As many of you know, and claims that “The New Health Age offers a succinct primer on how we got here and where we should be taking the health of our nation.” Our publisher plans to release the ebook version by Thanksgiving and the print edition by Christmas.
Rest assured, after spending over one year researching, interviewing national leaders, and writing the book, while the transition will be difficult, the future of health and health care in America will be bright. A new age of health has arrived. Most people don’t see it yet because it is so much easier to shape our views based on the past.
Why a new age? Because the free market is strong in America and yesterday’s health care system, its costs, and the state of Americans’ health have become too burdensome on businesses, governments, and individuals alike. We are an unhealthy nation that is causing too much spending in the wrong areas of the economy. The markets are already responding and fostering many changes that we discuss in the book.
This new era of health follows a disturbing fact that nearly two-thirds of Americans are overweight, only one out of four Americans regularly engage in physical activity, oI am the co-author with futurist David Houle of the new book The New Health Age: The Future of Health Care in America. Mehmet Oz, MD, host of The Dr. Oz Show reviewed the bookne out of five Americans continues to smoke, many of us eat unhealthy foods, and we are stressed emotionally. These and other lifestyle choices result in debilitating and often deadly chronic diseases such as heart disease, lung disease, cancer, and diabetes. Not only is the human cost related to these diseases dreadful, disturbing, and deadly, but nearly seventy percent of the American health care dollar is associated with only ten percent of the population suffering from these chronic diseases. David and I discussed these health statistics and many others throughout our book.
The time to shift Americans’ state of health is now. One of the most exciting sections of the book relates to the movement toward a healthier nation that will occur throughout the Twenty-First Century. How, when, and where will the movement start? It will start and end with a race – The Race to a Healthy America. The Race will begin in Tampa Bay and will be on the same scale as the race to the moon (which started a few miles away).
David and I have partnered with the Tampa Bay Partnership’s ONE BAY – Healthy Communities’ initiative to launch the Race. On February 24, 2012, we will begin the Race at the Tampa Bay Convention Center. The Race will create a health campaign in Tampa Bay, where businesses, governments, educators, and individuals choose to make lifestyle choices towards healthier living. New health programs will begin to spring up throughout our region as the race takes off. Health care systems will begin to transform their models towards wellness, prevention, and efficiency. Over time, our health as a region will improve, costs will decrease, and we will become a healthier, happier, and more prosperous community.
Will the Race be a massive effort? Indeed it will be. Will Floridians and Americans respond? Absolutely! Why? We don’t have a choice. If the United States is to remain a great nation, we need healthy Americans. Without our health, we have nothing.
Email me at jfleece@blalockwalters.com or call me at 941.748.0100 if you want to receive more information about the Race.
