Midlands Voices: Bill could help fight child obesity

The writer, of Lincoln, is chairman of the Public Health Committee for the Nebraska Medical Association.

The obesity epidemic is shaping up to be one of the largest threats to Nebraska's economic prosperity. The medical costs alone are projected to hit $1,500 per Nebraskan by 2018. This will cost the state more than $2.7 billion per year, far more than the recent budget shortfall the Legislature has been working to fix.

Worse, most of the efforts so far to educate the public on healthy living have made little or no progress in slowing this epidemic.

The good news is that we are finding many successful ways to prevent obesity, such as school-based efforts that change some of the key drivers of obesity — too many liquid calories, not enough physical activity and too much food and beverage marketing directed at children.

The prime obstacle to expanding similar efforts is that they put additional strain on an already overburdened school system, further stretching their already limited time and resources. Many of the school leaders I talk to agree that child obesity is a pressing need, but the response is often the same: We want to help, but how will we pay for this?

The solution being put forward is LB 753, a legislative bill that would close a loophole in Nebraska sales tax that considers soda and energy drinks to be food and therefore exempt from sales tax. Most states (34 to be exact) do not allow this loophole, including every state surrounding Nebraska except Wyoming.

We want to be clear that having a sales tax on soft drinks is not equivalent to the state government telling citizens what they can and cannot consume. This does not affect an individual's choice any more than the sales tax on toothpaste or shoes prevents you from purchasing those items. The rationale behind sales tax exemptions for food and medicine is based on the fact that these are necessary items for citizens to live. Soda and energy drinks do not fit this definition, which is why most other states do not have such an exemption.

LB 753 would direct the funds raised by removal of this exemption to an obesity prevention fund that would enable statewide efforts to reduce child obesity. The majority of the funds, 90 percent, would be distributed to schools to create obesity prevention efforts similar to Kearney's, where the number of obese elementary students has already been reduced by 13 percent.

This program has received nationwide recognition. Ten percent would be directed through our regional health departments to fund evidence-based child care programs that could prevent obesity even earlier.

A friend recently asked me why we couldn't make needed improvements in school lunches and add more physical activity during our children's day.

I told him the answer primarily comes down to money. Both require more money, and right now there is no funding for these things. He told me that these efforts would certainly save us money in the long run and that he would be willing to pay a little out of his pocket to ensure that our children are provided better nutrition and more activity at school.

LB 753 would provide the necessary funds so that schools across Nebraska could repeat the successes in Kearney, and it would cost us only a penny or two per soda to do this.

The long-term savings in health care costs would be an investment that would pay itself back many times over. Most importantly, it would improve the lives of Nebraska's children.

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