Enact disincentives against red meat

Gov. Pat Quinn has proposed a cigarette tax hike and linked it to health benefits. He said, “We’ve got to use our heads here. We ought to use this strategy to get revenue for Medicaid and also prevent bad things from happening in the first place. That is what a good health wellness system is all about”.

The governor is on the right track. He used the word prevention. It has been said time and again that “an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.” However our current health system rewards those providing the cure rather than prevention. It has really evolved into a disease care system far from the health wellness system that the governor is talking about.

Just as incentives work in helping to alter human behavior, so do disincentives. The proposed cigarette tax hike is an example of such disincentives for the greater good of the society. Our disease care system needs to be transformed into a health wellness system by providing appropriate incentives and disincentives.

Something that will pay a high dividend is reducing the consumption of red meat. Study after study has linked it to heart disease and colon cancer, and our society pays a very high price for it. Yet, there are no disincentives for its consumption or production by factory farming methods under inhumane conditions. Some type of tax would do just that and generate revenue for health care and can also provide incentives for healthier foods.

As the governor said, we have to prevent bad things from happening in the first place. It will require us to change some of our bad habits, and disincentives do work as catalyst.

Sally Agrawal

Barrington