Why Healthcare Costs Are So High in America with Rep. Vern Buchanan -Transcript
Rep. Vern Buchanan: So I've asked doctors, and I've asked a lot of them. And they've had, they say they don't have, they've never had one class on nutrition. And so if food is medicine, you believe that, I believe it. And there's not one class in terms of that So, and that gets back to the whole thing on the incentives, are, are not structured properly.
Mark Hyman: Congressman Buchanan, so wonderful to have you on The Doctor's Farmacy podcast. I've been waiting for this moment for a long time. You know, we've, been working together over the last 3, 4 years to try to make shifts in food policy and Medicare and health policy to address this incredible epidemic of chronic disease, which I think is a national emergency. And and the good news is that we've been able to accomplish a lot, and I I wanna talk to you to tell you about some of the amazing work that you've done and that we've collaborated on to actually start to move the needle and address this real crisis we have, which is obviously burdening our country with enormous suffering of chronic disease. It's costing the economy you know, 4 and a half $1,000,000,000,000 a year.
Mark Hyman: Most of that's for chronic illness. It's threatening our national security, our kids, academic performance, and military readiness. And and and it's something that, you know, you personally have been very passionate about for a long time, both from a perspective of a a legislator and and leader in congress, but also your own personal health. So I've really kind of appreciated your commitment to this issue and your willingness to work across the aisle to get things done in a place where people think things don't happen. But, you know, congressman, you you, you, for those who don't know a congressman, I did the introduction earlier, but you're the chair of the ways it means health subcommittee, which is probably one of the most important committees in Congress that oversees all of Medicare, which is over a $1,000,000,000,000.
Mark Hyman: And, you know, you you really are one of the first in Congress to make prevention in the address and treating chronic disease with Hooters Medicine as one of your top priorities, which is amazing. So can you maybe start by, kind of telling us why why is this so important to you and why do you think we need to really focus on addressing this chronic disease epidemic with prevention and and, you know, lifestyle as treatment?
Rep. Vern Buchanan: Well, Mark, let me first just thank you personally. We have had a lot of opportunities to meet and visit, and I'm so excited about what you you've the difference that you made on a lot of different fronts. And I look forward to it, and I I know that we're looking at having a hearing coming up congressionally, and I'm excited about that and the the possibilities there. By the way, I just wanted to mention, also, as with a a young lady yesterday, and she was telling me about her father or grandfather, is 98, and they contribute his being 98 to you. He watched your this is your podcast.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: So I'll just tell you, I thought it was kinda cute. And he, you know, and he's actively engaged in going like going like hacks. So I thought it was pretty pretty big thing there.
Mark Hyman: That's very funny.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: You know, I for whatever reason, as a blue collar kid, 1 of 8, I just remember when I got, my wife and I got married and that they had a neighbor, and then she wrote a couple of books or something, Aldel Davis. I think I mentioned that to you. I don't know if she's been it's a long time ago. I don't wanna date myself too much, but I just happened to pick it up and start looking through a little bit. And a lot of it made sense to me.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: And, because we're in such a competitive world and, you know, I've had a family with that are diabetics and heart disease and all these kinds of things. So I've tried to stay focused on that, and I have my own discipline where I try to the best I can. I always say it's 80 20. But to me, it all boils down to a lot of this is diet and exercise, and I'm just taking for my own personal story. I've I've read a lot of books, looked at a lot of things for me personally to be able to perform at a fairly high level.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: I'm not a doctor or anything, but it's one of those things where I've read your books and other books, and and I've been doing it for 2030 years. And I think it gives you this slight edge, the difference, and as a competitor, whether it's in business, sports, or anything else, it makes a huge difference how you feel and think and everything else. So that's why I now being in Congress, a lot of people don't wanna touch some of these difficult challenging things like whether it's a debt and interest or, what's going on in terms of health care, You mentioned it's over a $1,000,000,000,000 just on Medicare alone. But when you look at the the data, it's basically pretty shocking. I was looking at, again, refreshing my memory and some of this stuff.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: But the obesity, for example, is 40%. For children, it's 20%. But yet, we only spent 3% on prevention, and that's my whole focus has been, how do we not get cancer or heart disease to begin with? Someone mentioned to me 30 years ago, is it a a seminar in in Dallas, and they mentioned that, 50% of people having their first heart attack never see the next day. Well, we had a lot of heart disease in our family.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: So I'm just saying, I'm thinking to myself, how do you avoid that to begin with? Now some things are genetic, you know, that better me, but there's a lot of things that can be dealt with without having to go through a difficult process in terms of heart disease and some of these other things. So that's why I'm so excited about your leadership and where you're at. Oh, I know we're gonna get into different things like processed food and stuff like that. And that's the other big thing.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: But diet and exercise, 80%. Then the other percent is all the just was thinking about it a couple of days ago, you know, getting enough rest, stress management, and all these other things. But these are 2 gigantic issues when you add them together where it's a in my life, it's like 80%. I thought about it. Some people might be more or less.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: But it makes a huge difference. Those 2 those two areas, in terms of, what my thinking is.
Mark Hyman: Yeah. You're probably one of the healthiest congressmen. I've seen, you know, a lot of your colleagues are not so healthy. You know, we had a group of owe them over to your house, in Washington on the deck, and we we had a wonderful meeting talking about these issues with, an about 14 or 15 of the members with the health sub committee of the ways it means that overseeing Medicare. And and they're all very excited to learn, but, you know, you're you're you're an example of of what, you know, it takes to actually create good health for yourself.
Mark Hyman: So I think I've eaten with you. I see how you take care of yourself and exercise. It's very impressive. And and I think it's really, you know, helped you understand what's needed for America, which is we we can't sustain this anymore. I mean, you know, it's not a a left or right issue.
Mark Hyman: This is this is an American issue that that is is threatening our I think our our whole nation in a way because we we are being burdened by the economic, weight of the cost, which is, you know, just for diabetes alone for Medicare, I think it's a $1,000,000,000 a day, which is almost incompletely preventable. And, you know, the the effect on on on just the amount of of suffering. And I I, you know, I think, I think the CBO estimates that pretty soon the Medicare hospital trust fund will be running out of money in 2035 if we don't do something about it that, you know, in the next 10 years, we're gonna spend just $4,000,000,000,000 just an obesity alone, through the government. And most people don't realize that, you know, the government accounts for about 40% of all health care payments, whether it's through in Medicare, the DOD, the Department of Defense, VA, any health service, federal employees, you know, all the the the the federal and and state programs. It's really a huge amount of the health care costs.
