Mike Enzi Doesn’t Believe That Exercise is Good for You
Mike Enzi
The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee’s health reform bill is mostly focused on health insurance and the provision of health care. But it does contain some elements pertaining to public health. And anyone who looks at it knows that health care is actually not that crucial a determinant of public health outcomes. Genetics matters an enormous amount. And then “lifestyle” factors—what you eat, how much you exercise, etc.—also matters a lot. So the bill includes a public health grant program aimed at encouraging exercise. And Elena Schor observes that Senator Mike Enzi (D-WY) apparently finds it outrageous that the Senate might consider walking to be a form of health promoting exercise, slamming the idea of a bill that would “pave sidewalks, build jungle gyms” and so forth.
Instead, his plan is to solve our health care problems through magic: “We need to root out the waste, fraud and abuse that is driving up health care costs.” Schor also quotes Mitch McConnell (R-KY) denouncing “things like having the government build sidewalks.” I seriously doubt that sidewalk funding is going to be more than a tiny fraction of the cost, but of course the government is going to build sidewalks. That’s who builds sidewalks!
42 Responses to “Mike Enzi Doesn’t Believe That Exercise is Good for You”
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June 17th, 2009 at 9:17 am
Mike Enzi is a Republican. What is this, Fox?
June 17th, 2009 at 9:19 am
In Buenos Aires, where I was recently, it’s up to the owner of the adjacent property to build sidewalks. Unsurprisingly, the quality and relative disrepair of sidewalks varies every three feet — and is, I would judge, far lower than the average American city. (You have a lot of time to observe in Buenos Aires because you have to look down while walking, because nobody picks up after their dogs.)
June 17th, 2009 at 9:22 am
“Instead, his plan is to solve our health care problems through magic: ‘We need to root out the waste, fraud and abuse that is driving up health care costs.’”
If it takes magical powers to root out waste, fraud, and abuse in the healthcare system, then we’re all in more trouble than I imagined.
June 17th, 2009 at 9:23 am
It’s amazing how much wastefraudandabuse there is out there. Rooting it out is the Republicans’ answer for everything. You would think that after almost 30 years in charge they would have rooted all the wastefraudandabuse out of the system, but apparently there’s a lot more where that came from. Some crazy person told me once that the Bush administration actually had a ton of wastefraudandabuse in Iraq, FEMA, the Interior Department, and throughout government generally, but that’s crazy talk. I remember hearing Bush talk about rooting out wastefraudandabuse several times!
Just once, when one of these dudes says we don’t need to do _____ (anything Obama wants that might cost money) but we instead need to root out wastefraudandabuse, I would like to hear Wolf Blitzer or Cafferty or whoever follow up on that question and ask for specifics. Because I have not once heard an yspecific examples of what qualifies as wastefraudandabuse or how to root it out.
June 17th, 2009 at 9:24 am
It’s amazing how much wastefraudandabuse there is out there. Rooting it out is the Republicans’ answer for everything.
Also, don’t forget that if only we got rid of pork-barrel spending and earmarks, we could balance the budget.
June 17th, 2009 at 9:31 am
Tessa,
It doesn’t take magic to root out abuse, waste, and fraud. It takes magic to root out enough abuse, waste, and fraud to make a meaningful difference in the resources available.
June 17th, 2009 at 9:42 am
Another note about wastefraudandabuse–all of Obama’s projections that say health care reform will reduce spending arrive at that conclusion by rooting out wastefraudandabuse. Specifically, by paying doctors at Medicare rates rather than inflated rates, and also by cutting out the massively inefficient private health insurance beaurocracy. Possibly there would be incentives for Mayo Clinic-style care that cuts down on unnecessary testing (see the Gawande article about Mcallen TX).
Would the Republicans vote for any of those proposals for eliminating wastefraudandabuse? Well, the operative assumption is that not one of them will, and they will never be convinced to change their mind. Not one. Not in a million years. if Conrad, Baucus, and Nelson sell us out and drop the public option, this will be the reason why.
June 17th, 2009 at 9:44 am
Remember, last week, Boss Limbaugh actually said that people who have active lifestyles get hurt more often than those who don’t, therefore, it’s people who are active who are driving up the cost of healthcare. This Republican’s mocking of using public funds to encourage walking is part and parcel to Limbaugh’s marching orders.
June 17th, 2009 at 9:56 am
I’m not defending the guy – his argument is obviously wrong on the fundamental principles – but since Wyoming neighbors live like 80 miles away from each other they probably do have less need for sidewalks there than elsewhere…
June 17th, 2009 at 10:01 am
Who pays for sidewalks varies from place to place. Here in Memphis the property owner is responsible. We have crappy sidewalks as a result of this policy. I would not be surprised to find that this is the policy in many municipalities located in the red states.
