On June 28, another milestone in health care reform occurred when the Supreme Court ruled on the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) stated their opinion concisely on the SCOTUS blog (conveyed on The Atlantic):

“In Plain English: The Affordable Care Act, including its individual mandate that virtually all Americans buy health insurance, is constitutional….”

The purpose here is not to offer another opinion on the law or the ruling. Several UT experts have already delivered some keen insights, in addition to many others. My intent is to emphasize the individual mandate and add a twist to it.

In the upheld law, the individual mandate refers to the need for everyone to purchase health insurance. The real individual mandate we need to embrace requires no legislation; it just demands our individual effort and fervor to live healthier.

As we enter our time for celebrating our nation’s independence, we need to live up to our individual responsibility. Our individual mandate needs to be this: Live healthier!

This is not about politics at all. It is about individual responsibility.

Some get upset when politicians propose laws to curb our intake of unhealthy substances. The latest proposal came from Mayor Bloomberg with his suggested ban of surgary drinks of more than 16 ounces. Of course, there was much debate about this ban, especially since it seems to be an affront to our freedom.

No matter if you have a conservative, liberal or independent view, we can agree that there is a cost to freedom. In this case, the cost of not making healthier choices results in higher costs and, ultimately, government action to balance the costs associated with obesity.

Let’s look at those costs. In a recent Reuters’ article (Sharon Begley, April 30, 2012) entitled As American’s Waistline Expands, Costs Soar, specific costs were outlined:

• Absenteeism cost: “Obesity-related absenteeism costs employers as much as $6.4 billion a year, health economists led by Eric Finkelstein of Duke University calculated.”
• Productivity cost: “The very obese lose one month of productive work per year, costing employers an average of $3,792 per very obese male worker and $3,037 per female. Total annual cost of presenteeism due to obesity: $30 billion.”
• Health care cost: “Nationally, that comes to $190 billion a year in additional medical spending as a result of obesity, calculated Cawley, or 20.6 percent of U.S. health care expenditures.”

Total approximate annual cost equals $226.4 billion. If this doesn’t make the point, maybe this added angle from the Reuters’ article will:

“Hospitals, too, are adapting to larger patients. The University of Alabama at Birmingham's hospital, the nation's fourth largest, has widened doors, replaced wall-mounted toilets with floor models able to hold 250 pounds or more, and bought plus-size wheelchairs (twice the price of regulars) as well as mini-cranes to hoist obese patients out of bed.”

There is something wrong with what we are doing with our freedom in regards to our personal health! To restate, this is not a political issue; it is an individual issue. Our role needs to be understood, and our health literacy needs to be enhanced.

If the government and other institutions are going to bear the costs of our individual health care problem, then proposing to ban 32-ounce Big Gulps, which contain 91g of sugar and 364 calories, may be the wake-up call some leaders are trying to sound. If replacing toilets to handle our weight issue doesn’t sound the alarm, maybe a super-size ban will.

Political motives can be questioned, no doubt. Maybe the intent is to not enact new regulations or restrictions but raise awareness of individuals and their health.

So, whatever state our health care may be in, please adopt an individual mandate to embrace a healthier lifestyle and make healthier choices. We can chalk it up to being a better citizen. We can mark it down as a way to celebrate our independence from over-marketing or over-consumption. Most importantly, we can get on a track to bring down the costs of health care while bringing down our weight and raising up our health.

This should be our new individual mandate in health care: Live free through healthier living. Celebrate independence from unhealthy habits. Uncle Sam needs us!