The Soda Strategy for Healthier Kids

I’m not a purist. I try to be healthy, but I’ve had my share of soda addictions over the years. There was the Dr. Pepper-for-breakfast era in high school. Classic Coke in college. And anyone who sat in a conference room with me between 1995 and 2007 knows that diet Coke got me through many a long meeting. I’ve done my share to pay Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent’s salary. But honestly, I care more about children’s health and covering the cost of health care than I do about Kent’s efforts to give the world a Coke and a smile. So his Cold War era argument against President Obama’s proposal to tax soda to help pay some of the costs of health care reform, currently being considered by President Obama and Congress leaves me a bit, well, cold.

While speaking at the Rotary Club in Atlanta (home of Coca-Cola), he said, “I have never seen it work where a government tells people what to eat and what to drink. If it worked, the Soviet Union would still be around.” Choice of beverage caused the fall of the Soviet Union? That seems unlikely.
The fact is that we know children’s consumption of soda contributes to childhood obesity. And we know that the public is paying at least part of the costs of treating that childhood obesity and the diseases related to it, including cardiovascular disease and diabetes. When a public health problem becomes not just a belt-buster but a budget buster, it’s time for government to step in.
The federal government has a couple of policy options to lower children’s soft drink consumption. One strategy is public education, and that is obviously important. It can reach children directly, compete with the Mountain Dew ads on TV, and create a culture in which the behavior is less accepted. Education has been an effective part of the efforts to keep kids from smoking and using drugs. (Remember this ad?)

But the evidence seems to show that these campaigns work best in combination with attempts to make it harder to purchase the substance of choice – making them more expensive (yes, through taxes) or banning them entirely. So the second strategy government can use is to target the purse strings of the primary purchasers of sugary sodas (parents) and make it less attractive to fill their shopping carts with two-liter bottles of Yoo-hoo.
A soda tax is likely to decrease soda drinking among adults and children alike, and that can only be good for public health. But to the extent folks keep buying Coke, the tax has another benefit. Those revenues can be set aside to help pay the costs of the health problems the children and adults who continue to drink soda are likely to develop. In policy terms, that’s a win-win.
There is another criticism to the soda tax and other “sin taxes” like it. Some are concerned that such taxes are regressive – that is, that they demand more from lower income tax payers who can afford it least. One study of New Yorkers did in fact find a relationship between soda consumption and lower household income. But even if that is true nationally, soda addiction is not nearly as strong as tobacco addiction or alcohol addiction. People have choices, and for the sake of kids’ health, they need to make smart ones. Maybe a soda tax will be the push they need to make better, healthier choices for healthier children.
To weigh in on the soda tax, contact your Senator or the White House today. For more information, visit the Campaign for Commercial Free Children, or (for a different point of view) the American Beverage Association.

You Too Can Be a Wonky Mom (or Dad)!

I love public policy. And I love my family. I was passionate about the former well before the latter came along. But not surprisingly raising children has intensified my desire to improve the world through lawmaking (or law changing), especially for kids and the people who care for them.

Those who know me in real life know that this divides my energy in many ways throughout a typical day. I’ve searched for child care for my infant daughter while researching the quality of child care for families in Boston. I’ve followed the health care debate on a day that I took my son to a well visit at his pediatrician’s office (covered by excellent health insurance, natch). I’ve read about the achievement gap, while reviewing my son’s state test scores. The resources and opportunities available to my children make me keenly aware of the challenges of families who aren’t so lucky, and that drives my desire to learn more, and do more to improve the public policies that impact them every day.

I’m blessed with a great network of frolleagues who lead similar professional and personal lives. I can’t list them all here, but you know who you are, and you each inspire me every day. I will give a special shout out to my friend who recently mentioned the challenge of trying to follow health care reform for Results while losing sleep to her son’s teething.

Here’s the thing parents– even if you don’t have a policy degree and have never set foot in the halls of Congress, you too can be a Wonky Mom or a Wonky Dad! It is my greatest hope and desire that if this blog does nothing else it challenges other parents out there to recognize that the world of public policy interacts with their homes, their neighborhoods, their schools and their communities every day. And, more importantly, that they have a role to play in shaping it, not just for themselves but for all the other families out there like them.

