Yes, I'm a yuppie snob; but you, my fellow Americans, are absolutely disgusting.

Fast food, Chilli's, Applebees, Hooters, pizza with cheese baked into the crust - they're pedaling a drug that plugs directly into our brains that evolved during lean millions of years of hunting and gathering to reward us for getting our hands on fat and sugar. And apparently we're lining up around the block for our fix.

Go to the airport, the mall, or a sporting event and look around. When did morbid obesity become so normal? On TV, the actors are skinny but anywhere that they show real people all you see are fat slobs.

So, if I'm going to be asked to pay for your insulin, heart bypasses, and the extra jet fuel required to haul your fat butt around, then the least you can do is pay a few cents more for your tub of soda and sausage McGriddle to offset the cost.

Actually pretty much by definition your morbidly obese fellow citizens are going to subsidize your healthy, slow, EXPENSIVE death at the age of 80. The morbidly obese die well before the truly expensive care kicks in for all of the "healthy" people at age 70,80, and 90.

Great post:

The answer is NOT to replace sugar with chemical sweeteners etc. It's to eat less and exercise. It's really quite simple.

The extra money should be earmarked to offset the costs of obesity that are passed on to everyone, as you say.

It is unfortunate that the article continuously refers to a "fat" tax. It's a consumption tax, not a fat tax.

BIMBACH:

So, if I'm going to be asked to pay for your insulin, heart bypasses, and the extra jet fuel required to haul your fat butt around, then the least you can do is pay a few cents more for your tub of soda and sausage McGriddle to offset the cost.

Of course, we know the money collected from this tax will be used to offset public liability for health problems. The government never, ever changes their mind about what the money is for once they get it.

bin...your post is nonsense.

The expensive care kicks in 6 months before you die, regardless of whether you are 60, 70 or 80. It just happens earlier for the obese. Not only that but the obese will be getting cardiac stents, bypass surgery, expensive heart meds, diabetes meds, joint replacements, CPAP machines for their sleep apnea blah, blah, blah. The chronic meds could well be taken for 20 to 30 years...those years just come way earlier than for healthy people.

BIMBACH:

Yes, I'm a yuppie snob; but you, my fellow Americans, are absolutely disgusting.

Fast food, Chilli's, Applebees, Hooters, pizza with cheese baked into the crust - they're pedaling a drug

Personally, I'm for an illiteracy and malice tax - pry out your wallet, there, Bim old thing.

And often cut into their earning years, putting them on SSD well before age 65.

I know there are studies about smoking deaths resulting in a net savings for society, but I don't know if that included loss of wage years, and I'm unaware of similar studies on obesity.

Well, we're good at keeping people alive -- it's how healthcare currently makes all their money... by treating the symptoms, not treating the actual root of the problem. The root of our healthcare problem is America's poor diet. They're making money by keeping us alive and returning to the doctor. They don't want us to become healthy because there too much of a money-making industry on keeping us fat and trapped in a doctor's office. Want to truly fix healthcare? Stop eating so much crap.

Excuse my spelling errors, I was typing quickly. Really good debate point.

seed_drill2, I believe this is the study to which thebin was referring, I may be wrong:

<link>

BLZbub:

What the hell is the point of your post? Are you suggesting some conspiracy theory involving the medico-gluco industrial complex? Who is "they"?

The last sentence in your post is the only one that makes sense. The individual has to eat less crap, pure and simple. Try being a physician and telling a patient to eat less and exercise. An exercise in futility let me tell you.

live and breathe:

As you saw, this is a Dutch study, which didn't take into account the productivity of the given individuals. Any meaningful cost analysis would have to account for what the person puts into the system compared to what they take out. I really doubt the conclusion would remain the same if they did that.

Clearly the Dutch can't do research! lol I haven't seen any research on obesity, but there is pretty clear, counterintuitive evidence that smoking cessation RAISES healthcare costs. I suspect obesity would be the same. The comment about an individual's lost or gained productivity pisses me off. You, my friend are a true central planner in the Maosian sense. Your argument appears to be this: while forcing me to stop eating twinkies may cost society more in direct costs, I will be a more productive worker-bee. Therefore, it is best for society to force me to eat whatever bland, nutritious food the government deems fit because I will make more stuff that the central planners want. And you guys get upset when people point and scream socialism.... I just don't get it.

neoliberal:

You, my friend, are terrible at reading comprehension.

I didn't raise the cost issue. It was argued on this thread that being obese saves the healthcare system money in the long run because the obese die earlier. That is certainly a delightful way of looking at things. I simply pointed out that there are other factors involved. If you visit the link to the study you will see they concede my point. They don't take into account all the variables one would need to to really understand this issue fully; that is to truly understand whether obesity is a drain on society or not. Seems pretty bloody reasonable to me to ask this question.

The point of pointing out that it is a Dutch study is first to recognize that healthcare delivery in Holland is not necessarily a good model for the US. Secondly, the study authors concede that they did not "grade" obesity - they simply looked at all obese people as one group. Ever been to Holland? I would guess the average BMI in Holland is quite different from that in the US. This information does not necessarily correlate with the issue in this country.