By Glenn Mollette

Columnist

Medical insurance and healthcare continues to be a main topic of American conversations.

Our lives are all we really have and good medical care is imperative to preserve our lives.

Americans must have a dual effort when it comes to healthcare. We need a good plan for covering the expense involved in medical care. Secondly we need a prevention plan.

Healthcare has to begin in elementary school and continued through high school and throughout our daily adult lives. School children must be taught and reminded throughout school about the dangers of soda pop, candy, and sugary foods in general. We have to be reminded that vegetables and fruit are vital to daily health. We have to be taught and reminded about the health dangers of Cigarettes, vaping, alcohol and drugs, (illegal and legal).

Physical education classes must be serious agendas in every school district in America. The payout could save our country billions in expensive medical care and produce a healthier, stronger better America.

We can no longer allow health and physical education to be electives and they can no longer be one semester of high school. This must become a twelve-year national effort. First graders through high school seniors must have weekly time set aside for activities that encourage body movement whether its sports or walking, running or playground activities. We must have ongoing health education pertaining to our eating habits, drugs, mental health and practical life lessons for life stability. We would most likely be hard pressed to come up with eight semesters of health and PE for high school. However two or three semesters of health and PE would not hurt us. One semester and done isn’t working. Of course some school districts did away with Physical Education years ago. Thus more and more of our teenagers and young adults have been plagued with obesity, drug and mental health issues.

So many millions of Americans are struggling with mental health and so are our school children.

Depression, anxiety, paranoia, insecurity, low self-esteem, hatred of other class mates and bullying scenarios are all mainstream daily school challenges. Gun violence, drugs, isolation from family and people are not the answers to these problems. Routine health classes that address mental coping and ways of resolving these challenges are crucial to the health of America.

Obesity results in numerous diseases. Cancer is increased, coronary artery disease, type 2 diabetes and stroke. Obesity is one of the biggest drivers of preventable chronic diseases and healthcare costs in the United States. These medical problems cost Americans from $147 billion to $210 billion per year.

We spend approximately $200 billion on mental disorders in America. Mood disorders, major depression, bipolar disorders and anxiety makes this our highest health care cost in America.

Americans need a medical insurance plan. However, the best medical insurance plan in the world cannot buy back a lifetime of poor health choices and mental disorder. While we are trying to solve the medical insurance issue we must work on America’s health education program from the ground up.