[69ConvertibleFirebird]

It's about time fat people paid their fair share. I'm tired of paying for someone's extremely high health care bills simply because they choose to sit on the couch all day eating ice cream and twinkies.

[ECM]

Amen, brother :)

[Consort]

[jodorowsky]

Probably, a better solution would be a less communist health care system.

[A Ruckus of Dogs]

That could easily be taken care of. The insurance companies should charge the fatsos higher premiums, just like they do for smokers.

[Psycho_Bunny]

The most obvious question about this article is, of course, never asked: Why are the States funding healthcare to the point that they feel compelled to modify the day to day choices of their citizens?

[rodeocowboy]

This is what happens when states provide/participate in MedicAid/welfare-medical programs. So many people are on MedicAid now, that we pretty much have unofficial, socialized medicine.

Men's Health Magazine has a report in this month's issue in favor of states and localities adding a sin tax to fast food and possibly suing McDonalds. Some lawyers are already lobbying localities to sue.

[cracker]

Too true.

Make the fatties pay. Insurers charge based on age, sex, smoking - fatties should be no different.

[Gaston]

It's about time fat people paid their fair share. I'm tired of paying for someone's extremely high health care bills simply because they choose to sit on the couch all day eating ice cream and twinkies.

Are you serious?????? Don't let your prejudices against fat people cloud your thinking into letting the left unleash it's fat police.

[discostu]

Before taking anybody's word that America is getting fatter go here:
http://nhlbisupport.com/bmi/

This is the tool now used to define people as obese or not. Notice it's a flat comparison of height and weight. No longer do you take into account things like age, gender, skeletal frame type, muscle mass or body fat % (which is truly the only measurement that counts for determining if your obese). The reason our obese nubmers are sky rocketing is that they've fudged the definition to the point where anyone waying more than X (regardless of how they got there, even if they're bulging muscles) is obese. Bad science inspired bad laws.

[Tourist Guy]

Oh goodie! More gubmint "Task Forces." Yippie, I'm so relieved now they can solve yet another problem.

*sigh*

[69ConvertibleFirebird]

Obesity is "a major problem for the upcoming generation. It's going to be a major cause of death and it may be even more important than tobacco,"

And to think, Twinkies have NOT been labeled DANGEROUS and a HAZARD TO YOUR HEALTH for the last many decades, the way tobacco has. Yes, sadly, the govt. and it's lawyers will have a field day with this one. Some day soon all foods except Tofu will be labeled a health hazard... Then, like cigarettes, lawsuits will still fly and multi-million dollar awards will be made to people who become fat because they really didn't think that the warnings were true.

Are Twinkies laced with addictive additives such as Nicotene (sp?)? Hmmmmm....

[rainbowtvp]

I think what they are seeing are the results of failed educational "nutrition" programs.

Our schools have been selling junk food to students for years. When I was in school, I used to buy a Nutty Buddy and a coke for lunch every day... I had to work with a school lunch program with a head start I was working in. They got the lunches the local elem school ate- I was appalled.

And the "phys ed" courses for the most part teach children to hate physical activity.

Add to that the fact that most public school students graduate with such an insufficient and even twisted science education and really have no idea how the body works...

It's a recipe for obesity.

Hey- and did ya know- "overweight" people who get regular exercise are as healthy as people who are their "proper" weight. We are way too obesessed with the numbers in this country, when the actions are what is important- healthy eating and regualr exercise.

Tara P

[Husker24]

This is just another excuse to put a tax on vending machines or junk food......taxtaxtaxtaxtaxtaxta xtaxtaxtaxtaxtaxtaxtaxtaxtaxta xtaxtaxtaxtaxtaxtaxtaxtaxtaxta xtaxtaxtaxtaxtaxtaxtaxtaxtaxta xtaxtax.

[mn_b_one]

Ask the Somalians or others from the 3rd world countries. They have some great dieting tips. Never see a fat one.

[Fast 1975]

States reeling from obesity-related health-care costs are looking to cut spending by addressing the source of the problem - their overweight residents.

Actually, if obesity reduces life expectancy, they are saving health-care costs.

[brat]

So, big business rules again. What about the pursuit of happiness? What about the guys right to do anything he dam well pleases? Oh..BB doesn't want a loss.

[Redcloak]

How about taxing people not on their income, but rather on their weight? Wouldn't that be fair? And to give an incentive to lose weight, there should be a "capital gains" tax for every pound over a certain limit. (That limit is determined as a percentage of ideal weight for your height.) After all, when you want to put a stop to something, shouldn't you tax it?

[GalvestonGal.com]

IMHO a big reason so many children are overweight is that too many children come home to an empty house and are told not to go outside until an adult comes home. They eat microwave snacks and play on the computer or watch TV.

When I was growing up and when my own children were elementary age - kids played outside in the neighborhood until it got dark and then it was supper time. We ate dinner, watched a little tv, did homework, read, and went to sleep.

Simple enough then. Now we're reaping the consequences of letting dopehead perverts prowl the streets. I'm so nervous from 911, the state of my stocks, and the complexity of staying in compliance with all the rules, that I eat ice cream and read mystery novels. I take that back - first I eat a big dinner, then I smoke and post on FreeRepublic, then I eat ice cream and read mystery novels.