Governor Snyder Wants Michigan to Become Healthier State

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) - Gov. Rick Snyder included himself Wednesday when he laid out goals to make Michigan a healthier state by getting more people into wellness programs, setting up an exchange where citizens can buy health insurance and dealing with residents' expanding waistlines.

Sherry Margolis interviews Governor Snyder to learn more about his plan>>

During his special message to the Legislature on health and wellness delivered at the Heart of the City Health Center in Grand Rapids, the Republican governor announced he weighed 194 pounds after stepping on a scale. He also disclosed his body mass index -- or BMI, which uses height and weight to estimate body fat -- is 26.8, putting him in the overweight category.

Click here to read the governor's special message in its entirety.

"I've got a few pounds to lose, folks," the 5'11" governor told dozens of health care advocates gathered at the newly opened clinic.

With a goal of losing 10 pounds by the end of the year, Snyder quipped to reporters that there would be plenty of peer pressure since he plans to post his weight, BMI, blood pressure and cholesterol and blood sugar counts on a state government website where everyone can see how he's doing.

Dealing with Michigan's obesity problem -- it ranks 8th nationally among the fattest states -- is a priority for Snyder, who said flatly, "We're not healthy."

He wants to give children better access to healthier foods and exercise, and track pediatric obesity by asking doctors to add the BMI measurements of patients under 18 to a state registry.

Click here for BMI calculators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

That emphasis won wide praise from doctors, insurers and consumers.

"Michigan ranks above the national average, with a full 11 percent of our state's children considered overweight," Michigan State Medical Society President Steven Newman said in a statement. "That's not good news for Michigan, and it's even worse news for our kids. ... The governor's focus on nutrition and fitness is a great first step in a better direction."

The governor also wants to get a lot more veterans enrolled in health care offered by the Veterans Administration and outlaw smoking on state beaches. He said it's important to ensure that young pregnant women get prenatal care and that he'll try to expand the state's Health Kids Dental program to more children. Currently only a third of Medicaid-eligible children are covered by the program, and few in the state's largest cities.

One goal that might run into opposition is requiring insurers to cover treatments for autism. One of Lt. Gov. Brian Calley's children suffers from autism, but his efforts to push through legislation requiring the coverage have failed in the Senate. Snyder said "it's time" for Michigan to join the 27 states that require insurers to cover the disorder, brushing aside criticism from business groups that it's a costly mandate they can't afford.

Even as he was laying out ways for the state to better serve residents' health care needs, Snyder called on individuals to take more responsibility for their own health and wellness through what he referred to as the Michigan 4X4 plan. Under the plan, everyone should maintain a healthy diet, engage in regular exercise, get an annual physical exam and avoid all tobacco use, and must have regular checks of their body mass index, blood pressure, cholesterol level and blood sugar level measurements.

As with other initiatives the governor has introduced this year on education and government services, the Snyder administration has created a health dashboard to measure statewide progress on reaching his goals. He urged local communities to identify their own local health priorities, find ways to address them and evaluate their success.

He praised the Marquette community for increasing physical activity by making walking and biking more accessible, planting community gardens, adding farmers markets and developing workplace wellness policies. And he said the state will draw on experts from all communities when it holds an obesity summit in Lansing on Sept. 21 and an infant mortality summit in Ypsilanti on Oct. 17.

Although Republican Attorney General Bill Schuette has joined more than a dozen other attorneys general in a lawsuit challenging federal health care changes, Snyder said he wants the GOP-controlled Legislature to begin implementing requirements in the federal law this fall.

That includes passing legislation setting up Michigan's version of a health insurance exchange called the MI Health Marketplace. Snyder wants to give a nonprofit company the authority to set up the exchange, and warned the federal government will step in with its own plan if Michigan doesn't have plans for an exchange in place by January 2013. More than half a million consumers are expected to purchase a policy through the exchange once its running in 2014.

Snyder urged lawmakers to pass the necessary legislation by Thanksgiving