Sen. Harkin: Study Proves Removing Barriers To Healthy Living Can Reduce Health Care Costs

October 14, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today applauded a study that shows that people who live in “healthy neighborhoods,” or neighborhoods with safe sidewalks, parks, public transportation and access to fresh fruits and vegetables, are 38 percent less likely to develop diabetes than people who live in less healthy neighborhoods. Diabetes is estimated to account for over $116 billion in medical costs in the U.S. each year.

“Making strategic investments in our communities to remove the barriers to healthy lifestyles can improve our public health and rein in health care costs over the long term,” Senator Harkin said. “Right now, unhealthy environments set our citizens up for poor health. This study underlines the fact that prevention works, and that cost effective investments in our communities can keep our people healthy and lower health care costs.”

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Senator Harkin authored the Prevention and Public Health Title of the Affordable Health Choices Act (Title III), which was passed by the HELP Committee in July and is set to be merged with the Senate Finance bill over the next few weeks. It includes cost-effective investments in community-wide wellness programs to make our neighborhoods and citizens healthier.

The study, which appears in the current edition of the Archives of Internal Medicine, followed 2,285 adults from three different communities, and found that after five years, people in healthy neighborhoods were 38 percent less likely to develop diabetes than people who lived in less healthy neighborhoods. For more information, click here: http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/169/18/1698?lookupType...

Source: Senator Tom Harkin