Legislature(2005 - 2006)CAPITOL 106
04/25/2006 03:00 PM House HEALTH, EDUCATION & SOCIAL SERVICES
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB322 | |
| HJR30 | |
| HB452 | |
| Overview(s) || American Heart Association – Obesity and Health | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | HB 322 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 452 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 396 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HCR 31 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | HJR 30 | TELECONFERENCED | |
HJR 30-PUBLIC HEALTH COMPACT 3:49:55 PM CHAIR WILSON announced that the next order of business would be HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 30, Relating to public health and a prevention compact. 3:50:21 PM REPRESENTATIVE GARDNER moved to adopt CSHJR 30, Version 24- LS1557\F, Mischel, 4/4/06. There being no objection, Version F was before the committee. 3:50:46 PM CINDY FOLSOM, Staff to Representative Sharon Cissna, Alaska State Legislature, stated the following: This is really a very simple bill that encourages a dialogue between people. The aim is to get groups of people to focus on prevention as a way to improve personal help and to address the spiraling cost of health care. This proposed legislation encourages a statewide discussion of lessons learned in preventing the increase of health risks and would greatly expand the personal promotion of health strategies and knowledge in every Alaskan community. 3:51:40 PM MS. FOLSOM then turned the committee's attention to a PowerPoint presentation entitled "It's all about Prevention!", the slides of which are included in the committee packet. The aforementioned PowerPoint reviewed the importance of eye care exams, dental exams, and exercise for prevention and management of chronic illness and maintaining good bone structure. The presentation emphasized that "Bad habits are making Alaskans sick..." and related the behavioral health risks for Alaskan adults in 2003, including being overweight, smoking, obesity, engaging in no physical activity, and binge drinking. All of the aforementioned can be changed and are preventable. She related that in Alaska in 2002, 485 deaths were due to tobacco use and 122 deaths due to second-hand smoke. Also, alcohol abuse impacts every Alaskan and it costs. In fact, the total outpatient cost for [alcohol abuse] was $25 million in 2003. Moreover, poor nutrition accounts for 20-30 percent of cardiovascular heart disease and obesity is becoming the state's largest health risk factor, which is preventable. A recent Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) study relates that the state has improved in others areas of health, except obesity, which has increased from 11 percent to 23 percent. Physical inactivity, she reported, accounts for about 35 percent of all cardiovascular health disease. In conclusion, Ms. Folsom opined that "Wishful thinking is not enough ... prevention involves action." Therefore, this prevention compact encourages individuals to take personal responsibility for their good health care. The goal is to promote a paradigm shift and foster an awareness that health care is a choice and that prevention can result in a difference in every Alaskan community. 3:57:57 PM REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA highlighted that choices individuals make impact the lifestyle people lead. In order to change the choices, she indicated the need to change the conversation to create a message of interest in changing health habits. 3:59:51 PM TAMMY GREEN, Section Chief, Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (CDP/HP), Division of Public Health, Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS), paraphrased from the following written statement [original punctuation provided]: I am here to provide support for the concept of prevention as a major strategy to promote and sustain the public's health within the State of Alaska. Chronic Diseases are among the most common and costly of all health problems and they are also among the most preventable. Prevention and health promotion efforts directed at the most common risk factors can improve not only the quality of life but can also impact the growing cost of health care. Approximately 60% of the top 10 causes of death in Alaska are attributed to Chronic Diseases such as Cancer, Heart Disease, Stroke and Diabetes and these Chronic Diseases are greatly impacted by 4 risk factors or lifestyle choices that people make. The 4 risk factors are: Tobacco use Lack of adequate physical activity Poor nutritional habits (not consuming the daily recommended 5 or more servings of fruits and vegetables) Being overweight or obese To get a grasp of the magnitude of how Alaskans stack up on these risk factors I give the following: 63% are overweight or obese 1 in 4 smoke 25% 1 in 5 are sedentary; many more don't meet the minimum recommendations for physical activity (20%) 3 of 4 are not eating the daily recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables (75%) Additionally only 5% of Alaskans meet the positive side of these risk factors - in other words only 5% of Alaskans don't smoke, get adequate physical activity, eat the recommended 5 or more servings of fruits and vegetables and are not overweight. That is something we in Public Health find quite distressing. Not only are there health consequences for these risk factors but there are also significant economic consequences as well. Tobacco (annually): $135 million in direct medical expenditures $160 million in lost productivity related to death $??? In lost productivity from tobacco-related illnesses $292 million each year Obesity (annually): $195 million in direct medical expenditures $17 million of this is Medicare (9%) $29 million of this is Medicaid (15%) Almost every Alaskan is adversely affected by chronic disease in one way or another-through the death of a loved one; a family member's struggle with lifelong illness, disability, or compromised quality of life; or the huge personal and societal financial burden wrought by chronic disease. In Summary: Although chronic diseases are among the most common and costly of all health problems, they are also among the most preventable, however the focus of our health care system over the past century has not been on prevention of chronic disease, but on treatment of short-term, acute health problems. As a nation, we have emphasized expensive cures for disease rather than cost-effective prevention. If we are serious about improving the health and quality of life of all Alaskans AND keeping our health care budget under control ... we can no longer afford to ignore the power of prevention. 4:04:06 PM CHAIR WILSON stressed the need for personal healthy lifestyles. She then requested that the committee view future health care issues with prevention in mind as a possible way to decrease health care costs in Alaska. [HJR 30 was held over.]
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