Healthy Living

History suggests that economic ups and downs are inevitable, and the downs are never fun. We are all living with the short-term pain of an economic downturn. The long-term legacy of this period is still in question.

Unfortunately, expedient political decisions tend to be very shortsighted. If we need more oil now, drill in the Alaskan wilderness, or the continental shelf. Leaving aside the subtleties of this debate, this policy points us toward the same mess we're in now in the very near future, with some additional environmental destruction thrown in for good measure.

Everywhere I look, I see threats to health. The rising costs of the most nutritious foods. More people losing health insurance. Potential cuts to Medicare coverage for physician services. Reduced spending on school lunch programs. The list goes on.

Aside from military expenditures--for ventures questionable and otherwise--health care is one of the largest pieces of the American economy. If we neglect investments in health, the weight of that piece threatens to become more than society can carry. There is a prospective future in which economic downs remain inevitable, but the 'ups' do not.

Prevention is not about waiting for a crisis--it's about seeing the potential for crises and not letting them occur. Smoking cessation is tough, but lung cancer is tougher. Staying committed to investment in health at a time of economic hardship is difficult, but paying the price of not doing so will be more difficult still.

Ounces of prevention beat pounds of cure, but lifting even those ounces can seem like too much work at times. But we should muster the resolve to do so nonetheless. Because those pounds will be costly down the line. Neglecting health priorities in the current economy may seem penny wise, but is decidedly pound foolish.

More ways to protect your health care:

Find out how your neighborhood's health care rates

25 trade secrets from top OB/GYNs

What women should know about stroke risk