Sebelius: Health a national security issue

CHARLESTON -- Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius said Thursday that America’s health is a matter of national security and that she’s optimistic the Supreme Court will uphold the nation’s health care reform law.

During a visit to the South Carolina coast, Sebelius spoke with a black nurses group and then was to attend a conference on improving access to health care.

The nation’s health “really is an issue of national security,” she told the nurses group, adding that a healthy, productive work force “is an essential part of our prosperity.”

She told reporters later that “there’s no question in this global economy when we’re competing with nations across the globe we need all 300 million Americans to be equipped and fully participating in society. If we have a population that is handicapped by chronic disease or managing disease or absent from work, it harms not only their health by the harms the productivity of our country.”

Sebelius said that, according to the military, only about 25 percent of those who are of age to serve in the military can meet the physical requirements for service.

She said keeping people healthy means less drain on paying for health care.

“Seven out of 10 deaths are caused by chronic disease conditions and 70 cents of every health care dollar is spent treating chronic diseases,” she said. “We spend eight cents - less than a dime - keeping people healthy in the first place.”

Sebelius also said she’s optimistic the health care reform bill will be upheld by the high court, noting appeals courts have ruled both ways.

“I am optimistic it stands on solid constitutional grounds and that we will be able to get the green light and move forward,” she said.

The Supreme Court last month agreed to review the law, allotting more than five hours of arguments in March.

Republicans argue the law is unconstitutional because it requires people to buy health insurance starting in 2014 or pay a penalty. A federal appeals court in Atlanta agreed, although appeals courts in Cincinnati and Washington, D.C., upheld the law.