Posted on 08/21/2008 5:26:15 PM PDT by mngran2
Next year, the state will add a $25 insurance fee for being overweight
Alabama, pushed to third in national obesity rankings by deep-fried Southern favorites, is cracking down on state workers who are too fat.
The state has given its 37,527 employees a year to start getting fit — or they’ll pay $25 a month for insurance that otherwise is free.
Alabama will be the first state to charge overweight state workers who don’t work on slimming down, while a handful of other states reward employees who adopt healthy behaviors.
Alabama already charges workers who smoke — and has seen some success in getting them to quit — but now has turned its attention to a problem that plagues many in the Deep South: obesity.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Is this based on weight alone?
If a guy has a 32” waist and a 46” chest, is he considered obese?
Post your picture, please. I need to be certain you aren’t a self-hating obese person.
How about alcoholics?
Drug users?
People who live in violent neighborhoods?
Nope - can't go after any liberal groups - no matter what their health risks.
Don’t worry, the government will look up some statistical chart and tell whether they think you’re too fat.
The nanny state in all its glory.
Oh. And post your mothers picture too. Lots of normally sized people get a complex when Mother is sagging here and there.
And the kids, please.
What’s the surcharge for those that ride those inherently dangerous motorcycles? Skydivers? How about them homersexials that explore all manner of bizarre foofoo? Those HIV meds are expensive. Sheesh.
Liberalism is killing this country, far faster than fat people.
Sad to say, sexually active homosexual men are prone to a whole host of diseases, not just HIV. If we’re going to start grouping people by risk to health, homosexual men should be at or near the top of the list.
Now, will homosexual men ever be singled out as such? Of course not, wouldn’t be politically correct. Why is it politically correct to pick out heavy people for this?
While excess weight is a health concern, why is it being picked on before some others, such as homosexuality or drug use, or drinking?
Homosexuals,drug abusers,smokers,fatties and others should pay more....just as a skydiver,smokers and people who have certain medical conditions pay more for life insurance.
First they came for the smokers. Then they came for the lardasses. Then they came for the...
BMI measurements (based solely on weight/height) are poor indicators of health. BMI doesn't take into consideration fat/muscle, etc.
A recent study suggested that about half of overweight people and nearly a third of obese people have normal blood pressure and cholesterol levels, while about a quarter of people considered to be normal weight suffer from the ills associated with obesity.
The assumption is that thinner people must be healthy and must engage in healthier habits. After all, they're thin! It is impossible to tell from someone's BMI alone whether people are healthy or not, what they eat, how much they exercise, etc.
I'm OK until they start coming after dumbies
You and me both.
I disagree....
if you smoke or are overwieght you pay more for life insurance...
if you are a lousy driver you pay more for auto insurance...
if you live near an ocean you pay more for home insurance...
why shouldn’t obese people, smokers and those who have habits which can lead to health problems but ones WHICH THEY CAN CONTROL not pay more for health insurance???
No, just a simply way to save the tax payer some money.
True, but the BMI is a simple number to get. And according to the article someone who is 5.6 and weighs 220 has a BMI of 30. So a BMI of 35 is way up there.
I’m glad fat assed, do nothing Alabama government employees will have to pay to price of this edict.
ROFL.
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