Mark Hyman: So the government has a big lever that they can pull. And so I'm very excited about some of your initiatives around around Medicare. And then we can talk about your your new your new initiative, which I think is something we worked on for a while, which is this whole idea of treating chronic disease patients with food as medicine through what we call medically tailored meals. And what's really exciting is, working in a bipartisan way, you've been able to get this through the committee and, I love you to sort of share a little bit about why you're excited about that and this new Medicare demonstration, project because the committee just passes groundbreaking pilot to offer medically tailored meals to people who who are leaving the hospital with chronic disease like diabetes or heart failure to to really help improve your health outcomes. So I don't know why it's important and what you hope to see happening with this.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: Well, in terms of, food as medicine, I had a doctor say to, mention very successful doctor 30, 40 years practice is a heart surgeon, I think he was. And he just wrote an article on food, his medicine. He said, I wrote a lot of prescriptions, for drugs,
Mark Hyman: but
Rep. Vern Buchanan: he said, I never wrote a prescription for food. And he's starting to rethink all of that and wrote a big article. I think it was in Forbes or something, and I called him up. I had dinner with him. But, you know, a lot of people are coming around realizing that plant based plant based diet make can make a huge difference.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: And I think it's important that, you know, we make sure that what we're helping the seniors and others with, that, something like a plant based steak diet, because a lot of the food that we eat, you know, this better than anybody because what I've read, what you've put out there and others, is is highly processed food. So they're not giving the attrition that they need. And I think that's one of the biggest challenges, and that's why we're so excited about this bill of legislation, is to be able to move and and help our seniors. I'm in a, I'm in an area in Sarasota, Tampa Bay Area where we have a lot of seniors, a lot of our 65 and older, this will make a huge difference, and I'm very excited about it. It's bipartisan.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: And, again, I just want to thank you for your leadership and all you've done in this area because it's to help fill in the blanks for a lot of the stuff that we're doing.
Mark Hyman: Yeah. I mean, and so I think you're you're you're right. And the the, 40 hospitals that you've sort of directed to see, for the Center for Medicare services select to actually implement this approach, we'll then provide the data to show that, yes, and I
Mark Hyman: we know the outcome is done right that people will actually do better.
Mark Hyman: They won't end up in the hospital over and over again. They'll need less medication, the cost for health care go down, their quality of life will go up. And the goal really, I think
Mark Hyman: ultimately with this pilot program, right, isn't it Vern to to actually help make
Mark Hyman: this a a benefit for all Medicare recipients, not just those who who basically are struggling.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: Yeah. Well, that's what we're trying to do is test the pilot, and we're hoping to get some good results out of it and then be able to spread it across the country. I know I'm talking with folks locally, doctors, and individuals, they're very enthused about it. It'll make I think it'll make a very big difference. And there's no question in my mind.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: The whole idea of food is medicine is is where we need to go and consider and, and, you know, a lot of these programs they put out in the past just don't make a lot of sense. But this is an area we can work with a senior, especially if you think about Florida. But the country, it's gonna be a big opportunity for us.
Mark Hyman: It's a 100%. I mean, I was talking to somebody the other day who has a company that basically works with Medicare Advantage. I know you're very focused on Medicare
Mark Hyman: Advantage as a way to do innovative, programs, and they've
Mark Hyman: done this with Medicare Advantage where they save $6000 per diabetic Medicare Advantage patient, and the average cost is about 90, 600. So you're saving almost 2 thirds of the cost. And if you do the math, there's, I think, 65,000,000 seniors on Medicare, 16,500,000 have type 2 diabetes. If you save $6000 per diabetic using this diet approach, basically
Mark Hyman: helping them change your diet to reverse
Mark Hyman: their diabetes, not just to prevent it, you would save a $100,000,000,000 alone just for that one approach. So that's kind of the direction we're trying to get to where we can help, the, the folks in Congress and also the congressional budget budget office, which scores these things as something that that actually can make a difference in reducing costs, because they often see prevention as a, you know, a long term issue that won't pay off in the short run. And and I think, you know, these these, what we're actually gonna show hopefully with this is that this medically telehealth program, it can actually help, and we can even expand on some of those things. So that's really pretty exciting. You you know, and the other thing that I'm really excited about is this bipartisan congressional preventive health and wellness caucus that you started with Wisconsin Democratic, representative, Glenn Moore.
Mark Hyman: And I'd love to hear from you what your goals for the caucus are and help you how you think you can help enact new policies that are gonna make a difference for people's lives.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: Well, I I just wanna say representative more out of Wisconsin is fantastic. We just on a trip together, but the thought is is what can we do with this caucus, and we think we're gonna be able to work both sides of the aisle to get their get the message out for this, so for a lot of the things that we're trying to do. But the reality is is that you you talked about diabetics. I think this year is $412,000,000,000 just as the cost. Then you're looking at another for just heart disease, you know, the $220,000,000,000.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: How do we prevent that? And as I mentioned, I've got family members with heart disease and different things, but I know if they had the right diet and exercise, that'd make a big difference. That's why I said early on. It's probably 80% of making those adjustments. We could cut cut the cost.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: We're spending one point, as you mentioned, 1,200,000,000 a year on Medicare, that's gonna go up quickly in in in a matter of 4 or
Mark Hyman: 5 years.
Mark Hyman: You mean trillion. You mean trillion. Well, you you said trillion, but you mean, try. Yeah. It's hard to even say those numbers, but
Rep. Vern Buchanan: It's it's it's used to be 1,000,000,000. Now it's 1,000,000,000 and then trillion, but you're right. But the bottom line is that we've gotta find a way to really start addressing with the cost because Medicare is is gonna be 1 with today's, basically, 1.1 or 2,000,000,000,000,000, but in the near future, you're talking, you know, 1,000,000,000,000, 4 or 5, you're not gonna be able to pay all the bills. You're gonna have to make some tough cuts. I'm an optimist.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: I hope by doing what we're doing will make that difference with your leadership and and the and the we've got a big team of a lot of capable members and including both sides of the aisle. That we think we can weigh in and make it a a big deal. And we've gotta do it. There's been too much talk about it in the past, but now is the time for action.
Mark Hyman: I think you're right. And I think this is prevention and wellness costs so important because, you know, something's gonna help. Like, the recent reduction in, prices with Medicare being negotiating with pharma to reduce drug care. Drug prices, I think, is good, but it still doesn't address the fact that why do they need the drugs in the first place? Right?
Mark Hyman: Why don't we why don't we implement programs where you don't actually even have to use those drugs for example, diabetes, like this program was saying, you can get most people off of that. And I think that that what's what's really important is is that in addition to the sort of work on the, on the medically care meals with this prevention wellness caucus, there's gonna be hearings. We're gonna doing one in September and to raise awareness, but also to look at solutions and what can be implemented in a practical way and look at what's worked or what hasn't worked and really look at legislation research and how do we really start to treat this this epidemic of of food related illness. The other thing I I really think that that, you know, has been exciting about what you've done is is really helping, doctors, actually, physicians and primary care providers understand nutrition. And this is a, I think, a big concern for you, and I know you've done a lot of work in trying to drive initiatives that make graduate medical education and undergraduate medical education provide nutrition education for doctors.
