As President I Will Fix Healthcare By Doing...

Given the presidential race and all the hullabaloo revolving around whose healthcare plan is better, I thought I'd dip my toe into the dirty water and give you my fix.

You may not like my plan, but it makes the most sense. It doesn't raise taxes and it will save you money and lead to a much happier lifestyle.

Are you ready for it?

It's called "Take Care Of Yourself, America!!"

Pretty easy, huh?

Think about it, though. There was a report that just came out that said that by the year 2017 for every $5 spent, $1 will be spent on healthcare. Take that number out farther, for every $500 spent, at least $100 will be spent on healthcare. That is insane! Think of the repercussions this will have on our entire economy.

And much of this spending is due to preventable health issues. Not genetic issues or things that are out of our control or routine physicals which we all should do. There will always be things you can't control, but a good chunk of healthcare spending (or sick care as I like to call it) is spent on things that need not occur.

I'm going to give you 2 areas of statistics to prove my point.

The first area is obvious...being overweight.

The last time a survey was taken over 60% of our population was either overweight or obese.

This can lead to a whole host of preventable health issues and diseases including diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, joint pain, muscle pain, asthma, etc. The last time I checked all of those health issues require a medication or medical intervention of some sort, and a lot of it.

So, if as a population we were to take care of ourselves a little more and actually eat better and exercise this would greatly decrease the amount of spending on health care.

Many people think they exercise enough because they go for a walk occasionally or play some golf when the weather is nice, but it takes a lot more than leisure activity to lose fat.

Also, I have statistics on my side that says that the majority of people in this country do not exercise.

The CDC reported in their National Health Review that 53% of men NEVER engage in any vigorous physical activity. Never!

It gets worse for women. A whopping 65% of women NEVER engage in any vigorous physical activity.

Now you may be thinking that they used the word "vigorous", but vigorous is a relative term and when the government uses that term it usually refers to anything more than a leisurely stroll around the block. Plus what I didn't mention was that 65% of women and 53% of men never engage in vigorous physical activity lasting longer than 10 minutes. 10 minutes!

The second area I want to give you some statistics on are related to back pain.

Back pain is huge in this country and it's mostly because we're too sedentary.

We sit at desks all day, drive too much and sit on the couch too much.

This leads to muscle imbalances, muscle weakness and a whole lot of muscle pain.

As many as 50% of Americans report some type of back pain every year. Some of these may be minor, but as many as 30% of adults have thought their back pain needed a trip to the doctor to help alleviate. That's a lot of people considering our population is around 300 million.

There are some experts that say that as many as 4 out of every 5 people will experience back pain in their lifetime...and not just a little twinge here or there, either.

These next two statistics are staggering. In 2001, close to 14 million people visited their doctor to deal with their back pain, and I think it's safe to say that many of them went more than once.

A Canadian study reported that 40% of all work absences were due to back pain. I don't even want to know how much that equated to in lost revenue.

So do yourself and your country a favor, take care of yourself.

I guarantee that if we got more people exercising, eating better and paying better attention to their bodies that the cost of healthcare will go down.

The only problem is I can't force anyone to do anything, unless that is that you come to my boot camps or train with me...then I can get you moving.

But you know what? Neither can a politician.

You have to take the initiative for yourself and tell yourself that you're going to start exercising more, so get up and start an exercise regimen that includes resistance training and cardio.

Start eating healthier meals that includes lots of fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, whole grains and packed with fiber.

Start moving around more if you're desk bound or spend a lot of time behind the wheel. For every hour you spend sitting, spend at least 10 minutes up and moving around to keep your muscles limber and the blood flowing. This will do a lot to help curtail back pain. And if you already have back pain, get a massage from a good massage therapist. It will do wonders for your pain.

Think of the children. Sorry, that was too good to pass up. I had to get some politician speak in there when dealing with healthcare.

Ed Scow