Will a Beer Tax Buy Your Health Care?

by: Jill Richardson

Thu May 21, 2009 at 14:03:06 PM PDT

Taxes on wine and liquor would also go up. And there might be a new tax on soda and other sugary drinks blamed for contributing to obesity. Diet drinks, however, wouldn't be taxed.

The idea behind the proposed increases is to tax lifestyle choices that contribute to rising medical costs. Obesity puts people at risk for diabetes and heart problems. Alcohol abuse is a risk factor in several types of cancer, liver disease and psychological problems.

The soft drink industry and beer and wine producers are already lobbying to stop the proposals before they gain traction. The tax increases would lead to job losses for workers and higher costs for recession weary consumers, say the industries. Wine makers are also pointing to studies that suggest a glass a day can be good for health.

My anwer to the wine people: Go blow it out your ass. Sorry, but a tax on wine won't stop committed wine drinkers from the glass or two of red wine that may be good for them. It's the people who binge that go past what's good for them and start costing our health care system a lot of money. They can pay up.

My own thought about health care is that an efficient single payer system can probably pay for itself in savings alone over the current system we've got in place. In other words, if the money that employers pay in premiums for employees health care now went to Uncle Sam instead (for the same purpose), we'd probably have our costs covered. Another idea? Tax the large percentage of companies that are paying ZERO taxes right now by closing up loopholes in the tax code that allow them to get away with it. Or how about taxing people who make over $3 million or so a year at a higher rate? I'm for that too. Or legalizing and taxing pot?

But what the hell, if you're slapping a tax on booze and soda and it gets us all health care, who am I to complain? I only wish that they'd tax diet soda along with the regular stuff if that's the route they choose to go. I'm not a big fan of sin taxes, but if they can get it passed, I'm also not really opposed.

Manic Monday Sampler Platter

by: Jill Richardson

Mon Apr 06, 2009 at 06:00:00 AM PDT

• On FactoryFarmMap.org, you can find a factory farm near you. Mmm! Hat tip to Heather.

• Alternet's got a great piece on the startling effects of going veg for just one day. (I didn't read this when I first saw it because I thought they meant the effects on you personally and I was like "Yeah right!" But then I realized they meant that if everyone in the world did it, what are the effects on resource usage and the environment.)

• Natasha Chart says that if we want sustainable food and farms, farmers need affordable, accessible healthcare. So do food bloggers :)

• Civil Eats has a great first-person piece on life as a student farmer.

• Paging Detroit! A Japanese steel plant is surviving economic hard times by growing lettuce.

• Reeaallly good one by Marion Nestle. Eat less, pay more. People bought less produce in 2008 than the year before - but they actually paid MORE for that smaller amount.

• I was very skeptical when checking out this article about rating fast food chains until I saw that the only two that earned top ratings are Pizza Fusion and Le Pain Quotidian - perhaps the only two chain restaurants I ever eat at :)

• Natasha slams Skinny Bitch for misogyny. I've never read the books, but I'll take her word.

• Awesome piece by Tom Philpott calling for a less efficient, more robust food system. And I have a hunch, if that was achieved, we might all have less robust waistlines.

Want Healthy Food? Start With Healthy Farmers!

by: Jill Richardson

Wed Jan 07, 2009 at 12:00:00 PM PST

Here's an except of Steph's wisdom:

When we talk about local food, it means more than just proximity to a farm. We associate supporting "local food" with supporting specific values - such as family ownership, local control, small scale, environmental stewardship, community, and ecological diversity. These values are what motivate people to buy their food directly from the farmer who grows it.

The sustainable local-food system we are trying to build relies on an abundance of small, diverse, sustainable family farmers scattered all across the United States. For this kind of farm to exist, sustainable must mean more than environmental sustainability - it must also include economic viability. Farming is a dangerous and risky business, and it becomes a whole lot less attractive when a farmer knows that he or she is one fall from the hay loft away from losing their land.

We hear frequently about the need for new and younger farmers, but there are many barriers to attracting young people to farm in a way that will foster sustainable local food systems. One of them, however, looms bigger than the rest:

Access to affordable, dependable health care.

Hear, hear!

Some Will Go Hungry, Others Will Get Sick

by: jgoodman

Sun Nov 23, 2008 at 18:40:24 PM PST

I suppose it depends on the comparison. Somalia? Kenya ? In developing countries close to 2 million children die every year from contaminated food and water. So I guess we can say we have a safer food system than theirs, wow! How do we fare compared to other industrialized countries?

Alabama Charges Obese Workers More for Health Insurance

by: Jill Richardson

Sun Aug 24, 2008 at 20:59:08 PM PDT

Alabama has a new challenge to workers: Shape up or pay up. State employees have a year to lose weight and those who have a BMI above 35 after that time will pay more for health care. I care deeply about obesity BUT I think this is absurd - and unfair. So does CCF, but we oppose this policy for different reasons.

Hospital Food Gets An Upgrade

by: Jill Richardson

Sun Aug 17, 2008 at 16:00:00 PM PDT

The quote above comes from a blog post that describes the national effort to improve hospital food, led by Health Care Without Harm:

Today, however, nutrition experts, doctors, hospital administrators, food service companies and patient advocates are working together to make hospital food healthier, better-tasting and a key part of the healing process. Ronald M. Davis, M.D., president of the American Medical Association, in an article for the AMA's April newsletter, called on hospitals to "buy meat and poultry raised without nontherapeutic antibiotics, use milk produced without recombinant bovine growth hormones, and replace unhealthy snacks found in many vending machines with healthy choices."

Gerard Mullin, M.D., director of Integrative GI Nutrition Services at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, points out that "food has biochemical benefits beyond just calories. Having the freshest food available to preserve the bioactivity of those nutrients is very important for healing sick patients."

Hospital food's need for reconstructive surgery has led 127 facilities to sign a pledge to serve primarily organic and chemical-free food, produced locally. Kaiser Permanente, the nation's largest health care system, has adopted similar healthy-food guidelines, declaring that its hospitals will work with local suppliers and other vendors to serve food that is "fresher, tastes better, and is associated with increased consumption of fruits and vegetables."

This effort has spread to hospitals in 21 states, ranging from very small (25 beds) to very large (900 beds). Recently the American Nurses Association also joined in the call for healthier hospital food. Yay!

An Idiot I Met - And So Much More

by: OrangeClouds115

Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 22:16:04 PM PDT

I stopped and chatted with him for a minute and then he said "Yeah... I still don't know who I'm voting for yet."

I said "Are you kidding me? Is there a choice? McCain's such an asshole!"

Idiot: "If it weren't for the war, I'd vote for McCain hands down. The Democrats want to socialize everything. They practically want a national bed time."

The conversation that followed is SO TELLING about everything that's wrong with America, and why we need candidates who are willing to make it right to win in November.