressures to allow a diluting of the labeling requirements so some “non-organic” practices can be used to produce cheaper “organic” products.

The small family farm has largely been replaced by corporate farming operations with more emphasis on profit than healthy products. As a result there are more chemicals being introduced to the food chain. U.S. and Canadian beef producers use steroids, growth promoting hormones, and other methods to get their products to the market quicker. The EU has a ban on US and Canadian beef because of artificially induced carcinogens in the beef. The “organic” food market has grown out of concerns with undesirable chemicals being introduced to the food chain from farming practices.

Moving up the chain, food manufacturers produce prepackaged foods that may not be good choices because they are popular and can be sold for large profits. These prepackaged foods often are overloaded with sodium, carbohydrates, food additives, saturated fats, trans fats, sugar, and other things that make them poor choices for a healthy diet. Things like hydrogenated vegetable oils (trans fats) are used to promote longer shelf life even though it has been known for some time that the free radicals cause health problems. Most prepackaged foods have excessive amounts of sodium mostly because the public has been conditioned to enjoy the taste of salt and that is what sells. Candies and snack foods are also great examples. Most candies and snack foods lack any significant nutrition value yet the market is huge and the profits high so the food manufacturer will “give the public what it wants” even though a large part of the demand is driven by advertising. The food manufacturers are more interested in profits than in providing you with healthy nutritious foods.

At this point there is far more economic incentive to produce unhealthy foods than there is to produce healthy foods. Not all the blame can be laid at the feet of the food producers. They would not be producing these foods if we were not buying them.

The next level in the chain is us. We (me included) have developed self indulgent, unhealthy tastes that contribute to the health crisis and we condition our kids to participate in unhealthy practices. In my case I had to relearn and recondition myself to eat what is good for me after a major health crisis. The best way to change the food manufactures and farmer is to change how we think about food and what we buy. If we don’t buy the unhealthy foods there will be no market for them and the food manufacturers will quit making all the unhealthy foods. That probably isn’t going to happen since those of us with raised awareness are still a minority.

Then there is the medical establishment. The medical community has a strong economic incentive to treat sick people, not put most of their efforts into keeping them healthy. The same holds true with the pharmaceutical companies. Treatment and drug manufacturing is far more profitable than educating people to remain healthy. The same goes for the studies. There are far more dollars available for research to come up with a profitable ways to treat medical conditions than there are for research into how to eat to maintain health.

We can’t ignore government’s role in the economics of health care. Politicians look no further than the next election. They will do whatever is most expedient to get them re-elected. The right thing to do is, more often than not, is the hard thing. Politicians and government agencies are caught in a cross fire. They are beginning to wake up to the soaring cost of health care aggravated by the unhealthy eating practices of the population. On the other hand they are motivated by the tax dollars received from the food manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, and others who have very strong lobbies looking out for the corporate interest. There are also the health politics. Various factions are competing for their point of view and the health consumers are getting caught in the crossfire.

All of the above makes the job of the individual seeking the best answers relevant to their own health far more difficult. We are barraged with claims and cross claims from all the factions involved. We can’t even get a clear straight answer about something as simple as should I use a particular artificial sweetener. Fortunately, consumers are waking up and becoming more involved in their personal health choices. To a small degree, we are no longer just accepting whatever the “powers that be” tell us and we are actively seeking answers to our health care concerns. This blog is one small step in that direction.

I had to find answers for myself. I am not a farmer, food manufacturer, drug manufacturer, medical practitioner, researcher politician or otherwise entangled in the web that has created this international problem. I am one lonely voice in the wilderness seeking answers and willing to share what I find with others. There are no big dollars in trying to get people to make healthy choices so I will never get rich. If I can get a few people to make healthy choices I may have done some good. If each of us then helps a couple more get healthy we are contributing to the betterment of our communities. If enough of us get involved in wanting a healthier world we will have a movement. If the movement quits buying unhealthy foods, the food companies would listen and give us healthy foods. I know this is an impossible dream but we have to start somewhere and I chose to start with me and ask you to join me.