Prevention Education in Obama's Health Plan: Would it Really Help Curb Illness?

While it's in the print of his bill, President Obama didn't mention the word prevention once during his July 22 TV press conference that attempted to sell his health plan to a hurting and weary American public. In fact, I didn't know there was any mention of prevention programs in Obama's bill until reading the entire plan online the night after the sales pitch. Similarly, when perusing discussion boards about the plan, all that was seen was bickering over all the money that'll be spent rather than any consideration of spending much less money centrally on education programs that would prevent illness in the first place. But prevention programs always take a back seat to more complicated procedures and spending money the government shouldn't be spending.

Seeking an answer to the above is akin to asking why corporate CEO's make idiotic decisions: The answer becomes mired in arguments and too many political contradictions. From the outset, Obama adamantly says in his bill that he and VP Biden's plan will provide enough money toward prevention programs in fighting diseases. Unfortunately, it doesn't give any specifics in what the prevention programs would be and how effective they'd be in proliferating information that works on a diffuse scale.

When you keep seeing statistics showing obesity in America as fast approaching the #1 health problem in America (with all the top three health problems being the direct result of obesity), you'd think the issue would be mentioned in bold within the bill as one of the top priorities of any prevention program. Nevertheless, it's better than nothing to see the words "preventive education" there when no other President prior dared bring up the term to make it top priority for any health care reform. Clear back to the time of the Theodore Roosevelt administration when the first attempt at streamlining health care took place, there really hasn't been enough of an emphasis on creating budgets for education programs to make people do what they have to do to stay reasonably healthy.

It was only recently when Republican and former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee put forth a fairly good health care plan that focused squarely on the prevention angle rather than spending more money on complicated procedures that only leads to more government bureaucracy. I even scribbled out an article back in August of 2007 pointing out how unusually good Huckabee's plan was when he was running for an ill-fated Presidency. While I didn't agree with every one of his policies, I honed in that Huckabee's prevention plan in a universal health care overhaul was based on his own personal experience battling obesity.

If there's anybody to look to in those fighting obesity in America, it may be Huckabee. Here you had a guy who managed to turn his health around by sheer will and understanding that getting educated on a workable diet is the real answer. We aren't talking buying the latest diet fad book on Amazon.com's Top Ten, but providing places people can go to get a clear understanding of a balanced diet to prevent an early demise from eating themselves to death.

Just imagine it: Someone fighting obesity being able to go to an efficient, government-funded facility in their local town and getting an immediate education on turning their diet around without having to lay out a cent. It's a concept that would cost a fraction of what President Obama's plan will inevitably cost at an inevitable time after the writing of this article.
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Without having to write a tongue-in-cheek memo to our President, I just wish someone would convince him that a master plan providing preventative care would not only keep us out of a deepening deficit, but also save Obama from being a one-term President. Instead, we're going to see Obama tax unknown income brackets and spend untold amounts of money to fix a convoluted system, only to inevitably create more convoluted problems with government interference. Had there been a central focus on preventative education, the above scenario of preventive health education centers across the country would create profound opportunities for those who willingly take control of their lives.

And if there's an argument obese people wouldn't take advantage of such a thing, I have no doubt there'd be a major surprise in store. Through a process of having widely available places to go to get free education on turning their diet around and also learning other methods to avoid every disease known to humankind, you'd be seeing a waiting list. Well, that perhaps sounds like health care bureaucracy all over again.

That wouldn't happen, though, if every major city had a prevention education center that was easily accessible. Yes, many clinics already have special programs where dieticians work with weight-challenged people to get their health back in order. But most of those programs are in the background and only take on small amounts of people at a time if not always being covered by insurance. If prevention became front and center, every single person would have a chance to change their lives if they wanted to. Based on the rising obesity levels, there's every indication many in our populace either don't care (incomprehensible to positive thinkers) or just don't have proper knowledge on how to moderate their diet.

Most likely, the majority fall in the latter category. In that scenario, we have a lot of people to deal with, yet large enough government-run facilities in most major towns and cities would accommodate them. Also, funding these places nationwide still wouldn't come to the price tag of our current health care overhaul. In the meantime, general health care wouldn't necessarily have to be overhauled at all, because insurance premiums would lower anyway based on those taking prevention classes to avoid a dietary catastrophe.

Of course, we have to understand prevention is what the insurance companies lobby against. Without sick people, health insurance wouldn't even have to exist let alone medical facilities. Instead, we're stuck with more complications, political bickering, and prevention programs getting only a cursory mention.

At least our current President put the word there. Even if it helps a small number of people, it's not for want. Whether not making it front and center was the result of insurance lobbyists the President ended up adhering to, it just continues to point to those hijacking a smarter structure to America's social programs.

The full text of President Obama's health care plan:

http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/issues/HealthCareFullPlan.pdf