IMPORTANT
UPDATES FROM THE CAMPAIGN TO END
OBESITY
1 ?
Prenatal and Infancy Nutrition Briefing Hosted
by Representative Bobby Scott (D-VA)
On July
29th, Representative Bobby Scott will be hosting a
briefing on prenatal and infancy nutrition.
The briefing will take place from 4 ? 5 pm in Room
2257
Rayburn
House
Office
Building.
The briefing is intended to showcase the benefit
of early investments in prenatal and infant
nutrition as well as highlight the need for
improvements in this area.
Among
those presenting at this briefing are:
§
Jessica Donze Black, Campaign to End Obesity
§
Dr. Barbara L. Devaney, Mathematica Policy
Research, Inc.
§
Dr. John Cook,
Boston
University
School
of Medicine
§
Rev. Douglas Greenaway, National WIC
Association
§
Jeff Levi, Trust for
America?s
Health
For
additional information, please click
here.
2 ?
Senators Harkin, Dodd and Bingaman Call for New
Obesity Taskforce
Last
week, several key Democrats joined together in
introducing legislation to establish a federal
interagency taskforce tasked with creating a
national strategy for combating obesity across the
country.
The
legislation, which was sponsored by Senators
Harkin (D-IA), Dodd (D-CT) and Bingaman (D-NM) and
cosponsored by Senators Kennedy (D-MA) and
Mikulski (D-MD) ?will bring together agencies from
throughout our federal government to develop a
roadmap for a healthy America,? according to
Senator Harkin.
The
Campaign to End Obesity commends the Senators for
the leadership they have displayed in introducing
this critical piece of obesity legislation.
For more information on the Federal Obesity
Prevention Act of 2008, please click
here.
3 ?
42 Senators Send Letter to
HHS
Secretary Leavitt for Updated Guidelines on
Obesity
Last
week, Senators Bayh (D-IN), Alexander (R-TN) and
40 of their Senate colleagues sent a letter to
HHS
Secretary Leavitt urging increased attention to
updating the Clinical Guidelines on the
Identification, Evaluation, and Treatment of
Overweight and Obesity in Adults. The
guidelines, which have not been updated since
1998, are growing increasingly out of date and it
is critical that these guidelines are updated to
reflect current science.
The
Campaign is grateful to all of those Senators who
signed onto this letter and urge Secretary Leavitt
to ensure that the guidelines are updated
promptly.
To view
the letter in its entirety, please click here.
4 ?
Representatives Kind, Porter, Blumenauer,
Grijalva, Snyder and English Send Letter to
CMS
Last
week, Representatives Kind (D-WI), Porter (R-NV),
Blumenauer (D-OR), Grijalva (D-AZ), Snyder (D-AR)
and English (R-PA) sent a letter to acting
CMS
Administrator Weems highlighting concerns over
Medicare?s inconsistent coverage of bariatric
surgery in the treatment of those suffering from
morbid obesity.
The
letter (which can be viewed in its entirety here)
urges the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services to address the inconsistent application
of bariatric surgery coverage standards by
ensuring that Medicare Administrative Contractors
(MACs) are appropriately carrying out Medicare
coverage and reimbursement policy.
The
Campaign would like to thank all those offices who
signed on to this letter for their leadership on
this important issue.
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