Daniel Parecki

So here’s an idea that came to me while washing up after a run.  And no i didn’t hit my head and dream up a flux capacitor if that’s what you’re thinking.

We all know what doctors say: “eat better and exercise more”.  Problem is, few people listen to their doctors.  If people in poor health (and people in good health) began and maintained a regular exercise routine, they may be able to avoid many diseases.  By not getting sick in the first place they would place less of a strain on the health care system.  This is called prevention.  But this is not the reduced form of prevention doctors talk about.  Exercise improves overall health and thus prevents many diseases. (fact check somebody?).

If exercise has the power to ward off disease, why aren’t more people doing it? The main reason is motivation and willpower.  Without constant support it is easy for people new to exercising to trail off after only a few workouts.  What people need is constant motivation, and the doctor cannot be the motivation.

So here’s my proposal that will improve the health and lives of millions of Americans, reduce health care expenditures, and reduce the federal deficit (the causal chain is in that order).  Start a program that hires high school or college people to be personal trainers for their community members.  This program would pair students with patients  and have them run, bike, or swim together three or four times a week.  The student would be paid about $15 an hour and would monitor the progress of their trainees and push them to their limits.  Once a reliable routine has been established (about a month), the student would meet with the trainee only once a week until both parties are convinced that the trainee will continue exercising with no external motivation.

The Cost of the program would ideally be paid for by insurance companies, but of course that’s never going to happen even if evidence shows this kind of program to improve health and lower health expenditures.  So instead, the program could be run by an NGO funded by a non-profit (like the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation), or by the government, or by medicare/medicaid.  The cost of this program would be relatively low compared to annual health expenditures (over $7000) and could improve people’s health more than many treatments available today.

Here’s an example: a patient comes in to the doctor and is diagnosed with hypertension (high blood pressure).  Instead of writing a prescription for Benazepril (a blood pressure medication), the doctor ‘prescribes’ the patient an exercise regimen assisted by the program.  The doctor can write the prescription on her prescription pad and hand it to the patient.  The patient would take that slip and hand it to the front desk and the receptionist would coordinate a personal trainer for the patient.

Cardio is difficult and painful for the first few weeks until your body gets in shape.  During this time it is especially important to have someone else pushing you on so you can get a full half hour or workout.  Once you’re through the hump then cardio feels wonderful and you’ll wonder how you could have ever gone without it.

One argument frequently passed around conservative discourse is the idea that the United States of America has the best health care system in the world. They note that rich people from foreign countries come to the States to use our health care system. This argument has an inherent fallacy. It may be true that the U.S. is very well equipped to treat highly specialized medicine, but the health care system as a whole is broken. Treatment costs far too much for the average citizen to afford. People receive needless treatment for normal life processes like hyperactivity and menopause. And Western Medicine is ill equipped to assist people maintain a balanced lifestyle.