Working at a place where I see so, so many people who are suffering, some because of poor life style choices or a lack of knowledge of their own genetics that might have motivated them to head off what they're struggling with now... I've become much more of a health fanatic than I ever imagined I would be.

And I'm fortunate to be exposed to some of the latest research on diet, exercise, and other health practices, with MDs and PhDs in the field as colleagues who are similarly motivated to avoid problems that can be navigated around. Many colleagues are from nations where treatments or prevention have been followed for thousands of years. Example: the spices Indians have in their daily lives are thought to be a major reason India has low rates of Alzheimers.

Easily, 25% of US healthcare costs could be shaved off by better lifestyle choices. Sodas are 21st century cigarettes, many people eat horrible food, we largely ignore wisdom from the East that can make a big difference. Much of the poor lifestyle choices are a result of economic inequality.
McDonalds, KFC, Taco Bell, pizza are toxic "comfort foods".

People in many poorer countries lead happier, healthier lives even though they don't have access to high quality healthcare, in large part because they have "hope", they're not driven to medicate themselves with crappy diets or poisons, stress that originates with striving to keep up with the Joneses or dealing with a job that treats them like they're expendable.

One guy at our work is a solid, blue collar employee who never calls in sick, has been with us for a couple of years. He used to work at a potato chip factory across town where the policy was no vacations between Memorial Day & Labor Day. "But that's the time of year our kids aren't in school". Answer: "If you don't like it, get another job". He finally did, "hit the jackpot" and is doing menial work tasks for us. He's a great guy, but is a good example of how the genetic / upbringing lottery is largely cruel. He knows that MRI, CT scans, PET and other types of Radiology are "cameras looking into your body" but otherwise, investing in lots of education in him is not going to result in somebody producing keen insights. This doesn't mean he's "expendable".

We plateaued on increasing life expectancies and have gone down a couple of years in a row due in large part from opioids, which are an escape. The fast food places have experimented with healthier menus, but people crave the comfort food that helps relieve their stress from the day, the same food that sends them to hospitals years or decades later for expensive and often futile treatments.

In healthcare we often see the end product of a culmination of low scores on the genetic lottery, raised in dysfunctional homes & neighborhoods, crappy & turbulent jobs, and lots of self medicating through bad diet, escaping the day on the couch, smoking, drinking, drugs, etc.

Taking a holistic view of what constitutes good health, we're going to have very expensive healthcare for the foreseeable future.