EDITORIAL: Even health care reform critics will like restaurant requirements
Journalists, policy think tanks and business organizations will spend weeks, if not months, trying to figure out just what’s in the mammoth health care reform bill that some critics claim was “crammed down our throats.” But here’s one thing most of us can agree on: We can be a lot more careful about what we choose to cram down our own individual throats.
The Texas Medical Association, which opposed the health care reform bill just passed, is absolutely right. Not everything about the health care bill is bad. One thing we believe that many consumers will appreciate is a requirement that all restaurant chains with 20 or more locations list calories for regular items on menus, menu boards and drive-through signs.
That’s good news for all of us who seek to control expanding waistlines. Nutrition and health experts have lobbied for such a law for years. It’s also good news for the National Restaurant Association, which, contrary to what some might expect, actually encouraged this law on behalf of members. Whatever else restaurant association officials might think about the concept of state’s rights, one thing they know for sure: Trying to abide by the sprawling labyrinth of regulations and legislation passed by different states and various cities is absolutely confounding many restaurant chains.
Keeping up with all these conflicting laws has been a challenge. Sue Hensley of the National Restaurant Association says, however, this new federal law will supersede all others, allowing restaurant chains to abide by one set of regulations.
Lest anyone fear this law will kill off your favorite culinary sins, fear not. As the Associated Press informs us, the online journal Health Affairs said only half of the customers in poor New York City neighborhoods — where calorie counts are required — paid heed to calories listed on menus, judging from the high rates of obesity and diabetes.
Small businesses like, say, Waco favorite Dubl-R Burgers are exempt from this new law. And if that leaves you anxious and in doubt — well, take it from us. Skip the mayo.
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