[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 16]
[House]
[Page 21801]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    AN INCENTIVE FOR HEALTHY LIVING

  (Mrs. DAHLKEMPER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. DAHLKEMPER. Madam Speaker, I rise today out of concern that the 
health care reform legislation this body is considering lacks an 
important component: an incentive for healthy living. Encouraging a 
healthy population is one of the best ways we can reduce our Nation's 
health care costs over time and can improve our country's livelihood 
and prosperity.
  A healthy lifestyle makes workers more productive; it helps people 
live longer; it helps people make smart choices about diet, exercise 
and tobacco use; it helps prevent and not just treat chronic diseases.
  Madam Speaker, successful health care reform must include an 
incentive for Americans to live healthy lives. It is the surest way to 
decrease our consumption of health care over time, thus, lowering 
costs.
  My legislation, H.R. 3472, will do just that. My bill provides for 
health insurance coverage premium discounts up to 20 percent for 
healthy behavior and for improvements toward healthy behavior. This 
means that Americans would have a tangible incentive to maintain 
healthy cholesterol levels, heart rates and body mass indexes, which 
are vital indicators of a person's overall health and wellness.
  Madam Speaker, it is good public policy to help Americans live well. 
It is good public policy to create positive incentives for wellness and 
to help people make healthy decisions in their everyday lives. I urge 
my colleagues to support H.R. 3472 and to create health care reform 
that actually encourages wellness.

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