Our Health Policy Matters

Obesity is a disease, just like cancer, heart disease, mental illness, and addiction.  That’s the message of experts at a recent  Future of Medicine summit on the subject. And there are missing pieces in the way states with some of the largest concentrations of obese residents, like Florida, Connecticut, Texas, California, New York, and New Jersey, approach the epidemic. As recently as 25 years ago, obesity was uncommon in America .  Most states didn’t even collect data on it, and not a single state reported obesity in more than 15% of its population.  Connecticut and Florida both reported rates under 10%. The CDC map at that link shows what has happened since.  Every state in the country quickly grew bigger.  By 2010, in 12 states, including Connecticut, between 20% and 25% of the population was obese.  In 24 states, including Florida, between 25% and 30% of the population was obese.  In the remaining 12 states, including T...

Obesity is a disease, just like cancer, heart disease, mental illness, and addiction.  That’s the message of experts at a recent  Future of Medicine summit on the subject. And there are missing pieces in the way states with some of the largest concentrations of obese residents, like Florida, Connecticut, Texas, California, New York, and New Jersey, approach the epidemic. As recently as 25 years ago, obesity was uncommon in America .  Most states didn’t even collect data on it, and not a single state reported obesity in more than 15% of its population.  Connecticut and Florida both reported rates under 10%. The CDC map at that link shows what has happened since.  Every state in the country quickly grew bigger.  By 2010, in 12 states, including Connecticut, between 20% and 25% of the population was obese.  In 24 states, including Florida, between 25% and 30% of the population was obese.  In the remaining 12 states, including T...

Obesity rates in America are higher than ever. This is the conclusion in a new Robert Wood Johnson Foundation report entitled F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future .    Released last week, the document notes that one-third of children and two-thirds of adults are now obese or overweight.   Obesity is no minor health matter.   It is linked to disease, disability, and premature death. The report received some media attention for a couple of days, but then we had our fill of it.   It faded into the news background largely because we’ve heard the story before.   No one disputes the two major causes of obesity in America.   Americans take in too many calories, and work off too few. If we accept these causes at face value, the story ends as we decide that weight is a matter of individual – not governmental – responsibility.   The individual choice argument is a powerful one for those who do not think that the government needs to “int...

Obesity rates in America are higher than ever. This is the conclusion in a new Robert Wood Johnson Foundation report entitled F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future .    Released last week, the document notes that one-third of children and two-thirds of adults are now obese or overweight.   Obesity is no minor health matter.   It is linked to disease, disability, and premature death. The report received some media attention for a couple of days, but then we had our fill of it.   It faded into the news background largely because we’ve heard the story before.   No one disputes the two major causes of obesity in America.   Americans take in too many calories, and work off too few. If we accept these causes at face value, the story ends as we decide that weight is a matter of individual – not governmental – responsibility.   The individual choice argument is a powerful one for those who do not think that the government needs to “int...