To help you get started, here are a few issues that are already underway in Washington, and some resources to help you step up and speak up. I’m leaving health care off the list because I’ve written about that recently, but feel free to check out my earlier posts.

Student Loans for College - H.R. 3221, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009 passed the house last night. Besides setting up the Early Learning Challenge Fund for quality child care and early education, it also shifts college student loans from private financial institutions to the federal government. Proponents say that cutting out the middle man will save money for families borrowing for college. Opponents say it’s a government take over. What do you think? Let your Senator know, because that's where that bill goes next!

Child Nutrition – The federal laws that help children have access to healthy food are due to be renewed by Congress this year. According to the Food Research and Action Center, this reauthorization (for definitions of words used in Congress, go here) will include the School Breakfast and Lunch programs, Summer Food, Child and Adult Care Food (provides food in child care settings) and WIC (Women Infant and Children) programs. You can learn more and sign up for email updates at FRAC’s web site.

No Child Left Behind – This is the nickname for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, also up for renewal this year, which sets federal policy for public schools with students grades K-12. If you have kids in school, this is the source of the requirement for standardized testing (MCAS in Massachusetts) beginning in 3rd grade. As it makes its way through reauthorization, policy makers, educators, and yes, parents, should speak up about standardized testing, teacher training and qualifications, charter schools, expanded early learning, and federal funding. Our kids spend at least six hours a day in their schools – let’s make them count!

These are just a few of the family friendly issues facing legislators this year. Ready to become a Wonky Mom or Wonky Dad? Visit one of the sites below to get started (and of course it won’t hurt to follow this blog and @childfampolicy on Twitter!).

• Results is a great grassroots organizing network that will help you learn to speak up and give you the information you need to be effective. Tell Meredith I sent you – and that I hope she got some sleep last night!


• The National Women’s Law Center works on issues affecting women and girls. I especially love their Family Economic Security team!


• MomsRising makes it easy and fun with easy to understand updates and fun to use techie organizing tools!

Good luck with your good work! Let me know how it goes on your journey to Wonkdom!

House Education Bill Vote Tomorrow!

Passing this on from the National Women's Law Center, because I can't say it any better:

"Tomorrow, the House of Representatives will have the opportunity to stand up for children and families when they vote on H.R. 3221, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009. This bill includes an important new initiative that will encourage states to expand disadvantaged children’s access to high-quality early learning opportunities. Under this Early Learning Challenge Fund initiative, states that put in place the essential elements necessary to support strong early learning programs for children from zero to five will be rewarded with grants to finance their work. States that are committed to improving their early learning programs but need to do more will also receive support."

They're also blogging on this bill over at Politics K-12, so check it out, then make the call (or email, or twitter, or whatever you're using these days!)

Which reminds me - I'm on Twitter now too. Click the link on the upper right hand corner of this page to follow me. Thanks to Julie, the genius behind Writing Roads, for inspiring me!

Some answers on health care...

I know you're all trolling the news for analysis about President Obama's speech to Congress last night. I thought I'd follow up on the questions in yesterday's post, and highlight some of the answers he provided, just to save you all the time of doing the same. So here goes:

Q. Is the “public option” still on the table? Is it off the table? What is it anyway?

A. The short answer is, it's still on the table (and in some Congressional proposals) but may be more likely to take the form of an "insurance exchange." Quoting the President, "... if you lose your job or you change your job, you'll be able to get coverage. If you strike out on your own and start a small business, you'll be able to get coverage. We'll do this by creating a new insurance exchange, a marketplace where individuals and small businesses will be able to shop for health insurance at competitive prices.This exchange will take effect in four years, which will give us time to do it right. In the meantime, for those Americans who can't get insurance today because they have preexisting medical conditions, we will immediately offer low-cost coverage that will protect you against financial ruin if you become seriously ill."
"...an additional step we can take to keep insurance companies honest is by making a not-for-profit public option available in the insurance exchange....it would only be an option for those who don't have insurance. No one would be forced to choose it and it would not impact those of you who already have insurance."

Q. Is health care reform without the public option really reform at all, since theoretically one of the goals is to correct the market failure of the existing health insurance industry and make sure that everyone can have some kind of health care coverage that doesn’t break the bank?

