Advocacy Project: Healthy People/THOMAS

Healthy People Goal:
For the Healthy People Goal 2010 I chose Nutrition and Overweight. One objective is to reduce the proportion of children and adolescence who are overweight and obese. According to the Progress Quotient Chart, the target has negatively gone away from target by 83% for this population.


Disparities:
Disparities within race and ethnicity, gender, income, and disability all can affect weight status. For example, one of the disparities in children who are 6-11 years old and overweight or obese, within Mexican American and black non-Hispanic populations has declined. However, for children 6-19 years olds, the prevalence was 50% lower in white non-Hispanic populations than the Mexican American and black non-Hispanic populations combined  (Healthy People 2010).


Opportunities and Challenges:
A few tools are being implemented with trying to reverse the affects of overweight and obesity rates in children. One of them is the dietary guidelines have been revised in the Food Guidance System MyPyramid. Another tool is to educate the public (children) on the food label to demonstrate choosing healthier diets.


Emerging Issues:
A few things I found really interesting were they have developed newly pharmaceuticals and increased bariatric surgery to use as potential treatment options (Healthy People 2010). In spite of that, the best way to implement reduced obesity rates is simply by prevention. By educating and putting in the positive effects on having a healthy diet with advertising and making actions are great ways to promote the importance of nutrition.


Progress:
There is only one objective that has moved toward it's goal, which is not my objective. It is food security, which is defined as household members having access at all times to have enough food for an active, healthy lifestyle (Healthy People 2010). With that being said, my objective has not met or exceeded it's target.


H.R. 3200 America's Affordable Healthy Choices Act


Title: Sets forth provisions governing health insurance plans and issuers, including: (1) exempting grandfathered health insurance coverage from requirements of this Act; (2) prohibiting preexisting condition exclusions; (3) providing for guaranteed coverage to all individuals and employers and automatic renewal of coverage; (4) prohibiting premium variances, except for reasons of age, area, or family enrollment; and (5) prohibiting rescission of health insurance coverage without clear and convincing evidence of fraud.


Sponsor: Rep. Dingell, John D.


Latest Major Action: 7/14/2009 Introduced to House. Status: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, Education and Labor, Oversight and Government Reform, and the Budget, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.


Recommendation: Vote yes for H.R. 3200 America's Affordable Healthy Choices Act


My Political Representative: Congressman Earl Pomeroy