1quick1

Discussion...

Keep in mind when I went to the doctor a couple months he was worried about my weight of 189lbs until I took my clothes off and he said never mind. I'd bet a good majority of us would fall in the overweight category despite having 8% bf.

Cafferty File: Tell Jack how you really feel Blog Archive - Should obese people pay more for health insurance? « - Blogs from CNN.com

Musclebabe

My inital reaction is yes, they should. But as you said, it would be hard to decide who is obese, baised on height/weight charts some people would be considered overweight that have a low bf%. So if they go off of bf% it would seem to be more fair. But then again, what about people that are anorexic? Some have a very low bf% since there is nothing to them, and they are doing a lot of harm to themselves. If the price of health ins was baised on bf% it would seem to promote people to have eating disorders. So...you couldn't base it on a height/weight chart or bf%, so I'm not sure it would work. I suppose the only way to charge people extra is if they are like 400lbs or have 50% bf. Basicly if they qualify for Biggest Loser.

Condor

If one was fat by choice, maybe it would be a valid idea to consider, as he/she would indeed be unnecessarily raising the premiums of everyone else's insurance.

Having said that, how would we go about charging people with thyroid conditions, many psychological disorders, medications that promote weight gain, etc etc. All of these could cause one to be obese, and I think charging them more money is NOT in their best interest, nor might it be healthy in combating their underlying struggle causing the weight gain.

This also opens up other cans of worms: Do we charge people who drink a decent amount of booze? who eat red meat? who don't get yearly physicals? who don't wear sunblock? have sex without protection? etc etc etc.

It just seems like there are too many nuances of what could cause a person to be of an unhealthy status, let alone the oversight and taxing of freedoms that would come if we were to charge extra those who engage in unhealthy behavior.

strawser9

I don't believe they should pay more

but I certainly believe people that keep themselves in excellent health should get discounts!

sdb

without reading any posts, yes, they should. obesity leads to more major health problems than smoking. more health problems lead to more insurance being paid for more procedures, etc.


in alabama, if you're a state employee and you're considered clinically obese, you pay more for your healthcare plan than a standard size person.

gill998

yes. smokers pay more and so should obese people.

They cause us to pay more just because they can't say no to a donut.


This doesn't directly apply to me(canada) but we do pay more in taxes for them. Up here the smokers don't even pay more, probably because it would be to difficult to implement it.

kesunaitsumi

Thats kind of an uneducated response, not saying that you are stupid, but, not all obese people are fat because of overeating. Medications and genetics can play a huge part. I think if it was caused by a health condition or by a medication prescribed to the person they should be covered. Its not really their fault, they are trading on health risk for another (ie: i know someone who has a heart condition but the meds he is on cause him to gain weight, and becuase of his heart he cannot exercise without going into cardiac arrest, and even tho he diets he still gains the weight)Now as for the Unhealthy over eaters there is plenty of
info out there saying what foods are good and bad for you, people decide not to listen thats their deal. As i said im not pointing this out to offend you, but like you a lot of others have that misconception that its all choice, when for some people it really isnt. So i believe that thats something that should be case by case.

gill998

I was making a generalization, I realize there are exceptions to most generalizations and this is no different. I am educated on the subject(not so good at expressing tho) I do a lot of reading and retain most of it. One of my best friends my entire life has had a problem that has caused him to have a battle with obesity since he was 8.

Most of the problems that cause excessive(to the point of obesity and not just overweight) are few and far between and do not cause a 74.6% obesity rate in a country. Most problems caused by genetics can be controlled with effort, yes it will be more effort then I have to put in but I may have to put more effort into another part of my life. Everyone it dealt a different hand of cards.

And yes it should be done case by case. Probably during the application process(for heath ins.) if you can prove(doctors note) that there is something medically wrong with you then you should not be penalized for fate.

kesunaitsumi

Exactly, and as i said, please dont take what i said personally