Diagnosing Health Care: A North Carolina Voices Series

North Carolina Voices: Diagnosing Health Care aired Thursday October 4th through Tuesday October 16th, 2007 on Morning Edition, The State of Things, and The Story. The series explored the connections between health, and health care, in North Carolina.

North Carolina is not healthy. The state is ranked 36th in the nation in terms of health. One in four North Carolinians is obese, up from 13 percent in 1990, making obesity not just a personal health concern, but a public health epidemic. Diabetes is on the rise, particularly in rural areas.

There are wide disparities in lifespan: A white girl born in North Carolina can expect to live until she is nearly 80 years old, but a black boy, statistically, will only make it to 68 - and he is likely to be sick for 15 years of his life. More than 16 percent of North Carolinians have no health insurance, and those who do not have insurance tend to be sicker than those who do. In addition to the physical and emotional toll, unhealthy lifestyles are costing North Carolina an estimated $24 billion a year.

Why is North Carolina so unhealthy? What is being done about it? And what are the links between health, and the health care system?

What does it mean to be healthy?
Who is healthy, who is unhealthy, and why?
What social and environmental factors affect health status, and what role does access to health care play in making people healthy?
Does access to health care matter more for some groups of people than others?
Are the people who need health care most getting the help they need? And does the current health care system actually promote good health? Why, or why not?

What Do You Think?
You can send an email to ncvoices@wunc.org or leave a comment about the series at 1-877-3VOICES (1-877-386-4237). Please tell us your name and how to pronounce it, in case we read your comments on the air. And please provide a daytime phone number so we can call you back if we have questions.

Support for "North Carolina Voices: Diagnosing Health Care" comes from Dominion, Duke University Health System, GlaxoSmithKline, the North Carolina Humanities Council, the North Carolina Medical Society Foundation, the Julian Price Family Foundation, the John Rex Endowment and "The Healthy Weight Initiative," and UNC Health Care. Support also comes from the listeners of North Carolina Public Radio-WUNC.

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