4 ms·

if obesity was tackled with the same intensity as covid, we would have seen far better outcomes... but too many financial hurdles in its way...

vkou 5y ago
If obesity could be prevented with a $20 shot twice a year, I don't think it would be much of a public health problem.
- jdavis703 5y ago
  Is this sarcasm? The US has free vaccine shots and free masks (most chain stores hand them out for free), and people still won’t use them.
croes 5y ago
But I don't get a heart attack if you're obese.
- sjwalter 5y ago
  But if you're under 60 and yourself fit and healthy, you'd probably not even notice if you caught covid and recovered. Everyone getting fitter is a huge collective win. Even outside the context of a pandemic--fat people have a hugely disproportional impact on national healthcare spend. All of our insurance would get cheaper and cheaper if we reduced the national BMI.
  - mensetmanusman 5y ago
    And, if you do get a heart attack, which happened to my very fit professor when he died right before finals, you might not have the specialists available immediately for care because they are crunched for time dealing with a health crisis (obesity has made COVID much worse for example).
  - croes 5y ago
    You still can get damages in heart, kidney and lungs from corona, even if you are asymptomatic and didn't feel anything. The first cases were reported from italian divers you can't work in their job anymore because of lung damages. And the costs wouldn't really get lower, you just change the illness. If you are healthier, you live longer and your final illness most probably will be cancer. Expensive long te treatment. Obese people die faster and cheaper.
    - da_big_ghey 5y ago
      Organ damage is definitionally symptom for a disease.
- da_big_ghey 5y ago
  Maybe I am now paying for your health care heart attack? Costing me more, so I have some interest in weight of other people now. Maybe I am getting more financial trouble, which cause stress, which linked to heart disease: https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/stress-links-poverty-inflammation-heart-disease https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/stress-...
  - croes 5y ago
    I think cancer treatment is more expensive. Heart attacks have a pretty death rate.
- foolinaround 5y ago
  But you get a fatter bill because of the obese population due to the way health care and insurance is structured. this means, in the current world, you get to fat-shame the obese people, have color coded id cards based on their BMI, have them off flights etc till they prove that they ran on their treadmill today...
munk-a 5y ago
The financial hurdles do exist - but it is mostly the political lobbying that prevents a real attack on obesity in the US. Sugar is big business and, by extension, obesity greases a lot of people's palms. The US could take a serious look at addressing massive over consumption - but the last serious take on that was the sugary drink ban in NYC and that turned into a "you'll pry my big gulp from my cold dead hands" affair pretty quickly. The US is in too deep celebrating the exploitation of the health of their populace to turn things around - but other countries might have a chance.

vkou 5y ago

If obesity could be prevented with a $20 shot twice a year, I don't think it would be much of a public health problem.

jdavis703 5y ago
Is this sarcasm? The US has free vaccine shots and free masks (most chain stores hand them out for free), and people still won’t use them.

croes 5y ago

But I don't get a heart attack if you're obese.

sjwalter 5y ago
But if you're under 60 and yourself fit and healthy, you'd probably not even notice if you caught covid and recovered. Everyone getting fitter is a huge collective win. Even outside the context of a pandemic--fat people have a hugely disproportional impact on national healthcare spend. All of our insurance would get cheaper and cheaper if we reduced the national BMI.
- mensetmanusman 5y ago
  And, if you do get a heart attack, which happened to my very fit professor when he died right before finals, you might not have the specialists available immediately for care because they are crunched for time dealing with a health crisis (obesity has made COVID much worse for example).
- croes 5y ago
  You still can get damages in heart, kidney and lungs from corona, even if you are asymptomatic and didn't feel anything. The first cases were reported from italian divers you can't work in their job anymore because of lung damages. And the costs wouldn't really get lower, you just change the illness. If you are healthier, you live longer and your final illness most probably will be cancer. Expensive long te treatment. Obese people die faster and cheaper.
  - da_big_ghey 5y ago
    Organ damage is definitionally symptom for a disease.
da_big_ghey 5y ago
Maybe I am now paying for your health care heart attack? Costing me more, so I have some interest in weight of other people now. Maybe I am getting more financial trouble, which cause stress, which linked to heart disease: https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/stress-links-poverty-inflammation-heart-disease https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/stress-...
- croes 5y ago
  I think cancer treatment is more expensive. Heart attacks have a pretty death rate.
foolinaround 5y ago
But you get a fatter bill because of the obese population due to the way health care and insurance is structured. this means, in the current world, you get to fat-shame the obese people, have color coded id cards based on their BMI, have them off flights etc till they prove that they ran on their treadmill today...

munk-a 5y ago

The financial hurdles do exist - but it is mostly the political lobbying that prevents a real attack on obesity in the US. Sugar is big business and, by extension, obesity greases a lot of people's palms. The US could take a serious look at addressing massive over consumption - but the last serious take on that was the sugary drink ban in NYC and that turned into a "you'll pry my big gulp from my cold dead hands" affair pretty quickly. The US is in too deep celebrating the exploitation of the health of their populace to turn things around - but other countries might have a chance.