Americans have long enjoyed a position of hard fought superiority over the rest of the world’s citizens. For centuries, Americans have both rocked and kicked ass. Just ask them. The United States is often promoted as a paragon of military prowess, economic might, moral fortitude, opportunity, and civil rights.
Unfortunately, America has also led the world in health risks over the last few years. Nearly four out of 10 adults in the United States are projected to become obese within five years if they maintain their current levels of food consumption and increasingly unhealthy diets.
Obesity is one of the most difficult challenges to overcome when it comes to life insurance. This is because the life insurance industry views it as one of the most serious health conditions. If you are currently classified as obese but you already have a life insurance policy then the insurance company may request a cancellation depending on their pre and post disease agreements, it could lead you to lose your insurance policy and all the your previous payments without any kind of partial refund; on that case you may want to know what is viatical settlement and how it works.
At last estimates about 31 percent, or about 59 million people, were classified as obese (roughly 30 or more pounds over a healthy weight). But according to new studies released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Americans may actually be much healthier than believed.
Nearly 20 percent of the U.S. population — or almost 60 million people — went without health insurance at some point since January 2008, according to government estimates released Wednesday.
The analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention comes as Democratic senators wrestle to pass their version of health reform legislation before the end of the year to help make good on President Barack Obama’s top domestic goal of overhauling the nation’s $2.5 trillion healthcare system.
“This is actually great news,” said Jonas Riggenbotham, one of the head researchers on the project. “Congress is fighting back and forth on health care reform, but our data shows that no reform is needed. Health care is working great. Americans must be healthier than ever before. More than 45 million people have given up their insurance. They just don’t need it any longer.”
The CDC’s data largely back that figure, also finding that 58.4 million people abandoned their coverage at some point in the year prior to the survey, while 31.9 million — or nearly 11 percent — have lived without insurance for more than a year.
“If anything,” continued Riggenbotham, “we should be worried about the executives in the health care industry who might be in danger of losing their jobs over this exciting news. But that’s how it goes. You solve one major problem – health care – and contribute to another one – growing unemployment.”
Ongoing advances in pharmaceuticals and genetic food engineering, combined with significant decreases in cigarette usage, are likely contributors to the enhanced quality of American salubrity. And as more people give up their health insurance and visit their physicians much less frequently, it seems unnecessary to spend billions of additional dollars on new health care regulations and public programs. In this benefits debate, everyone stands to benefit.