Media Clipping — Saturday October 19, 2002, The Daily News

Get fit to cut health costs, Muir urges Nova Scotians

By Peter McLaughlin

Nova Scotians battling the bulge and their unhealthy lifestyles should give up their remote controls and fatty diets if they want to help the province save the $3 billion it costs taxpayers to battle chronic illness, Health Minister Jamie Muir said Friday.

"There should be more emphasis on an individual's responsibility for their own health,'' he said after Thursday's release of a report on the rising cost of preventable illness.

"Governments and health systems can only do so much. People have to step up to the plate individually.''

A study by GPI Atlantic found that chronic illness costs each Nova Scotian $3,200 a year, and that nearly half of those diseases could be prevented if people lived healthier lifestyles.

Exercise, a better diet and not smoking would dramatically improve health, the study discovered.

Muir said the province plans on introducing two initiatives in the coming months to help encourage healthier living, but he admitted it will take years to realize the benefits.

"It's going to take a long, long time,'' he said, adding it may take a generation. "If you want to be healthy, we can't do that for you.''

Liberal Leader Danny Graham accused the province of cutting programs that would prevent many chronic conditions.

"This is a government fixated on the system that deals with sick people, while they pay lip service to prevention,'' he said.

Copyright © 2002, The Daily News