Health Tax?

Is good health important enough for it to be taxed considering developing patterns of obesity and their underlying effects on stuff and things?

Heard some heads bobbing over the idea on the voice talk box at lunch. I think they called a sin tax. You can speed up your death but you have to pay more for it. Pretty slippery slope trying to define who or what is or is not healthy.

I've heard Japan does individual examinations and if you're determined to be "overweight" they hit you with a fine as a preemptive measure to the burden their lifestyle puts on the health system. They don't like people willingly giving themselves type 2 diabetes or something. I think if a similar measure was taken here it might relieve some the perceived stress to our system (less doctors visits, less unhealthy life style medications, etcwhatev...), but, it would mean people would live even longer, thus meaning a lot more people, which is kind of a big problem as it is with, almost everything.

Thoughts?

Dumb idea for a number of reasons. Obesity is probably like smoking. It actually puts LESS of a strain on social services because it leads to early death.

I have never understood on what basis some people feel competent to tell others how they should live.

Dumb, but with Obesity in America they'd be raking in some coin on that Tax.

LA wrote:

Dumb, but with Obesity in America they'd be raking in some coin on that Tax.

TRUTH!

they tax us for just about everything we do now a days. It cost money to breathe.

I don't think the Gov't should be levying a tax, but am very surprised insurance companies don't charge more.

marbleheadmaui wrote:

Dumb idea for a number of reasons. Obesity is probably like smoking. It actually puts LESS of a strain on social services because it leads to early death.

I have never understood on what basis some people feel competent to tell others how they should live.

Do u have any #'s to back up this statement?

If the bold is incorrect, then the additional strain on the system would be the basis that u do not understand.

Government already has their hands on too much of our lives. Fucking Michelle suckers congress out of 8 billion to tell us and our kids what to eat while her and her man run around eating ribs, chicken wings, pie, burgers and fries all day long. Mind your own business and keep your noses out of ours...

U guys need to go to a medical facility sometime just to see the # of obese people laying around, hooked up to all sorts of expensive machines, being cared for, from head to toe, and yes that includes assholes, balls, and clams.

Obesity is a real problem. Not sure if a tax would actually do anything about it, but I have no problem with Gov't looking for solutions, and education is def one I have no problem.

And LOL at LTFG acting like he knows what the Obama's eat on a daily basis.

Yeah Capt, Obesity is ridiculous these days, would it help in terms of lower the Obesity rate? probably not much, but would the Govt be making some doe off it? Hell yes.

Cappy, my wife is in hospital administration and my closest friend is head of family practice. I'm as close as you get without being a doctor to seeing it day to day through them. Is it a problem?... Sure. Is it the governments place to dictate everything to us?... Hell, no. Make the fatties be accountable and responsible for their own lard asses, and leave the rest of us out of it.

BTW - Pay attention to the news when the Obama's are out doint their public thing. EVERY time they show them eating, they are loading their plates up with the fattiest shit imaginable and then looking into the camera and saying, "Don't tell my spouse". They think it's funny, but when they're pulling the high and mighty act about nutrition and threatening to go into schools with billions of our dollars to feed their agenda, it's fucking annoying!

34% of American Adults are Obese (90mill) and 32.7 are overweight

Health Tax $$$$$$$$$

Benefits of a healthy population are hard to not want. MORE HOT CHICKS. Seriously, good health can branch out in several ways. The existing landscape of nutrition is more or less slow poison, but the poison has flavor so it is embraced. That's a different kind of sick. The issue is really about lifestyle and the existing design by which the majority of this society operates.

I believe in the mantra healthy body healthy mind. It doesn't exist for all cases, but I would find it difficult to believe that there is not a health to productivity relationship in many.

The average American is unwilling to walk 1/2 a mile for a local trip when a motor vehicle is not a needed mode. But short trips are a substantial part of transportation. 25% of trips in the U.S. are less than 1 mile, 40% less than two. Given adequate means of accessibility a healthy person is less likely to drive car for a variety of trips. That equates to two things on the forefront of future sustainability, less consumption and waste/pollution and less spending.

The layout of the built environment plays a role. In dense areas, residential developments have become islands away from service. It's poor access and a detriment to good health practices for many. Each additional hour spent in a car per day equals a 6% increase in the likely hood of being obese while each Km spent walking per day equals a 5% decrease in the likely hood of being obese. That is simple 11% turnaround. Taking into account that the average American family spends 18% of their annual household income on transportation, healthy design benefits not only the body but our land and pocketbook.

A system of incentives or penalties is a noble thought but it doesn't fix what we view as normal. Our normal is what our problem is. Problems are for solving, taxing into a fix is an approach by itself that will fail.

LTFG wrote:

Cappy, my wife is in hospital administration and my closest friend is head of family practice. I'm as close as you get without being a doctor to seeing it day to day through them. Is it a problem?... Sure. Is it the governments place to dictate everything to us?... Hell, no. Make the fatties be accountable and responsible for their own lard asses, and leave the rest of us out of it.

BTW - Pay attention to the news when the Obama's are out doint their public thing. EVERY time they show them eating, they are loading their plates up with the fattiest shit imaginable and then looking into the camera and saying, "Don't tell my spouse". They think it's funny, but when they're pulling the high and mighty act about nutrition and threatening to go into schools with billions of our dollars to feed their agenda, it's fucking annoying!

If ur wife is a hospital administrator, then how do u not realize that these peoples unhealthy lifestyles clog and tax the system? Their actions have an effect on the whole. they are not islands.


and again on the Obama's, u like I, have no idea what they eat on a daily basis. Both do look to be in excellent shape, certainly not models of obesity.

