At the risk of sounding like an a$$, another large part of our problem is too many Americans have a pathetic diet and don't exercise. We are killing ourselves in many cases and contributing greatly and unnecessarily to our health care costs.
Slowly killing yourself with lifestyle and expecting the system to pay for it all is only one small step removed from burning your house down and filing and collecting a hazard insurance claim. Only ignorance about a healthy lifestyle separates the two.
In nearly all cases, things like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and the cardio vascular disease that results is self inflicted. There's tons of scientific evidence for this, and there are societies where those kinds of problems rarely occur. Adult onset diabetes (type 2) is another self inflicted condition that is an epidemic.
More than anything, we need a massive educational campaign to teach people how to eat properly, exercise properly, and the health ramifications of not doing either of those.
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