White House Announces Task Force on Childhood Obesity

02/09/2010

President Barack Obama has announced new steps to reduce the nation's childhood obesity rates, potentially helping millions of young people avoid serious medical problems and high health insurance rates when they are older.

In announcing a task force of Cabinet-level officials to address the problem, the president said that childhood obesity has "reached epidemic rates," which raises the possibility that many children will end up living shorter lives than their parents.

About one-third of American children are either overweight or obese, which Obama noted has tripled among some age groups since 1980. Obesity statistics among adults for this time period have also risen dramatically.

"One-third of all individuals born in the year 2000 or later will eventually suffer from diabetes over the course of their lifetime, while too many others will face chronic obesity-related health problems such as heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, and asthma," said the president.

From a health insurance standpoint, several of the medical issues cited by the president are considered to be pre-existing conditions, which tend to increase the cost of one's premium and overall healthcare expenses over time.

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