Mark Hyman: Cause food is the number one cause of why we're sick today in America. It's the number one cure, and it's something doctors learn nothing about.
Mark Hyman: So it's kind of all backwards. And a lot of your efforts have been to try
Mark Hyman: to work with congressman McGovern. You sent a letter to the the organization that a credit, graduate, medical education, AC, G GME, which is where the government spends $17,000,000,000 providing them with money with those strings attached, and you're trying to get them to have some requirements. You're also working with some of the, undergraduates. So love love to hear, like, what you're thinking is about the importance of training doctors and health care providers around nutrition.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: It's shocking, and you mentioned it, the idea that they get little or no education. Going through medical school. I and and and it's that's what it's been, but that's gotta change, and we're trying to do everything we can again on a bipartisan basis. This is a lot of these things aren't democrat or Republican issues or something we can both work on and make a big difference on. But, we're very enthused about the opportunity, as it relates to, getting more education, encouraging, more education.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: It needs to be a part of the curriculum or however they, you know, when you think about it so I've asked doctors, and I've asked a lot of them. And they've had they say they don't have they've never had one class on nutrition. And so food is medicine. You believe that. I believe it.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: And there's not one class in terms of that. So and that gets back to the whole thing on the incentives, are are not structured properly, with a lot of the doctors how we pay people fee for service is something we have to look at differently because it's not always in the best interest of the patients in the system. And, so that's something I wanna continue to work on as well. Setting up the right incentives, especially someone that's been in business 30 years before I got in this business, you have to have the incentives rights because if you don't, the the the train will go right off the rails. And that's what's happened here.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: We wanna have people that are healthier, not relying on, you know, having to take more drugs or get cut or whatever.
Mark Hyman: I think you're right. I think I think what you're talking about for those people listening is is we have a system of health care right now where doctors get paid to do more stuff, not to actually
Mark Hyman: get people better. And as we call fever service medicine, as opposed to value based care, which
Mark Hyman: is what you're working on, which is how do we how do we implement programs that pay providers and and and people doing the right thing, which is helping improve health care outcomes and reduce costs. So you get paid if you actually get people better, not just giving them more and more drugs or more and more surgery. And and, and it's something that actually there's already a lot of initiatives within, like, a current, affordable care act for this, but it really is more about care management. And we're talking about here as something really even more radically different, which is which is how do we actually truly improve health care outcomes and reduce costs by making people healthier and using food as medicine to reverse chronic disease. And I think that's where the that's where the most leverage is and the most both possibility of ending suffering for people and also reducing health care costs.
Mark Hyman: So so I think this is so key. And I, you know, as you mentioned, education, my daughter's in medical school. She's in her 4th year medical school. And and basically, the way it works is they just they just have to study for the exam. And if there's no nutrition test questions on the exam, they don't they don't teach any nutrition.
Mark Hyman: So, basically, the curriculum is all designed around passing the test. And if we change the test, we can change the curriculum. So I know that's another thing you're really working on, and it's it's so exciting. I also wanna talk about this work you're doing around the military, which is so important. You know, I think, you know, in military, people don't realize that you have to have healthy people to join the military.
Mark Hyman: And right now, 70 percent of military crutes get rejected because of their unfit to fight because of obesity or other issues. And and there's a whole group of, I think, 700 admirals and, retired admirals and generals called mission readiness that it really stated this is a a national emergency occurs, the national security is dependent us having a very able-bodied military, and we see not only not only people can't get in because they're unfit, but actually when they're in, they're also costing huge amounts of money Like, I think I think, the Department of Defense spends $1,500,000,000 a year on obesity related health care costs for the military. And and loses so much. It's so how how are you seeing we sort of address this sort of military readiness and the national security issue around around this for the country.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: Well, as you mentioned, it's hard to believe, but seventeen to twenty four year olds, one in three, can't get in the service because of obesity. And, the military spending, a 1,000,005 a year just trying to address the problem. And we've gotta get back, you know, this whole concept food is medicine. Exercise in medicine. I said it's 80%.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: You gotta be active, engage every day. And you gotta have a diet that makes some sense. More fruits and vegetables is a big big part of it, not the only part of it. But, you know, it's it's it it is a big risk that our country has if we can't find people that are are able to serve. And, so I think it's something we're gonna work, you know, closely together with my democratic friends and because this is something, again, very bipartisan.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: We think we can make a big difference in the space. But, again, I appreciate your thoughts and ideas because there's probably a lot of different ways to approach it. But the bottom line, as I get back to this idea, 80%. You've gotta get the diet and exercise right. Especially the diet because the the food itself, because I to go back on just because I missed this point a little earlier, but along the lines, what changed really changed my life, and I left part of the story out out of it, is I read a book or something 20, 30 year 20 years ago and changed everything because it in the book was the equation.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: And the equation simply said, the top line was the nutritional value of the food. The bottom line was calories. And the how do you get the most nutritional food for the fewest calories? And, so I started changing what I eat and how much I eat and everything else. And it made a big difference.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: So instead of, like, a lot of people, you're like a yoyo up and down with your weight and you can't manage it, I've never had to think about that again. But that equation, most nutritional food, fewest calories, and and work it at 80%. Doesn't mean you can't have an ice cream or do some other things. But the bottom line, it makes such a big difference. And that and and that's something we could ideally simply implement, and you might not cut one in you might not get down to you know, everybody been qualified in terms of the military, but instead of 1 and 3, maybe it's 1 and 10.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: And I I I was in the military when I was eighteen years old, and I remember they took a portion of the kids back then, and you had to go instead of 6 weeks boot camp and other 6 weeks,
Mark Hyman: that I recall,
Rep. Vern Buchanan: boot camp because they had to go to, you know, I think you call it the the farm or something, back then where they had to basically work out and get into a position where they're reasonably in shape to be able to serve. So, we're all over this, and, we have a lot of, wanna say military people in our area. I think I got 80,000. I represent, there's millions in Florida and other parts. They've done a lot for our country and and, made a big difference and a lot of sacrifices, and we need to step up and do the right thing here too.
Mark Hyman: It's so important, congressman what you're doing and how broadly you're thinking about this, the leadership position you have, you're the vice chair, the ways and means committee. For those who don't know what that is, it's essentially responsible for the allocation of a lot of the tax revenue and fair where the money goes. And so it's really an important committee. And you're the vice chair of that whole committee and you're the chair of the health sub committee, which is really in charge of of, you know, the the biggest expenditures, basically, the the the that the government makes around health care and and the things you're doing to kind of try to shift this, the hearings you're having, that bipartisan work you're doing. I mean, it's it's really great, and you're you're having, you know, also have had many other hearings as well.
Mark Hyman: I mean, you were talking about, you know, helping with working with a lot of other representatives from both, Republic and Democratic sides. And it's a thing that's really heartening to me to to sort of go into Congress and help people understand that with our foodfix campaign that that everybody cares about this. Every, you know, it doesn't matter who you are, where you're from. Everybody's got somebody with somebody in their family or themselves has some issue. And this probably just got too big to ignore, you know, that that movie too big to fail, and this is too big to ignore anymore.
