Governor warns of 600,000 obesity deaths

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Crushing impact on state budgets
Since many low-income people are eligible for Medicaid, the joint federal-state medical insurance program in which the states pay about 40 percent of the costs, the effect of unhealthy living on state budgets is huge.

The governors “don’t have the luxury of not confronting these issues, for the simple reason that unlike Washington we have to balance our budgets,” Huckabee said. “It is becoming increasingly difficult to do, largely because of the cost of chronic disease.”

When he became governor nine years ago, Arkansas’s outlays for Medicaid were $600 million. But today the state spends $3.5 billion.

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As for remedies, it is not merely a matter of removing junk-food vending machines from schools, Huckabee said.

“Kids will tend to do what they see their parents modeling,” Huckabee said. “If kids are largely fed out of paper sacks on their way home from Little League, they will tend to think that that is nutrition.”

Not only do Americans eat high-calorie, high-fat food, but “we eat portions that are unlike anything Americans have ever consumed,” Huckabee said.

Need to change the culture
Changing the culture of obesity will require using public education campaigns, Huckabee said. He cited the 1970s seat belt campaign, the 1960’s anti-littering crusade, and the anti-smoking effort as models.

Seat belts were once an optional accessory when buying a car, but now seat belt use is mandatory and in some states stiff fines are imposed for not using them.

Back in Arkansas, Huckabee has taken some beginning steps:

Two years ago Arkansas started screening all public schools students for their body mass and sending reports home to parents.
The state pays for primary and preventive health care for children of parents who have too high an income to be eligible for Medicaid, but not a high enough income to afford private health insurance.
Arkansas now gives its state employees exercise breaks, 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the afternoon.
Huckabee is working on a way to give food stamp recipients a financial incentive to buy healthier foods.

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