Health and Wellness Today

By Institute for Policy Innovation

Dr. Merrill Matthews of the Institute for Policy Innovation says that some politicians think you will—if you have insurance...

Senators Edward Kennedy and Max Baucus published an article in the Wall Street Journal recently stating that once everyone has insurance, health care costs will go down. That’s because people will get the preventive care and timely treatments they need.

But 85 percent of the population already has health coverage, and yet a recent survey of large employers by Watson Wyatt found that:

Two-thirds of their insured employees have poor health habits and Forty-two percent under utilize preventive care.

In other words, people with good health coverage often engage in unhealthy or risky behavior, or avoid getting the preventive care they need.

Encouraging more prevention is good, but if the desire for a longer, healthier life won’t get you off the couch, don’t expect universal coverage to.

These weekly SoundBytes commentaries are produced by the Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI), a non-profit public policy think tank.

So please remember, we are what we eat.

Source Article: Are You Living a Healthy Lifestyle?