Japan tried to get people 75 and older to pay for their health insurance or lose it (in other words, “Die, you old coot”). That didn’t work; the codgers rebelled. So the pols in their infinite wisdom decided to levy a tax on the obese. Everybody gets weighed at least once a year, and if they’re overweight by a certain amount, their company pays an added tax. (I guess if you don’t work, you’re exempt.)
Might be time to try something like that here. A recent study out of Duke University sheds some sobering insight on what obesity brings to the workplace (to say nothing of individual health, Type 2 Diabetes, heart disease and all that other stuff).
The Duke survey found that the obese filed twice as many worker’s comp claims as the svelte, and their medical costs from those claims were seven times higher than the twiggies’. They also lost 13 more days from work.
Off with their heads–or at least their waistlines.
Actually, from my own personal experience, I know that whenever my weight rises, so too do my cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure levels. Assuming I’m normal (which is not an easy assumption), then those rotund people I see out in society are no doubt diabetic monsters, all from eating too much and too much of the wrong stuff. (I lost 30 pounds last summer by sticking to five servings of fruits and vegetables everyday, but gained back half of that when I started incorporating American-style meals, so it’s back to more fruits and vegetables this summer.)
Fatso watchers have proposed a tax on non-nutritious items. Hey, why not? It would raise money to expand health care and at the same time might get people to cut down on life-shortening eating habits. Go for it. It makes more sense than trying to get the so-called rich in America to fund health care for people who don’t want it and people who are dead set on ruining their own health with their poor nutrition.
Anyway, if you want more details, please read “Obesity Increased Workers’ Comp Costs.” And if you’re really concerned about taking care of yourself, go to this NIH page to compute your body mass index.
