Fatties are bankrupting America

[iGas]

Alabama drops to fourth most obese state in new CDC analysis (Video) (Video)

Obesity is damaging your health, and it is a financial burden.

 

[PliotronX]

I love some jolly fat people just the way they are but could not live like that.. sweating just sitting around. My body gets angry if I don't work out every day.

BUT I still don't agree with influencing behavior through taxation or barring of french fries, soda, Big Macs, etc..

 

[Rumpltzer]

The eyebrows are a little bothersome. The orange-y skin tone is not great, and she talks WAY too much... but, yeah, I'd hit that.

 

[Rumpltzer]

Also, I don't like how old people are living too long and costing me money in healthcare costs.

If we could just off 1% of the old people, the US would save $4.6B per year in related healthcare costs. If we set up a Hunger Games sort of competition for the geriatric, we could further subsidize the cost of the remaining old folks from advertisement proceeds.

Bonus: knowing that you might be in a Hunger Games competition when you get old will motivate you not to be a fatty as you roll up to your death years.


Things will be better when I'm in charge.

 

[KeithP]

Obesity is damaging your health, and it is a financial burden.

The cost of treating obesity related disease in 2011 was ten percent of all the money spent on health care.

Doesn't sound like a huge (see what I did there?) percentage to me.

The biggest problem with obesity is that the government wants to use it as an excuse for more taxes and more bureaucratic programs rather than just holding the individuals responsible for their unhealthy lifestyles.

- KeithP

 

[CottonRabbit]

Doesn't sound like a huge (see what I did there?) percentage to me.

It's hard to estimate, but probably closer to 20%. Diabetes, almost always obesity related, alone is estimated to take up 10% of healthcare costs. And it is a lot compared to the rest of the world.

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity.../snapshot-of-obesity-related-costs/index.html

 

[OverVolt]

I actually think people are obese because the economy is stressing them out. Natural response to potential crisis, food shortage?

 

[OCGuy]

Yes, yes they are. Strange how the poor have the most energy retained.

 

[OverVolt]

Yes, yes they are. Strange how the poor have the most energy retained.

lol

 

[tcsenter]

Yes, yes they are. Strange how the poor have the most energy retained.

Well you know the saying goes, everyone in the third or developing world wants to see this country they keep hearing about, where the "impoverished" are fat, own televisions, and drive cars.

 

[rchiu]

Tax fattening food to subsidize gyms..problem solved.

 

[RbSX]

Was not listening to video - was too busy thinking about the nasty nasty things I'd do to the girl.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Was not listening to video - was too busy thinking about the nasty nasty things I'd do to the girl.

Really? She's a 6.5 at best. Or do you limit your perverse sexual fantasies to those you see as less worthy, so that you may have only thoughts of pure love for those that are truly beautiful?

 

[11thHour]

money spent on fattage goes into economy, called sag down economics

 

[MrColin]

Open govt. subsidized liposuction clinics, make biodiesel fuel with the fat. double win! America's ticket to energy independence.

 

[Doppel]

fatties gonna fat

 

[Xyclone]

I won't tell a fat person how to live their life, but sometimes they don't realize they really are what we eat. We all know how bad eating unhealthy can be physically, but what I mean is this:

I personally find that my diet has a large impact on my mood and stress levels. For me, cutting out sugar and simple carbohydrates (bread, pasta, potatoes, fruit) has drastically improved those.

We really "are what we eat," not in the vegan nonsensical application of the phrase, but more that our neurotransmitters need the building blocks obtained from healthy foods to replenish properly. Without proper protein, good fats, and complex carbs, we have serious chemical imbalances, and are making pre-existing NT imbalances from anxiety/depression/add much worse, or even causing new imbalances and new mental health disorders.

If we eat like crap, we will feel like crap. If we eat heavy, fried foods, we will feel foggy and lethargic from the bad fats. If we eat lots of sugar, then we will feel full of crappy, unfocused energy that causes anxiety and depression when it wears off after 30 minutes.

 

[AdamK47]

According to BMI, I've gone from normal weight to being slightly overweight. In reality I've lost some fat and gained lean body mass. People put too much faith in the overly simplified BMI calculations.

 

[techs]

Obesity is a national problem that, imo, has reached proportions where as a country we need to deal with it. Yet, you won't hear a word about during an election. It's the rare "soda ban" as the skeptics called it when Mayor Bloomberg suggested it that makes it to the news.

I have read that if the obesity rate was still what it was only 30 years ago Medicare wouldn't have a problem for 60-70 years and Medicaid funding wouldn't be a problem.

Education is definitley needed. However, I don't think that's going to make a big dent in the problem. So, as matter of national security I would support using the tax laws to attempt to cut down on obesity. Using the education/taxation model has seriously cut down on smoking.

 

[Pr0d1gy]

Obesity is the new hot topic in healthcare costs because it is something you can easily single out. Oh look at that fatty, he's costing me money. The problem with this is it is totally untrue.

