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Illinois has the fourth highest rate of obesity in the nation – 26 percent of all residents and 20 percent of children ages 10 to 17, are overweight or obese. For an individual who is obese or overweight there can be a wide range of personal costs, from health problems to social isolation to overall unhappiness. According to BCBSIL, the increasing rate of obesity has an economic impact as well. Among its members, the annual costs to treat type 2 diabetes, a frequent obesity-related illness, have increased more than 30 percent since 2004. Charges for services to treat atherosclerosis, which also can be related to obesity, have increased by more than 29 percent. Obesity-related medical costs in Illinois are nearly 10 percent greater per person than the national average.
MPC’s upcoming Roundtable “Alternative Avenues: How Livable Communities Promote Health and Wellness,” sponsored by BCBSIL, will examine how having access to housing, work, shopping, healthy food, and safe places to be active within walking or biking distance or by transit, can have a positive impact of our health and wellbeing. This lunchtime panel will feature representatives of local municipalities, businesses, health care companies, and community-based organizations who are encouraging active lifestyles for their residents and employees.
Agenda
12:00 Lunch is Served
12:10 Welcome, MarySue Barrett, President, MPC
12:15 Panel moderator, Adam Becker, Executive Director, Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children
12:25 Panel Discussion:
Dr. Paul Handel, Chief Medical Officer, Health Care Service Corporation
Chris King, President, Robinson Engineering
Bobby Ware, Commissioner, Chicago Dept. of Transportation
1:05 Q&A
1:30 Adjourn
MPC thanks BCBSIL for sponsoring this event.
Registration for this event is closed