Mark Hyman: And, and I think in a way, I think you also understand the economics of it as a businessman. You came from business, and you understand that that we have to actually, be fiscally responsible about what we're doing because we're gonna run out of money with with Medicare if we don't actually, do the right thing here. So I'm wondering just as we kinda close what you're what you're thinking is around, you know, the willingness, of of Congress and the Senate and the the White House to actually sort of move really forward on these issues and what the obstacles are and how people listening can actually participate and help support the work that you're doing and the work that's happening in Congress around shifting the narrative to around, or, you know, using lifestyle and food as medicine and and as prevention and treatment?
Rep. Vern Buchanan: Well, as a business guy, it's worth with a lot of numbers. I'm an optimist, but I'll share with you. We're $36,000,000,000,000 in debt. We're running $2,000,000,000,000 a year deficits and you can't continue down this road. You mentioned these are big programs.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: You know, this whole thing on Medicare is over a trillion. It's 1,100,000,000,000. Social security is 1,500,000,000,000. They're the 2 most important programs. Probably you could argue in Washington, but at the same time, as it relates to the health portion, I think collectively working together, have this conversation, but have it with all the members of Congress and others, we're not gonna be able to change everything overnight.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: We're not gonna be able to change everybody, but I think we can have positive change and have a big impact, and we've gotta do it just because of financially. We've gotta make sure we're doing the right thing. But beyond that, you want people that are healthy. Feel better. You know, they live in you.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: There's a lot discussion today about longevity and everything else. And I know that's something you work on, Mark, and you've worked your whole life on. And, look how young you look. And my point is is that We've gotta do everything we can, work together to get, address these issues. They're serious.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: They're big, big number issues. And, right, the ways and means committee, we do, you know, tax and trade, but we do health care. We do Social Security. All the big programs run through there, and we've gotta it's time for leadership and make doing the right thing. And a lot of times it's politically not always correct, but we've gotta move in the right direction.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: And I think if we do, we'll be able to have healthier people and cost us less money. That's my goal.
Mark Hyman: Thank you so much, congressman.
Mark Hyman: And and I and I I think maybe it would be also great
Mark Hyman: to end by you, Shay. How important is for the members of Congress to hear from their constituents, and and it actually makes a difference. You know, we think as people listening, political processes, somewhere out there in the space that none of us can influence, we're sort of helpless, but The truth is that your voices matter and that that people in
Mark Hyman: Washington listen and that, you know, change will happen. The more pressure comes
Mark Hyman: from the public and and the constituents of various congressmen and senators and even the White House that have to hear what's going on. I mean, I recently heard someone telling me during the Obama administration, president Obama said to them, look, we wanna do such and such and such around food reform or policy or ag. But we need cover. Like, we we
Mark Hyman: need the public to actually kind of push back and say, this is what we want. So how how
Mark Hyman: does the actual individual out there listening start to change, you know, their behavior to advocate for the things that they want? Did they call the representatives? How do they do that? Can you just talk about how people get more involved in the political process to support this?
Rep. Vern Buchanan: Well, I always tell people, you know, I've been in congress going on my 10th term, but the bottom line is, I'm humbled to be a congressman as a blue collar kid. They grew up and built 2 big businesses, but at the end of the day, I'm a representative. I work for the people. It's not about me. And so I I mentioned to all your viewers and everybody else listening to the program.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: They work for you, and you need to go in and let them know this is really critically important. And the more momentum we can get, helping Mark and others and all of us working together will have a huge impact on these programs. I'm convinced of it. There's no doubt in my mind because at my own life and I know Mark's life and others, it makes a big difference, and it's not that hard. I mean, you just gotta have the education and knowledge for a lot of people.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: There'll be some people that maybe don't feel the same way wanna go down the same roads are going down, but I believe there's a lot of people that wanna feel better, look better, and make it have more energy and everything else. That's what we're trying to do with these programs. So I'm very excited and very enthused about where we're at, but there's a lot more progress that needs to be made.
Mark Hyman: That's exciting. So, we're going I'm going to wash in in a few weeks. I'm gonna have dinner with you and a whole bunch of members of Congress, and then we're gonna do a hearing on September 18th. Everybody can listen in on that. And and I'm just wondering what your hope for in that hearing is and and, and how how you envision that unfolding and and what the outcomes you'd love to see from that are.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: Well, first off, it you get you gave them the dates. They're welcome to come to Washington if they will.
Mark Hyman: Come to Washington. It's off the room.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You you'll you'll they'll be excited about it. It's a it'll be kind of a hist we're gonna have not just Mark's gonna be there.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: We're gonna have some others, but Mark will be the leader on a lot of this. But if you can join us, it would make a huge difference to send a a big message. But again, I just wanna emphasize that I think that America's special And we've got this challenge
Mark Hyman: that we need
Rep. Vern Buchanan: to work together to get on the other side of these these issues, these health care issues, and good people feeling and looking better. I think cancer and and heart disease can be eliminated. Mark could tell you more. He's a
Mark Hyman: doctor.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: Not everything may but most of it. I mean, people that are are more plant based diet and other things don't have these issues. You can go look at their blood and everything else. And I can just tell you, I'm I'm very excited about working with Mark and working with our members. I think we'll get a lot of momentum with our bike, a partisan members that Mark mentioned.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: We're gonna have dinner. We'll have probably 20 members of Congress there. I'm gonna invite the ones that are, could could make a have a an impact in the conference in general, have some of the leadership there. So I'm very excited about that. It's gonna be a big hearing, and we need to go down this road very aggressively to make sure we're doing the right thing by not only people represent but the country well as well financially.
Mark Hyman: Well, thank you so much, Congress, for what you do for being the leader you are for taking the risk because, honestly, there's a lot of forces to pushing back that don't want this to happen. So so you're you're very courageous and, To me, it's been very exciting to work with you over the last few years to try to to move the ball forward, and I can see all the things that have happened. We've started a conversation, you know, at dinner, I guess, maybe 3 plus years ago, and now look what's happened. We had the prevention wellness caucus. We have this medically tailored meals pilot program.
Mark Hyman: We have efforts around military readiness. We have all kinds of programs that are that are being implemented. It's that that are hearings happening. A lot of stuff is really moving. So I I just wanna thank you for sticking with it and being such an advocate and and giving me so much hope for America.
Mark Hyman: So thank you so much congressman, and I'll see you soon in Washington, and we'll get our hands dirty and, get this done.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: Yeah. And let me just say, Mark, again, just thank you for your enthusiasm and and what you bring to this, your leadership is huge. And I think collectively together with other
Mark Hyman: members of Congress and other experts around the country, we can make a big, huge debt in this and we need to.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: But I look forward, 18th.
