HealthDay News reports that severe childhood obesity rates have tripled in the past quarter-century – increasing from 0.8 percent of kids between the ages of 2 to 19, to 3.8 percent…which could mean that as many as 2.7 million US children are severely obese.
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, which published the study, said that this means that the US needs more obesity treatment programs and that insurance companies should cover such care.
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, which published the study, said that this means that the US needs more obesity treatment programs and that insurance companies should cover such care.
- KC's View:
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Good luck with this last bit. Insurance companies tend to focus more on finding reasons not to cover treatments, so getting them to expand obesity coverage – especially at a time when proposed national healthcare legislation could have a dramatic impact on their business and profitability – likely is problematic.
That said, I have to admit that some of these numbers are confusing.
After all, it was less than two weeks ago that MNB noted:
“HealthDay News reports that there is good news and bad news on the childhood obesity front in the US.
”The bad news: one out of seven preschoolers from low-income families is considered to be clinically obese.
”The good news (sort of): national levels of childhood obesity in this demographic seem to be leveling off.
“The numbers are included in a new study from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), entitled the “Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.” The reason for the stabilizing of the numbers seems to be that there have been numerous public information campaigns in low-income communities to encourage better eating habits and more regular exercise. However, not all of these efforts have been successful, with Native American children and Alaska Native children said to be at greater risk for obesity and the long-term health problems that obesity can create.”
It is hard to get consumers to focus on a situation where the numbers seem to be a little fluid.
