Expressing Sense of Congress that Private Health Insurance Companies Should Take a Proactive Role in Promoting Healthy Lifestyles

EXPRESSING SENSE OF CONGRESS THAT PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES SHOULD TAKE A PROACTIVE ROLE IN PROMOTING HEALTHY LIFESTYLES -- (House of Representatives - October 05, 2004)

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Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, the percentage of children and adolescents who are defined as overweight has more than doubled since the early 1970s with nearly 15 percent of children and adolescents now being overweight.

Congress has asked our schools to encourage health eating and physical activity to decrease the obesity epidemic in our Nation. We have encouraged our physicians to educate our constituents and parents to be better eating role models to their children. The CDC has even stated to begin to stop and reverse this upward obesity trend "will require effective collaboration among government, voluntary, and private sectors, as well as a commitment to action by individuals and communities across the Nation". It then only makes sense that we now ask the insurance industry to join us in the fight to reduce obesity in our country.

As we know, there are serious health consequences that are caused when an individual is overweight or obese such as high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, congestive heart failure, stroke, as well as some types of cancer. These can all be very costly diseases, especially if they are not managed correctly. According to a study of national costs attributed to both overweight and obesity, medical expenses accounted for 9.1 percent of total U.S. medical expenditures in 1998 and may have reached as high as $78.5 billion. Approximately half of these costs were paid by Medicaid and Medicare.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.