Why the Fast Food Industry Should Pay for Medicaid

It only takes a glance at Time Magazine's inaugural health issues to see that Americans are not doing well. According to Time, life expectancy for Americans is shorter than Canada's and Britain's and just longer than Panama's. Our infant mortality rate is one of the worse in the developed western world.

The overall picture is grim. However there are few things the U.S. is exceeding at. The percentage of American's who smoke is one of the lowest, compared to all other countries, at 19.8%, a drop of around 12% in 20 years. Around 30% of Americans now get regular exercise, which is up slightly from 1998. High cholesterol affects 17% of the U.S. population (down from 28% in 1980). The percentage of cancer patients surviving five years or longer is 67%. The rate has been on a steady rise since the 1970s. Forty-seven out of 100,000 Americans died last year from cerebrovascular diseases, most commonly strokes. That number is down from 96 in 1980.

So if Americans are smoking less, getting more exercise, living longer with cancer and have better cerebrovascular health than in the country's recent history than why is the percentage of overweight American's reaching 70%, up from 50% just 20 years ago? According to Eric Schlosser in Fast-Food Nation, Americans now spend more money on fast food than on new cars, personal computers, or higher education. French fries are ordered more frequently in American restaurants than any other dish. Even when consumers choose seemingly healthier items on fast food menus, the items still don't seem to have much nutritional value. A BLT salad at Wendy's has 53 grams of fat. Although it doesn't seem that American consumers have been trying to order healthy alternatives. Time's recent report revealed that over 50% of Americans are unable to recall the last time they had a salad. This generation of American youth may be the first generation ever to have a shorter life span than that of their parents. All signs point to America's unhealthy diet as the culprit.

Along with waistbands, unemployment numbers are growing in America. With the economy in a downward spin, a recent study conducted by MARC research and published in the Restaurant News Resource shows that some consumers are eating at fast food restaurants more often because of the convenience and low price. America now spends around 30% of the GDP on healthcare. Time projects that in nine years healthcare will be one-fifth of the U.S. economy. Before we can afford national healthcare we might need to go on a national diet.