Senate Concurrent Resolution 579

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION TO URGE AND REQUEST THE MISSISSIPPI COUNCIL ON OBESITY PREVENTION AND MANAGEMENT TO STUDY HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE FOR THE TREATMENT OF OBESITY, INCLUDING THE COMPILATION OF DATA ON THE TREATMENT OF SEVERE OR MORBID OBESITY THROUGH BARIATRIC SURGERY.

WHEREAS, obesity is the most significant nutritional disorder affecting health in the industrialized world; and

WHEREAS, obesity is a serious medical problem affecting up to one-third of all Americans; and

WHEREAS, a 1997 Kaiser Permanente study concluded that there is a significant potential for a reduction in health care expenditures through obesity prevention; and

WHEREAS, obesity is known to cause or exacerbate a number of serious disorders, including hypertension, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, respiratory dysfunction, gout and osteoarthritis; and

WHEREAS, nearly 80% of patients with diabetes mellitus are obese; and

WHEREAS, nearly 70% of diagnosed cases of cardiovascular disease are related to obesity; and

WHEREAS, obesity ranks second only to smoking as a preventable cause of death, with 300,000 deaths annually attributable to obesity; and

WHEREAS, education, prevention and proper treatment of obesity can reduce health care costs and improve the quality of life for a significant number of adults and children in Mississippi and across the United States:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING THEREIN, That we do hereby urge and request the Mississippi Council on Obesity Prevention and Management, created and empowered under Section 41-101-1, Mississippi Code of 1972, to collect data on individual cases of obesity in order to evaluate whether health insurance coverage for the treatment of obesity should be mandated in this state. This analysis shall include a comprehensive study and recommendation as to the advisability of requiring health insurance coverage of medically necessary bariatric surgery for treatment of clinically severe obesity as a cost effective alternative to long-term treatment of the condition. This analysis shall include a comprehensive study of the treatment of cases of severe or morbid obesity in Mississippi. The council is urged and requested to complete its study and make recommendations, including necessary legislation, to the 2006 Regular Session of the Legislature on or before January 1, 2006, to aid in the prevention and treatment of obesity and ways to decrease the number of cases of obesity in the state.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be transmitted to the State Health Officer, the Chairman of the Mississippi Council on Obesity Prevention and Management, and be made available to the Capitol Press Corps.