It is my belief that the biggest problem with American health care is that so much money is spent on treating symptoms, but so little is spent on treating causes. This subject was touched on in the movie "Supersize me".
You are right on with that one! I've been on both ends of the argument. I've been heavily involved on R&D for the next gen of Type II Diabetes TREATMENTS that are starting to hit the market. They are spectacular drugs that I am very proud of as they will improve the QOL for 10s of millions of people. Fact of the matter is that with proper diet and exercise you could CURE ~90% or greater Type II patients thereby saving the medical system upwards of 100bil per year on everything associated with treatment of the disease. The real figures are probably much higher than that.
From the other end I was on my way to getting Type II myself and already had elevated cholesterol and was overweight by about 40 lbs. By hitting a medical supported and very straighforward diet not even including exercise my cholesterol was down to well into normal levels with no trace of being on my way to Type II within a month. On top of that I was down 25lbs in a month and a half. It is a very easy thing to make yourself healthier and therefore not as dependent on the system if you want to make it happen. The thing is that doctors don't tell you about that kind of cure as they tend to not get the kind of kickbacks from the diet company that they do from the Pharmas. They also know that most people don't want to hear that they are unhealthy and don't really want to change the status quo. Those people end up reliant on the system and drain the system for those who have to pay the high premiums and never use it because they are healthy. I would say with high confidence that if it was only the government forking out the >100bil a year they would drastically change the healthcare and education system to prevent those type of escalating losses. That is a win-win.
