Taxpayers saddled with obesity costs

Detroit News ^ | 1/22/04 | Mark Niesse

[jimkress]

Taxpayers foot the doctor

[PersonalLiberties]

I am waiting for Coke and McDonalds to hire their own big guns and fire back.

[metesky]

A related article from the Atlanta Journal-Constipation.

The drumbeat is getting louder. Hold on to your wallets!

[Publius6961]

I DEMAND NON-FAT RESTAURANTS!

customers, that is... starting with Rob (jabba the hutt) Reiner

[Publius6961]

say NO to payments to (or for) people who incur obesity related medical costs. Viola'! Problem solved!

Hell no!

Tax the suckers! For their own good, of course.

[FITZ]

Seems obvious to me that the answer is to stop the medicare and medicade programs.

Also the food stamp program and all the other government food giveaways. The food stamp program could be cut in half and no junk food purchases should be allowed. End the government school lunch programs.

[PersonalLiberties]

I was waiting for someone to say that about food stamps

[FITZ]

Someone did before me though --- post 27.

Non-working people don't need junk food, they lay around watching television all day --- working people have a chance to burn off the extra calories.

[normy]

Great article but I cant believe the stat does not distinguish between men and women. A man that is 5'11" and 215 and a woman 5'11" 215 are completely different and a women that big would be overweight unless she was a body builder.

I am 5'11" 215 and my wife is 5'11" 180(35lb difference) and she still is working at getting down to 160. She was only 140 in college.

[raybbr]

You might no exptect the taxpayer to pay for it but we will in many ways. And, there are millions of fat people that see no reason why they should have special accomodation bestowed on them at other's expense. The lack of perspective on this issue is frightening. We are becoming a nation of obese people - it has happend gradually - and no one seems to want to face the ramifications this will have on the future of our society. It's "I'm fat and happy; my kids are fat and happy, leave us alone. (except when we need someone to do something for us that we can't cause we're too fat)".

[okiedust]

Funny that the argument about what the government pays for doesn't seem to obtain in regards to the vast public education system. In which children raised in homes without books, and absentee, distracted and addled parents require more expensive intervention when so much of the kids problems can be traced to parental "lifestyle issues." This stupid argument goes everywhere and nowhere.

regards

[normy]

How about instead of taxing fatty food to raise revenue we cut out corruption and governmant and force Congress to recieve SS not their own private retirement plan. That would also save a sh*t load of money.

By the way why couldn't you have been mr.purple or a cooler name?

[from occupied ga]

Also the food stamp program and all the other government food giveaways.

YES!! I always like it when I get behind the food stampers at the gorcery store. Most of them are in a big enough hurry enough to separate their beer and pet food and other non-food stamp items from their steaks, frozen pizza, TV dinners etc. I think a big flashing red sign that says "WELFARE PARASITE" should flash above the register whenever anyone pays with food stamps.

[mr.pink]

By the way why couldn't you have been mr.purple or a cooler name?

LOL....I wanted to be mr. black, but "Joe" said a guy on another job already had it. ;o)

[Darnright]

"The food stamp program could be cut in half and no junk food purchases should be allowed."

Now, there's a workable solution, which would go a long way to solving the problem. I've never understood why people on food stamps could load up their carts with potato chips, cookies, cheetos and other assorted garbage (and the ever-present loaf of white bread), with nary a leaf of green vegetable in sight. This is not necessarily low cost food, so you can't say the above type of nutrient-free trash is all they can afford.

No wonder America is so fat.

[Born Conservative]

these folks are planting the seeds for taxing fast-food and meat as they are tobacco.

EXACTLY!!!

[Judith Anne]

I agree, it's immoral to use tax money for lifestyle choices, whether it's mountain climbing rescues, or obesity, or HIV treatment for homosexuals.

There are certain things you "can't" do, though, according to current thinking. You "can't" refuse to rescue a trapped mountain-climber--remember the guy who chewed off his hand? You "can't" chastise a fat person for their diabetes or heart disease. You "can't" refuse to treat a homosexual (or even inquire as to his orientation) for HIV.

But you CAN ridicule a smoker in public, tax them to the max, destroy the companies that make cigarettes, destroy businesses that allow smokers, and use the money for whatever social engineering programs you want.

HIV, obesity, heart disease, and mountain climbing rescues are all medically very expensive illnesses, largely determined by lifestyle choices. But they're protected...

I smoke 4-5 cigarettes a day, sometimes only one or two...a very obese co-worker who is a former smoker (nurse) felt free to ridicule me for it in front of doctors, other nurses, and patients a few days ago. I replied by saying in a clear voice--"If it means I'll weigh what YOU weigh, I'll NEVER quit." One of the doctors laughed...she was upset that I even replied to her at all. I guess she wanted me to slink away in shame or something.

[FITZ]

I know --- around here it's the welfare types you see barely able to waddle into the grocery store, load up a cart or two with all kinds of junk food and pay with their food stamp card. People who work can afford a few extra calories because they burn them off and even if they don't --- it's their money and their health care costs. People who don't work don't need many calories and should be limited to beans and rice and a few other foods.

[Bronco_Buster_FweetHyagh]

The problem is not obesity. The problem is that there are any government benefits to begin with.

[normy]

Glad you caught that!

[Orangedog]

said Eric Finkelstein, a health economist with RTI International who conducted the study. “That provides justification for governments to find cost-effective strategies to reduce the burdens of obesity.”

Translation: We have a "compelling interest," which is all the courts need to ignore Constitutional restrictions on government power.

Of course the government's way of dealing with this is to steal more from the tax payers instead of just not paying for obese care.