By Jim McLean
KHI News Service
Monday, Nov. 20, 2006
TOPEKA
So far, most of Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius” second-term health agenda consists of second-chance proposals ideas that she tried and failed to get passed in a first term. The exception is one in the works to tackle childhood obesity.
At a news conference shortly after her re-election and in the days since, the governor has signaled she will try again to convince lawmakers to provide health coverage for all Kansas children up to age 5, expand coverage for low-income working parents and subsidize health insurance for small businesses.
But the anti-obesity proposal will be new for lawmakers. It is based on an apparently successful program now operating in Arkansas. In that state all public school students are weighed and measured so that their
body mass index
(BMI) can be calculated. That information is then shared with their parents along with tips for better nutrition and for increasing their levels of physical activity.
With Kansas” obesity-related medical costs running about $657 million a year, Sebelius said she is ready to support an Arkansas-like program here.
“I absolutely would,” she said during a recent interview with the KHI News Service. “Childhood obesity is a huge issue and problem.”
Sebelius and other governors are intrigued by the Arkansas program because there are early indications it is working to halt what had for years been a steady upward trend in childhood obesity.
Baseline data collected in 2003 showed that 38.1 percent of Arkansas public school students were overweight or at risk of becoming overweight. But new numbers released in August showed that since inception of the BMI program, the percentage of overweight and at-risk students had decreased to 37.5 percent.
Kansas officials don”t know the extent of the childhood obesity problem here because no statewide program exists to collect the baseline data. But national data from the Institute of Medicine shows that rates of childhood obesity have tripled over the last 30 years among children ages 6 to 11. And doctors in Kansas like their counterparts across the country
are reporting that children are showing up in their offices with symptoms of Type 2 diabetes, an obesity-related disease that until recently was rarely seen in children.
Approximately 61 percent of adult Kansans are overweight or obese, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
Rod Bremby, KDHE secretary, said members of the Governor”s Child Health Advisory Committee had taken notice of the Arkansas program and
were “fine tuning” a recommendation to implement a similar program in Kansas.
“It”s definitely a good place to start,” Bremby said. “We also have to begin to track food consumption and physical activity.”
Bipartisan support
There are early indications that a school-based BMI program enjoys support on both sides of the political aisle. Republican gubernatorial nominee Jim Barnett, a state senator from Emporia, called the proposal “a good idea” in an interview shortly before the election. Barnett, a doctor who is expected to retain his chairmanships of two Senate health committees, has often said that the state needs to do more to combat obesity and smoking.
Both Sebelius and Barnett said they also favored increasing levels of physical activity in Kansas schools as a way to address the obesity epidemic.
A recent survey of schools by the Kansas Health Institute revealed that the number of students participating in physical education classes in Kansas high schools drops dramatically as they advance to the higher grades. That occurs at the same time their access to high-calorie offerings from vending machines increases. Also, approximately 25 percent of elementary school officials who responded to the survey said they had reduced recess time in the last three years to devote more time to preparing students for required tests.
“There are many time slots or minutes in a day where we could look at walking, going around the track, making use of the facilities already in our schools so we could have more physical activity,” Barnett said. “It doesn”t cost money to re-focus on more physical activity for all
not just the starters on the ball team
but everyone in those schools.”
Beyond schools, Sebelius said the
Healthy Kansas
program operated by
KDHE is starting to make Kansans of all ages more aware of how food choices, smoking and exercise affect their health and health care costs. But she said: “We need to do a lot more. We need a multi-pronged effort.”
Contact Jim McLean at
jmclean@khi.org
or (785) 233-5443.
Photo credit: Thad Allton