Filed at 5:07 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Are Iowans heftier than Californians? Does Kansas have more couch potatoes than Oklahoma? Look out: This summer, the government will rank how states fare on some key measures of health.

It's part of an effort to motivate Americans to prevent disease through better living, the nation's health secretary said Tuesday.

Diabetes, obesity and smoking together kill 1 million Americans annually, and cost the economy about $270 billion -- more than it costs to run Medicare for an entire year, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said.

``What a waste,'' he said. ``It's time to do something about it.''

So HHS is pushing better habits -- a little daily exercise, eating more fruits and vegetables, avoiding tobacco. To help, it plans this summer to issue a state-by-state accounting of how residents fare on such health indicators.

``This annual report card will shine the spotlight on where we need to improve,'' Thompson said in a speech to the National Press Club.

Other plans include a $20 million pilot project for five communities to develop ways to fight such disorders as diabetes and obesity. The program will be based on a 1998 ``Fight the Fat'' weight-loss challenge in Dyersville, Iowa, where 383 people lost a total of nearly 4,000 pounds over 10 weeks.