You're totally missing the point... I'm not saying they aren't a burden, Cappy. I'm saying it shouldn't be the government's place to stick their noses into anything more than what they already do (Fuck, they overstepped their bounds decades ago if you ask me). I'm not thrilled to know that a small chunk of what I pay for insurance is due to 1/4 of the country thinking it's okay to model their eating habits after Haystacks Calhoun. But it doesn't mean that the government needs to levy any more taxes on anyone. I'm responding to the thread topic here.

And you also keep missing the point on the Obama's. I'm not claiming to know what they eat day in, day out... What I'm saying is that if you're going to travel the country championing healthy eating and sucking billions out of our pockets to drop programs on the schools, then you might want to be a bit more careful in choosing your own plates when the camera's are rolling. Nothing worse than looking like hypocrite's while peering into America's dining rooms and school cafeteria's. The old "do as I say, not as I do" shit is tiring...

If your saying the gov't should keep it's nose out of the business of people who are placing an undue burden on society then I disagree. I'd rather the Gov't tax those Obese people then have then the bill come to my doorstep. And I certainly don't have a problem with dietary education programs.

I can't say I've seen many fatty food eating Obama pictures. But if there is indeed an disproportionate amount, then I'll agree, it's bad form.

Front page of todays USA Today

http://www.usatoday.com/yourlife/health/medical/diabetes/2010-10-22-1Adiabetes22_ST_N.htm

Mary Brophy Marcus, USA TODAY wrote:

Diabetes may affect as many as 1 in 3 Americans by 2050

The future of diabetes in America looks bleak, according to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report out today, with cases projected to double, even triple, by 2050.

According to the report, one in 10 U.S. adults have diabetes now. The prevalence is expected to rise sharply over the next 40 years with as many as one in three having the disease, primarily type 2 diabetes, according to the report, published in the journal Population Health Metrics.

"There are some positive reasons why we see prevalence going up. People are living longer with diabetes due to good control of blood sugar and diabetes medications, and we're also diagnosing people earlier now," says Ann Albright, director of the CDC's Division of Diabetes Translation.

A more diverse America — including growing populations of minority groups such as African Americans and Hispanics, who are more at risk for the disease — factors into the increase as well, Albright says. But an increasing number of overweight Americans also is fueling the stark predictions for diabetes, which should be taken seriously, Albright says.

Diabetes is the No. 1 reason for adult blindness, kidney failure and limb amputation, and it's a large contributor to heart attacks and strokes, she says. "It's also now linked to a form of dementia, some forms of cancer and some forms of lung disease. Diabetes impacts so many systems in the body," Albright says.

Programs and policies to prevent obesity and diabetes need to be put in place at every level, says Duke University Medical Center endocrinologist Susan Spratt, who says schools are a good place to start. Healthful food options in schools and daily physical education classes should be a priority, she says.

"Vending machines should not sell sugar soda or candy bars. School fundraisers should not revolve around unhealthy food," says Spratt, who adds that cities need to be pedestrian-friendly, bike-friendly and safe.

A price will be paid if the projections go unheeded, experts say. The CDC estimates the current cost of diabetes at $174 billion annually — $116 billion of which is in direct medical costs.

Previous research has suggested that the financial burden may easily double in the next 20 years, says David Kendall, chief scientific and medical officer of the American Diabetes Association.

"The financial burden is potentially a very, very troublesome one," Kendall says.

"There's a dual message here: prevention where it's feasible, and critical and early intervention for those already diagnosed," he says.

captain organic wrote:

If your saying the gov't should keep it's nose out of the business of people who are placing an undue burden on society then I disagree. I'd rather the Gov't tax those Obese people then have then the bill come to my doorstep. And I certainly don't have a problem with dietary education programs.

I can't say I've seen many fatty food eating Obama pictures. But if there is indeed an disproportionate amount, then I'll agree, it's bad form.

I'm of opinion that government has taken enough of our freedoms. If a guy wants to eat himself to death, let him. I understand that there's a substantial portion of America that believes that the government should control as much as possible for some reason, but that goes against my core values. Now, if what they're doing is endangering others, then by all means please legislate it. But I don't think people should be taxed simply becasue their lifestyle inconveniences others... That's not freedom...

LTFG wrote:

captain organic wrote:

If your saying the gov't should keep it's nose out of the business of people who are placing an undue burden on society then I disagree. I'd rather the Gov't tax those Obese people then have then the bill come to my doorstep. And I certainly don't have a problem with dietary education programs.

I can't say I've seen many fatty food eating Obama pictures. But if there is indeed an disproportionate amount, then I'll agree, it's bad form.

I'm of opinion that government has taken enough of our freedoms. If a guy wants to eat himself to death, let him. I understand that there's a substantial portion of America that believes that the government should control as much as possible for some reason, but that goes against my core values. Now, if what they're doing is endangering others, then by all means please legislate it. But I don't think people should be taxed simply becasue their lifestyle inconveniences others... That's not freedom...

Inconveniences? It's more then an inconvenience, it places a huge burden on the health care profession, and thus the country as a whole. And if we follow the current path it will only get worse. though I prob should not have said im for taxing it, but I have no problem with Gov't trying to find a solution, and im all for educating the public on this matter.

I'm all for a solution as well. But the individuals should be held accountable by the clinics or insurance companies themselves. Government interveens in far too much where they shouldn't be. Problem is, if the insurance companies start raising their rates on their clients by monitoring their BMI and trips to the doctor because of their obesity induced poor health, the Libs will start screaming about discrimination and anything else they can come up with. I hear many talk about how they don't care if the government sticks their nose in it, but damn anyone outside of government who seeks regulation.