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Simple. Make them pay their fair share for insurance! Insurance premiums should be heavily based on lifestyle.
And how would you assess this all? Basing it on BMI would be asinine as that simplistic calculation does not address body composition, for one. How would you assess what a person's lifestyle is and how much it actually affects their health?
And how would you assess this all? Basing it on BMI would be asinine as that simplistic calculation does not address body composition, for one. How would you assess what a person's lifestyle is and how much it actually affects their health?
That can be left for the medical community. Blood pressure, body fat, and maybe we should allow your 5k time to go on your medical record! It doesn't have to be super detailed to weed out the obese who are the real problem.
That can be left for the medical community. Blood pressure, body fat, and maybe we should allow your 5k time to go on your medical record! It doesn't have to be super detailed to weed out the obese who are the real problem.
Still simplistic. For these cost reports...do they assess the whole lifetime cost?
"If one studies annual medical expenses for unhealthy versus healthy people, one might find the unhealthy rack up higher costs, true. But unhealthy people tend to die earlier in life, so the total costs over a lifespan may be equal to that of a healthy person's, or even lower (since healthier people live longer and are bound to encounter increasing problems as they age)."
Also, as the article points out:
"More specifically, the study found “close to half of Americans who are considered ‘overweight’ by virtue of their BMIs (47.4 percent, or 34.4 million people) are healthy, as are 19.8 million who are considered ‘obese.’” And “30 percent of those with BMIs in the ‘normal’ range – about 20.7 million people – are actually unhealthy based on their other health data.”
Still simplistic. For these cost reports...do they assess the whole lifetime cost?
"If one studies annual medical expenses for unhealthy versus healthy people, one might find the unhealthy rack up higher costs, true. But unhealthy people tend to die earlier in life, so the total costs over a lifespan may be equal to that of a healthy person's, or even lower (since healthier people live longer and are bound to encounter increasing problems as they age)."
Also, as the article points out:
"More specifically, the study found “close to half of Americans who are considered ‘overweight’ by virtue of their BMIs (47.4 percent, or 34.4 million people) are healthy, as are 19.8 million who are considered ‘obese.’” And “30 percent of those with BMIs in the ‘normal’ range – about 20.7 million people – are actually unhealthy based on their other health data.”
I am definitely not trying to say let's all get fat and just go along with it. It's just not as simple to fix as it might seem.
It is easy to fix. You shame fat people and make their insurance expensive. No studies required. These idiot academics seem to use BMI a lot probably because it's so easy to get data on it.
I seem to remember a certain First Lady who had a healthy eating initiative for kids, as well as a garden that she invited kids in to tend. I believe she was behind getting rid of a lot of the snack machines and soda machines in grade schools and getting kids to have better food choices, but I also seem to remember the outrage this brought forth by conservatives, who yelled "Nanny State!" and other such nonsense.
So now the snack machines and soda machines are back, and kids keep getting fatter than ever.
Look at the constant food advertisements on TV. What do you see? Huge hamburgers with every topping known to man, that are more than a days TOTAL calorie intake in one sandwich, then add huge fries a huge Coke, and other stuff. Pizza with cheese in the crust and cheese filled bread on the side. Mexican food. Fried chicken. Huge 1,000 - 1,200 calorie Latte's the women think are a "coffee". Sugar loaded sodas. Portions are huge, calories are huge and fat is huge. We have been conditioned to think eating like this is NORMAL and OK. It's not.
I was in grade school during the early 70's and there weren't many "fat kids". I recall maybe 5 or 6 out of 200 kids. Of those maybe 2 were obese.
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