Re: Deadly Disease # 6

[roger.tov@btinternet.com]

Hi All
In relation to rising health care costs - both in the US and here in 
the UK.  A significant proportion of health costs can be seen as 
'life style' - I did some work for the NHS some while back and we did 
some assessment of the causes of health and cost, in excess of 70% of 
the local budget was spent on avoidable, life-style costs.  We had 
excluded from these, for want of a better word, health lifestyle 
costs, such as sporting injuries.  I do not know what the breakdown 
is nationally, but I would guess it would be similar, the area was 
pretty much middle for health and life expectancy etc.  From what I 
understand the costs in the US are liable to be higher as I 
understand that the extremes of health are lower in the UK - ie there 
is more lifestyle related ill health in the US than the UK.

So not only is there an issue of lack of longterm thinking in 
business - forced in some part by the nature of accounting - but also 
a lack of longterm thinking and planning on behalf of whole nations / 
cultures.

R