WASHINGTON (AP) — Mississippi’s still king of cellulite, but an ominous tide is rolling toward the Medicare doctors in neighboring Alabama: obese baby boomers.
It’s time for the nation’s annual obesity rankings and, outside of fairly lean Colorado, there’s little good news. In 31 states, more than one in four adults are obese, says a new report from the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
And obesity rates among adults rose in 23 states over the past year, and no state experienced a significant decline.
‘‘The obesity epidemic clearly goes beyond being an individual problem,’’ said Jeff Levi, executive director of the Trust, a nonprofit public health group.
It’s a national crisis that ‘‘calls for a national strategy to combat obesity,’’ added Robert Wood Johnson vice president Dr. James Marks. ‘‘The crest of the wave of obesity is still to crash.’’
While the nation has long been bracing for a surge in Medicare as the boomers start turning 65, the new report makes clear that fat, not just age, will fuel much of those bills. In every state, the rate of obesity is higher among 55- to 64-year-olds — the oldest boomers — than among today’s 65-and-beyond.
The report provides one of the first in-depth looks at obese boomers, and its implications are sobering. This first wave of aging boomers will mean a jump of obese Medicare patients that ranges from 5.2 percent in New York to a high of 16.3 percent in Alabama, the report concluded. In Alabama, nearly 39 percent of the oldest boomers are obese.
Health economists once made the harsh financial calculation that the obese would save money by dying sooner. But more recent research instead suggests that better treatments are keeping them alive nearly as long — but they’re much sicker for longer, requiring such costly interventions as knee replacements and diabetes care and dialysis. Medicare spends anywhere from $1,400 to $6,000 more annually on health care for an obese senior than for the non-obese, Levi said.
‘‘There isn’t a magic bullet. We don’t have a pill for it,’’ said Levi. ‘‘It’s not going to be solved in the doctor’s office but in the community, where we change norms.’’
His group is pushing for health reform legislation to include community-level programs that help people make healthier choices — like building sidewalks so people can walk their neighborhoods instead of drive, and providing healthier school lunches to help fight the childhood obesity that turns into adult obesity. The pending House and Senate bills address obesity in different ways; one provision would particularly target baby boomers.
Many states have begun programs to try to tackle obesity, and there are hints of improvements, Marks said.
‘‘We’re still getting fatter, but maybe a little more slowly than before,’’ he said: Last year’s report found obesity rates rising in 37 states compared with 23 this time around.
He’s encouraged that 19 states have implemented nutritional standards for school meals that are stricter than the federal government’s; in 2004, just four states did. Some are requiring nutritional information for restaurant food, he added.
States ‘‘recognize the solutions will lie outside traditional medical care,’’ Marks said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has long said that nearly a third of Americans are obese. The Trust report uses somewhat more conservative CDC surveys for a closer state-by-state look. Among the findings:
—Mississippi had the highest rate of adult obesity, 32.5 percent, for the fifth year in a row.
—Three additional states now have adult obesity rates above 30 percent, including Alabama, 31.2 percent; West Virginia, 31.1 percent; and Tennessee, 30.2 percent.
—In 1991, no state had more than a 20 percent obesity rate. Today, the only state that doesn’t is Colorado, at 18.9 percent.
—The South is the fattest region. The Northeast and West are slightly slimmer than the rest of the country.
—Mississippi also had the highest rate of overweight and obese children, at 44.4 percent in total. It’s followed by Arkansas, 37.5 percent; and Georgia, 37.3 percent.
—Following Alabama, Michigan ranks No. 2 with fat boomers; 36 percent of its 55- to 64-year-olds are obese. Colorado has the lowest rate, 21.8 percent.
———
On the Net:
Trust for America’s Health: http://healthyamericans.org/
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: http://www.rwjf.org/
State News
Mississippi’s still fattest but Alabama closing in
- State News
-
-
Bryant signs laws affecting students, vets
Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed a bill Wednesday that requires kindergarteners or first-graders to be tested for dyslexia, a reading disorder that can sometimes go undiagnosed for years and leave children struggling to learn.
The matter is intensely personal for Bryant. He was in fourth grade before a caring teacher discovered that dyslexia was the reason he saw scrambled words and had trouble putting the right sounds with letters that appeared in print. - Detective: Smith offered $20K for hit
- Child killed in her driveway
-
Bryant signs law to allow stronger beer in Miss.
Mississippians will soon be able to buy stronger beer, which supporters say will allow beer lovers to sample more kinds of suds and increase business opportunities for breweries.
The law signed by Gov. Phil Bryant on Thursday takes effect July 1. It allows the professional brewing and sale of beer with alcohol content of up to 8 percent by weight, above the current 5 percent limit. -
Law requires publication of budget notes
A new Mississippi law is designed to make some budget information more readily available to the general public.
Senate Bill 2561 becomes law July 1. -
New rule adopted in Legislature
Mississippi legislators have set a new budget-writing rule, but only after arguing about whether it increases accountability or limits most lawmakers’ power to boost spending on education and other programs.
Senators voted 32-16 Wednesday to adopt the Legislature’s joint operating rules for the four-year term that started last month. The House approved the rules 72-48 Monday. -
House OKs bill to cut AG’s power
The Republican-led Mississippi House voted 59-55 Wednesday to pass a bill limiting the powers of the Democratic attorney general.
Proponents say agency heads need to be able to hire outside lawyers without Attorney General Jim Hood’s approval when they have conflicts with Hood. The bill would also require all outside legal contracts be filed with a state board, and require the board to approve contracts worth more than $100,000. -
House panel snubs Hood’s effort to testify
A state House committee voted Tuesday to push forward a bill that would cut Attorney General Jim Hood’s authority, turning down Hood’s request to speak to the group before it voted.
Hood, steaming mad that he couldn’t speak, claimed the bill is unconstitutional. The lone Democrat in statewide office, Hood said he made a personal plea to House Judiciary A Committee Mark Baker to have extra time to study the bill. -
Davis says he won’t resign as Southaven mayor
Fourth-term Southaven Mayor Greg Davis said Monday he plans to remain on the job amid continuing state and federal scrutiny of his spending of city money.
-
Miss. AG: Pardoned killer found in Wyoming
A convicted killer pardoned by former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour was in Wyoming with his fiancie and initially drove off when he was located Sunday by investigators seeking to serve him with a court summons, authorities said Monday.
- More State News Headlines
-
Bryant signs laws affecting students, vets

