Fat People Are Eating Your Wallet
A study by Roland Sturm and Darius Lakdawalla, two economists at RAND, says we're all paying bigtime for all the obese people in big fat health-care costs:
Obesity is linked to very high rates of chronic illnessesó higher than living in poverty and much higher than smoking or drinking....When compared with 100 normal-weight individuals of the same age and sex having similar backgrounds, 100 obese people would be expected to suffer 67 additional chronic conditions among them. In comparison, the increase associated with smoking is only about 25 additional conditions per 100 smokers (compared with 100 similar nonsmokers) and 12 additional conditions for problem drinkers.
Aging 20 years, from 30 to 50, is the only health risk comparable to obesity. Severely obese individuals, at least those who are aged 50ñ69, are more than twice as likely as are their normal-weight peers to be in only "fair" or "poor" health and suffer about twice as many chronic medical conditions.
Consequently, obese individuals incur higher health care costs than current smokers or problem drinkers. The obese spend 36 percent more on health care services and 77 percent more on medications than do their normal-weight counterparts. Current smokers spend only 21 percent and 28 percent more, respectively, than do nonsmokers; and problem drinkers spend yet smaller additional amounts on health care.
No, I'm not for a "Twinkie Tax." But, I do think fat people should pay extra for their health care -- perhaps by the pound! Helmet-less motorcyclers, "problem-drinkers," and smokers, too.
I've actually been exploring the idea of a futuristic dystopian novel. One of the aspects might be a division of the perfect weighters(like myself, 6'5" 220-Adonis-like) against a country teeming with wild fatsos. We'd(the small bands of remaining perfect weighters) ride around in the back of jeeps and harpoon feckless fatsos as they waddled down the road screaming for cream pies. Or...perhaps I may try to sell that idea as a new reality series.
chris at May 21, 2004 10:33 AM
I'd like to see obese-only sections established in restaurants. That way, my Adonis-like ears wouldn't have to listen to those fat pigs slurping at the trough.
Lena at May 21, 2004 2:13 PM
It makes perfect sense to charge the obese more for health insurance. You pay higher premiums if you smoke, because it's a documented health hazard. So is obesity. People decide whether to smoke. Ditto whether they overeat. It may be hard to quit either habit, but it's doable. Or has obesity become a disease, too?
nancy at May 23, 2004 3:03 PM
Just a few notes:
The relative increased number or diseases between the obese and smokers is a flawed comparison of two very different pathologies: smoking will do things like bathe your various body parts in cancer-causing molecules and sandpaper the inside of your arteries (causing several but not a large variety of diseases); manifestations of obesity are protean, subtlety effecting many (if not all) organ systems, resulting in a much larger number of diseases. Just an observation, no hard data to back this up.
The bit on greatly increased number of medications: please see above.
Overall, while obesity is a major cause of chronic diseases, smoking will do much nastier things to your body and make your death a very poor one indeed. Poor quality of death from complications secondary to obesity is a not-so-close second.
Three biggest things you can do to improve the quality of the last 10-20 years of your life: donít smoke, donít smoke and watch your weight.
But the obese are a truly heavy (pun intended) drain on the system because they stay alive longer than smokers to have a buffet-style selection of services whose cost is a large portion of our medical dollars (sorry, but again I have no hard facts to back this up).
As for me, I will keep working on alcoholÖ
Doc Jensen at May 24, 2004 4:36 PM
Lovely to have you back, Doc. I think the main point here is the cost -- to those of us who aren't obese or smoke-sucking. There's a Spanish proverb: "Take what you want, but pay for it." (ie, Don't force the occasonal Chardonnay-drinking runner to pick up the tab.)
Amy Alkon at May 24, 2004 6:05 PM