Monday, March 27, 2006
Huckabee Featured On CNN.com
Here's a link to a CNN.com feature about Governor Mike Huckabee and his efforts to lead the effort to improve the health and wellness of Americans everywhere. Among the key points made in the article:
|
- Is obesity a looming national threat? Many (experts) generally agree that obesity does pose a legitimate threat to American society.
- "We're now seeing pre-teens, kids who are 8- or 9-years-old, who are being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes," Huckabee said. "If we continue with this trend, within another generation you'll be seeing kids dropping dead at their desks at the high school."
- Huckabee said "Some 700,000 people a year will die in America because of inactivity, overeating and smoking. Those three lifestyle choices are essentially driving the cost of health care."
- Costs attributed to overweight and obesity accounted for 9.1 percent of total U.S. medical expenditures in 1998, according to a study cited by the CDC. The costs may have been as high as $78.5 billion -- $92.6 billion in 2002 dollars.
- For the most part, researchers and experts in the public health sector believe obesity has negative consequences and raises the risk for certain diseases.
- "It's not unrealistic to say that within a decade we could see a significant turning," Huckabee said. "Will all of America be healthy and thin? No. But will we have maybe reversed course? Yes, I think it's possible."
