jim marks, senior vice president at the robert wood johnson foundation. and as you know, he has been a national leader in public health for more than 25 years. currently, he directs the program activities of the robert wood johnson foundation health group, which includes the foundation's work in childhood obesity, public health, and vulnerable populations. dr. mark served as assistant surgeon general as well as director of cdc's national center for chronic disease prevention and health promotion. during his tenure at cdc, he developed and applied effective strategies to prevent and detect diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. he worked to reduce tobacco use and, in fact, to bring visibility to the nation's understanding of the epidemic of obesity. dr. marks has received numerous awards for his outstanding work including the u.s. public health service distinguished award and he has served on many expert panels devoted to improving the public's health. dr. marks often speaks eloquently of the primacy for prevention in public health. please we

and, again, i want to say that none of it would be possible without the robert wood johnson foundation and some of the other individual donors and foundation help around the country and local settings. and that we hope to expand rather dramatically. i want to talk, if i might, just a little bit more about the alliance for healthier generation and the other things that we do. according to the figures released by the c.d.c. today, obesity causes the country an estimated $147 billion a year in direct health care costs. i personally believe that's quite conservative. that's direct, not indirect. most of you're analyzeees when i was president indicated the medicaid program alone had over 20% of its costs generated by diabetes. and its consequences. now that included type i and type ii but increasingly as a public health matter type ii is our problem for the reasons you know, that's what you can control. so it's a terrific number. they're having this huge debate in congress right now. with people that don't really understand that we spend over 16% of our income on health care, none of our co

joining cdc in planning and hosting this conference are the robert wood johnson foundation, the associationate and territorial public health and nutrition directors, the directors of health promotion and education, and the national association of chronic disease directors. many thanks to these organizations and to their leadership for cosponsoring this conference. and many thanks to all of you for joining us here to contribute your considerable expertise. represented in this room are leaders of the local, state and local level all of whom are critical to reversing the epidemic of obesity and achieving the best possible health for all americans. let me extend a special welcome to our vip guests, including leaders from the white house, the domestic policy council, the office of management and budget, and the department of health and human services. we are so pleased to have you here with us. as you're aware, meetings like this do not come together overnight. although planned for nearly a year, we could not have asked for better timing. this conference takes place as leadership in the white ho

though the robert wood johnson foundation says americans are more confident about their ability to obtain and afford healthcare, polls suggest the president's handling of healthcare reform has been going down. he would like to avoid giving republicans the chance to push it down further. the white house admits some democrats are trying just as hard to put on the brakes. >> his response is different to democrats than it is to republicans about the fact that we can't afford to delay this, that we can't afford to simply wait months and months or another year and add that to the other 40 years we have waited for comprehensive reform that we will actually cut costs. the blue dogs say they would like the healthcare reform proposal to add tract more bipartisan reform and so would jim clyburn of south carolina who says he would be willing to put off a vote for a week or so if he thought he could get consensus. the president's aides point out one of the two senate plans contain 160 republican amendments but passing it in the house is considered a long shot. >> wendell goler, live on the north lawn.

the health unit is a partnership with the robert wood johnson foundation. >> ifill: house speaker nancy pelosi and other top democrats introduced their health care bill this afternoon -- all 1,000 pages of it. >> this bill is a starting point, and it passed to success -- to lower costs for consumers and businesses, to give greater choice for americans including keeping your plan -- your doctor or plan if you like them, better quality of care, putting doctors, not insurance companies, back in charge of supervised stability and peace of mind that you cannot be denied care or coverage for a preexisting condition. >> ifill: the measure, a part of three separate house committees would extend coverage to millions of the uninsured by requiring employers or individuals to purchase insurance. include a government-run health care plan to compete with private insurers. the so-called public option. prohibit insurance companies from denying coverage or charging higher premiums based on preexisting conditions. house majority leader steny hoyer said the bill will be paid for. >> we're going to pay for

the health unit i a partnership with he robert wood johnson fountion. betty n, good to see you. the presidentidn't even have public schedule today. then suddenly the spokesman's briefi is cancelled and h comes out and talks reporters himself, why? >> that's righ weeren't expecting to hea fr him today. i think youould best say what he was doing was some damage control. e came out and made a stament about health-care reorm late today. and here's what he had to say. >>now we got toet over the finish line. and pa of this process is figung out how to pay for i i've said that health insuranceeform cannotdd o our defic over theext ecade. and i mean it. i realize that the last few miles of any race arethe hardest to run. t i have to say nowsot the timeolow down. and nois certainly not the time to lose heart. me no mistake, if we step back from this challenge at this moment, we are confining our children to future ofskyrocketing premiums and crushin deicits. >> suez: to betty ann, there is the president insting not only that this be done right away but that it not add to the defici and i

