As If You NEED Another Reason to Stay in Shape

From Reuters:

Health-care spending is outpacing the growth of the American economy and will consume 20 percent of U.S. gross domestic product by 2015, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said on Wednesday.

By comparison, health-care spending accounted for about 16 percent of U.S. GDP in 2004, the latest year for which data are available, according to a study by CMS economists published in the journal Health Affairs.

National health care spending will grow by an average 7.2 percent annually over the coming decade, the study said. That would be slower than in recent years but still 2.1 percent faster than GDP growth, it said.

All this money spent on health care could be avoided with a healthy diet, adequate exercise, and a little willpower. There is no reason to spend all our money curing illnesses that can be avoided in most instances.