School Lunches

Lucy Komisar wrote an op-ed in the New York Times titled How the Food Industry Eats Your Kid's Lunch, which describes the relationship among The Agriculture Department, schools, and food processing companies. While schools get food, such as apples, chicken and turkey, for free, instead of cooking the food on site, many schools outsource the food to companies such as Sodexo and Aramark, that turn the food into unhealthy meals like pizza and chicken nuggets.  These companies are profiting and are receiving rebates from food-service management firms in exchange for contracts with schools. Many children depend on school lunches, especially since the recession, and these unhealthy food options are harming them. Komisar stated:

"One-third of children from the ages of 6 to 19 are overweight or obese. These children could see their life expectancies shortened because of their vulnerability to diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Unfortunately, profit, not health, is the priority of the food service management companies, food processors and even elected officials. Until more parents demand reform of the school lunch system, children will continue to suffer."

When asked to include healthier options, Sodexo stated that children may not like the healthier options or may already be in the habit of not eating fruits and vegetables, which will only create more food waste. For more information read the entire article, which is linked above.

U.S. Health Care Costs

The article Why Does Health Care Cost So Much in the United States? by Sarah Clune and Jason Kane is really informative and helps to clarify the reasons for differences in health care costs around the world. As referenced in the article, I watched Frontline's documentary, "Sick Around the World," which was really interesting and described the different health care systems around the world; as to which is the best, that is still up for debate.  I think that this article, which includes an interview with Matthias Rumpf from the OECD, is a great supplement to the documentary and this topic of conversation in general.

Some key takeaways from this article are summarized in a list of bullet points. Rumpf said:

"A few things are common to the high-performing health systems:

• An emphasis on primary care, to ensure that most care takes place outside of (expensive) hospitals
• A system which encourages use of (cheaper) generic drugs, when there are alternatives to expensive brands
• Tight regulations of prices and fees, for at least those services that are paid for by public programs
• Adherence to clinical guidelines, so that excessive use of expensive diagnostics or unnecessary health care is prevented"

I encourage you to read the full article here.