preview

Unhealthy Behaviors In The US Health Care System

Better Essays

We all know death is inevitable, as morbid as it sounds, but we also all would like to prolong death as long we can to live long, happy lives. Unfortunately, some people fail to fully connect how their daily lifestyle impacts the ability to live these ideal long and happy lives. As the CDC (2016) states, nearly 70% of the U.S. population is considered overweight or obese and almost 40 million people still smoke. These statistics indicate that there are numerous unhealthy behaviors that a bulk of our population chooses to participate in. This brings us to the question, what would it take to shift our country into not only helping them to stop, but also them wanting to stop partaking in these unhealthy behaviors and truly fulfill the desire to want to live longer? Since the majority of the population relies on the U.S. health system to help treat them once arguably preventable health issues arise, why not take the opportunity to use the same system to help combat these unhealthy behaviors from the start. The U.S. health system could implement more educational opportunities, specific prevention programs, help reduce health disparities, increase health literacy, and offer incentives for healthy behaviors.
Prior to determining what specific actions and policies to take within the U.S. health care system, we must first look into who is taking part in these unhealthy behaviors and if there are any particular reason why. According to a report from the National Center for Health

Get Access