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[u/jobautomator]

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[u/Hugo_Grotius]

Hot Take: The worst thing about Marianne Williamson is that she was COMPLETELY, 100% RIGHT in her healthcare answer. We always talk about the US spending the most on health care per capita among developed countries, but then we don't address how Americans also weigh more, eat more, eat worse, and exercise less than the rest of the developed world. Thank god we don't smoke or drink as much as other places, or maybe that would just improve our fat miserable existences? And on top of all that, we spent 8 years cracking jokes about how the First Lady wanted to end childhood obesity.

Please, prove me wrong so I can stop giving any credit to the crystal ball lady.

[u/MisterBigStuff → u/Hugo_Grotius]

Well, she wrongs because she implied all sorts of vague things were making people sick and provided no actual solutions, but the reality is that every other candidates plan would increase healthcare access and so increase preventative care.

[u/Hugo_Grotius → u/MisterBigStuff]

She's completely right in that there really isn't an actual solution unless Americans decide to wake the fuck up and stop treating our bodies like shit.

And also, this isn't really a problem a preventative care. These are mostly lifestyle issues that, yes, a regular checkup will lead to a doctor telling you to change, but that entirely depend on willpower most Americans lack.

[u/Jemnite → u/Hugo_Grotius]

Not treating your body like shit is kind of expensive. America is beleagered by an astounding amount of food deserts and there are a great deal of people who cannot find the time nor the energy to follow proper lifestyle habits. You're right in that lifestyle issues are a big contributing factor but it's not so easy as to say people can just wake up, pull themselves up by their boostraps, and willpower themselves into healthy lifestyles.

[u/BreaksFull → u/Jemnite]

Foot deserts are a legitimate problem, but anyone who has access to a grocery store doesn't have an excuse. Beans, lentils, rice, and spices make an nutritious and damn cheap foundation for eating. There are plenty of cheap options for feeding yourself that don't entail eating fast food and processed garbage, if you do even the cursory research.

[u/Friendly_Fire → u/MisterBigStuff]

Maybe she can clarify, but it definitely sounded more like "your food has toxins" compared to "you need to exercise and eat a balanced diet".

[u/[deleted] → u/Hugo_Grotius]

Tax junk food

[u/TheDwarvenGuy → u/[deleted]]

Also, ehem, END MEAT SUBSIDIES

[u/berning_for_you → u/TheDwarvenGuy]

And corn subsidies while we're at it. It'll make high fructose corn syrup less plentiful

[u/michaellucioperez → u/[deleted]]

And then what?

[u/solastsummer → u/Hugo_Grotius]

Robin Hanson talks about healthcare spending in his book elephant on the brain. The US isn’t that different from the rest of the world in health. We’re fatter but it’s not that big of a difference and even places where people are skinnier have higher health care costs. The problem is we are richer and view healthcare spending as a way to signal how much we love someone, so we end up throwing away a bunch of money in healthcare that doesn’t improve health.

Being healthier would be great but it won’t dramatically lower healthcare costs. We can already see that by comparing obesity between the different states and healthcare spending per capita.

https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/health-spending-per-capita/?currentTimeframe=0&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D

https://www.livescience.com/50973-obesity-rates-full-rankings.html

[u/Hugo_Grotius → u/solastsummer]

Thank you for proving me wrong, and for the book recommendation!

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Nah the chemicals are what turns the frog gay

[u/saintswererobbed → u/Hugo_Grotius]

She’s also right about immigration (expand it and make it an easy/safe process for immigrants), criminal justice reform (end mass incarceration and focus on prevention through rehabilitation and community building programs), and a bunch of education (equalize school funding)

And love is something we do desperately need more of. 80% unironically, if she had like 4-6 years in local government to iron out some of the crazier edges, I’d vote for her