Health Care is the topic of the summer in these United States. There’s no way to avoid hearing about it. 24-hour news networks have devoted up to half of their coverage to it. Senior citizens are stabbing the air and screaming at representatives at town hall meetings about it. The airwaves are peppered with images of sad children, Jewish bureaucrats, and people’s heads being squeezed by higher taxes, all in the name of the health care debate.

At the base of all of this is the “health care crisis,” in which projected costs and premiums are expected to spike to unsustainable levels over the next decade in America. Thus, the Democratic majority in Congress has started to flesh out a health care overhaul plan that Republicans are against. And in true American fashion, we’ve all flocked to our respective sides to commence shouting at the other.

But as all of this is unfolding amidst trillion dollar proposals and ever-inflating bellies, I find myself asking the following question. If America is in such trouble with health care, why don’t we just get healthier?

Such a statement is invariably met with an array of exceptions. Some people are predisposed to obesity! Some people can’t afford nutritious food! Some people don’t have the information about how to live a healthy lifestyle! Some people don’t have time to exercise!

That’s right. Some people are burdened with a bad hand when it comes to genetics. Others are so poor that they can’t afford fruits, vegetables, or whole grains. Some in rural or urban areas are burdened by a lack of access to the internet or other outlets of information on healthy lifestyles. And some people are so choked with work or family responsibilities that they have narry a minute to exercise.

But those people are a MINORITY. To say otherwise is to foolishly absolve the majority’s complicity in this whole mess. You’re saying that in the U.S., a full 1/3 of its citizens are obese because of genetic disposition? You’re telling me that as a whole, a nation that bought 12 million Xbox 360’s can’t afford a bag of brown rice or some carrots? You’re saying that a nation that manages to watch an average of four hours of television a day can’t find 15 minutes to go for a jog? You’re alleging that in a nation where 3/4 of citizens have access to the internet at home don’t have adequate information on a healthy lifestyle?

If you are, then you’re missing a glaring truth in all of this that few want to acknowledge, let alone address. While it’s clear that incomplete health care coverage in the U.S. is a contributing factor to our health care woes, merely extending coverage to everybody isn’t going to solve much of anything in the long term. Yet both Democrats and Republicans have decided to point the finger at each other rather than at the root of the problem. Us.

There has been limited talk of incentivizing people to live healthy lives through reform measures. Underneath the massive overhaul plan that no one quite understands, but understands enough to oppose or support, is the buzz about the health plan instituted by Safeway. The grocery store chain introduced a number of healthy incentives a few years back through which employees get perks and lower premiums if they can demonstrate they smoke less, lose weight, and exercise.

The model is something that’s sorely needed in the health care debate, a plan that not only gives people health coverage, but incentives to quit smoking, pass on the chips, and get off the couch. But the very idea of NEEDING such a system makes me uneasy. Is it not enough that there’s a health care crisis in America, where costs have been projected to triple in the coming years? Is it not enough that so much GDP will be devoted to health care that our economy is nearing the precipice of implosion? Is it not enough that healthier nations will gain competitive advantage in the global market, leaving us far behind?

Apparently not. Rather than Americans waking up to the fact that the gargantuan cost of health care is directly correlated with our own lousy lifestyles, we’re demanding a way to continue it on the cheap. We’re essentially holding ourselves hostage until our elected officials “show us the money.” Before we take the trans fat gun away from our brains, we’re demanding that the government pay us for the very act of moderation that we should be employing out of our own patriotic duty.

I’ve yet to see a single commercial exhorting Americans to eat better or exercise for their country. All I see are commercials portraying us as the victim in a grand scheme perpetrated either by government or insurance giants. And if that kind of illusory approach continues, then I don’t see this nation becoming anything but unhealthier, ripped to pieces under the weight of our collective midsections.

Come on folks, it’s not like you’re being asked to pick up a rifle and fight for your country. Just get off your ass and eat a vegetable once in a while. It’s really not that hard.

*photo by colros on Flickr Creative Commons