President Obama’s position for health reform has been closely aligned to the nation’s economic health. His argument: healthcare costs consume about 18% of our GDP and until we get health care costs under control our nation’s economic health is greatly impacted.

A recent study by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation extends the argument beyond health reform and has examined the impact that job loss has on health conditions. The key findings in the study include:

- The likelihood of individuals who lost a job through workplace closure reporting fair or poor health increased by 54%.
- The odds of developing a new health condition rose by 83% among those who had no preexisting health problems.
- Even when individuals found new jobs, they continued to have an increased risk of new stress-related health problems.

David Williams, staff director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation added this thought. “Where and how we live, work, learn and play have a greater impact on how healthy we are than the healthcare we receive.” I am not sure that I agree with Mr. Williams completely but I think there is definitely merit to his point. Beyond looking at health reform as the delivery system and a cost containment effort, we also must examine how other environmental factors contribute to our health and therefore, contribute to costs.

Do you know what concerns me when I read articles such as the one in The Wall Street Journal? When individuals are left with no insurance coverage or are underinsured, it opens the door to an increase in catastrophic health occurrences, it impacts our ability to help those most in need practice preventive health and it impacts all of us because healthcare costs sky rocket.

What are your thoughts?