June 17th, 2009 at 10:06 am
And Elena Schor observes that Senator Mike Enzi (D-WY)
Mike Enzi is R-WY, not D-WY. Please fix.
June 17th, 2009 at 10:06 am
I know that many here aren’t big fans of Greg Mankiw. But he does raise an interesting argument here on the subject:
http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2006/07/on-exercise.html
June 17th, 2009 at 10:06 am
But Anne (#9), that would also mean that those people in Wyoming would each be responsible for building and maintaining 80 miles of sidewalks. Isn’t it enough that each of them is responsible for building 80 miles of roads so they can get to their neighbors and to town?
Simon (#2), we have a halfway system in the city where I live. The city maintains the sidewalks, so they are kept in good shape, but the home or business owner is billed for a fraction of the repair cost. Each spring, everyone waits to see if they’ll have some “X”s spray-painted on the sidewalk in front of their house, indicating a bill will be on the way.
June 17th, 2009 at 10:07 am
The government has been building sidewalks, parks and jungle gyms for years. Why aren’t we already reaping the public health benefits of this?
June 17th, 2009 at 10:09 am
We are, mike, and with greater investment, we could reap more.
June 17th, 2009 at 10:12 am
Rush is on a diet again and doesn’t like exercise (other than golf). He’s been going on for weeks about the uselessness of exercise, trying to justify his hedonistic, dissipated lifestyle.
Enzi is just conspicuously sucking up to Old Limpdick.
June 17th, 2009 at 10:12 am
Exercise is good, but the way people do it blows my mind. I knew this girl who was adamant about going to the gym. So I asked her what she does there. She says she rides four miles a day on a stationary bike. And I reply that she lives two miles away from the gym. Why wouldn’t you just your ride bike to the gym, look at it, and then ride back. You wouldn’t need a membership to do that, but you’d get the same exercise. To me, that’s just obvious, but she didn’t get it. But she does get credit for being super hot. At least she was doing the exercise.
June 17th, 2009 at 10:23 am
Some would say that an example of “waste, fraud and abuse” in the current system is paying for the healthcare of Senators from Wyoming who are happy to have the taxpayers pay for them while denying that benefit for others. Let’s cut that first, and keep the sidewalks.
June 17th, 2009 at 10:24 am
Several years ago in some eco-magazine I read about an attempt to fund an “eco-passage,” a small tunnel, under some Florida highway that has the highest small animal road-kill rate in the world.
I remember I had two thoughts on the matter. My initial reaction “how cool is that idea!” and “poor eco-people, what self defeating lives they lead.”
But low and behold, they won! The “turtle tunnel” as the project is often referred to, is in the stimulus bill. Turtles and other little critters will no longer be squashed by swerving motorists.
BUT, alas, wastefraudandabuse has reared its ugly head and turtles are now, according to the GOP, a major cause of our deficit, and the “turtle tunnel” must be stopped at all costs. Political costs, of course. Money must not spent in order to prevent turtles from continuing to be flying projectiles on a Florida road.
June 17th, 2009 at 10:37 am
“Exercise is good, but the way people do it blows my mind. I knew this girl who was adamant about going to the gym. So I asked her what she does there. She says she rides four miles a day on a stationary bike. And I reply that she lives two miles away from the gym. Why wouldn’t you just your ride bike to the gym, look at it, and then ride back. You wouldn’t need a membership to do that, but you’d get the same exercise. To me, that’s just obvious, but she didn’t get it. But she does get credit for being super hot. At least she was doing the exercise.”
Is this like fostert’s exemplar of how never to get laid, or something?
June 17th, 2009 at 10:53 am
Why wouldn’t you just your ride bike to the gym, look at it, and then ride back. You wouldn’t need a membership to do that, but you’d get the same exercise.
Speaking as someone who does the same thing, there are a few things in favor of the gym. It’s climate-controlled, first of all. I don’t know about Boulder but here the heat index is often 95+ until 9 pm. It’s often downright miserable to be outside. Second, you can watch TV while doing so, which means if you were going to watch something on the couch it’s an incentive to exercise while doing it. And third, stationary bikes/treadmills have numbers: heart rate, time and mileage, calories burned. For anyone who’s a math-oriented person it helps to see you’re 70% through your workout or whatever, instead of just struggling along.
June 17th, 2009 at 11:02 am
How I long for the simpler, better, more entrepreneurial America before the government intruded into the sidewalk-building business. First, the Fourteenth Amendment; then, sidewalk-building. Is there no limit? Oh, the humanity …
June 17th, 2009 at 11:15 am
I’ll be curious to see how long it takes to fix the majorly stupid error in this post. It will be a good test of how carefully Matty follows the comments. This is no typo to be ignored with the usual “hey I suck at typing deal with it” attitude, it is stupidity and should be fixed.
