LETTER

Being Well 

US citizens spend more on healthcare than any other society on Earth.  Americans have shorter ‘healthspans’ than people in all other affluent countries.  In her book, Well, epidemiologist Sandro Galea shows that an obsession with drugs, doctors and insurance obscures the fact that the roots of sickness and health are life circumstances: money, status, education, environment and a range of other socio-economic issues. With the richest 1% living for up to 15 years longer than the poorest 1%, investment in public goods such as education, universal health coverage and environmental regulation is ever more urgent in our country as well as in the USA. I recall the Bulletin editorialized this point some time ago.  

Keep repeating the message: healthcare includes how we live, eat, sleep, exercise, study, earn our living, and even where we live. Therefore, our environmental laws, climate-change approach, schools and teachers all need more attention and better funding for our better health.  Also, I highly recommend this book!

Rosemary Amyotte

Aylmer