Mark Hyman: Alright. Thank you so much, Congress Ben. We'll see you soon.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: Thank you. Thank you very much, Mark.
Mark Hyman: If you love that last video, you're gonna love the next one. Check it out here.
Mark Hyman: Congressman Buchanan, so wonderful to have you on The Doctor's Farmacy podcast. I've been waiting for this moment for a long time. You know, we've, been working together over the last 3, 4 years to try to make shifts in food policy and Medicare and health policy to address this incredible epidemic of chronic disease, which I think is a national emergency. And and the good news is that we've been able to accomplish a lot, and I I wanna talk to you to tell you about some of the amazing work that you've done and that we've collaborated on to actually start to move the needle and address this real crisis we have, which is obviously burdening our country with enormous suffering of chronic disease. It's costing the economy you know, 4 and a half $1,000,000,000,000 a year.
Mark Hyman: Most of that's for chronic illness. It's threatening our national security, our kids, academic performance, and military readiness. And and and it's something that, you know, you personally have been very passionate about for a long time, both from a perspective of a a legislator and and leader in congress, but also your own personal health. So I've really kind of appreciated your commitment to this issue and your willingness to work across the aisle to get things done in a place where people think things don't happen. But, you know, congressman, you you, you, for those who don't know a congressman, I did the introduction earlier, but you're the chair of the ways it means health subcommittee, which is probably one of the most important committees in Congress that oversees all of Medicare, which is over a $1,000,000,000,000.
Mark Hyman: And, you know, you you really are one of the first in Congress to make prevention in the address and treating chronic disease with Hooters Medicine as one of your top priorities, which is amazing. So can you maybe start by, kind of telling us why why is this so important to you and why do you think we need to really focus on addressing this chronic disease epidemic with prevention and and, you know, lifestyle as treatment?
Rep. Vern Buchanan: Well, Mark, let me first just thank you personally. We have had a lot of opportunities to meet and visit, and I'm so excited about what you you've the difference that you made on a lot of different fronts. And I look forward to it, and I I know that we're looking at having a hearing coming up congressionally, and I'm excited about that and the the possibilities there. By the way, I just wanted to mention, also, as with a a young lady yesterday, and she was telling me about her father or grandfather, is 98, and they contribute his being 98 to you. He watched your this is your podcast.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: So I'll just tell you, I thought it was kinda cute. And he, you know, and he's actively engaged in going like going like hacks. So I thought it was pretty pretty big thing there.
Mark Hyman: That's very funny.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: You know, I for whatever reason, as a blue collar kid, 1 of 8, I just remember when I got, my wife and I got married and that they had a neighbor, and then she wrote a couple of books or something, Aldel Davis. I think I mentioned that to you. I don't know if she's been it's a long time ago. I don't wanna date myself too much, but I just happened to pick it up and start looking through a little bit. And a lot of it made sense to me.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: And, because we're in such a competitive world and, you know, I've had a family with that are diabetics and heart disease and all these kinds of things. So I've tried to stay focused on that, and I have my own discipline where I try to the best I can. I always say it's 80 20. But to me, it all boils down to a lot of this is diet and exercise, and I'm just taking for my own personal story. I've I've read a lot of books, looked at a lot of things for me personally to be able to perform at a fairly high level.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: I'm not a doctor or anything, but it's one of those things where I've read your books and other books, and and I've been doing it for 2030 years. And I think it gives you this slight edge, the difference, and as a competitor, whether it's in business, sports, or anything else, it makes a huge difference how you feel and think and everything else. So that's why I now being in Congress, a lot of people don't wanna touch some of these difficult challenging things like whether it's a debt and interest or, what's going on in terms of health care, You mentioned it's over a $1,000,000,000,000 just on Medicare alone. But when you look at the the data, it's basically pretty shocking. I was looking at, again, refreshing my memory and some of this stuff.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: But the obesity, for example, is 40%. For children, it's 20%. But yet, we only spent 3% on prevention, and that's my whole focus has been, how do we not get cancer or heart disease to begin with? Someone mentioned to me 30 years ago, is it a a seminar in in Dallas, and they mentioned that, 50% of people having their first heart attack never see the next day. Well, we had a lot of heart disease in our family.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: So I'm just saying, I'm thinking to myself, how do you avoid that to begin with? Now some things are genetic, you know, that better me, but there's a lot of things that can be dealt with without having to go through a difficult process in terms of heart disease and some of these other things. So that's why I'm so excited about your leadership and where you're at. Oh, I know we're gonna get into different things like processed food and stuff like that. And that's the other big thing.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: But diet and exercise, 80%. Then the other percent is all the just was thinking about it a couple of days ago, you know, getting enough rest, stress management, and all these other things. But these are 2 gigantic issues when you add them together where it's a in my life, it's like 80%. I thought about it. Some people might be more or less.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: But it makes a huge difference. Those 2 those two areas, in terms of, what my thinking is.
Mark Hyman: Yeah. You're probably one of the healthiest congressmen. I've seen, you know, a lot of your colleagues are not so healthy. You know, we had a group of owe them over to your house, in Washington on the deck, and we we had a wonderful meeting talking about these issues with, an about 14 or 15 of the members with the health sub committee of the ways it means that overseeing Medicare. And and they're all very excited to learn, but, you know, you're you're you're an example of of what, you know, it takes to actually create good health for yourself.
Mark Hyman: So I think I've eaten with you. I see how you take care of yourself and exercise. It's very impressive. And and I think it's really, you know, helped you understand what's needed for America, which is we we can't sustain this anymore. I mean, you know, it's not a a left or right issue.
Mark Hyman: This is this is an American issue that that is is threatening our I think our our whole nation in a way because we we are being burdened by the economic, weight of the cost, which is, you know, just for diabetes alone for Medicare, I think it's a $1,000,000,000 a day, which is almost incompletely preventable. And, you know, the the effect on on on just the amount of of suffering. And I I, you know, I think, I think the CBO estimates that pretty soon the Medicare hospital trust fund will be running out of money in 2035 if we don't do something about it that, you know, in the next 10 years, we're gonna spend just $4,000,000,000,000 just an obesity alone, through the government. And most people don't realize that, you know, the government accounts for about 40% of all health care payments, whether it's through in Medicare, the DOD, the Department of Defense, VA, any health service, federal employees, you know, all the the the the federal and and state programs. It's really a huge amount of the health care costs.
