“If the government prescribed medicine and food for us, our bodies would be kept just as our souls are now.” -Thomas Jefferson
Let me introduce you to Sam. Sam has obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure. His diet consists primarily of refined grains and trans fats. His cabinet is filled with extremely cheap junk food and exorbitant medical bills to deal with the effects. His annual salary is $27,000, but spend $36,000. He is jaundiced in debt and wants his niece to borrow money. pay the bill for weight loss drugs.
as real life niece Regarding Uncle Sam, I’m worried about his eating habits. some 56.2% Most of the daily calories consumed by U.S. adults come from federally subsidized foods (corn, soybeans, wheat, rice, sorghum, dairy products, and livestock). These high-calorie foods once made sense for famines and governments preparing for famine; total warin recent decades they have been helping us instead. I got fat and sick.
Obesity is the biggest driver of health care costs. compared a study The federal government subsidizes people who eat less in order to keep those who primarily eat food healthy. People who follow obvious preferences for what the government subsidizes (rather than a consciously government-enforced diet) Recommended) teeth almost 40 percent They are more likely to become obese and face serious health problems related to their diet. Those with the highest intakes of federal supplements had significantly higher rates of abdominal fat, abnormal cholesterol, high blood sugar, and markers of chronic inflammation. All of these most common cause of death In developed countries.
The negative health effects of subsidized crop consumption, although not causal, persist even after controlling for age, gender, and socio-economic factors. But life cannot control those factors.
great grain gift
The federal government recommends some diets for Americans and subsidizes others. The USDA and HHS Dietary Guidelines for Americans encourage intake of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, protein, and moderate dairy products while limiting saturated fat, sugar, salt, and refined grains. According to data compiled for MeatnomicsAmerican agribusiness receives about $38 billion in federal funds annually, and only 0.4 percent ($17 million) goes to fruits and vegetables. Yet only 3% of agricultural land is devoted to fruits and vegetables. USDA guidelines” Insist that half of the dinner plate should be covered. Only 10% of Americans consume the recommended amount of fresh food, and the poor consume the least. (The exclusion of fruit and vegetable producers from the federal direct payment program provides a valuable example of the food industry thriving without profit. large amount of subsidies. However, it relies heavily on: immigrant workers To lower costs. )
Instead, the United States spends tens of billions of dollars a year subsidizing seven major products. The three largest agricultural subsidy programs provide 70 percent of funding to producers of just three crops: corn, soybeans, and wheat. Approximately 30 to 40 percent of corn, more than half of soybeans, and nearly all sorghum in the United States are used to feed livestock, and high fat content is significantly reduced. malnutrition meat and dairy products (especially grass fed options). The proliferation of grain-fed livestock creates demand for the products used to feed them, completing the cycle.
Subsidies also contribute to the consumption of refined grains, sugar-sweetened beverages, and processed foods. Approximately 5 percent of corn is artificially turned into cheap high fructose corn syrup ( be able to compete and Tariffed natural sugar), half of the soybeans are processed into oil. cause obesity.
My Uncle Sam is getting sick because he’s eating food artificially made cheaply by the government. These foods are of lower quality and more harmful to health than non-subsidized alternatives. We pay to make ourselves sick.
Diet-related health problems increase medical costs
The FDA has known for more than 20 years that trans fats and refined grains are bad for your health, damage your metabolism, and cause disease. Diet-related diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure are on the rise, while heart disease remains the leading cause of death. These epidemics are intertwined at the arterial level, and both contribute significantly to increased health care costs in the United States.
In an economic order full of subsidies and regulation, agricultural policy is health policy. Government subsidies for agricultural products have shaped America’s current nutritional landscape. get worse Obesity trends.
article American Journal of Preventive Medicine “Current agricultural policy remains largely uninformed by public health debates.”
Johns Hopkins University Physician (and current) commissioner U.S. Food and Drug Administration) Marty McQuarrie called. Obviously disconnected. “Half of our federal spending goes to health care in many hidden ways,” he said in an interview in October, adding that Americans “continue to get sicker and sicker… Chronic disease is on the rise, cancer is on the rise, and we are the most medicated generation in human history.”
I am getting more medicinal every day — and more than that It’s the taxpayer’s burden.
Is there a better answer than Ozempic?
government medical expenditures Currently exceeding the entire discretionary budget. Excess weight is a significant risk for older Americans. most likely Medical costs are high and they are dependent on government healthcare. 40% of Americans are over 60 years old Obesity has been classified as a contributing or complicating factor to disease killing older Americans:Cancer, heart disease, infectious diseases, stroke, liver cirrhosis.
At the end of last year, food and drug administration Approved the weight loss drug Wegovy as a treatment for people at risk of heart attack or stroke. Medicare is prohibited by law from covering prescription drugs solely for the purpose of weight loss. Regulatory approval in 2021 Wegovy to reduce weight-related risks in diabetics. medicare The Part D plan cost $2.6 billion Last year we talked about related compounds. Ozempic Stabilize 500,000 diabetic patients. Wegovy’s list price is around $1,300 per month, but that’s still a small amount compared to $.Americans spend $1.4 trillion On the direct and indirect costs of obesity.
There is a certain economic logic to it. Rather than waiting for patients to develop a series of costly comorbidities such as heart failure or diabetes, Can be considered They want Medicare to pay for anti-obesity drugs on the front end. it doesn’t work Lifestyle changesBut all of our health and activity messages over the past few years don’t seem to be moving that needle. important evidence It suggests that our efforts are counterproductive.
A complex web of agricultural subsidies
To understand the insanity of American agricultural and health care policy, no one explains it better than comedians and illusionists Penn & Teller did it 15 years ago in their characteristically salty tones (indeed, you’d need headphones and a sense of humor to watch the video).
High fructose corn syrup is a very inexpensive way to add sweetener and extend shelf life. And why is it so cheap? Because we are subsidizing corn farmers! Our government donates about 10 billion in tax dollars to corn farmers each year, allowing them to produce more corn than we need. The corn is then sold at an artificially low price. They are using our money to make corn syrup cheaper, but the same government that is using our tax dollars to keep soft drinks cheap wants to spend more of our tax dollars to make soft drinks more expensive. Does anyone else think this is incredibly bad?
Yes, pen. that’s right. And since that clip aired, obesity rates have worsened. 50 percentand roses 78 percent Among the children. medicine expenditure About the effects of obesity doubled. Over the same period, subsidies to corn growers (including disaster assistance and insurance) tripled.
Rather than cut back on our terrible diet, Uncle Sam wants us to buy weight loss pills and undo what our food policies have done.
