Not true. First off, premature death from obesity-related illnesses, before retirement age, means that individual contributed less than a full working life into

Not true. First off, premature death from obesity-related illnesses, before retirement age, means that individual contributed less than a full working life into the system i.e. if you drop out of the workforce at 40 due to poor health, there's ~25 years of productivity and tax income that will not be realized. Second, if you have the image of obesity related deaths being a sudden heart attack and dropping dead that same day, you'd be wrong. Diabetes, cancer, heart disease (within the spectrum of which a heart attack is only one likely consequence and sits alongside angina, strokes etc), these are long drawn-out declines that many obese people will suffer. Third, accommodating obese patients requires significant specialist equipment, all of which places a burden on the system which would not be present if obese persons were not present. Specialized ambulances, MRI machines, gurneys, hoists, widened doorways etc. “Obese men rack up an additional $1,152 a year in medical spending, especially for hospitalizations and prescription drugs, Cawley and Chad Meyerhoefer of Lehigh University reported in January in the Journal of Health Economics. Obese women account for an extra $3,613 a year. Using data from 9,852 men (average BMI: 28) and 13,837 women (average BMI: 27) ages 20 to 64, among whom 28 percent were obese, the researchers found even higher costs among the uninsured: annual medical spending for an obese person was $3,271 compared with $512 for the non-obese.” https://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2012/04/30/obesity-now-costs-americans-more-in-healthcare-costs-than-smoking/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2012/04/30/obesity-no...