Bonnie Weyer's Blog Post as a Physical Education Teacher

I am a physical education teach at Greenwood School District in Greenwood, Wisconsin. I teach physical education to Kindergarten -6th grade. In Greenwood elementary students have daily physical education. The activities that the students do have an element of physical fitness. I try to reinforce this on a daily basis. Due to the changes in life styles I see this as being an important component of physical education. In the thirty years I have taught, students lead a less active life style. They are still are living in a very rural area but no longer are required to help with daily chores related to agriculture. Students go home and spend a great deal of time in front of a screen instead of helping the family or playing outside. The obesity rate is a problem due to diet and lack of activity. This continues to plague our population and then more health care is needed as my students mature. I work much harder to tell students why we need to lead a healthy life style. I also show them what it takes to maintain the healthy life style. I use the Physical Best Activity Guide to teach students the components of being physically fit. We use step counters, heart rate monitors and Fitnessgram to make the students and parents aware of what it takes to stay fit. I am definitely in the business of prevention.

To improve our health care in United States we need to address the fitness of our youth. Daily physical education should be required. Teachers would then have the opportunity to impact the fitness of their students. As a result they would become educated consumers, hopefully resulting in a person who values fitness. Many of our health issues today are a result of inactivity. Students need to learn activities that they can do for the rest of their lives.

As a patient, I am fortunate enough to have health care through my parents. Currently I spend about $50 a month on medication I need daily for a sleep disorder. Without insurance, the cost would be well above $1,200. When I think about my future career path, I consider health insurance one of the top most important factors.
I think it's important to concentrate on preventing diseases rather than treating diseases, which ends up costing more.

I am currently on the waiting list for nursing school in Madison WI, the waiting list is so long that I have decided to move to Michigan to attend a college there. Luckily I got accepted, and I will begin this fall. While I have been on the nursing school waiting list I have been working at a homeless shelter for people with mental illness for the last three years. Working at a homeless shelter has opened my eyes to some of the problems facing the American health care system. The people that we serve are homeless for many reasons, including mental illness, drug and alcohol problems, criminal history and many other socially related problems. Due to all of the problems that our clients have they tend to greatly neglect their health. Most of our clients do not have any form of health insurance, so they will not get any kind of preventive cares done, and will end up going to the ER when something major happens, leaving the taxpayers to cover the insanely large cost of the ER visit. Unfortunately this happens a lot, hospitals and taxpayers get stuck with the bills and the people who are going to the ER for major medical care never get any preventive care and keep ending back up at the ER. If this country had some sort of national health care system we could greatly reduce the cost of health care over all by more people getting preventive cares before their health issues become an emergency for everyone to pay for.

Living Without Access to Health Care - by Kathy Utley

Not have having access to health care for the past 8 years has changed the way I look at my own health issues. Because I do not have access to health care I am much more careful about being well!

I have taken responsibility for my health and well-being. I have lost weight and eat as much locally grown organic foods as I can afford. Thank goodness I live in a community that has many of these resources available to me. I quit smoking years ago and five years ago quit drinking alcohol. I walk about three miles everyday and do not eat fast foods or processed foods at all. I have quit consuming dairy and do not eat peanut products or foods with wheat gluten.

I pray and meditate on a daily basis and attend support groups to deal with my personal growth issues. I make sure that I have healthy social outlets and maintain quality relationships with my family and friends. I have had to educate myself about wellness and occassionally have had to treat myself either through homeopathic means or over the counter drugs at the drug store.

I truly practice preventive medicine. The result of all of this is that I feel great and look healthy too. I have a higher energy level and a better outlook on life. I think that the current health care system causes unhealthiness and even encourages unhealthy practices. There are little to no incentives to practice prevention.

Because our current health care system in based on a capitalist or material model, there is a bottom line and a reason to have sick customers. I do not have the means to shop at their store or belong to their system. The result has made me happy, healthy and content!

Reform Proposal 4

One of the main tenets of the Obama-Biden plan for health care reform is to “Make Health Insurance Work for People and Businesses -- Not Just Insurance and Drug Companies (whitehouse.gov).” Our groups’ beliefs are also in line with these goals. As we have previously stated, many Americans are without health insurance, to the tune of 46 million people. With the nature of our health care system today, no concerned human being can agree that our current for-profit system is ethical with all the uninsured that need care in the United States. Health care costs are rising, yet “Managed care plans earn higher margins today than they ever have before, and operate at lower medical loss ratios than at any time in their history (Carl McDonald, Verden Report).” We feel that this system is not one that is conducive to providing Americans’ with the best health care possible. From 2003 to 2007, the costs of premiums fell as an overall percentage point. This correlated with health insurers spending less on health care. In the last couple of years though, premiums are raising again while insurance companies are continuing to spend less on health care. What this means is that the cost of health care is getting shifted from the companies to the enrollees.

“Health insurance expenses are the fastest growing cost component for employers. Unless something changes dramatically, health insurance costs will overtake profits by 2008. The average employee contribution to company-provided health insurance has increased more than 143% since 2000. Average out-of-pocket costs for deductibles, co-payments for medications, and co-insurance for physician and hospital visits rose 115% during the same period (Verden Report, 2007).” These are yet more stats that drive home the point that health care costs are getting out of control, and reform needs to happen to control said costs. What is truly disheartening about these stats is the fact that the money doesn’t make its way back to the enrollee. “Contrary to claims about making health care more affordable for all, the money is simply going to Managed Care Organizations bottom lines as profit (Verden Report, 2007).” We believe that Managed Care Organizations should operate with the consumer foremost in their minds, not the companies’ bottom line. It would be in the best interest of the consumer/enrollee if laws were passed that ban cost shifting whenever said company is in the black (aka making money).

One reform that can really help to control consumer/enrollee cost would be to require insurance companies and managed care organizations to “cover pre-existing conditions so all Americans regardless of their health status or history can get comprehensive benefits at fair and stable premiums (whitehouse.gov).” Unexpected costs place too large of a burden on the consumer. Laws such as the following can go a long way to keeping prices at a stable level, because no consumer should have to worry about unexpected health care costs destroying their financial stability. Consumers currently have to sign up for a contract to receive health insurance. Because the nature of a contract is a long-term one, insurance companies and managed care organizations should be beholden to offering a fair, stable rate for the coverage that they provide. Shifting costs to consumers while companies profits goes against everything health care should be in a country like ours.