Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today reintroduced legislation aimed at reducing obesity, particularly among children and adolescents.

Bingaman’s “Obesity Prevention, Treatment and Research Act of 2009” would develop a national strategy to organize the nation’s efforts to combat childhood and adult obesity by encouraging unprecedented collaborations across federal agencies, and among private entities and communities.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Health Statistics, 66 percent of adults and 32 percent of children are considered either overweight or obese.  Minorities are disproportionately affected, with approximately 26 percent of Hispanic and 32 percent of Native American adolescents (grades 9-12) considered overweight or obese.

“Obesity is a costly problem for the United States both in terms of health care expenditures and the loss of life.  Interventions aimed at significantly decreasing the occurrence of obesity related illnesses have been proven to be extremely cost effective and are critical to overall disease prevention. This bill is a first step to helping address this epidemic,” Bingaman said.

Bingaman’s bill does the following:

• Improves access for beneficiaries of Medicare, Medicaid, and other Federal programs to nutritional counseling, prevention services, and physical education programs. 
• Creates grant programs to provide funding to schools, community health centers, academic institutions, state medical societies, state health departments, and communities to reduce the prevalence and improve the prevention and treatment of individuals that are obese or overweight.
• Establishes the United States Council on Overweight & Obesity Prevention (USCO-OP) which is charged with creating a comprehensive strategy to prevent, treat and reduce the prevalence of overweight individuals and obesity.  This advisory council will update Federal guidelines; identify best practices; conduct ongoing surveillance and monitoring of existing Federal programs; and make recommendations to coordinate budgets, policies, and programs across Federal agencies in collaboration with private and public partners.  In addition, the Council will help develop and update the daily physical activity requirements in our schools, and identify activities that families can do together.
• Further develop and then increase funding to the Department of Agriculture’s Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, which helps ensure that low-income children will have access to healthier foods within their schools. 
• Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Agriculture to consult with the USCO-OP to update and reform Federal oversight of food and beverage labeling. Such reforms include improving the transparency of labeling with regard to nutritional and caloric value of food and beverages.
• Expanding coverage of Medicare to include medical nutritional counseling for beneficiaries who are overweight or obese and are considered pre-diabetics. 
• Gives states the option to include medical nutrition therapy services in Medicaid and SCHIP.