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Would it pay for the government to pay people for daily walking?
Healthy Living | Last Active: 5 days ago | Replies (27)Comment receiving replies
In the US people work and pay all their lives into a government medical system that benefits them in older age or before depending on circumstances. There is a near zero chance that this system could be done away with. But if the government paid people to walk the costs to everyone would be less, maybe substantially less, and the health of the population greatly increased, It's an idea worth considering. The sooner the better. I don't know how it is in Australia but about 70% or more of people here are overweight and like 30% are obese.
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@robertwills We’re chatting about paying people to walk to get healthier and use the health system less (leaving aside how that is monitored by the government so cheats don’t abuse the system!)
I’ve just read how there are some scientists in the UK calling for the government to pay smokers to give up for the same reason.
What do you think about that?
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@robertwills Australia has a wonderful public health system which tax payers fund.
People on higher incomes also have to pay an extra levy to help subsidise the public system.
Most employers in Australia don’t offer health insurance as part of employment - it’s not normal.
We are also encouraged - if we can afford to do so - to take out our own private health insurance as soon as we start working so we don’t need to queue in the public health system and can choose our own surgeons and number of beds in the room.
It’s not perfect but seems to be so much better than the USA and much more affordable. The USA health system is crazy expensive.
As a stage 4 cancer survivor I’m not coming to the USA anytime soon because I can’t get affordable cover and I can’t run the risk of landing in a USA hospital without insurance!!
I don’t know why the USA health care system is so bad and seems it would be even worse without Obamacare.
I know there are many health conscious Americans who exercise and eat well without needing to be paid! I am surprised more Americans don’t walk more, without needing to be paid to do so, knowing how stressful the health system is if they need it 🤔
We too have chunk of our population at unhealthy weights. Maybe semaglutides will become more widespread for such people (not wealthy slim people wanting to be skinny), much more affordable and with more medical trials for side effects.
Your post has raised interesting issues about how to address health and make the health care system better