Cut bad habits to cut health care costs

In this year's presidential race, health care costs and ways to reduce them have been debated.
President Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry talk about new managed care ideas, redesigned programs and different ways to share costs. But nothing they propose will have a greater impact upon your health than what you can do for yourself.
Sound overly simplistic? Not at all, especially when we look at new studies.
The actual cost of smoking, when the cost of smoking-related disabilities and other factors are included, is estimated at nearly $40 a pack. Duke University researchers say it translates to more than $171,000 over a smoker's lifetime.
The most recent studies on obesity tell us nearly two-thirds of American adults are overweight and the dietary habits of their children are causing so much obesity that this could be the first generation in modern time that does not have a life expectancy greater than their parents.
Diseases caused primarily by obesity require medical expenses that are 36 percent above the norm, and medication costs that are 77 percent higher. And weight-related illnesses cost USA businesses $100 billion a year in lost productivity and higher health costs.
We smoke and eat too much and exercise too little. After analyzing data that come from insuring millions of people in Northeast Ohio over the past 70 years, we learned that we are among the least healthy people in the country. Our company, Medical Mutual of Ohio, paid medical costs in excess of $200 million in a year's time to treat diseases that stemmed largely from bad habits.
The clear message is that we are all paying dearly for someone else's bad habit. As a result, the cost of health insurance has risen so much that many companies are forced to share more of this expense with their employees, or drop health benefits altogether.
No easy answer
We all want to live longer, healthier lives, and that is the reason why there is no easy political resolution to the issue of rising health care costs. We know regardless of what arguments are put forth by the candidates, the problem will not be resolved. And there is no clear-cut solution on the horizon.
We must learn to associate the cost of health care with the way we choose to live. Health insurance alone cannot shoulder the financial impact of the medical problems brought on simply by bad habits.
To be blunt, our lifestyle is not only costing us more in medical expenses, it is killing us.
XKent W. Clapp is chairman, president and CEO of Medical Mutual of Ohio.