:)


>Tom,
>
>It is very sweet of you to contribute to this thread.
>
>>Hello Jeff;
>>
>>I agree with you.
>>
>>My wife works in the health care industry, and tells me that many people that have no medical insurance are turned away when they go to the ER of a hospital. Not everyone receives “free care”. The subject is very complex. Such dialogue does help to separate the citizens of this country according to those who have medical insurance and those that do not.
>>
>>In 1973 sugar went from 9 cents a pound to 99 cents, because of a false rumor. Candy bars were 5 cents. Today they are $1.19. Even people with health insurance eat sugar in large amounts. They also get sickness related to the ingestion of sugar. That raises the cost of medical care.
>>
>>It is shocking to see how much sugar is in the diet of the average American. Look at the history of the food industry in this country. View pictures of Americans from 1910 through the present. You will note that Americans have become larger around the middle with the increase of sugar in his/her diet over the years.
>>
>>People that can afford to eat healthy still buy foods filled with sugar. In is a matter of education and I think that the food industry is winning. Eat junk, keep corporate profits up, increase the cost of medical care, and enjoy the good life.
>>
>>Now where is my candy bar? :)
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>>
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>>Tom
>>
>>
>>>Higher Prices do not stop bad behavior. See tobacco and alcohol. You've never stuck me before as being that simplistic.
>>>
>>>>Individual illness affects all Americans because when people without health insurance make bad consumption choices and end up in the hospital (heart attack, diabetes, etc.), they get free healthcare. Those costs are passed on to the rest of us in the form of higher health insurance rates. I damn sure don't want the government regulating what I can and can't consume, but at the same time those people who make poor choices and raise children with those poor choices end up costing the rest of us even more money. I don't believe in regulation but I do believe in the power of policy to leverage individual choices. Here's the reality: eating healthy in American is way more expensive than eating nutrition-void processed food. Why don't we take those effing big oil tax breaks and those corn subsidies and subsidize healthy foods to make them cheaper than the processed shit that makes up most of american's diets? If healthy food is cheaper, then budget-strapped families can make the economically smart choice, the byproduct of which just happens to be a healthier diet.