WATCH: Michael Pollan Sees Healthcare Reform Leading to Food System Changes

Call it the 'Omnivore's Health Care Dilemma.'

Michael Pollan wades into the issue of health care reform by looking, not surprisingly, at food. In conversation with journalist and urban farmer Novella Carpenter, he argues that health care reform and changes to American agriculture will go hand-in-hand.

"If we do get health care reform" and "health care companies can no longer pick and choose their clients," say those who are obese or have type II diabetes, he argues, then the insurance companies would drive changes to our nation's food supply. "They will have a powerful interest in prevention" and a person's health over the long-term.

Given the power of the insurance lobby, Pollan's "if" is a mighty big one, and it speaks to the enormity of the task facing President Obama. But he notes that this same lobby power could also be used to pressure healthful change from the House Agricultural Committee. For instance, a person with type II diabetes typically needs $500,000 treatment. If insurance companies were required to provide universal coverage, Pollan concludes "they will work very hard to reform the food system."

Watch the full program at FORA.tv.

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Comments

[AngieMom57]

This needs to be front page news...come on Huffington Post get with the solutions and not so much with the spin and hype and drama...

[Featherdust]

And until insurance companies play a role in reforming the food system, taking personal responsibility for how we eat is the first step toward better health. People shouldn't be waiting for health insurance companies to make the move, but should already be voting with their forks by boycotting industrial food.

http://www.ecohearth.com/eco-blogs/small-earth/723-broaching-the-obesity-taboofor-our-health-and-the-earths.html

[missdk]

It's not that simple. There isn't transparency in our food system, industrialized farming is highly subsidized, and those who are less privileged (and usually at a higher risk of obesity and diabetes) do not have the ability to pick and choose or the information available to make those choices. For free market capitalism to work (which is basically what you're suggesting) we need full disclosure and perfect information. We do not have that. And the govt is promoting the status quo with our tax dollars.