At least one-fourth of all U.S. adults are obese. About one in five smokes. Fewer than half get the recommended amount of physical activity. Despite Americans' poor lifestyle choices and the chronic problems they spawn, healthcare reform legislation that Congress is considering would do little to encourage people to live healthy lives, according to health experts. Advocates say Congress is missing an opportunity to expand medicine's focus beyond the diagnosis and treatment of illness. They say lawmakers should do more to boost efforts to prevent the onset of diseases by improving the mental and physical well-being of Americans.
Health experts say it would be great if national health reform legislation would render San Francisco's groundbreaking health program unnecessary—but they don't see that happening anytime soon. None of the bills under consideration in Congress promises to cover everyone living in the United States, leaving some people without coverage. Those include new immigrants who can't afford coverage but are not yet eligible for public programs, low-income people who wouldn't qualify for subsidies, and illegal immigrants. These are among the groups of people who have health coverage under Healthy San Francisco.
It has been a tough 10 years for corporate America, but you wouldn't know it by looking at the nation's biggest healthcare firms. Examine the Standard & Poor's 500 Index and you'll find, on average, those companies will end the decade with slightly lower profits. But the healthcare companies in the index have been anything but the norm. Data compiled by MarketWatch show that the 52 healthcare companies in the index are about to close out the decade with average profits that nearly tripled. That level of money-making seems unlikely to change soon, even if lawmakers pass the legislation that's working its way through Congress. Experts say there aren't many reform proposals that would take a significant bite out of healthcare profits.
Abortion-rights groups, acknowledging they were caught off guard by a last-minute amendment toughening abortion restrictions in the House healthcare bill, are mobilizing to ensure that doesn't happen in the Senate. Activists hope to flood Washington to rally and lobby on Dec. 2, during the week that Senate floor debate begins. The Center for Reproductive Rights has aired television ads criticizing the restrictions. On Tuesday, activists will announce the creation of the Coalition to Pass Health Care Reform and Stop Stupak, a network of more than 30 groups.
For Republicans, the Saturday vote on healthcare in the Senate was the first skirmish in a longer battle aimed at frustrating White House ambitions and ensuring that Democrats bear full responsibility for legislation the GOP sees as increasingly unpopular with Americans. With the 2010 election year looming, Republicans forced Democratic leaders to demonstrate that they can pull together a 60-vote majority for the bill. All 58 Democrats and the two independents allied with the party joined together, voting to avert a Republican filibuster that threatened to stall action. The defeat isn't likely to cause a fundamental rethinking in Republicans' strategy of delaying the bill and pointing to what they see as its flaws. Even if a bill ultimately passes, Republicans hope to delay that moment until well into 2010—when all seats in the House and one-third of those in the Senate will be contested.
Most Americans don't expect healthcare overhaul to affect their lives directly, but those who worry about the fallout outnumber those expecting to come out ahead, according to a recent poll by the nonpartisan Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The poll found that Americans are tuning in to the debate in Washington, with 60% saying they're following it very closely or fairly closely. Most see a change ahead for the nation, and they're divided on whether that will be for good or ill. But when it comes to their own personal lives, Americans say they don't expect much of an impact.