Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Smokers pay higher premiums for health insurance, life insurance and homeowners insurance...requiring people that are obese, unfit, or have high cholesterol to pay higher rates should also be fair. I'd be all for a sugar tax, and processed food tax. Also double the tax on alcohol.
You're treading on thin ice here because obesity and high cholesterol can be symptoms of other medical conditions. You don't want to know how much junk food I ate when I was thin. I can't imagine what my cholesterol was back then. Certainly worse than it is now. In many ways I'm healthier now in spite of the weight.
If obesity were simply due to over eating and not exercising then yes but that's not the case. There are many causes of obesity and things like high cholesterol. Do you even realize that most people cannot affect their cholesterol through diet? It's the first thing you try but for most it won't work...same with dieting. It's what you try first but for many it won't work.
I can see giving discounts for people who exercise but how will you monitor who is and who is not exercising? The monitoring costs alone are reason not to go there. I have no issue with junk food taxes. That's like cigarette and liquor taxes. Tax whatever you want to. Tax gasoline to encourage people to use mass transit and walk. Tax cars so people can't afford them for all I care....but don't complain about not having jobs because restaurants go out of business and factories close.
I never claimed to know them all. I just know enough to know there are many causes from things like hypothyroidism and other glandular disorders, to genetics to side effects of medical treatments. Two of the medications I take daily have weight gain as a side effect. Genetics has a HUGE impact here. All of the women in my best friend's family have the same shape. They are heavy as babies and into adulthood. In my family you're either short and thin and can eat anything you want or you're taller and fight with your weight starting in your 20's.
You seem to think there is only one cause. I guarantee if we all were to eat only 1800 calories a day we'd still have people of all different sizes. You don't have to over eat to be over weight.
I'll list just one -- hereditary diabetes; one of my closest friends lives with an 81-year old mother whose legs continue to atrophy and swell despite all measures to control the issue; worse still. she knows what's waiting for her if science makes no progress in addressing the problem.
You holier-than-thou's need to get off your high horses. and get a grip on what they over-hyped, juvenile-oriented diet and insecurity "industry" can, and can not do.
I never claimed to know them all. I just know enough to know there are many causes from things like hypothyroidism and other glandular disorders, to genetics to side effects of medical treatments.
Nope.
Quote:
"Although there are genetic, behavioral and hormonal influences on body weight, obesity occurs when you take in more calories than you burn through exercise and normal daily activities. Your body stores these excess calories as fat.
Obesity can sometimes be traced to a medical cause, such as Prader-Willi syndrome, Cushing's syndrome, and other diseases and conditions. However, these disorders are rare and, in general, the principal causes of obesity are:
Inactivity. If you're not very active, you don't burn as many calories. With a sedentary lifestyle, you can easily take in more calories every day than you use through exercise and normal daily activities.
Unhealthy diet and eating habits. Weight gain is inevitable if you regularly eat more calories than you burn. And most Americans' diets are too high in calories and are full of fast food and high-calorie beverages."
Fail. You have to show the cost\benefit over a lifetime.
You have to factor in that they don't live as long and so forth if you're going to tax them for overuse etc.
For example, women have different life insurance costs than men as do smokers because of altered life expectancy.
You have to factor all that in before you (seriously people, why do you play with math\finance\statistics when you clearly have zero education in it) determine that someone is taking more from the system than they are paying in?
Heck, if you have ANY cognitive training and math skills you'd be going after drug users having low-functioning kids because those kids are going to be wards of the state for most of their lives.
Lastly you need to isolate all of this to GOVERNMENT....oh why do I bother...I lost you guys at hello.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
