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Michelle Obama: Health care reform must start at home
by Samia Sehgal - February 21, 2010 - comments
The four main factors of Michelle Obama’s initiative include, helping out the parents in making healthier choices for their kids, serving healthier food in schools, ensuring healthy, affordable food is easily accessible to all, and encouraging children to include more exercise in their routine.
First lady Michelle Obama is going all out to ensure that her endeavor to tackle childhood obesity helps improve the health of the nation. On Saturday, the first lady told the nation’s governors that health care reform need not necessarily kick off from Capitol Hill; it starts at home with children's health.
Appealing for a coordinated action on the issue, Michelle Obama said “There's no place for politics when it comes to fighting childhood obesity.”
The annual winter meeting of the National Governors Association, which is conducted for the governors to discuss issues that affect their states, saw a rare charm this time with the attendance of the first lady.
Besides adding luster to the event, her presence drew in many additional cameras and attendees during the opening session of the three-day gathering of governors in Washington.
Discussing health care
Health care is the prime topic this year, going by the new campaign against obesity, launched by Michelle Obama.
"If we think our health care costs are high now, just wait until 10 years from now," she said. "Think about the many billions we're going to be spending then. Think about how high those premiums are going to be when our kids are old enough to have families of their own and businesses of their own."
She insisted that it is not the lazy children who must take blame for this problem.
"Our kids didn't do this to themselves," she said. "Our kids didn't decide whether there's time for recess or gym class, or our kids don't decide what's served to them in the school cafeteria."
Let’s Move
Obama’s new initiative ‘Let’s Move’ “is not government intervention,” she says.
“This is not an initiative about telling people what to do. It's giving people the tools to make decisions that make sense for them,” said the first lady, when she appeared on Mike Huckabee's Fox News show Saturday night.
Acknowledging the tough financial times that many states are currently facing, Obama said that these issues need to be tackled with a low-cost approach.
The four main factors of Michelle Obama’s initiative include, helping out the parents in making healthier choices for their kids, serving healthier food in schools, ensuring healthy, affordable food is easily accessible to all, and encouraging children to include more exercise in their routine.
“In the end, that's what ‘Let's Move’ is all about. It is simple. Let's stop wringing our hands and talking about it and citing statistics,” Obama said. “Let's act. Let's move. Let's give our kids the future they deserve.”