By Ken Selvaggi
WAVE 3 Vice President and General Manager
One of every two Americans will be overweight or obese in less than 20 years.
The excess weight will affect more than our bodies. It will hit our pocketbooks – likely $500 billion to deal with the health costs.
As we await the Supreme Court ruling on the legality of new health care legislation and the expected onslaught of political ads on the subject leading up to the November presidential elections, it would be wise to note that we can control health care costs to a certain degree ourselves.
If we collectively resolve to eat better, demand healthier lunch menus in school, and exercise more, skyrocketing insurance rates would subside.
The key is to focus on the younger generation now before we are all swallowed up by a health care system that can't meet the demand of an increasingly unhealthy populace.
The impact of the new health care legislation on businesses is considerable but nothing compared to what it will be if we as a society are not productive enough to work because of health conditions caused by obesity.
Taxing unhealthy food isn't the answer. Controlling our appetite is more sensible.
Copyright 2012 WAVE News. All rights reserved.
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