Mark Hyman: So the government has a big lever that they can pull. And so I'm very excited about some of your initiatives around around Medicare. And then we can talk about your your new your new initiative, which I think is something we worked on for a while, which is this whole idea of treating chronic disease patients with food as medicine through what we call medically tailored meals. And what's really exciting is, working in a bipartisan way, you've been able to get this through the committee and, I love you to sort of share a little bit about why you're excited about that and this new Medicare demonstration, project because the committee just passes groundbreaking pilot to offer medically tailored meals to people who who are leaving the hospital with chronic disease like diabetes or heart failure to to really help improve your health outcomes. So I don't know why it's important and what you hope to see happening with this.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: Well, in terms of, food as medicine, I had a doctor say to, mention very successful doctor 30, 40 years practice is a heart surgeon, I think he was. And he just wrote an article on food, his medicine. He said, I wrote a lot of prescriptions, for drugs,
Mark Hyman: but
Rep. Vern Buchanan: he said, I never wrote a prescription for food. And he's starting to rethink all of that and wrote a big article. I think it was in Forbes or something, and I called him up. I had dinner with him. But, you know, a lot of people are coming around realizing that plant based plant based diet make can make a huge difference.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: And I think it's important that, you know, we make sure that what we're helping the seniors and others with, that, something like a plant based steak diet, because a lot of the food that we eat, you know, this better than anybody because what I've read, what you've put out there and others, is is highly processed food. So they're not giving the attrition that they need. And I think that's one of the biggest challenges, and that's why we're so excited about this bill of legislation, is to be able to move and and help our seniors. I'm in a, I'm in an area in Sarasota, Tampa Bay Area where we have a lot of seniors, a lot of our 65 and older, this will make a huge difference, and I'm very excited about it. It's bipartisan.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: And, again, I just want to thank you for your leadership and all you've done in this area because it's to help fill in the blanks for a lot of the stuff that we're doing.
Mark Hyman: Yeah. I mean, and so I think you're you're you're right. And the the, 40 hospitals that you've sort of directed to see, for the Center for Medicare services select to actually implement this approach, we'll then provide the data to show that, yes, and I
Mark Hyman: we know the outcome is done right that people will actually do better.
Mark Hyman: They won't end up in the hospital over and over again. They'll need less medication, the cost for health care go down, their quality of life will go up. And the goal really, I think
Mark Hyman: ultimately with this pilot program, right, isn't it Vern to to actually help make
Mark Hyman: this a a benefit for all Medicare recipients, not just those who who basically are struggling.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: Yeah. Well, that's what we're trying to do is test the pilot, and we're hoping to get some good results out of it and then be able to spread it across the country. I know I'm talking with folks locally, doctors, and individuals, they're very enthused about it. It'll make I think it'll make a very big difference. And there's no question in my mind.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: The whole idea of food is medicine is is where we need to go and consider and, and, you know, a lot of these programs they put out in the past just don't make a lot of sense. But this is an area we can work with a senior, especially if you think about Florida. But the country, it's gonna be a big opportunity for us.
Mark Hyman: It's a 100%. I mean, I was talking to somebody the other day who has a company that basically works with Medicare Advantage. I know you're very focused on Medicare
Mark Hyman: Advantage as a way to do innovative, programs, and they've
Mark Hyman: done this with Medicare Advantage where they save $6000 per diabetic Medicare Advantage patient, and the average cost is about 90, 600. So you're saving almost 2 thirds of the cost. And if you do the math, there's, I think, 65,000,000 seniors on Medicare, 16,500,000 have type 2 diabetes. If you save $6000 per diabetic using this diet approach, basically
Mark Hyman: helping them change your diet to reverse
Mark Hyman: their diabetes, not just to prevent it, you would save a $100,000,000,000 alone just for that one approach. So that's kind of the direction we're trying to get to where we can help, the, the folks in Congress and also the congressional budget budget office, which scores these things as something that that actually can make a difference in reducing costs, because they often see prevention as a, you know, a long term issue that won't pay off in the short run. And and I think, you know, these these, what we're actually gonna show hopefully with this is that this medically telehealth program, it can actually help, and we can even expand on some of those things. So that's really pretty exciting. You you know, and the other thing that I'm really excited about is this bipartisan congressional preventive health and wellness caucus that you started with Wisconsin Democratic, representative, Glenn Moore.
Mark Hyman: And I'd love to hear from you what your goals for the caucus are and help you how you think you can help enact new policies that are gonna make a difference for people's lives.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: Well, I I just wanna say representative more out of Wisconsin is fantastic. We just on a trip together, but the thought is is what can we do with this caucus, and we think we're gonna be able to work both sides of the aisle to get their get the message out for this, so for a lot of the things that we're trying to do. But the reality is is that you you talked about diabetics. I think this year is $412,000,000,000 just as the cost. Then you're looking at another for just heart disease, you know, the $220,000,000,000.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: How do we prevent that? And as I mentioned, I've got family members with heart disease and different things, but I know if they had the right diet and exercise, that'd make a big difference. That's why I said early on. It's probably 80% of making those adjustments. We could cut cut the cost.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: We're spending one point, as you mentioned, 1,200,000,000 a year on Medicare, that's gonna go up quickly in in in a matter of 4 or
Mark Hyman: 5 years.
Mark Hyman: You mean trillion. You mean trillion. Well, you you said trillion, but you mean, try. Yeah. It's hard to even say those numbers, but
Rep. Vern Buchanan: It's it's it's used to be 1,000,000,000. Now it's 1,000,000,000 and then trillion, but you're right. But the bottom line is that we've gotta find a way to really start addressing with the cost because Medicare is is gonna be 1 with today's, basically, 1.1 or 2,000,000,000,000,000, but in the near future, you're talking, you know, 1,000,000,000,000, 4 or 5, you're not gonna be able to pay all the bills. You're gonna have to make some tough cuts. I'm an optimist.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: I hope by doing what we're doing will make that difference with your leadership and and the and the we've got a big team of a lot of capable members and including both sides of the aisle. That we think we can weigh in and make it a a big deal. And we've gotta do it. There's been too much talk about it in the past, but now is the time for action.
Mark Hyman: I think you're right. And I think this is prevention and wellness costs so important because, you know, something's gonna help. Like, the recent reduction in, prices with Medicare being negotiating with pharma to reduce drug care. Drug prices, I think, is good, but it still doesn't address the fact that why do they need the drugs in the first place? Right?
Mark Hyman: Why don't we why don't we implement programs where you don't actually even have to use those drugs for example, diabetes, like this program was saying, you can get most people off of that. And I think that that what's what's really important is is that in addition to the sort of work on the, on the medically care meals with this prevention wellness caucus, there's gonna be hearings. We're gonna doing one in September and to raise awareness, but also to look at solutions and what can be implemented in a practical way and look at what's worked or what hasn't worked and really look at legislation research and how do we really start to treat this this epidemic of of food related illness. The other thing I I really think that that, you know, has been exciting about what you've done is is really helping, doctors, actually, physicians and primary care providers understand nutrition. And this is a, I think, a big concern for you, and I know you've done a lot of work in trying to drive initiatives that make graduate medical education and undergraduate medical education provide nutrition education for doctors.
Mark Hyman: Cause food is the number one cause of why we're sick today in America. It's the number one cure, and it's something doctors learn nothing about.
