So I've been thinking about our health care crisis and what we can do to fix it. As I mentioned in an earlier blog I'm currently reading Healthy at 100 by John Robbins. There is study after study about the benefits of eating a healthy diet and exercising to prevent chronic disease. Even if we start late we have a greater likelihood of living healthy, vigourous lives into old age. So how to we get Americans to eat more and exercise more?
One way I thought of getting people to eat more vegies is to utilize the Flexible Spending Account not only as a way to get a tax break on health care costs not covered by our insurance plans, but also there should be a way that we can use these cards to buy vegetables. Of course this doesn't ensure we will eat them but it would give us some incentive to buy them. We should also be able to use these cards at our farmer's markets and CSA's (CSAs are those farms that deliver fresh vegies to your house).
And while we're at it why not be able to use these cards to pay our monthly dues at fitness facilities.
Giving a tax break to those who are tryng to eat right and exercise only makes good practical sense.
So listen up Presidential Candidates...have you thought of this one?
4 comments:
i like the idea of people being rewarded somehow for buying veggies and fruits. when we were on WIC, they provided milk, cheese, penut butter, eggs and cereal. i asked, what about fruits and veggies? kids need those to grow too! and they're expensive! and they said, yeah, that's why we don't get them for you. costs us too much. doesn't that suck? i'm sure there are some kids in this country who get a majority of their nutrition through their WIC foods.
I thought you had to be poor to get on WIC....but you're right the other stuff is just as important....when I worked as the Manager of the Midwifery Dept at Providence I developed a voucher system to incentivize the women to see the social worker, dietician and nurse..they received a $20 voucher for vegies, fruits, etc if they did all 3...
we were poor.
i brought home $1,600 a month and our mortgage was $950. heat is $200 in the winter. it adds up fast.
yeah, it sucked, and yeah it was embarrassing, and yeah, its not something i'm proud of or usually shout from the rooftops.
but when it came down to it, we had to make ends meet. and if we could get some help getting good food that we otherwise wouldn't be able to afford (like organic milk) for our child, my pride is way less important than his heath.
Good for you Suzanne; I applaude your incredible strength and caring as a mom. I'm glad you'll soon be living close so that I can see you more often.
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