Spiraling health care costs can be contained by healthier lifestyles, 'Nanny' star Drescher says
As long as health care costs continue to spiral out of control, the country’s “only hedge against financial collapse” is for individuals to get healthy and stay that way, actress Fran Drescher told a National Press Club Headliners luncheon on April 25.
The health care system in the United States is a “sick care system in which we wait until people get sick and try to fix them rather than keeping them healthy in the first place,” Drescher said. “Let’s not get sick in the first place.”
Drescher, who was elected president of the actors' guild SAG-AFTRA in 2021, contended that the increasing costs of health care are “unsustainable” and that leaders must pivot the entire nation into living a more preventative lifestyle. That involves moving away from toxic, health-compromising chemicals in everything people consume as well as ending dependence on prescription drugs, she said.
Drescher, a 21-year cancer survivor, blamed the amount of sickness in the country partly on the chemical industry, which she said in the 20th century “cleverly repurposed toxic war chemicals into civilian life, creating a multibillion-dollar profit margin at the expense of all things of true value, the foods we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe, all resulting in our poor health.’’ She said that the pharmaceutical industry stepped in to become the nation’s “savior,” adding, “the sicker we are, the richer they get. They have zero incentive to encourage us to live a preventative lifestyle.”
The union president said that everyone needs to begin to eliminate their daily exposure to the “myriad of toxins that are constantly eroding our immune system.” Many chemicals are hormone enhancers or neurotransmitter interrupters — contributing to cancers, brain issues, and autoimmune problems. “It is no coincidence that these are some of the nation’s most chronic conditions and most prescribed drugs to treat them.”
“It is up to us to force change ourselves,” Drescher said, adding that “labor must become healthier or face a narrowing of health coverage and expanding of eligibility requirements.” The labor force must learn how to detox their lives by learning to read labels and making their own cleaning products, she said.
Drescher has started the first “Green Council,” an initiative to push for more eco-responsible production practices and storylines on screen. The council, which includes other unions, associations, NGOs and environmentalists, is seeking an industry-wide ban on single use plastic. "This is simple but so impactful,” she said.
The actress, best known for her role in “The Nanny” television series in the 1990s, late last year established the first national sexual harassment prevention committee in the entertainment industry. Drescher said there is “zero tolerance for predators in our industry” and there needed to be a safe place for victims to report such activity. She said the union wants to create a pathway to train intimacy coordinators, who eventually would be on every set. This could be considered a new trade, she said, adding that these training courses should be taught in community colleges.
