don's report archive

Throw us a bone

Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)

Creating A Political Constituency for Self-Management
Tuesday August 7, 2001

“Politics is the science of how who gets what, when and why.” Sidney Hillman, Political Primer for All Americans,” 1944.

Despite the fact that half of all premature deaths in the United States are caused by dreadful lifestyle habits, including smoking, failure to exercise sufficiently or at all, ghastly eating patterns, unmanaged stress levels and so on, support for wellness education, health promotion research and self-management programming in schools, companies and other institutions is minimal. In fact, such support is virtually non-existent!

Did you know that the annual budget for the federal Office of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention would hardly be sufficient to pay Tiger Woods for winning a couple of golf tournaments? Would you be surprised to discover that the National Institutes of Health, which spend twenty billion dollars annually on research, devote next to nothing to promote or even study wellness lifestyle strategies? In a federal initiative culminating in the adoption of “Healthy People 2010 Objectives,” health promotion is described as the most effective strategy to achieve 14 of 26 major targets, yet Medicaid and Medicare programs have not been modified to pay for health promotion interventions.

Why is this the case? We can speculate endlessly about plots, stupidity, nasty motives, conspiracies and so on, but the root cause of this situation is that wellness, self-management or health promotion by any name you like has no political sex appeal, no powerful constituency and no large voter blocs who contribute to political campaigns. There are no lobbyists for wellness, no powerful organizations exerting pressures on the Congress and the White House to make wellness appropriations, appoint high officials dedicated to encouraging healthy lifestyles and otherwise doing the things that get action and make a difference. Without such political power, wellness initiatives are not funded, research that would enable more effective interventions is not conducted and programs offering positive incentives for lifestyle change initiatives for improved health status are not incorporated into Medicare, Medicaid and other federal or state undertakings.

What shall we do about this situation? Shall we shake our collective heads in dismay or even work ourselves into a dither or perhaps a frenzy of discombobulation? Shall we continue to ignore this reality of powerlessness and resign ourselves to minding our own personal business, with resignation and limited expectations?

Not necessarily! I’m happy to report that there is an alternative. I’m out of space for today, but tomorrow I’ll tell you all about it, including what you might want to do to get involved in politics for wellness. I believe it was Ibsen who said, “Politics are the most important thing in life-for a newspaper.” It might be that politics hold a similar level of consequence for wellness promoters and all of us who think better self-management is the key to a healthier and better society.

Be well, and look on the bright side of life.

(Note: This essay will be filed in the archives in the PHYSICAL DOMAIN under the skill area of lifestyle habits. Additional articles related to this theme may be found there.)

(Ed. Note: Views expressed in this and other columns are those of the author and not necessarily those of the SeekWellness Editorial Board.)

Send e-mail to Don Ardell