The Quest for the Perfect ExerGame

There is currently a debate raging on both sides of the Atlantic as to the future provision of healthcare treatment and whether or not it should be public or private or some combination of the two. By in large the debate is in fact about “sick service” i.e. a service for when you are sick and what is missing is any consideration of a genuine “health service” that has prevention (rather than cure) as its primary aim.

With regard to a treatment (cure) service I am still waiting for a national debate to take place here in the UK as to what treatments (say treatments A,B&C) are part of the system and guaranteed to everybody no matter where you live, thereby ending the current post-code lottery. Those treatments (say treatments X,Y&Z) which are deemed/agreed to be unaffordable by the system will require alternative arrangements if you wish to access them.

All this however is going to become somewhat academic if current trends in the prevalence of so called “lifestyle” diseases as they will ultimately overwhelm the current “sick service” in whatever form it takes. Clearly there is a need for the right form of long-term incentives for both the public and health care providers to invest in preventative measures.

It was somewhat ironic that in the Sunday Times last week not only was there coverage of the debate entitled “USA versus the NHS” but on the previous page there was an article lambasting local government councils for failing to support businesses through the recession and instead spending money on “Nanny State Jobs“.

When you get in to the body of the piece you see that the examples given of these so called “nanny state jobs” are all in one way or other connected with trying to get people to become physically active and to eat more healthily. You can’t have it both ways. People have to wake up and take responsibility and realize that good health is going to cost money for prevention and/or cure. Whilst prevention requires significant upfront investment, it is going to be cheaper and more importantly sustainable in the long-term.