June 17th, 2009 at 11:20 am
Former bike commuter here: You might get killed driving to the gym, but given enough time, you will be nailed by an idiot driver if you bike there.
June 17th, 2009 at 11:25 am
I’d like to see someone only ride 4 miles on a stationary bike at a gym as their workout. At a normal speed that would take a grand total of 12-15 minutes. I seriously doubt any person, sane or insane, would make a trip to the gym solely for that.
June 17th, 2009 at 11:38 am
For the record, there is a huge amount of waste, fraud and abuse (or at least waste) in health spending. Enzi’s argument is still phenomenally stupid–but, yeah, there’s plenty of waste.
June 17th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
There is tons of waste, fraud, and abuse in all govt. spending. Nowhere as much as the department of defense as Matt points out.
Walking is a great alternative. People in West Virginia and Kentucky may not see this (I lived in Ky. in the 80’s, it was like going back in time).
There are many people in these states who have no idea about urban life. Walking isn’t practical if live miles from someplace but most people don’t. There are places where the weather may make walking impractical during certain times of the year.
These guys are dinosaurs and they still have a world view that there are limitless resources, that progress means more development, and that eating healthy and exercising are quaint solutions.
June 17th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
21: This is very true. Some people prefer outdoors. Some people (like myself), prefer the constant rate, feedback info and temp of gyms.
June 17th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
“Is this like fostert’s exemplar of how never to get laid, or something?”
Agreed, he should teach a seminar at Promise Keeper rallies to help the boys stay pure.
As for sidewalks, general rule (though each state has its own highway department regs), city streets get sidewalk, county roads do not. Older streets may not and its just too expensive to retrofit (its a hassle to secure the sidewalk easements if the street right of way is too narrow, easier to just spend the public works budget fixing potholes and repairing sewer lines).
On the other hand, some county roads become as busy as a downtown city street once real estate developers do their thing. What I’ve seen some local governments do is just add speed bumps, cheaper than sidewalks and although not the ideal way to prevent kids from being run over, slow speed hit and runs are more survivable.
June 17th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
This is true but saying you will end wastefraudandabuse without naming any specifics, and while uniformly voting against concrete proposals (like public option health insurance) that will end wastefraudandabuse, is kind of like… well I’m suffering a temporary simile deficit so I can’t think of what it’s like, but it’s insincere and half-assed at least.
June 17th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Actually, people who live far away from neighbors, which happens often in Wyoming, have jeep roads on their property that are great for walking and biking. Sen. Enzi could ponder this: humans walked before pavement was even invented!
Making walking/biking trails is actually very cheap if you do not pave them, you just need “right of way” between properties and connect little parks and other public places. And it can increase property values!
June 17th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Speaking as someone who does the same thing, there are a few things in favor of the gym. It’s climate-controlled, first of all. I don’t know about Boulder but here the heat index is often 95+ until 9 pm. It’s often downright miserable to be outside. Second, you can watch TV while doing so, which means if you were going to watch something on the couch it’s an incentive to exercise while doing it. And third, stationary bikes/treadmills have numbers: heart rate, time and mileage, calories burned. For anyone who’s a math-oriented person it helps to see you’re 70% through your workout or whatever, instead of just struggling along.
The real question is if all she’s doing is riding a stationary bike, why doesn’t she just buy one and use it at home. Even a decent new one will be cheaper than a year’s gym membership. And a decent used one is probably cheaper than a season’s.
(I’m one that will only exercise outdoors — I run 75+ miles/week and hate dreadmills with a passion. But I gave up this argument long ago. Some — most! — people are unwilling to exercise unless they can watch TV while doing it. Others won’t exercise unless the temperature is in the precise range of 68-72 degrees, with no wind or precipitation. I guess if that is what it takes to get peoples’ butts moving, then so be it.)
(P.S. I literally ran under this http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_12589603?source=pop_section_news on Sunday. I heard the sirens, looked up, and was like hey! that’s a funnel cloud! But I was running in a sunken creekbed with bridges every 400m or so, so I figured the safest thing was to keep going and hope that I could get some distance between me and it before it touched down. 18 miles at 7:30 pace that day.)
June 17th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
As for biking at the gym vs. running, its easy. Too much running is bad for your knees. I’ve had trained fitness professionals tell me to run if I enjoy it, but not to make it my main form of exercise.
Non-stationary biking is better than stationary biking but traffic may not allow it.
June 17th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
For the record, there is a huge amount of waste, fraud and abuse (or at least waste) in health spending. Enzi’s argument is still phenomenally stupid–but, yeah, there’s plenty of waste.
Yes, and since it’s never before occurred to anyone that it might be a good idea to eliminate it, there’s no reason to believe it won’t all go away immediately once we start trying.
What is this, the Green Lantern theory of waste prevention?
