Obesity Tops Smoking in Health Spending – From Risk & Insurance – My Input
I always knew the obese were more costly than plain old smokers just from observation and work habits, and from Risk & Insurance June 2012 p. 6, we have this tidbit from the “News and Notes” section:
Obesity in America is now adding an astounding $190 billion to the annual national health care price tag, exceeding smoking as public enemy No. 1 when it comes to cost. Obese men rack up an additional $1,152 a year in medical spending, especially for hospitalization and prescription drugs, John Cawley and Chad Meyerhoefer of LeHigh University reported in the Journal of Health Economics (Ed: who knew there was such a publication). Obese women account for an extra $3,613 a year. The researchers found even higher costs among the uninsured: annual medical spending for an obese person was $3,271 compared with $512 for the nonobese.
I, being singled out for being a smoker, and being charged more by insurers for being one, want the playing field leveled for all high risk people. This means the homosexuals and the obese. There is no reason “aggrieved minorities” should get a pass on the price of health insurance This would be like only paying stock dividends to people deemed “not to have too much money”. If they are morbidly obese, they ate their way there. If they are a homosexual with AIDs, they sucked/fucked their way there. They deserve to pay financially for their actions. It should not be subsidized by smokers.
And those new anti-smoking commercials (psa’s–whatever)? I ABHORE them! The government and media have already cast smokers as undesirables. With the new commercials, they are being cast as less-than-human.
Let’s see a public service announcement of a fat guy shooting himself with insulin for diabeties (minus a foot, of course) and him saying “This is how I get ready for my day. I ate too much crappy food my whole life.”
I am with you on this but thee are a few flaws in your position that I would like to pick at.
First, you should always question the results of any study that presumes costs on the basis that there is some single person responsible for paying them. This is almost never true.
Second, if a fat person costs more (in all health related costs paid by government, insurers and themselves) but lie 20 years sooner of something cheap like heart failure, then are they a net positive? Defining human life by how much they cost to maintain is always a mistake.
third, the fat people argument is falacious from the start because there is no definite line between fat and “just right”. There is no government approves Optimal. Gay/straight is a Bernoulean yes or no. So is smoking.
The real problem here is the divide and conquer that you have fallen for. you have allowed other people to define for you that which side you are on, instead of all of you banding together against government and telling them in one loud voice, “who died and made you king to tell us how much we can eat, smoke or fuck?”
This is the problem with all government provided health care. If you are paying the costs in taxes, you feel you have a right to control other people’s demand for services. If they are paying their own way, what business is it of yours if they are spending their own hard eraned money on a hip replacement or on cancer treatment or AIDs treatment? Since it is the government money that is perverting this process, remove that. Then see how much you still care about this.
1) I know there is not a single payer.
2) No, because the insurer is not going to collect the 20 years of lower premium after they die, so we all pay up for them prior to their death.
3) There is a definite line between healthy and morbidly obese. I do make the assumption that the study didn’t use a weight that was “on the fence”.
When they decided that they were allowed to charge me, and others like me (smokers), more because I (we) smoke, they put us on sides against those who participate in other high risk activities who are not charged a premium ….. eating until the can barely walk anymore, homosexual behavior, drug use, etc.
I am all about risk. Define it. Price accordingly and fairly.
I’m just pissed that it’s harder and harder to find a chick that’s not a fat slob. Big beautiful woman my ass, big blubbery whale is more like it.