The Cost of Poor Health

States with conservative leaders look at ways to combat obesity while balancing tax concerns.

November 03, 2015

WASHINGTON – Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson doesn’t have to look beyond his own borders to find the heaviest state in the nation. With more than 35% of adults considered obese, Arkansas has the highest rate of obesity, and a conservative Republican governor wants to do something about it. But what?

Stateline reports that Hutchinson recently launched a 10-year plan to combat obesity in Arkansas. “I’m a conservative,” Hutchinson told the news source. “I’m concerned about tax dollars as well as good health. There’s a consequence to the taxpayer because of bad health habits.”

Governors in New York, Georgia and Tennessee have also announced plans to combat obesity, notes the news source, adding that nationwide, a third of all adults—78 million—are obese, up nearly 50% since 1990, according to health data analysis site Health Intelligence. The top 10 heaviest states are in the South and the Midwest, according to a new report by the State of Obesity, a project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Trust for America’s Health. Obesity-related health problems cost up to $210 billion each year, and obesity is associated with diminished workplace productivity and absenteeism, costing about $4.3 billion per year, according to the report.

State and local governments can play a crucial role in reducing obesity rates. “The obesity epidemic is one of the nation’s most serious health crises,” Rich Hamburg, deputy director of the Trust for America’s Health, told Stateline. “There’s no silver bullet here. You need dedicated resources, you need policy changes and you need buy-in. When you get buy-in by local leaders that can only help.”

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Trust for America’s Health report that the top five states with the highest obesity rates are Arkansas (35.9%), West Virginia (35.7%), Mississippi (35.5%), Louisiana (34.9 %) and Alabama (33.5 %). On the flip side, Colorado (21.3%), Washington, D.C., (21.7%) and Hawaii (22.1%) have the lowest rates of obesity.

Race, class, culture and ethnicity also play a role in obesity, and some research suggests that “the poorer you are, the more likely you are to be obese,” notes the news source. This brings in the discussion on so-called food deserts, where grocery stores and farmer’s markets may not be readily available. However, some research suggests that grocery stores may not be the answer to obesity in low-income neighborhoods.

For Arkansas, Hutchinson told Stateline that his 10-year plan for tackle obesity includes encouraging physical education, creating healthy worksites and more walkable communities and reducing sugar-sweetened drinks, tightening nutritional standards in schools and improving access to affordable, healthy foods.

The governor added that some of the programs will cost money and some will save money, but the state should “resist heavy-handed mandates and should work toward partnership with the private sector and provide incentives for healthy living.”

For Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett, being healthy is a personal issue. “I spent a few months trying to reconcile my own issues with obesity,” he told Stateline. “Then I started really looking at the city and why the culture of our community had a specific problem with obesity.”

Cornett said that the city was built “for cars, not people,” including an abundance of fast-food drive-thrus. In 2007, Cornett invited residents to go on a citywide diet and lose 1 million pounds with him. Rather than scold the community, he’s working with QSRs to encourage healthier menu items, and is holding competitions for the tastiest healthy meal—all without the use of taxpayer dollars.

The government, Cornett told Stateline, has a role in encouraging healthy living. The mayor is now working on plans to build sidewalks and jogging paths. There’s also a plan to eradicate food deserts in lower-income areas, with two supermarkets funded through tax incentives that encourage developers to invest in the community.

“It takes a generation to make a cultural shift like this,” Cornett told Stateline.

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