CNBC Segment with Zipcar CEO
06/02/09
The segment is titled “Car Sharing - The New Model T”. I agree with that idea in the sense that going car-free forces a person to start considering various alternatives to car ownership, of which car sharing is only one. Zipcar members often use a variety of means for getting around town: walking for trips up to two miles, biking or bus for longer trips, and Zipcar when you desire greater convenience or need to haul things.
All of the alternatives to car ownership force users to burn calories, which is great when it comes to preventing chronic diseases like diabetes that result from caloric overload and sedentary lifestyles. And prevention is going to be a fast-growing issue as we face the prospect of American taxpayers picking up the tab for universal healthcare.
Take kidney care for diabetes patients. I recently had a few beers with a kidney disease researcher at the University of Washington. He says that while the rate of kidney failure due to hereditary causes has remained flat over the years, the rate of dialysis among diabetes patients is growing.
Once your kidneys start to fail, the clock starts ticking to the point where you’ll need to either get a kidney transplant or be on dialysis. Both of these options are very expensive, but life-long dialysis is by far the pricier course of action. On top of that, dialysis is very rough on the body. Somewhere around a third of dialysis patients die every year, and most dialysis patients become so debilitated by the procedure that they can’t work.
The cost/benefit argument for reducing dialysis demand through diabetes prevention is pretty easy to make. Research has shown that regular moderate exercise will help delay the onset of diabetes. Kathleen Sebelius was recently saying on PBS that greater emphasis must be put on prevention if we’re to provide cost-effective universal healthcare.
As consumers struggle with both a lack of cash and an excess of body fat, maybe the “new Model T” will be the bicycle or the walking shoe. Maybe GM’s competition for consumer transportation dollars will come less from Japanese car companies and increasingly from sources like REI.