Employers are just beginning to realize how much obesity is costing them in both medical and productivity terms. They are stuck between the ingrained but unfair stigma that obesity is the employee’s fault and the science-based reality that obesity is a disease with new and evolving, effective treatments that come at a cost.
The obesity rate in the US is 40.3% and it is highest among working age adults. Obesity leads to over 200 co-morbidities, giving it a causal connection to expensive health plan cost drivers such as type 2 diabetes, cancer, heart disease and stroke. Unfortunately, obesity remains perhaps the only chronic disease not widely covered by major health plans.
Meet the Presenters
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George Huntley
George Huntley is a founding member of the Diabetes Leadership Council (501c3) and currently serves as CEO of both the DLC and its affiliate, the Diabetes Patient Advocacy Coalition (501c4). He has been living with type 1 diabetes since 1983 and has 3 other family members also living with T1D. A passionate advocate for people with diabetes, George is a past National Chair of the Board of the American Diabetes Association and currently serves as Treasurer of Children With Diabetes.
George is also a former CPA and spent his business career as CFO of Theoris Group, Inc., United Pentek, Inc. and MicroProse Games, Inc. In his corporate roles, he was the plan administrator of self-insured, employer-based health plans for over 25 years where he learned firsthand the impact of chronic disease management on his company’s bottom line and the importance of strategic health plan design decisions to manage cost, reduce overall risk and improve health outcomes. He is a highly rated and frequent speaker on the topic of health plan design and drug pricing.
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Dr. Eden Miller, DO
Dr. Eden Miller, an Osteopathic board-certified Family Practitioner, received her medical degree from Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1997. She completed her residency in Family Practice at East Moreland Hospital in Portland, Oregon. Recently completing her certification in Obesity management, she is founder of Diabetes Nation, a nonprofit, and CEO of Diabetes and Obesity Care LLC where she practices with her husband, Dr. Kevin Miller.
Dr. Miller gained a special interest in diabetes after contracting type-1 while in medical school, which led to extending her practice into diabetes care. Dr. Miller has given 1250+ lectures to health care providers and patients on Diabetes Management, CGM Technology, Insulin Pump Therapy, Obesity and Metabolism intervention, Clinical Research, and Healthcare Policy.
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Dr. Mary Himmelstein, PhD
Dr. Mary Himmelstein graduated from Rutgers, New Brunswick in 2016 with a PhD in social-health psychology followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health. She joined the faculty at Kent State in 2019. Prior to her graduate studies she worked as a lab manager for the Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman on wellbeing and provided support for his book Thinking Fast and Slow.
Dr. Himmelstein also worked as a data analyst for the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study at Princeton. Dr. Himmelstein’s current work focuses on weight stigma through an intersectional lens. She explores how individuals with multiple marginalized identities experience weight stigma as well as other forms of prejudice and discrimination. In turn she examines how stigma influences health behavior related to cardioembolic disease, stress, and interactions with the healthcare system.
SHRM certification has approved this webinar for 1 PDC toward SHRM-CP or SHRM-SCP recertification. A program code will be provided at the end of the webinar.