Election and weight issues

Please do not expect an endorsement in this entry. I very very much try to stay away from political discussions with patients. What I feel about politicians, my political beliefs, etc. are not pertinent to my wonderful job of keeping you and your families healthy. Quite frankly, what Oprah Winfrey, Sean Penn or Chuck Norris believe is of no interest or swaying factor to me either. What I will admit is that I am neither "Democrat" or "Republican". I believe that every election has candidates that need to be evaluated on a number of issues and I will not vote one way or the other becuase some "party" tells me to vote a certain way. I also believe the "system" is very flawed in that hundreds of millions of dollars need to be raised to run a successful campaign. How much does either candidate "owe" to special interest groups and others based on their donations? Okay...now to weight loss....what does this all have to do with the election? As we all read about the financial meltdown, the rapidly growing deficit, etc., the question comes is to how we will "pay" for healthcare in the future? With the growing obesity epidemic, espeically in children, the futuristic health of America will continue to deteriorate with morbidity due to diabetes, heart disease, cancers, etc. increasing. The resultant strain on our financial system will be enormous. We are now already seeing a higher and higher percenatge of America's expenditures going to healthcare and this will worsen over time. Whichever candidate is elected, it is incumbent upon our elected officials to make preventative healthcare a priority. As all of the war news, financial news, election news is taking center stage, the looming devastation financially and otherwise due to the obesity epidemic is not going away. Who will pay for all of this needed healthcare associated with obesity? Our children? They are the very ones that are going to be suffering from unchecked childhood obesity. As physicians keep seeing their income eroded by managed care rates, how easy will it to find a doctor who cares and is competent? We are heading for some very difficult times on a number of fronts in this country, but we will all be better as a nation if we are healthier and can keep working. Sorry for the doom and gloom note here today, but we all need to think abouit these issues, especially the people we elect.