America Talks Health Care
Tommy G. Thompson, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
January 23, 2003
Austin, TX

Forum stresses disease prevention
by Stephanie Weintraub, THE DAILY TEXAN

AUSTIN -- Educating communities about preventable diseases is the key to a healthier America, said Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson to a group of citizens and lawmakers at a town hall meeting Thursday.

Other panel members, including Texas Health Commissioner Eduardo Sanchez and Mark McClellan, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, addressed health-care issues and disease-prevention methods.

"To truly stem the epidemic of preventable diseases that threaten too many Americans, we need to move from a health-care system that treats disease to one that avoids disease through wiser personal choices," Thompson said. "This new initiative will support community programs aimed at getting results."

Under Bush's proposal, an expansion of his Healthy Com-munities Innovation Initiative, $125 million in fiscal year 2004 would be spent on disease prevention. He plans to increase the budget for prevention of diabetes, obesity and asthma by $25 million.

Thompson outlined three ways to improve health: 30 minutes of daily physical activity - which includes walking - eating fruits and vegetables, and not smoking.

Some 17 million Americans suffer from Type Two Diabetes, and 16 million more are pre-diabetic. Almost 300,000 people die from diabetes each year, when it can be prevented more than 60 percent of the time through exercise and weight loss, Thompson said.

Smoking, Thompson said, is probably the most preventable cause of disease. Nineteen percent of American deaths are tobacco related.

About one-third of the state budget is spent on health care.

"The physical health of Texas will affect its fiscal health. Good health care starts long before an individual sees a doctor," Sanchez said.

Audience members asked the panel about health-care concerns. Colleen Horton, a children's policy specialist with the UT Texas Center for Disability Studies, questioned Sanchez about 13 million unspent state dollars appropriated during the 77th Legislature for the Children with Special Health Care Needs program, which helps children with serious illnesses and disabilities who do not qualify for Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program.

Children qualifying for the special needs program were placed on a waiting list in October - some 1,600 are waiting for services. Five children on the waiting list have died since October, Horton said.

Sanchez said the $9.9 billion state budget shortfall has forced the state to trim budgets, but "the Texas Department of Health is doing everything in its power to serve children with special health-care needs," he said. 

Overview

Final Program

Press Clips

Panelist Presentations