correspondent betty ann bowser begins with a report for our health unit, a partnership with the robert wood johnson foundation. >> reporter: with a 13-10 vote along party lines, the senate health committee today became the first of five congressional committees to approve a massive over haul of american health care. connecticut senator chris dodd, who stood in for ailing committee chairman senator edward kennedy, spoke to reporters. >> this bill, because of wawe have done, we think is going to increase access, it's going to reduce costs to individuals, and it's going to improve the quality of health care in our country. we'll have to make investments to achieve those results. >> reporter: the $600 billion senate measure would: set up a new government-run insurance program to compete with private insurers-- a so- called public option, and require most americans to get health coverage. it would also provide subsidies for many uninsured americans earning up to four times the federal poverty level, or nearly $90,000 a year for a family of four, to buy insurance. and it would mandate employers contribut

the rest comes from the robert wood johnson foundation also a newshour funder.is school is 55% latino; 35% african american, and the income level is low. the coach keeps the kids playing games, like soccer or four square or double dutch, and settling disputes. >> these kids, i think maybe it's the environment they live in, it's just more anger, they get angry to start off with; they want to push or shove or yell, to see who the person is who gets to control the game. where we want to make it that any person can play any game, no matter what shape or size. we want a safe environment. >> reporter: alanna lim, the principal at horace mann, chose to use the program because of what it does both in the school yard. >> doing yard duty is almost a piece of cake; there are hardly any problems: there hasn't been one single fight on the yard. >> reporter: and in the classroom. >> the teachers spend less time dealing in the classroom with playground problems. that means more instructional minutes right off the bat. the kids come back more refreshed. >> reporter: lim also lo

program has made a big difference and i want to say none of it would be possible without the robert wood johnson foundation and some other help we get around the country in local settings, that we hope to expand rather dramatically. i want to talk, if i might, a little bit more about the >> most of my analysis when i was president dedicated that the medicaid program alone had over 20% of its costs generated by diabetes. now, that included type roman 1 and type from an two -- type i and type ii. i think this money is a terrific number. they are having a serious debate is a terrific number. they're having this huge debate in congress, right, and with people that don't really understand that we spend over 16% of our income on health care and none of our competitors spend more that be 11%. switzerland spends 12% base they have a very old population, very dispersed in a lot of rural highly mountainous communities, canada at 11. france and germany at about 10%. both their systems are regularly rated better than ours in terms of health outcomes and the only one under 10% is the uk because most of -- be

according to the robert wood johnson foundation.e people out there might be wondering if you're the best person to be criticizing the administration's plans for health care reform. >> a couple of things. we've got an aggressive waiver in front of the federal government allowing us to revamp our public health care programs to put more of an emphasis on outcomes. louisiana's a great example of what's wrong with many of our government-run health care programs. look at medicare, the data shows that higher spending doesn't always correlate to better outcomes. here's my concern with the house democratic proposal, what's been discussed. if you like your health care, you can keep it. that's not what this plan does. they say they're going to control costs, but their budget office says their plan doesn't do it. look at what their plan does. increases the depths by nearly $250 billion. it doesn't reduce costs, increases taxes at a time where we may be in one of the worst recession since the great depression. employers on small businesses, on f

a obesity and healthcare added joining cdc in planning and hosting this conference are the robert wood johnson the association of state and territorial public health and nutrition directors, the directors of health promotion and education, and the national association of chronic disease directors. many thanks to these organizations and to their leadership for cosponsoring this conference. and many thanks to all of you for joining us here to contribute your considerable expertise. represented in this room are leaders at the local say in national level all of whom are critical to reverse in the epidemic of obesity and achieving the best possible health for all americans. let me expand a special welcome to a vip guests including leaders from the white house, the domestic policy council, the office of management and budget and at the department of health and human services, we are so pleased to have you here with us. if you are aware meetings like this do not come overnight although plans for nearly a year we do not have asked for better timing. this conference takes place this leadership and the

recently the nonpartisan robert woods johnson foundation released a report that projects that if federal reform efforts aren't enacted within 10 years, the cost of health care for businesses could double and the number of uninsured could rise to over 65 million people with middle-class families being hit the hardest. the report shows that if health care reform is not enacted, individuals and families would see health care costs dramatically increase, total individual and family spending on premiums and out-of-pocket costs could increase 68% in the next 10 years. i can't imagine. 68% out-of-pocket costs. that's if we do nothing. if we listen to those just saying no. even under the best case scenario, health care costs would likely increase according to the this report at least 46%. and i can tell you absolutely, mr. president, wages aren't going to go up 46%. business could see their health care costs double within ten years. the report found that employer spending on premiums would more than double, and even the best-case economic conditions, employer spending on health care will rise 72