House Urges Health Insurance Companies to Encourage Healthy Lifestyles

On October 5, the House approved, by voice vote, a resolution (H. Con. Res. 34) expressing the sense of Congress that health insurance companies should do more to encourage people to lead healthy and more active lifestyles, provide discounted premiums to those enrollees who exercise regularly, and encourage frequent screening for diseases that are easily treatable in their early stages. The House Energy and Commerce Committee approved the resolution on September 30 (see The Source, 10/1/04).

Sponsored by Rep. Karen McCarthy (D-MO), the resolution contains a number of findings, including:

• In the United States, 61 percent of adults and 13 percent of children and adolescents are overweight or obese;
• Obesity increases the risk of more than 30 medical conditions, including heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and diabetes;
• Weight training is proven to increase bone density and reduce osteoporosis among men and women over the age of 50;
• The Internal Revenue Code of 1986 provides tax incentives for taxpayers who are obese, but not for those who are active and healthy; and
• Providing incentives for exercise and strength training would help more people become active and healthy, and would decrease national medical costs.

Rep. McCarthy explained that Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson “acknowledges that $270 billion in health care costs are caused by preventable diseases, including $180 billion for heart disease alone. Research by the Harvard School of Public Health noted that the closest thing to a magic bullet for treating this epidemic is exercise…If more than 88 million inactive adults in the United States began regular exercise, national medical costs would decrease by more than $76 billion each year.”

Highlighting the importance of physical fitness, Rep. Zach Wamp (R-TN) stated, “The human body is made to move. People need to watch what they eat and live healthier lives. We need to encourage it, and the entire health care delivery system needs to kind of change its approach to more preventive care; emphasizing maintenance, checkups, and all kinds of ways to take better care of ourselves to lower health costs.”