We’re already trying to reduce waste. The waste that exists exists in spite of our current efforts to reduce it. Unless you have a specific idea for how to improve our anti-waste efforts, it’s unrealistic to assume we can prevent significantly more waste than we are already preventing. Even if you *do* have an idea, it’s still unrealistic to assume we can prevent waste completely.
Furthermore, waste prevention has its own cost, and there is a point where the marginal dollar of additional waste prevention efforts prevents less than one dollar of waste. Past that point more waste prevention is, itself, a waste, but because of bureaucratic incentives the Office of Waste Reduction is unlikely to recommend reducing itself.
June 17th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
Well, excuse me for pointing this out, but Mike Enzi of Wyoming is the last person I would turn to to reduce waste etc etc. Anybody who really wanted to reduce WF&A would be saying we need Medicare for all.
Republicans have become bobbleheads- pull the string, and out come the platitudes. There’s nothing there.
June 17th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
As for biking at the gym vs. running, its easy. Too much running is bad for your knees. I’ve had trained fitness professionals tell me to run if I enjoy it, but not to make it my main form of exercise.
Bullshit. There’s no statistical evidence that runners have any more chronic knee problems than nonrunners — indeed, the evidence generally points to the opposite result. “Trained fitness professionals” tell you that because (1) they don’t get paid if their clients decide to just run 45 minutes a day instead of use their services, and (2) they’re idiots. But mostly the first one.
Now, all of that said, there are some negative health effects associated with running. Almost all serious runners get injured every single year, and these (nonpermanent) injuries range from stress fractures to shin splints to runner’s knee to groin strains. Recent research is showing that runners are at a heightened risk of skin cancer. Finally, many runners are at risk for ischemic colitis, which can become chronic if ignored. You just have to balance these costs with the benefits of running — namely, it’s cheap and probably the most efficient form of exercise out there. Plus, it’s one of the only athletic events where anyone off the street can compete with elite-level athletes.
June 17th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Too much running is bad for your knees. I’ve had trained fitness professionals tell me to run if I enjoy it, but not to make it my main form of exercise.
What Joe said. This ridiculous folk wisdom drives me crazy. The human body evolved to run, we were literally born to run. The people who spout off about running damaging the knees are usually a) people who don’t exercise at all or b) cyclists who like to be snobbish about their far more expensive sport. But of course cyclists suffer from limp dick so I’ll take my chances with my knees thank you.
June 17th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
third, stationary bikes/treadmills have numbers: heart rate, time and mileage, calories burned.
You can get those for real bikes too, you know. Look, I understand the concept of riding an exercise bike, because it gives you control over the “terrain” for the optimal aerobic workout. And plenty of road cyclists have rollers in the garage/basement for when the weather is shit. But it’s all a bit hamster-wheelish.
On topic: there’s an easy way to work out where to build sidewalks. You look for those bits of grassy verge where people are walking beside busy roads, and you build them there. If it’s on private property, and the owners won’t do it, you buy that six foot strip off them.
June 17th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Running is certainly bad for your knees if you already have bad knees. Running in bad shoes is bad for your back and feet.
Mostly, running isn’t bad, jogging is bad. Avoid anything between an 8 and 12 minute mile pace. If you watch people run at those speeds, you see them bouncing and plopping their feet down hard, and landing on fairly straight legs. If you’re too tired to run properly, walk.
At least that’s what I learned before I became a lump.
June 17th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Mostly, running isn’t bad, jogging is bad. Avoid anything between an 8 and 12 minute mile pace. If you watch people run at those speeds, you see them bouncing and plopping their feet down hard, and landing on fairly straight legs. If you’re too tired to run properly, walk.
Actually, you see a lot of elite runners doing a decent portion of their training (15% maybe?) at the fast end of that range. Basically, they need to loosen up their legs and flush out the lactate — it’s called a “shakeout” run. And they do so much fast (and really fast and slow-for-them-but-fast-for-me) stuff that they can afford to hoof it for five miles a few mornings a week. I’m by no means an elite, but even I’ll do this occasionally when my legs are really sore. Usually on a Wednesday when I’ve gone track intervals, long run, easy run, aerobic threshold run over the prior four days.
June 17th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
I wonder if exercise, or building sidewalks, could pass the CER Matt usually favors. I’m guessing the answer is no. And yet Matt favors funding for exercise, and building sidewalks. This is what will happen with our health care system writ large.
Also, at least where I live, the “government” doesn’t do sidewalks. I mean, they require us to have them, and if we don’t take care of them, they will, but they’ll send me a bill. Unless, of course the “government” pays for them. I think that even in other locales it’s the local government that pays for them, not the US government.
June 17th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
The next thing you know the government will start building things like roads or army bases. We’ve really got to nip this in the bud before it get out of control!