Overcoming Obesity: Get the Fat Out of Congress First?

Weight-loss funding in the $1.5 trillion budget for health care reform is downright emaciated compared to sweeteners for industries ranging from pharmaceutical manufacturers to soft-drink makers. And although treatment for obesity-related illnesses cost an estimated $147 billion last year, the Congressional Budget Office reportedly did not find cost savings in the few reform proposals intended to address obesity.

More exercise and better food choices would improve Americans' health, but members of Congress are not the best models for fitness or healthful-eating habits. The pizza, Dove bars, Doritos, chocolate-covered potato chips and other junk foods fueling the long bill-writing hours to meet the president's health reform deadline aren't helping, either.
"There are a lot of people who are in the Senate, both staff and members, who struggle with their weight on a daily basis, and they beat themselves up because they think it's their fault," Christine Ferguson, professor of health policy at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, told Lerer.

Politico reports the bills focused on expanding health insurance coverage have sidestepped most programs that would direct constituents toward personal responsibility. If Americans are suffering an obesity epidemic, Congress apparently doesn't want to embarrass them about it. The lawmakers have enough problems with their own self-images.