[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4820 Introduced in House (IH)]
113th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 4820
To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for a national
program to conduct and support activities toward the goal of
significantly reducing the number of cases of overweight and obesity
among individuals in the United States.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 9, 2014
Ms. Norton introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for a national
program to conduct and support activities toward the goal of
significantly reducing the number of cases of overweight and obesity
among individuals in the United States.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Promoting Healthier Lifelong
Improvements in Food and Exercise Act'' or the ``LIFE Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds as follows:
(1) Currently, 64.5 percent of adults in the United States,
age 20 years and older, are overweight and 72 million (more
than one-third of the adult population in the United States)
are obese.
(2) Data from two National Health and Nutrition Examination
Surveys show that among adults who are 20 to 74 years of age
the prevalence of obesity increased from 15.0 percent in the
1976-1980 survey to 34.9 percent in the 2011-2012 survey.
(3) In 2011 and 2012, of children and adolescents 2 to 19
years of age more than 12,500,000 (or 17 percent) were
overweight, and of adults more than 66,000,000 (or 34.9
percent) were obese. Almost 6 percent of adults were extremely
obese.
(4) The percentage of children who are obese has more than
doubled, and among adolescents the percentage has more than
tripled, since 1980 the obesity rate for adolescents increased
from 5 percent to 21 percent.
(5) More than \1/3\ of adults in the United States do not
get enough physical activity and national data have shown an
increase in the calorie consumption of adults.
(6) The rising rates of obesity portend greater disease and
health conditions including hypertension, high total
cholesterol, Type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke,
gallbladder disease, osteoporosis, sleep apnea, and respiratory
problems, and some cancers, such as endometrial, breast, and
colon cancer.
(7) Many underlying factors have been linked to the
increase in obesity, such as increasing portion sizes, eating
out more often, increased consumption of sugar-sweetened
drinks, increasing television, computer, and electronic gaming
time, changing labor markets, and fear of crime, which prevents
outdoor exercise.
(8) Chronic diseases account for 1.7 million, or 70
percent, of all deaths in the United States each year. Although
chronic diseases are among the most common and costly health
problems, they are also among the most preventable. Adopting a
healthy lifestyle such as eating nutritious foods and engaging
in physical activity, can prevent or control the devastating
effects of these diseases. Although chronic diseases are among
the most common and costly health problems, they are also among
the most preventable.
(9) In 2008, overall medical costs related to obesity for
United States adults were estimated to be as high as $147
billion. People who were obese had medical costs that were on
average $1,429 higher than the cost for people of normal body
weight.
SEC. 3. REDUCTION IN PREVALENCE OF OBESITY; PROGRAM FOR LIFELONG
IMPROVEMENTS IN FOOD AND EXERCISE.
Part B of title III of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 243
et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 317T the following
section:
``SEC. 317U. REDUCTION IN PREVALENCE OF OBESITY.
``(a) In General.--The Secretary, acting through the Director of
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shall carry out a
national program to conduct and support activities regarding
individuals who are overweight or obese in order to make progress
toward the goal of significantly reducing the number of cases of
obesity among individuals in the United States.
``(b) Certain Activities.--In carrying out subsection (a), the
Secretary shall (directly or through grants or contracts) carry out the
following with respect to individuals who are overweight:
``(1) Activities to train health professionals to recognize
that patients are overweight and to recommend prevention
activities regarding such condition, including educating
patients on the relationship between such condition and
cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and other health conditions,
and on proper nutrition and regular physical activities.
``(2) Activities to educate the public with respect to the
condition of being overweight, including the development of a
strategy for a public awareness campaign.
``(3) The development and demonstration of intervention
strategies for use at worksites and in community settings such
as hospitals and community health centers.
``(c) Authorization of Appropriations.--For the purpose of carrying
out this section, there are authorized to be appropriated $25,000,000
for fiscal year 2015, and such sums as may be necessary for each of the
fiscal years 2016 through 2018.''.
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