February is National Heart health month and is a timely reminder for us to take our heart health into our own hands and bring it under control. However, according to a recent report by federal health care officials, Americans are not doing enough to control heart disease risk, and that the US healthcare system may be to blame.
According to health statistics, over 100 million individuals have high blood pressure or cholesterol and as many as half of those conditions are not under control.
This is despite the fact that people have the benefit of insurance.
The CDC says that two thirds of those who have these health conditions are not getting effective treatment in spite of it being available at low costs and in spite of having health insurance.
People with unhealthy cholesterol and high blood pressure are not doing enough to bring their condition under control, even though easily available drugs, exercise and sensible eating can easily do the job for them. Comprehensive policy and system changes are required to redress this problem, says the CDC.
Measures such as the Walmart initiative to cut prices of healthy foods are welcome and praiseworthy, say officials. The public should work with government agencies and corporations to bring about change.
