Businesses
and government want Americans to engage in a host of healthy behaviors.
Though controversial, practicing religion could be included in those
behaviors.
by Frank Newport
Religious Americans are healthier and happier
than those who are not religious. This finding is important because it
potentially connects with one of the major social and economic problems
of our time -- a hugely expensive healthcare system with costs that
reflect in part the nation's unhealthy lifestyle choices. Religious
Americans exhibit more of the types of behaviors that those interested
in the health and well being of the nation want to encourage. If
Americans were to become more religious, it is quite possible they would
be happier and healthier, and the cost of healthcare in this country
would decline.
It's a reasonable, although not totally proven assumption, that becoming religious may lead to better health.
The explanations for this relationship are not yet fully understood.
It's fairly clear that becoming religious may cause people to be happier
and to feel better. And it's a reasonable, although not totally proven
assumption, that becoming religious may lead to better health.
Despite the enduring controversy that usually surrounds matters of
religion and public policy, those entrusted with improving wellbeing and
health outcomes and lowering health costs will eventually have to focus
on taking advantage of the widely confirmed religion-health connection.
Average Americans, seeking ways to improve their health and wellbeing,
may also increasingly turn to religion for these same reasons. The
apparent power of religion to help achieve one of the nation's most
important social and fiscal goals -- increasing wellbeing and lowering
healthcare costs -- will be too significant to ignore.
Highly religious employees will cost a company less over time
This is where business and government come in -- albeit
controversially. Both entities want Americans to lose weight, exercise,
stop smoking, and engage in other healthy behaviors. This is based on
the proven connection between these changes and a lowered cost burden on
the healthcare system. Indeed, businesses and insurance companies
increasingly use incentive systems designed to reward activities related
to less use of healthcare dollars -- exercise, smoking cessation, and
regular preventative health screenings.
Here's the controversial premise:
Religion could be included
in this list of behaviors. The basis for this would be an assumption
that highly religious employees will cost a company less over time.
Businesses could provide health insurance discounts to employees who
demonstrate that they go to church -- similar to the programs now in
place for other healthy lifestyle practices like going to the gym. The
idea would be to sustain religious involvement among those who are
already religious or to foster an increase in religious involvement
among those who are not religious. This would lead to healthier
employees and not incidentally, lower an organization's overall health
costs.
I know of a hospital that stopped hiring smokers in 2007. It also
gives incentives for participation in exercise programs, gives big
discounts for developing healthy living plans if the employee is
overweight or has other signs of pending excessive use of healthcare
dollars, and has banned unhealthy foods from its cafeterias. I don't
believe that this hospital yet gives incentives to its employees who are
highly religious. But this could in theory be just around the corner.
The federal government, including Congress and the executive branch,
are now the prime movers in the attempt to lower overall healthcare
costs. Of course, the government cannot constitutionally get involved in
promoting any specific religion, even if for socially desirable
reasons.
The federal government does, however, provide information to its
citizens, which in turn they can use to make healthier decisions. The
government has mandated that tobacco products carry large warning labels
about the deleterious effects of using them; has spent a great deal of
effort to require that food packages list ingredients and contents;
promotes various easy-to-use representations of food groups and their
place in a healthy diet; and under the aegis of its health branches,
publishes an enormous amount of data about the health effects of various
behaviors and lifestyle choices.
Positive effects of religion are too strong to ignore
I remember the major emphasis that the Kennedy administration put on
physical fitness, including promoting the 50-mile hike. First lady
Michelle Obama more recently has become involved in a major effort to
promote fitness and weight loss among the nation's young people. New
York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg required chain restaurants in his city
to carry dietary labels, and most recently, mandated a ban on the sale
of large sodas in certain businesses in his city. (A New York state
judge invalidated the ban; the city plans to appeal.) The Affordable
Care Act of 2010 included a big section focused on increasing the
healthiness of Americans before they are ever exposed to the healthcare
system. So in theory, the U.S. government certainly could include
information about the proven connection between religiousness in general
(not mentioning any specific religion) and wellbeing and health in its
communication efforts.
All of this is highly controversial. Many people recoil at the idea of business and government encouraging
any
type of religion or dealing with religion in any way. Religion is a
touchy subject. Still, I think the positive effects of religion are too
strong and too universal to ignore, especially when billions of dollars
are at stake. I believe there is the real potential that those with a
big financial interest in the wellbeing and health of the nation's
population are going to have to talk directly and deeply about religion.
Frank Newport, Ph.D., is Gallup Editor-in-Chief and author of
God Is Alive and Well.
One of the nation's leading public opinion analysts, Newport has spent
the major part of his working life studying public opinion -- much of
that opinion about religion.
