" (Hearne, et al. 2004)
Obesity related costs are inclusive of both direct and indirect costs which include 'medical costs and lost productivity' in excess of $117 billion each year. (estimates of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; as cited in Hearne, 2004) in fact, obesity is accounted for approximately $75 billion in medical expenses in 2003 alone with one-half of these costs being financed by Medicaid and Medicare constituting 6% of the HHS 2003 budget. Obesity-related expenditures for all fifty states and the District of Columbia were estimated at $21.3 billion for Medicaid in 2003. Obesity related costs for employers and businesses are inclusive of: (1) lost productivity; (2) paid sick leave; and () the increased costs of health, life and disability insurance. (Hearne et al. 2004 p.6) With the present rate of obesity-related disease growth among schoolchildren in the state of Texas the future is one that is characterized as "bleak" as the number of overweight Texans is predicted to triple from today's 3.5 million to 9.6 million by year 2040. If recent trends continue the costs in health care for treating obesity related illnesses is expected to increase from today's $10 billion to in excess of $40 billion in only one generation. It is reported that in the year 2002 the "Texas acute care hospitals lost approximately $6.5 billion in uncompensated care." (Ibid) the work entitled: "Active Hours Afterschool: Childhood Obesity & the Role of Afterschool Programs as a Solution" states: "There are not yet any long-term data on the costs of afterschool, but in the short-term, obesity prevention programs are clearly far less costly than treating the disease itself." (nd)
Reported in the "Joint Interim Committee on Nutrition and Health in Public Schools: Interim Report to the 79th Legislature" is that HMOs in Texas, when asked to provide the number and dollar value of claims paid in cases of morbid obesity diagnosis or where it was a comorbidity factor responded as shown in the following table labeled Figure 1.
Response of HMOs to the Number and Dollar Value of Claims Paid in Cases of Primary Morbid Obesity Diagnosis & Obesity as a Comorbidity Factor in Diagnosis
Diagnosis Type Number of HMOs
Total Number of Total Value of That Reported Data
Claims Paid
Primary Diagnosis
Comorbidity Factor
VII. Policy Focus and Requirements
The state of Texas enacted a law in 1999 that states essential public health services focus to be inclusive of the following:
1) Monitor health status of individuals in the community to identify community health problems and hazards;
2) Diagnose and investigate community health problems and hazards;
3) Inform, educate and empower the community in regards to health issues;
4) Mobilize community partnerships in identifying and solving community health problems;
5) Develop policies and plans that support individual and community efforts to improve health;
6) Enforce laws and rules that protect the public health and ensure safety in accordance with those laws and rules;
7) Link individuals who have a need for community and personal health services;
8) Research new insights and innovative solutions to community health problems; and 9) Evaluate the effectiveness, accessibility and quality of personal and population-based health services in a community. (the State of Health Care Policy Brief, 2005)
The Texas Department of Health or the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) in 2002 is stated to have "convened more than 800 public and private organizations involved in the state's public...
Childhood Obesity Focused on 6 to 11-Year-Olds in Tyler, Texas Obesity is associated with a condition of calorific imbalance in which the ratio of consumption of calories consumed and the ones expended is skewed such that the amount of the ones spent is much lower than the amount consumed. The condition is influenced by a range of factors that include genetics, behavioral patterns, and environmental influences. In data availed by
Millions of dollars are spent on test-prep manuals, books, computer programs and worksheets (Gluckman, 2002). Static/captive learning can help teachers around the nation prepare their students for standardized testing. Significance of the Study to Leadership A principal is the leader of the campus. The challenge for the principal is to know his or her district's mandated curriculum and make sure teachers are able to deliver it (Shipman & Murphy, 2001). As
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