DavidHunnicutt.com

How Much Do You Make?

How Your Income Influences Your Health Status

There’s no question that income is related to both health status and access to health care services in the U.S. As a matter of fact, households with higher incomes have higher levels of discretionary income and, thus, have better health status and access to care.

Rationale Conversation Be Damned!
However, when it comes to having any type of rationale conversation concerning who makes how much in this country–and how all of this impacts health status and health care–the group IQ usually plummetts to below room temperature.

Try it for yourself.

Next time you have the chance, ask your closest friends what’s “middle class” and watch the fireworks fly.

It happens every single time.

The Facts
But, thanks to Kiplinger.com, the genie’s out of the bottle.

Here’s the story:

If you, as an individual, earned more than $410,000 you are in the top 1% of all income earners in the U.S.
If you earned $160,041, you are in top 5%.
If you earned more $113,018, you are in the top 10%.
If you earned more than $66,532, you are in the top 25% of wager earners in the U.S.
If you earned more than 32,878, you are in the top 50% of all earners.
And if you earned less than that, you are in the bottom 50% of all earners.

Taken another way, this stark reality means that 50% of all wage earners in the U.S. earn less than $33,000 a year.

And this, my friends, does not bode well for us as a country when it comes to health status and health care.

What This Means For America
In fact, according to the Institute for the Future, “Research has shown that when income disparity among the population widens, the overall health status of the population worsens.”

So brace yourself America–when it comes to health status and health care in this country–things are going to get (much) worse before they gets better.

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Posted at 5pm on 01/01/10 | Comments Off | Filed Under: Building a Healthy Workplace

Swallow Hard America…

Things That Make You Say Hmmmm…

“An estimated 81 million Americans now take at least one prescription medication every day.”

~Why Our Health Matters, Andrew Weil

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Posted at 4pm on 01/01/10 | no comments | Filed Under: Notable And Quotable

Please Sir, May I Have Another…

Former FDA Chief Blows The Whistle On The Food Industry…

Fat. Sugar. Salt.

In his new book, “The End Of Overeating” David Kessler reveals that these are the three points of the food industry’s compass. And if American’s can be lured into eating more of these three ingredients, collective eating patterns can be cognitively and behaviorally altered and then it’s game over.

Sounds a little too doom and gloom?

I’d bet my house that he’s right.

In this book, perhaps the most comprehensive analysis of overeating and the food industry’s quest to stimulate hyper-consumption, Kessler makes an extremely compelling case as to why the food industry is a major part of the problem as it relates to the obesity epidemic in America.

From his damning revelations about how the food industry engineers our food to promote overeating, this book will take you to several different destinations.

Your first stop will be “stunned.” But that’s only a brief excursion.

Next, you’ll be transported to the corner of pissed and agitated. Again, only a limited engagement.

When you pass through ”duped and bitter,” you’ll know you are getting close.

And when you arrive at “motivated to never be taken in by these greedy bastards again,” you’ll know you’ve arrived at your final destination.

We owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Kessler–my prediction is that things will change because of his work.

By all means, READ THIS BOOK.

PS. The only people who are happy about this book are the tobacco executives–I’ll bet they’re wheezing a big, big sigh of relief right now.

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Posted at 11pm on 05/06/09 | Comments Off | Filed Under: Books, Building a Healthy Workplace