Save Billions by Making People Healthier

Save billions by making people healthier.

Chronic illness is costing Massachusetts $56 billion each year.  This enormous burden is driving communities into fiscal crisis and pushing families toward bankruptcy.  It doesn’t have to be that way.  By integrating cost-effective illness prevention into the fabric of our communities, we can transform our unaffordable and inefficient “sick care” system into a true “health care” system that will save us billions of dollars each year.  A big part of this is simply making sure that everyone has fresh and healthy food to eat.  We also need to take the living environment seriously, give our children space to play, give everyone opportunities for healthy recreation, and making sure we have clean air to breath.  We can’t afford to be unhealthy.  We can afford to improve our lives.

As governor, Jill will work with communities to assess the threats to health and create master plans that identify the health initiatives needed to improve health.  We will teach every school child about healthy eating.  We will expand urban agriculture and farm-to-school programs.  We will make sure that school lunches encourage good eating habits.  We will expand opportunities for local organic farming and local marketing of farm products.  We will make urban farming a growing part of our economy.