Prevention By Promoting Healthy Living
Parents, teachers, health care professionals, and kids can encourage healthy living by eating healthy, exercising daily, and getting a wellness check up every year.
Children should receive a well-child examination annual from a pediatric health care professional, even if they don’t feel sick. A child’s blood pressure measurement reading and cholesterol should be taken at his or her annual check up.
Since 2010, all health plans purchased through the Affordable Care Act’s Healthcare Marketplace and many private health plans must cover preventive services for children aged newborn to 17, including annual Blood Pressure screenings. These services are available without charging a copayment or coinsurance, even if the yearly deductible has not been met. For more information, see HealthCare.gov’s “Preventive Health Services for Children” website.
For suggestions on how to improving children’s diet and physical activity, visit “Go, Slow, and Whoa! A Kid’s Guide to Eating Right” from Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta or “Eat, Play, Grow” from the National Institute of Health. Visit the national D.A.R.E Program website for resources and information about promoting substance free living.