America's getting fatter, and Texas is doing its part

[Guest guest]

Americ. MedicalConspiracies@googlegroa's getting fatter,

and Texas is doing its part

Associated Press

 

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/3321684

 

RESOURCES

• Calculate your Body Mass Index:

A BMI of 30 or above is considered obese.

(Requires Flash Player 6 plug-in)

• Graphic: Obesity in America

 

• Journal of the American Medical Association Web site

 

 

 

WASHINGTON — Obesity rates rose in every state but Oregon last year, with 1 in 4

Texans overweight enough to make the Lone Star State the sixth-fattest in the

nation.

 

The advocacy group Trust for America's Health said data from the Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention showed that the percentage of obese adults for

2002-04 stood at 22.7 percent nationally. The percentage for the previous cycle,

2001-03, was 22 percent.

 

The state exhibiting the largest increase in obesity was Alabama. There, the

rate increased 1.5 percentage points to 27.7 percent. Oregon's rate held steady

at 21 percent. Texas had an increase of 0.4 to 25.3 percent.

 

The report said the states with the highest percentage of obese adults are

Mississippi, Alabama, West Virginia, Louisiana and Tennessee.

 

The states with the lowest percentage of obese adults are Colorado,

Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont and Montana. Hawaii was not

included in the report.

 

An official with the Trust for America's Health said the United States is stuck

in a " debate limbo " about how the government should confront obesity. She used

the report to call for more government action on several fronts, such as

ensuring that land use plans promote physical activity; that school lunch

programs serve healthier meals; and that Medicaid recipients get access to

subsidized fitness programs, such as aerobics classes at the local YMCA.

 

" We have a crisis of poor nutrition and physical inactivity in the U.S., and

it's time we dealt with it, " said Shelley A. Hearne, executive director of the

organization.

 

Radley Balko, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute, said he is wary of the

call for more government action on obesity. The institute is a think tank that

prefers free-market approaches to problems.

 

" I think obesity is a very personal issue. What you eat and how often you

exercise, if that comes within the government's purview, it's difficult to think

of what's left that isn't, " Balko said.

 

Health policy analysts maintain that obesity increases the burden on taxpayers

because it requires the Medicare and Medicaid programs to cover the treatment of

diseases caused by obesity. The report issued today said taxpayers spent $39

billion in 2003 for the treatment of conditions attributable to obesity.

 

The Trust for America's Health recommended mandatory screening for obesity among

Medicaid recipients, as well as nutritional counseling.

 

" Better prevention and disease management programs will result in cost savings

to the system as a whole, " the report stated.

 

Balko said it's not clear the government really knows how to persuade people to

make better decisions. He said open-ended entitlement programs, such as Medicaid

and Medicare, don't provide much of a financial incentive for people to watch

their weight. The government just picks up the cost of treating diseases for

those patients, regardless of the amounts, he said.

 

He prefers that the government give Medicaid and Medicare recipients an

incentive to open medical savings accounts, which would allow them to save money

when they did not access the health care system.

 

" If they knew they only had so much to spend, or what they did not spend could

be saved, then maybe you could instill a certain sense of responsibility and

ownership, " Balko said.

 

Adults with a body mass index of 30 or more are considered obese. The equation

used to figure body mass index is body weight in kilograms divided by height in

meters squared. The measurement is not a good indicator of obesity for muscular

people who exercise a lot.

 

——

 

 

On the Net:

 

Trust for America's Health: http://www.healthyamericans.org