Title: LIFE Act
Policy area: Health

Summary:
Promoting Healthier Lifelong Improvements in Food and Exercise Act of 2020 or the LIFE Act
This bill requires the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to carry out a national program to conduct and support activities to reduce the number of cases of overweight or obese individuals in the United States. The activities must include training health professionals, educating the public, and developing and demonstrating intervention strategies for use at work-sites and in community settings.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5683 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5683

   To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for a national 
     program to conduct and support activities toward the goal of 
 significantly reducing the number of cases of overweight and obesity 
                among individuals in the United States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 27, 2020

  Ms. Norton introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for a national 
     program to conduct and support activities toward the goal of 
 significantly reducing the number of cases of overweight and obesity 
                among individuals in the United States.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Promoting Healthier Lifelong 
Improvements in Food and Exercise Act of 2020'' or the ``LIFE Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) Data from the Centers for Disease Control and 
        Prevention shows that in 2015-2016 close to 40 percent of 
        adults in the United States were obese and 71.6 percent of 
        Americans were overweight or obese. Approximately 7.7 percent 
        of adults were severely obese.
            (2) Data from two National Health and Nutrition Examination 
        Surveys shows that the prevalence of obesity among adults 
        increased from 15.0 percent in 1976-1980 to 39.8 percent in 
        2015-2016.
            (3) In 2015-2016, the prevalence of obesity among youth 
        aged 2-19 was 18.5 percent and affected approximately 
        13,700,000 children and adolescents.
            (4) The percentage of children and adolescents who are 
        obese has increased since 1971-1974, when the percentage was 5 
        percent.
            (5) In 2018, only 53.3 percent of United States adults aged 
        18-64 met the 2008 Federal guidelines for aerobic activity. The 
        2008 Federal Physical Activity Guidelines for American Adults 
        recommends 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity aerobic 
        physical activity or 75 minutes a week of vigorous-intensity 
        aerobic physical activity.
            (6) The rising rates of obesity portend greater disease and 
        health conditions, including hypertension, high total 
        cholesterol, Type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, 
        gallbladder disease, osteoporosis, sleep apnea, respiratory 
        problems, and some cancers, such as endometrial, breast, and 
        colon cancer.
            (7) Many underlying factors have been linked to the 
        increase in obesity, such as increasing portion sizes, eating 
        out more often, increased consumption of sugar-sweetened 
        drinks, increasing television, computer, and electronic gaming 
        time, changing labor markets, and fear of crime, which prevents 
        outdoor exercise.
            (8) Chronic diseases account for 1,700,000, or 70 percent, 
        of all deaths in the United States each year. Although chronic 
        diseases are among the most common and costly health problems, 
        they are also among the most preventable. Adopting a healthy 
        lifestyle, such as eating nutritious foods and engaging in 
        physical activity, can prevent or control the devastating 
        effects of these diseases.
            (9) In 2008, overall medical costs related to obesity for 
        United States adults were estimated to be as high as 
        $147,000,000,000. People who were obese had medical costs that 
        were on average $1,429 higher than the cost for people of 
        normal body weight.

SEC. 3. REDUCTION IN PREVALENCE OF OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY.

    Part B of title III of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 243 
et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 317T the following 
section:

``SEC. 317U. REDUCTION IN PREVALENCE OF OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary, acting through the Director of 
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shall carry out a 
national program to conduct and support activities regarding 
individuals who are overweight or obese in order to make progress 
toward the goal of significantly reducing the number of cases of 
overweight and obesity among individuals in the United States.
    ``(b) Certain Activities.--In carrying out subsection (a), the 
Secretary shall (directly or through grants or contracts) carry out the 
following with respect to individuals who are overweight or obese:
            ``(1) Activities to train health professionals to recognize 
        that patients are overweight or obese and to recommend 
        prevention activities regarding such condition, including 
        educating patients on--
                    ``(A) the relationship between such condition and 
                cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and other health 
                conditions; and
                    ``(B) the benefits of proper nutrition and regular 
                physical activities.
            ``(2) Activities to educate the public with respect to the 
        condition of being overweight or obese, including the 
        development of a strategy for a public awareness campaign.
            ``(3) The development and demonstration of intervention 
        strategies for use at worksites and in community settings such 
        as hospitals and community health centers.
    ``(c) Authorization of Appropriations.--For the purpose of carrying 
out this section, there are authorized to be appropriated $25,000,000 
for fiscal year 2021, and such sums as may be necessary for each of 
fiscal years 2022 and 2023.''.
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