New health initiatives put spotlight on prevention

Congress, with little fanfare, has approved a set of wide-ranging public initiatives to prevent disease and encourage healthy behavior, the New York Times reports. The initiatives provide a big dose of prevention in an effort to counter the powerful forces that encourage people to engage in sedentary lifestyles, to smoke, and to eat fatty, high-calorie foods. The emphasis on disease prevention reflects a sea change in federal health programs and policy, said Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana and chairman of the Finance Committee.