A. I confess, that was a retorical question. Still, President Obama made it clear that the goal continues to be to provide affordable coverage to anyone who wants it.

Q. And speaking of breaking the bank, how much will health care reform cost, and where will the revenues come from to pay for it? Are there ways to increase the efficiency of the health care system so those dollars can be used to cover more people?

A. "...the plan I'm proposing will cost around $900 billion over 10 years..."
"most of these costs will be paid for with money already being spent -- but spent badly -- in the existing health care system. The plan will not add to our deficit. The middle class will realize greater security, not higher taxes. And if we are able to slow the growth of health care costs by just one-tenth of 1 percent each year -- one-tenth of 1 percent -- it will actually reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over the long term."
"...we've estimated that most of this plan can be paid for by finding ..savings within the existing health care system, a system that is currently full of waste and abuse."
"We have long known that some places... offer high-quality care at costs below average.
So the commission can help encourage the adoption of these common-sense best practices by doctors and medical professionals throughout the system -- everything from reducing hospital infection rates to encouraging better coordination between teams of doctors.
Reducing the waste and inefficiency in Medicare and Medicaid will pay for most of this plan."

Q. Finally, if I’m a voter who currently gets health care coverage through an HMO, partially paid for by my employer, how will the current reform proposals affect me and my family?

A. "...if you are among the hundreds of millions of Americans who already have health insurance through your job, or Medicare, or Medicaid, or the V.A., nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have...What this plan will do is make the insurance you have work better for you. Under this plan, it will be against the law for insurance companies to deny you coverage because of a preexisting condition."

So that's where we are, from President Obama's point of view. So far today, various members of Congress have responded by talking about co-ops as an alternative to the public option, busting on Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) for his ill-advised and downright rude heckling, for which he has since apologized, and setting out a new target date of Thanksgiving for passing a bill.
If that happens, I will indeed be thankful.

For a full transcript of President Obama's remarks provided by The Washington Post, click here.

Back to School on Health Care

Yesterday, President Obama told school children across America that, “There is no excuse for not trying” when it comes to learning. The same could be said of Congress in its current efforts to pass health care reform.

News reports are filled with accounts of the ins and outs of this attempt to overhaul our health care system, using the term “system” loosely, and the degree to which the Obama administration has learned, or even over-learned, from President Clinton’s earlier attempt at reform. President Obama has steered clear of the backroom approach the Clintons were charged with in producing their own legislation, and has asked Congress to take the lead in crafting reform. But he has clearly made some of his own missteps, mostly in the area of communication to the public about why we need health care reform, how it will affect them, and how it will be paid for. Oh yeah, and whether the public option is actually “socialism” or whether it’s more akin to the public insurance options already available through Medicaid, Medicare, the U.S. Military and the Federal Government.

I want health care reform to succeed, especially for the children and families among the individuals who make up the estimated 46 million uninsured Americans. According to Families USA, in 2007 more than 8.6 million children had no health insurance, and about 88% of those children had a parent who was employed. Children and their families need access to preventive health care, treatment for chronic conditions, and a more rational system of care than the emergency room. But the most recent polls show that the public needs some questions answered clearly before it can fully embrace health care reform that helps the people who need it most. To that end, I would like policy-makers to read the following questions, write down compelling and accurate answers, and carry those answers around on cards in their pockets a la Grover Norquist followers until real, rational health care reform passes the House and the Senate.

• Is the “public option” still on the table? Is it off the table? What is it anyway?
• Is health care reform without the public option really reform at all, since theoretically one of the goals is to correct the market failure of the existing health insurance industry and make sure that everyone can have some kind of health care coverage that doesn’t break the bank?
• And speaking of breaking the bank, how much will health care reform cost, and where will the revenues come from to pay for it? Are there ways to increase the efficiency of the health care system so those dollars can be used to cover more people?
• Finally, if I’m a voter who currently gets health care coverage through an HMO, partially paid for by my employer, how will the current reform proposals affect me and my family?

When President Obama speaks tonight, he is expected to answer some of those questions… but then Congress has to carry the ball. Yes, health care reform is big and complicated and potentially expensive. But it’s also needed. Desperately. And as the President said, there is no excuse for not trying.

For more information on federal health care reform legislation, visit the National Coalition on Health Care or Families USA.