Mark Hyman: So it's kind of all backwards. And a lot of your efforts have been to try
Mark Hyman: to work with congressman McGovern. You sent a letter to the the organization that a credit, graduate, medical education, AC, G GME, which is where the government spends $17,000,000,000 providing them with money with those strings attached, and you're trying to get them to have some requirements. You're also working with some of the, undergraduates. So love love to hear, like, what you're thinking is about the importance of training doctors and health care providers around nutrition.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: It's shocking, and you mentioned it, the idea that they get little or no education. Going through medical school. I and and and it's that's what it's been, but that's gotta change, and we're trying to do everything we can again on a bipartisan basis. This is a lot of these things aren't democrat or Republican issues or something we can both work on and make a big difference on. But, we're very enthused about the opportunity, as it relates to, getting more education, encouraging, more education.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: It needs to be a part of the curriculum or however they, you know, when you think about it so I've asked doctors, and I've asked a lot of them. And they've had they say they don't have they've never had one class on nutrition. And so food is medicine. You believe that. I believe it.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: And there's not one class in terms of that. So and that gets back to the whole thing on the incentives, are are not structured properly, with a lot of the doctors how we pay people fee for service is something we have to look at differently because it's not always in the best interest of the patients in the system. And, so that's something I wanna continue to work on as well. Setting up the right incentives, especially someone that's been in business 30 years before I got in this business, you have to have the incentives rights because if you don't, the the the train will go right off the rails. And that's what's happened here.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: We wanna have people that are healthier, not relying on, you know, having to take more drugs or get cut or whatever.
Mark Hyman: I think you're right. I think I think what you're talking about for those people listening is is we have a system of health care right now where doctors get paid to do more stuff, not to actually
Mark Hyman: get people better. And as we call fever service medicine, as opposed to value based care, which
Mark Hyman: is what you're working on, which is how do we how do we implement programs that pay providers and and and people doing the right thing, which is helping improve health care outcomes and reduce costs. So you get paid if you actually get people better, not just giving them more and more drugs or more and more surgery. And and, and it's something that actually there's already a lot of initiatives within, like, a current, affordable care act for this, but it really is more about care management. And we're talking about here as something really even more radically different, which is which is how do we actually truly improve health care outcomes and reduce costs by making people healthier and using food as medicine to reverse chronic disease. And I think that's where the that's where the most leverage is and the most both possibility of ending suffering for people and also reducing health care costs.
Mark Hyman: So so I think this is so key. And I, you know, as you mentioned, education, my daughter's in medical school. She's in her 4th year medical school. And and basically, the way it works is they just they just have to study for the exam. And if there's no nutrition test questions on the exam, they don't they don't teach any nutrition.
Mark Hyman: So, basically, the curriculum is all designed around passing the test. And if we change the test, we can change the curriculum. So I know that's another thing you're really working on, and it's it's so exciting. I also wanna talk about this work you're doing around the military, which is so important. You know, I think, you know, in military, people don't realize that you have to have healthy people to join the military.
Mark Hyman: And right now, 70 percent of military crutes get rejected because of their unfit to fight because of obesity or other issues. And and there's a whole group of, I think, 700 admirals and, retired admirals and generals called mission readiness that it really stated this is a a national emergency occurs, the national security is dependent us having a very able-bodied military, and we see not only not only people can't get in because they're unfit, but actually when they're in, they're also costing huge amounts of money Like, I think I think, the Department of Defense spends $1,500,000,000 a year on obesity related health care costs for the military. And and loses so much. It's so how how are you seeing we sort of address this sort of military readiness and the national security issue around around this for the country.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: Well, as you mentioned, it's hard to believe, but seventeen to twenty four year olds, one in three, can't get in the service because of obesity. And, the military spending, a 1,000,005 a year just trying to address the problem. And we've gotta get back, you know, this whole concept food is medicine. Exercise in medicine. I said it's 80%.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: You gotta be active, engage every day. And you gotta have a diet that makes some sense. More fruits and vegetables is a big big part of it, not the only part of it. But, you know, it's it's it it is a big risk that our country has if we can't find people that are are able to serve. And, so I think it's something we're gonna work, you know, closely together with my democratic friends and because this is something, again, very bipartisan.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: We think we can make a big difference in the space. But, again, I appreciate your thoughts and ideas because there's probably a lot of different ways to approach it. But the bottom line, as I get back to this idea, 80%. You've gotta get the diet and exercise right. Especially the diet because the the food itself, because I to go back on just because I missed this point a little earlier, but along the lines, what changed really changed my life, and I left part of the story out out of it, is I read a book or something 20, 30 year 20 years ago and changed everything because it in the book was the equation.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: And the equation simply said, the top line was the nutritional value of the food. The bottom line was calories. And the how do you get the most nutritional food for the fewest calories? And, so I started changing what I eat and how much I eat and everything else. And it made a big difference.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: So instead of, like, a lot of people, you're like a yoyo up and down with your weight and you can't manage it, I've never had to think about that again. But that equation, most nutritional food, fewest calories, and and work it at 80%. Doesn't mean you can't have an ice cream or do some other things. But the bottom line, it makes such a big difference. And that and and that's something we could ideally simply implement, and you might not cut one in you might not get down to you know, everybody been qualified in terms of the military, but instead of 1 and 3, maybe it's 1 and 10.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: And I I I was in the military when I was eighteen years old, and I remember they took a portion of the kids back then, and you had to go instead of 6 weeks boot camp and other 6 weeks,
Mark Hyman: that I recall,
Rep. Vern Buchanan: boot camp because they had to go to, you know, I think you call it the the farm or something, back then where they had to basically work out and get into a position where they're reasonably in shape to be able to serve. So, we're all over this, and, we have a lot of, wanna say military people in our area. I think I got 80,000. I represent, there's millions in Florida and other parts. They've done a lot for our country and and, made a big difference and a lot of sacrifices, and we need to step up and do the right thing here too.
Mark Hyman: It's so important, congressman what you're doing and how broadly you're thinking about this, the leadership position you have, you're the vice chair, the ways and means committee. For those who don't know what that is, it's essentially responsible for the allocation of a lot of the tax revenue and fair where the money goes. And so it's really an important committee. And you're the vice chair of that whole committee and you're the chair of the health sub committee, which is really in charge of of, you know, the the biggest expenditures, basically, the the the that the government makes around health care and and the things you're doing to kind of try to shift this, the hearings you're having, that bipartisan work you're doing. I mean, it's it's really great, and you're you're having, you know, also have had many other hearings as well.
Mark Hyman: I mean, you were talking about, you know, helping with working with a lot of other representatives from both, Republic and Democratic sides. And it's a thing that's really heartening to me to to sort of go into Congress and help people understand that with our foodfix campaign that that everybody cares about this. Every, you know, it doesn't matter who you are, where you're from. Everybody's got somebody with somebody in their family or themselves has some issue. And this probably just got too big to ignore, you know, that that movie too big to fail, and this is too big to ignore anymore.
