In the upper half of society yes, but in my lower half, most all laboring class people have never had a job that provided health insurance. Minimum wage and nothing more, that's laboring class.

I think your advice is very good, unfortunately for various reasons, for many people healthy food is not always an option.

That may work for you. There are other studies that suggest a very low carb high protein and fat diet (1 unit fat to 3 unit lean protein ratio) works just as well keeping you lean AND healthy. So, don't break your arm patting yourself so hard on the back. Regardless of how my people got sick and are dying, all I care about is them, not slammin' them because they didn't follow 'X'. This world is sick, regardless of what we eat. Poison is everywhere. Get over yourself.

John Ellis, you're correct about 70% or so of the medical suffering in our country being, at least in part, self- induced degenerative diseases. Where I quibble is the other 30% that are not. Many people were born sick or with congenital defects. Or were poisoned through no fault of their own. And not a 100% of the 70% is from dietary choices, lack of exercise or smoking etc. There are predispositioning heredity factors and environmental factors that make what is a tolerable risk for some, an intolerable risk for others; with hindsight being the only insight available.

I just hate when people blame sufferers of illness for their plight, like the woman who told my mother she just needed to be more positive and laugh her way out of metastasized breast cancer "like Norman Cousins did". One) it is judgmental in a way that is not helpful Two)it is presumptive and uninformed. And in this woman's case just plain wrong. My mom was a poster child for clean, healthy living and lifestyle choices and positive thinking. I would prefer that in addition to making good choices for ourselves, we all get a fair shot at the medical treatments we and our healthcare practitioners deem most appropriate to our situation, without jeopardizing our families' financial and future wellbeing.

I find it disconcerting that at least some of the folks that take John_Ellis' position about "just eat better and exercise more", are comfortable with the idea that people need to be punished with bad outcomes for being human and/or making mistakes.

Tell that to all those injured in accidents or at jobs with poor or little insurance, or to people who eat healthily and still get cancer or other diseases which may be environmentally or genetically caused.

Health care is a right, like food, water, and shelter.

Read the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights, which the U.S. agreed to in 1948.

The U.S. is the only Western industrialized nation where health care is considered a "privilege" or a luxury.

This attitude is cruel, backwards, and insanely selfish.

The world would be far different if in fact, Dylan enlightened anybody. He sold out along time ago.

No offense, berniewentboom, but Smith isn't castigating or criticizing Dylan himself at all.

She's just remarking on the bitter irony that a scrawled copy of a protest song penned by a now-Established cultural icon being sold for an obscene amount of money to some presumably-healthy, fabulously well-to-do buyer is Big News.

Whereas the senators and congressmen unheeding of, or deaf to, the universal health care call, remain standing in the doorways and blocking up the hall-- a status quo so entrenched and accepted that it's largely unremarked upon.

She's also lamenting that the increasing steady trickle of ordinary unprivileged citizens dying from the lack of an enlightened health care system disappears between the corporate media cracks; it doesn't have the pizazz or "legs" to be Newsworthy.

But I don't see that she's laying that in Dylan's lap; it was just a timely news item to make the point. If it had been a copy of John Lennon's "Imagine", she probably would've used that exactly the same way.

i checked out the costs and calories and proteins like you said. and from those, you don't seem to be right (especially if you go to farmer's markets or other local producers). i was able to find a good amount of vegetables for the price of one big mac (which is around $3), and definitely enough vegetables to feed a family of 4 for 1 night. so eat 1 less big mac and provide all the nutrients in vegetables for your family for the night which the big mac contains almost none of and which are far more important than most of those in the big mac? (and at the farmer's market, i could have almost gotten enough vegetables for a family of 4 for every weekday for the price of 1 big mac on 1 day). and how about things like 99 cent box of pasta and some pasta sauce, which will have a way better cost/nutrient value, and will last at least 2 meals? or some rice? or if you concern really is protein (although i question why that is the only nutrient you thought important enough to list), try some quinoa, which is one of the healthiest things you can eat, provides great amounts of protein, and i find it very filling (that with some black beans is amazing, and provides plenty of protein for any size person). or just try some peanut butter. my jar of peanut butter, which costs the same as my big mac (actually a little less), provides 5 times the amount of protein (so that means i could have a peanut butter sandwich every day of the week, and get not only as much protein as having a big mac every day, which would cost 5 times as much, but i would also be getting much much better forms of protein from the peanut butter than the big mac).

the problem is not the the most vulnerable do not have a choice. it is normally that our society and media often create a lot of confusion and makes it hard for the most vulnerable to make the best choices. i see this every day as a daycare worker. the poorest parents often have the worst lunches for their children, but they are usually the most expensive and the least nutritious (things like cans of spaghettios or cup of noodle, or mini-frozen pizzas, or lunch-ables, or other fruits/sandwiches/etc. from places like 7/11). how i wish those parents would just send in a pb & j sandwich everyday with an apple (a meal that costs less than $1, but is so much healthier than any of the other things i just mentioned, and provides more protein). that's what i had every day growing up because my parents were poor. that is still what i have every day for lunch because i am still poor (actually its ritz crackers and pb with an apple now, a little cheaper). i am fortunate enough to be in school, but i will have over $100k in loans when i am done, so i spend as little as possible on food. i eat the foods i have described above almost every day. i spend very little on food, but eat healthier than almost anyone i know. i am fortunate enough to have a farmer's market 3 blocks away from me, and that really helps. i suggest everyone try to find a place such as local farmer's market to obtain fruits and vegetables, because i spend 1/3 the amount for more than i used to buy at the supermarket on fruits/vegetables.

for those who cannot afford food at all, however, the situation might be very different. i hope that all people are able to find quality food banks, because there are in fact many that provide excellent food. if you are in such a situation where you cannot get adequate food, you should call your local government services (or a local official, or post office to get the proper number). there are many services, both government and private, out there to help people. often the problem is that people just don't know about them (just like people who can afford food often don't know about the healthy cost-effective alternatives to things like big macs)

Yea you nailed it. It's me, me, me in the USofA. A few weeks back I was behind a fancy late model SUV, that had a "Keep your hands off of MY health insurance!" sticker on the rear bumper. Although, not actually stated on that bumper sticker, the "Fuck you, and your's" was clearly implied..

Besides, if there are no jobs, I can always join the military and "serve my country." If only I had a dime for every HS kid who has, essentially, said there's no excuse for unemployment-- someone can always join the military. And just think of the number of people, even into their 30s, who were faced with the choice of enlisting or having no other way to pay for a loved one's medical treatment.

What you say is so true. The problem is getting the message out to drop out of the current economy, to enough people so it really matters.

RE: Let loose of the old system while you can and join the new economy of greater sustainability.

You make it sound as if the "old system" is something that we can just give up like a bad habit. The "old system", is our current system - capitalism - it dominates the entire the planet with crushing force and it has never been more powerful than today. Capitalism is literally killing us and the natural systems which sustain us as well as millions of other species. The real task of those who wish to create an "economy of greater sustainably" is to overthrow capitalism. That will take a worldwide fight of revolutionary proportions. That a few thousand people living in wealthy first world countries "opt out", by going off the grid, etc, won't affect global capitalism one bit - even if you could pull it off. Islands of communal utopias in a global ocean of capitalist exploitation and violence have never worked. We have a systemic problem of global scope; our solution must be global and systemic as well.