“We see it all the time with workers compensation claims. Those who are in poor shape tend to have more injuries on the job and longer periods of rehabilition, thereby increasing the costs not only to the insurance industry but also to the employers. We all pay for it so there must be a measurable way to incentivize employers to offer wellness programs to try and lower those costs and increase productivity”
And how many claims do you NOT see because people, like a lot of the posters here, DON’T submit a claim for just anything.
We have sin tax, cigarette tax, beer tax, etc etc. When are we going to have a fat tax to help our medical costs? Here is the proposal – all employees that have a BMI over 30 (required by Doctors annual checkup) should be surcharged with a national “fat tax”!
Everyone should be responcible for their own health. American’s rely too much on someone else to take care of their health. I should not have to pay higher premiums because people are irresponcible, and their is no excuse.
You also have to take into account the absolute uselessness of the BMI calculation itself. Considering how & when it was developed, it does not effectively measure “obesity”. For instance, I’m 6’0″ and weigh approximately 190 lbs. According to the BMI calculation, I’m obese. What it doesn’t account for is that I work out regularly and simply have a larger mass due to muscle weight. My total body fat percentage is in the single digits.
What do you say? Obese or not? According to the BMI scale I would be…
And let’s add a surcharge to ee’s for EAP services also. Proposal – all ee’s that have personal problems, family & relationship issues, work & career or financial issues (required by annual assessment) should be surcharged with a national “crazy tax”!!
OK, so we agree there needs to be a more objective definition/standard for being obese. Let’s get back on point. Truly obese people should bear more of the cost for their medical and diability insurance instead of enjoying subsidies from every other person in the country. The burden to the country is staggering. The stark reality is we’re running out of economic and medical resources and may have to start making hard decisions on where to allocate them. This is where social issues intersect with reality. Who will bear the cost of subsidizing wages and medical expense of obese people? Unfortunately we don’t currently have an answer and you can bet no politician will walk into this kill zone.
Let’s tax everyone for everything they do. That’ll fix it. The smokies and the fatties and drunkies and the junkies, let’s take all their money to teach ’em a lesson. And then let’s go after the cussers and the speeders and the texting-while-drivers and the not-going-to-churchers, take all their money too. The ones with the volume too high and the pants too low and the ones who have unprotected sex with numerous anonymous partners, take their money away until they live perfect lives. The ones who sit at their desks and don’t work as hard as you do, the ones who don’t fold their laundry as soon as the dryer buzzes. Let’s face it, we should be taxed until we achieve perfection. But since I’m perfect, I don’t have to worry about that so I’ll sit here and shake my fist at those who aren’t perfect because that’s my right as a perfect person. And no, none of that sounds absurd at all. It’s sound and proven perfect science, just like BMI.
TX Guru, I totally agree with you that the BMI is not a proper measuring tool for any person with an athletic build. Incidentally, your BMI is 25.8, which is in the “overweight” category. But in reality, any man with total body fat lower than 10% is a total stud… particularly if you have an athletic build. I have a similar BMI index but only carry around 12% body fat – too many pints at night I suspect – but the point is, Though BMI is not designed for athletic types, athletic types are not costing the country millions of dollars either.
Fat Tax? Nah, but maybe higher health insurance premiums might help mitigate some of the problem.
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“We see it all the time with workers compensation claims. Those who are in poor shape tend to have more injuries on the job and longer periods of rehabilition, thereby increasing the costs not only to the insurance industry but also to the employers. We all pay for it so there must be a measurable way to incentivize employers to offer wellness programs to try and lower those costs and increase productivity”
And how many claims do you NOT see because people, like a lot of the posters here, DON’T submit a claim for just anything.
We have sin tax, cigarette tax, beer tax, etc etc. When are we going to have a fat tax to help our medical costs? Here is the proposal – all employees that have a BMI over 30 (required by Doctors annual checkup) should be surcharged with a national “fat tax”!
How much “Fat Tax” will we charge you for your FAT HEAD?
Everyone should be responcible for their own health. American’s rely too much on someone else to take care of their health. I should not have to pay higher premiums because people are irresponcible, and their is no excuse.
You also have to take into account the absolute uselessness of the BMI calculation itself. Considering how & when it was developed, it does not effectively measure “obesity”. For instance, I’m 6’0″ and weigh approximately 190 lbs. According to the BMI calculation, I’m obese. What it doesn’t account for is that I work out regularly and simply have a larger mass due to muscle weight. My total body fat percentage is in the single digits.
What do you say? Obese or not? According to the BMI scale I would be…
And let’s add a surcharge to ee’s for EAP services also. Proposal – all ee’s that have personal problems, family & relationship issues, work & career or financial issues (required by annual assessment) should be surcharged with a national “crazy tax”!!
OK, so we agree there needs to be a more objective definition/standard for being obese. Let’s get back on point. Truly obese people should bear more of the cost for their medical and diability insurance instead of enjoying subsidies from every other person in the country. The burden to the country is staggering. The stark reality is we’re running out of economic and medical resources and may have to start making hard decisions on where to allocate them. This is where social issues intersect with reality. Who will bear the cost of subsidizing wages and medical expense of obese people? Unfortunately we don’t currently have an answer and you can bet no politician will walk into this kill zone.
Let’s tax everyone for everything they do. That’ll fix it. The smokies and the fatties and drunkies and the junkies, let’s take all their money to teach ’em a lesson. And then let’s go after the cussers and the speeders and the texting-while-drivers and the not-going-to-churchers, take all their money too. The ones with the volume too high and the pants too low and the ones who have unprotected sex with numerous anonymous partners, take their money away until they live perfect lives. The ones who sit at their desks and don’t work as hard as you do, the ones who don’t fold their laundry as soon as the dryer buzzes. Let’s face it, we should be taxed until we achieve perfection. But since I’m perfect, I don’t have to worry about that so I’ll sit here and shake my fist at those who aren’t perfect because that’s my right as a perfect person. And no, none of that sounds absurd at all. It’s sound and proven perfect science, just like BMI.
TX Guru, I totally agree with you that the BMI is not a proper measuring tool for any person with an athletic build. Incidentally, your BMI is 25.8, which is in the “overweight” category. But in reality, any man with total body fat lower than 10% is a total stud… particularly if you have an athletic build. I have a similar BMI index but only carry around 12% body fat – too many pints at night I suspect – but the point is, Though BMI is not designed for athletic types, athletic types are not costing the country millions of dollars either.
Fat Tax? Nah, but maybe higher health insurance premiums might help mitigate some of the problem.
Can we all raise our hands into the air with an AMEN!