Mark Hyman: And, and I think in a way, I think you also understand the economics of it as a businessman. You came from business, and you understand that that we have to actually, be fiscally responsible about what we're doing because we're gonna run out of money with with Medicare if we don't actually, do the right thing here. So I'm wondering just as we kinda close what you're what you're thinking is around, you know, the willingness, of of Congress and the Senate and the the White House to actually sort of move really forward on these issues and what the obstacles are and how people listening can actually participate and help support the work that you're doing and the work that's happening in Congress around shifting the narrative to around, or, you know, using lifestyle and food as medicine and and as prevention and treatment?
Rep. Vern Buchanan: Well, as a business guy, it's worth with a lot of numbers. I'm an optimist, but I'll share with you. We're $36,000,000,000,000 in debt. We're running $2,000,000,000,000 a year deficits and you can't continue down this road. You mentioned these are big programs.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: You know, this whole thing on Medicare is over a trillion. It's 1,100,000,000,000. Social security is 1,500,000,000,000. They're the 2 most important programs. Probably you could argue in Washington, but at the same time, as it relates to the health portion, I think collectively working together, have this conversation, but have it with all the members of Congress and others, we're not gonna be able to change everything overnight.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: We're not gonna be able to change everybody, but I think we can have positive change and have a big impact, and we've gotta do it just because of financially. We've gotta make sure we're doing the right thing. But beyond that, you want people that are healthy. Feel better. You know, they live in you.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: There's a lot discussion today about longevity and everything else. And I know that's something you work on, Mark, and you've worked your whole life on. And, look how young you look. And my point is is that We've gotta do everything we can, work together to get, address these issues. They're serious.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: They're big, big number issues. And, right, the ways and means committee, we do, you know, tax and trade, but we do health care. We do Social Security. All the big programs run through there, and we've gotta it's time for leadership and make doing the right thing. And a lot of times it's politically not always correct, but we've gotta move in the right direction.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: And I think if we do, we'll be able to have healthier people and cost us less money. That's my goal.
Mark Hyman: Thank you so much, congressman.
Mark Hyman: And and I and I I think maybe it would be also great
Mark Hyman: to end by you, Shay. How important is for the members of Congress to hear from their constituents, and and it actually makes a difference. You know, we think as people listening, political processes, somewhere out there in the space that none of us can influence, we're sort of helpless, but The truth is that your voices matter and that that people in
Mark Hyman: Washington listen and that, you know, change will happen. The more pressure comes
Mark Hyman: from the public and and the constituents of various congressmen and senators and even the White House that have to hear what's going on. I mean, I recently heard someone telling me during the Obama administration, president Obama said to them, look, we wanna do such and such and such around food reform or policy or ag. But we need cover. Like, we we
Mark Hyman: need the public to actually kind of push back and say, this is what we want. So how how
Mark Hyman: does the actual individual out there listening start to change, you know, their behavior to advocate for the things that they want? Did they call the representatives? How do they do that? Can you just talk about how people get more involved in the political process to support this?
Rep. Vern Buchanan: Well, I always tell people, you know, I've been in congress going on my 10th term, but the bottom line is, I'm humbled to be a congressman as a blue collar kid. They grew up and built 2 big businesses, but at the end of the day, I'm a representative. I work for the people. It's not about me. And so I I mentioned to all your viewers and everybody else listening to the program.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: They work for you, and you need to go in and let them know this is really critically important. And the more momentum we can get, helping Mark and others and all of us working together will have a huge impact on these programs. I'm convinced of it. There's no doubt in my mind because at my own life and I know Mark's life and others, it makes a big difference, and it's not that hard. I mean, you just gotta have the education and knowledge for a lot of people.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: There'll be some people that maybe don't feel the same way wanna go down the same roads are going down, but I believe there's a lot of people that wanna feel better, look better, and make it have more energy and everything else. That's what we're trying to do with these programs. So I'm very excited and very enthused about where we're at, but there's a lot more progress that needs to be made.
Mark Hyman: That's exciting. So, we're going I'm going to wash in in a few weeks. I'm gonna have dinner with you and a whole bunch of members of Congress, and then we're gonna do a hearing on September 18th. Everybody can listen in on that. And and I'm just wondering what your hope for in that hearing is and and, and how how you envision that unfolding and and what the outcomes you'd love to see from that are.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: Well, first off, it you get you gave them the dates. They're welcome to come to Washington if they will.
Mark Hyman: Come to Washington. It's off the room.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You you'll you'll they'll be excited about it. It's a it'll be kind of a hist we're gonna have not just Mark's gonna be there.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: We're gonna have some others, but Mark will be the leader on a lot of this. But if you can join us, it would make a huge difference to send a a big message. But again, I just wanna emphasize that I think that America's special And we've got this challenge
Mark Hyman: that we need
Rep. Vern Buchanan: to work together to get on the other side of these these issues, these health care issues, and good people feeling and looking better. I think cancer and and heart disease can be eliminated. Mark could tell you more. He's a
Mark Hyman: doctor.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: Not everything may but most of it. I mean, people that are are more plant based diet and other things don't have these issues. You can go look at their blood and everything else. And I can just tell you, I'm I'm very excited about working with Mark and working with our members. I think we'll get a lot of momentum with our bike, a partisan members that Mark mentioned.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: We're gonna have dinner. We'll have probably 20 members of Congress there. I'm gonna invite the ones that are, could could make a have a an impact in the conference in general, have some of the leadership there. So I'm very excited about that. It's gonna be a big hearing, and we need to go down this road very aggressively to make sure we're doing the right thing by not only people represent but the country well as well financially.
Mark Hyman: Well, thank you so much, Congress, for what you do for being the leader you are for taking the risk because, honestly, there's a lot of forces to pushing back that don't want this to happen. So so you're you're very courageous and, To me, it's been very exciting to work with you over the last few years to try to to move the ball forward, and I can see all the things that have happened. We've started a conversation, you know, at dinner, I guess, maybe 3 plus years ago, and now look what's happened. We had the prevention wellness caucus. We have this medically tailored meals pilot program.
Mark Hyman: We have efforts around military readiness. We have all kinds of programs that are that are being implemented. It's that that are hearings happening. A lot of stuff is really moving. So I I just wanna thank you for sticking with it and being such an advocate and and giving me so much hope for America.
Mark Hyman: So thank you so much congressman, and I'll see you soon in Washington, and we'll get our hands dirty and, get this done.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: Yeah. And let me just say, Mark, again, just thank you for your enthusiasm and and what you bring to this, your leadership is huge. And I think collectively together with other
Mark Hyman: members of Congress and other experts around the country, we can make a big, huge debt in this and we need to.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: But I look forward, 18th.
Mark Hyman: Alright. Thank you so much, Congress Ben. We'll see you soon.
Rep. Vern Buchanan: Thank you. Thank you very much, Mark.
Mark Hyman: If you love that last video, you're gonna love the next one. Check it out here.
