Should Fitness Gyms be Free?

HEALTH - Last year the City Council of Birmingham in England created a program to promote healthy living and general fitness called "Gym for Free", a program which has since won awards and international recognition.

At first it was just a pilot project for the neighbourhood of Ladywood but when attendance at the public gym went from 90 to more than 6,500 within 7 months the project was extended to all of the city's 1.1 million citizens.

Health benefits aside the city (Ladywood is one of Britain's poorest areas) has also seen some economic benefits. Higher gym attendance gets people talking, networking, finding jobs they didn't know about and people who are more active have more money for other things because they spend less on junk food... and the government ends up saving money over the long term because of reduced hospital costs.

So fitness and recreational fees hamper the public's health... interesting. So if local governments in Canada and the USA made access to gyms free (or at least subsidized private gyms) then Canadians and Americans would have better health and our governments would save money on medical costs. The value of prevention.

Its not just personal health either. There is also benefits for pregnant mothers. Less premature or still births. Less babies with low birth weight. More healthy children, less medical costs for the 2nd generation.

So will we make a similar program in North America? I think its possible progressive cities or provinces in Canada might do it... but I can't see the USA doing it. They're too paranoid about "socialized" healthcare in the United States.