I just went to my Doctor a few days ago for my check-up. I am about 6'3-6'5 (they didn't bother measuring, but when I tell people I am 6'3 they say I'm actually taller, so whatever) and I weighed 348 pounds. I did a lot of powerlifting when I was younger for football & such so it isn't all flab, but nobody would look at me and call me skinny or "ideal" weight.

So at almost 40 years old what did my fatty fatness cause me and cost you? A little high blood pressure and slightly elevated cholestorol (not enough for Doc to even recommend medicine). Now, my dad isn't overweight at all and has high blood pressure so that is hereditary on my end.

So I just cost you nothing. Get over yourselves. Honestly.

We should tax people for being stupid, not for being fat. We'd never run out of money and the defecit would permanently disappear.

 

[K1052]

Obesity is the new hot topic in healthcare costs because it is something you can easily single out. Oh look at that fatty, he's costing me money. The problem with this is it is totally untrue.

I just went to my Doctor a few days ago for my check-up. I am about 6'3-6'5 (they didn't bother measuring, but when I tell people I am 6'3 they say I'm actually taller, so whatever) and I weighed 348 pounds. I did a lot of powerlifting when I was younger for football & such so it isn't all flab, but nobody would look at me and call me skinny or "ideal" weight.

So at almost 40 years old what did my fatty fatness cause me and cost you? A little high blood pressure and slightly elevated cholestorol (not enough for Doc to even recommend medicine). Now, my dad isn't overweight at all and has high blood pressure so that is hereditary on my end.

So I just cost you nothing. Get over yourselves. Honestly.

We should tax people for being stupid, not for being fat. We'd never run out of money and the defecit would permanently disappear.

The statistics would argue with your personal sample of one.

Most of the obese out there aren't tall, ex-football player powerlifters.

 

[techs]

Obesity is the new hot topic in healthcare costs because it is something you can easily single out. Oh look at that fatty, he's costing me money. The problem with this is it is totally untrue.

I just went to my Doctor a few days ago for my check-up. I am about 6'3-6'5 (they didn't bother measuring, but when I tell people I am 6'3 they say I'm actually taller, so whatever) and I weighed 348 pounds. I did a lot of powerlifting when I was younger for football & such so it isn't all flab, but nobody would look at me and call me skinny or "ideal" weight.

So at almost 40 years old what did my fatty fatness cause me and cost you? A little high blood pressure and slightly elevated cholestorol (not enough for Doc to even recommend medicine). Now, my dad isn't overweight at all and has high blood pressure so that is hereditary on my end.

So I just cost you nothing. Get over yourselves. Honestly.

We should tax people for being stupid, not for being fat. We'd never run out of money and the defecit would permanently disappear.

That is completely fallacious thinking. Many people who smoke live to be 90 yet it doesn't mean that smoking will cause health problems for a far larger number of people.

I can give you another example. Me. I am 6-1 and was 20-25 pounds overweight for 20 years. Still at age 50 I got back into exercise and was doing about 3.5 half miles a day on my treadmill for 7 years, had slightly high blood pressure, but otherwise was completely healthy. Right up until my heart attack a few months ago.

While there are certainly some genetic factors involved there is as absolute a proof possible that obesity leads to health problems. Its not just the statistics but actual evidence on autopsies that show that obesity causes changes to the body. There was a long term study in fact of a town whose name I can't remember where they tracked people for 30 years. When children died of accidents they did autopsies and it showed that children who were overweight showed signs of corornary artery disease as young as 12. In fact coronary artery disease was so rare on autopsies of children over 30 years ago that pathologists might never see it in a child there whole career yet now it is routinely seen.

So, basically, more power to you. But I am going to accept the conclusions of thousands of doctors, actual results of medical tests and statistics.

 

[Rakewell]

money spent on fattage goes into economy, called sag down economics

No, it doesn't.

The obese require more healthcare, and lap band procedures (currently covered by HMOs and PPOs) are driving up our premiums.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/26305-average-cost-lap-band-surgery/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickung...ricans-more-in-healthcare-costs-than-smoking/

The high cost of being significantly overweight manifests in a variety of ways, ranging from the increased insurance premiums we all pay to subsidize the added medical charges incurred by the obese to the surprisingly dramatic impact our collective pounds has on energy costs.

Higher premiums = less spending.

Plus, Medicare covers lap band. Higher taxes and greater deficit.

 

[techs]

money spent on fattage goes into economy, called sag down economics

No, it doesn't.

The obese require more healthcare, and lap band procedures (currently covered by HMOs and PPOs) are driving up our premiums.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/26305-average-cost-lap-band-surgery/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickung...ricans-more-in-healthcare-costs-than-smoking/



Higher premiums = less spending.

Plus, Medicare covers lap band. Higher taxes and greater deficit.

I think you missed the sarcasm. Or at least I hope it was sarcasm.

 

[Fausto]

The statistics would argue with your personal sample of one.

Most of the obese out there aren't tall, ex-football player powerlifters.

Yep. One statistical anomaly does not even remotely offset the impact obesity has on the economy.