Welcome to Weighing In, the STOP Obesity Alliance blog – a new addition to our redesigned Web site.
This blog is a forum developed to facilitate discussion on key topics related to obesity and obesity-related diseases. And there are many topics to discuss!
Obesity continues to plague our nation and increasingly is the gateway to chronic illnesses like diabetes and hypertension. Patients, health care providers, employers, labor, government and insurance providers will all continue to be affected by the tremendous burden of this epidemic. As the STOP Obesity Alliance and its Steering Committee members continue our collaboration on efforts to take on this health crisis, we will take advantage of this forum to have an open dialogue with all of you.
Key contributors to Weighing In are STOP Obesity Alliance Steering Committee members, Christine Ferguson, the STOP Obesity Alliance Director and Dr. Richard H. Carmona, the Health and Wellness Chairperson of the Alliance.
Obesity GPS: A Guide for Policy and Program Solutions
The STOP Obesity Alliance Health & Wellness Chairperson, 17th U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Richard H. Carmona, facilitated a panel discussion for the launch of the Obesity GPS - featuring the Alliance's Director, Christine Ferguson, the American Medical Group Association's Julie Sanderson-Austin, and the American Heart Association's Dr. John Ring.
New Opportunities in a New Administration
By Christine C. Ferguson, J.D.
Director, STOP Obesity Alliance
It was only a little bit more than a month ago, but recent events make it seem as though the electric atmosphere in Washington on Inauguration Day has given way to the cold realities of a partisan winter in our nation’s capitol.
The entrance of a new administration always brings with it hope. Hope for progress, hope for opportunity and hope for change.
And despite set-backs and competing priorities, we still have a commitment that health care reform will be a major priority for the Obama administration. In fact, the President seems to be avoiding the top-down approach that have doomed past health reform efforts; he’s promised to reach out to the American people to find out what they would like to see in a new health care system.
But what do we realistically expect to see in the next four years? What kind of policies and programs are we looking for to help us make a real difference in the obesity epidemic? And how will the economic crisis impact our efforts?
Childhood obesity certainly seems to be an obvious place to start; there’s an urgency behind our children’s health that we just don’t see for adults struggling with obesity. The Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundations 2008 “F As In Fat” report pointed out a few places where we might start – illustrating that numerous U.S. states must change the language surrounding school nutrition and physical education laws. We not only need to make them enforceable but also we need to institute specific sanctions and penalties for non-compliance.
What about coverage issues? Can we expect to see coverage for a greater variety of overweight and obesity treatment options for adults? Is coverage for a broad array of treatments – like diet and exercise programs, nutritional counseling, loss surgery and drug therapy – one of our best chances to provide patients with the individualized kind of treatment they require?
And how about creating incentives for employers to better motivate their workers towards healthy lifestyles? You might have seen the survey that the STOP Obesity Alliance commissioned in the current edition of Health Affairs. It clearly shows that employers and employees agree that the workplace is an appropriate place for weight loss programs, and that both agree that incentive programs are better motivators than penalties.
It’s a big problem, and there are a thousand places where the new administration could start.
So I ask you: what are your hopes for advancing obesity and chronic disease policies in the new administration?
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