Most people tend to see themselves as well until they are actively sick. Their definition of healthy is 'I feel fine.' That is a dangerous notion that needs to be replaced by the understanding that a person is healthy only when he or she is living a healthy lifestyle and is regularly monitoring key risk factors, such as blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

"It is a fact that a person who is being properly treated for hypertension may very well be healthier than one who feels well and exercises regularly, but who never sees a doctor," he said.

As an example of this knowledge gap, Dr. Schutz noted that in the independently conducted nationwide survey of 1,004 adults, an unrealistic 67 percent categorized themselves as being "physically active" and only 30 percent perceived themselves as being overweight.

Dr. Schutz said a silver lining also could be found in a cloud of other survey data that taken alone might be seen as neutral or even bad news. Specifically, that while 74 percent of respondents said they might adopt better habits if only their health plan acknowledged that behavior with lower premiums, and 50 percent agreed they would do the same if rewarded with travel and consumer goods awards.

"Our survey shows that Americans need to become better educated on health issues and more aware of the things they can do on their own to improve their health," Dr. Schutz said. "With the health of the nation at stake, there can be no more important cause."

Statistics show that more than 60 percent of Americans do not get enough physical activity to yield health benefits and that more than 25 percent are not active at all. In addition, HHS has released figures showing that an estimated 129.6 million Americans or 64 percent are overweight and that almost half of those meet the federal guideline of being obese. Taken together, these are problems that cause in excess of 400,000 needless deaths a year.

While three-quarters of the survey respondents considered themselves "healthy," a research program funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that nearly half the U.S. population (125 million) "live with at least one chronic health condition and that many live with more than one." 

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