The Unaffordable Cost of Being the Fattest Country on Earth

A recent report cited that the single biggest reason families go bankrupt in the United States is because they get wiped out by medical bills. What a nightmare. God bless those families that have to spend all of their household savings, and more, to help a loved one.

But here's something that few American citizens know: Just like those families, the U.S. could also go broke, because the country is being wiped out by medical costs. The nation's healthcare costs have grown to $2.8 trillion, or nearly $9,000 per person, which is more than double what comparable countries pay per person. And health spending is projected to grow at an average rate of 6% through 2022 - much faster than the expected average annual GDP growth. With these staggeringly high, growing costs that are increasing faster than our economy will grow, we're on an unsustainable path to national bankruptcy. Sure, a country can't get foreclosed on or have its car taken away, like what can happen to a family. But a country can lose its economy, its growth, its jobs, its security -- its very way of life.

Gallup and Healthways just released our State of Global Well-Being report. I wish I could say the findings are encouraging on the healthcare front, but they're not. The U.S. ranks 25th globally in physical well-being, with 57% of our citizens struggling, 11% suffering, and only 32% thriving in this element. But here's a truly alarming -- and revealing -- fact: The U.S. is the most obese country in the world.

The Centers for Disease Control concluded a few years ago that of all of America's chronic health problems, a whopping 70% are preventable. And what is the common thread among these chronic diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease? Being obese puts people at higher risk for developing all of them. Bluntly, our citizens are too fat, and the country's economy and future are being smothered by our obesity.

Look, we can debate political solutions till the cows come home: the Affordable Care Act, state exchanges, expansion or contraction of Medicaid, "Grand Bargains" on Medicare, and so forth. In my opinion, that debate is just about how you move $2.8 trillion around.

I've got a "miracle cure," and honest to God, it won't cost the country a penny, yet may cut our health costs in half. If Americans want to live longer, have their children live as long or longer than they themselves will, and not go bankrupt because of crushing medical bills -- and if they would like to live in a country that isn't buried in debt and borrowing trillions of dollars -- a well-being miracle lies in one simple solution: We have to change what and how much we put in our mouths. We have to commit our entire country -- government, businesses, nonprofits, media, families, everyone -- to getting each and every one of our citizens to eat better.