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URGING AND REQUESTING THE SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES AND THE SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF INSURANCE TO JOINTLY UNDERTAKE A STUDY OF THE TREATMENT OF OBESITY, INCLUDING THE COMPILATION OF DATA ON THE TREATMENT OF OBESITY THROUGH BARIATRIC SURGERY PERFORMED AT FACILITIES CERTIFIED BY THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR BARIATRIC SURGERY AS CERTIFIED BARIATRIC SURGERY CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE COMPARED TO FACILITIES NOT CERTIFIED BY THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR BARIATRIC SURGERY.
Whereas, obesity is the most significant nutritional disorder affecting health in the industrialized world; and
Whereas, obesity is a serious medical problem affecting up to one-third of all Americans; and
Whereas, a 1997 Kaiser Permanente study concluded that there is a significant potential for a reduction in health care expenditures through obesity prevention; and
Whereas, obesity is known to cause or exacerbate a number of serious disorders, including hypertension, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, respiratory dysfunction, gout and osteoarthritis; and
Whereas, nearly eighty percent of patients with diabetes mellitus are obese; and
Whereas, nearly seventy percent of diagnosed cases of cardiovascular disease are related to obesity; and
Whereas, obesity ranks second only to smoking as a preventable cause of death, with 300,000 deaths annually attributable to obesity; and
Whereas, education, prevention, and proper treatment of obesity can reduce health care costs and improve the quality of life for a significant number of adults and children in South Carolina and across the United States. Now, therefore,
Be it resolved by the Senate, the House of Representatives concurring:
That by this resolution, the members of the South Carolina General Assembly urge and request the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Insurance to jointly collect and analyze data on individual cases of obesity. This analysis should include a comprehensive study including, but not limited to, disclosure of short term and long term complication and mortality rates by volume of bariatric surgeries performed at facilities certified by the American Society for Bariatric Surgery as a Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence, compared to facilities not certified by the American Society for Bariatric Surgery, and recommendations as to the advisability, and safety, of bariatric surgery of clinically severe obesity as a cost effective alternative to long-term treatment of the condition. The departments are urged and requested to utilize private funds to complete this study and to make recommendations for obesity prevention and treatment to the General Assembly before January 16, 2011.
Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to the Director of the Department of Health and Human Services and the Director of the Department of Insurance.
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