Our health is in our hands.

What sometimes gets lost in the debate over health care reform are simple facts about Americans, our habits, and our need to step up to our responsibility for managing our own health.

If you focus for a moment on the facts below, collected by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), you’ll get a picture of the leading drivers of health care costs and human suffering in America:

• • Diabetes – More than 23.6 million Americans have diabetes, and over 200,000 people die each year of diabetes-related complications.
• • Heart Disease and Stroke – More than 80 million Americans currently live with a cardiovascular disease. These diseases account for more than one-third of all U.S. deaths.
• • Overweight and Obesity – More than one third of U.S. adults, and 16% of U.S. children, are obese. CDC Scientists estimate that about 112,000 deaths in the U.S. are associated with obesity each year.
• • Tobacco – Each year, an estimated 443,000 people die prematurely from smoking or exposure to secondhand smoke, and another 8.6 million have a serious illness caused by smoking.

As diverse as they are, these diseases have something in common: for the most part, we bring them upon ourselves. While genetics and environment play a role in our health, the plain fact is that if we were to exercise more, eat better and stay away from tobacco, we’d have no health care crisis in America.

We all know what to do. We just need to do it.

That’s what Wellby is all about. Helping people take the steps they want to take toward better health. Giving them and their doctors tools to make that happen. It’s a simple, powerful idea.

Find out more about the ways Wellby is helping America keep on the road to better health.