4 ms·

We also outlaw health plans providing discounts to those who lead healthy lifestyles.

toomuchtodo 4y ago
We also have car centric city planning, which is going to take untold amounts of time and capital to shift away from. https://www.flickr.com/photos/carltonreid/4646637491 https://www.flickr.com/photos/carltonreid/4646637491
- tomjen3 4y ago
  Good thing then that exercise (while healthy in other ways) burns relatively few calories.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- phpisthebest 4y ago
  We have had a car culture for far longer than we have had an obesity problem Cars are not the reason this nation is getting fatter
  - 0xcde4c3db 4y ago
    Right. The argument for why they're bad is straightforward, but the rankings don't line up. [1] [2] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_vehicles_per_capita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_vehicles_... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_obesity_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_obesity_r...
    - wyre 4y ago
      Miles driven per capita would be a better comparison. Americans drive more than any other country. https://www.thecarcrashdetective.com/americans-drive-more-dying/ https://www.thecarcrashdetective.com/americans-drive-more-dy...
      - throwaway0a5e 4y ago
        You'd want to measure butt in seat hours since the problem isn't the distance but being sedentary.
  - dionidium 4y ago
    OK, but they cause a lot of death and injury quite apart from their effect on weight. Societies that drive more miles have higher mortality rates. When you compare health care in the U.S. to other Western countries you have to consider how much we drive, how fat we are, and how many of us overdose.
    - phpisthebest 4y ago
      This is a topic about obesity not how cars do not do not contribute to other health concerns.
      - dionidium 4y ago
        This subthread was actually about the feasibility of public health programs in the U.S. And that's a topic that needs to account for those 3 areas in which we are outliers, especially if, as inevitably happens, people get around to drawing comparisons between the U.S. and Europe.
  - wyre 4y ago
    This is like saying we’ve had the Internet a lot longer than we’ve had social media addiction. Obesity rates started rising with the introduction of drive-in food, which wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for car culture.
    - phpisthebest 4y ago
      Well if I have to choose between Car Culture, Fast Food food, and Obesity, or giving up those things. I choose FAT... every day. Thankfully that is a False dilemma, and we can keep our car culture and rollback obesity at the same time Most of the people focusing on "car culture" do not really care about obesity, it is a proxy war for Climate Change, and opposition to Rural America. I will never accept high population density, and electric cars will resolve the climate change issue
ZeroGravitas 4y ago
This is probably sensible. The current article suggests obesity is the top modifiable dementia risk, which suggests that there's other risk factors that are more important and not modifiable. It might be tricky to actually reward healthy lifestyles via health plans, since people generally need more care as they get older.

We also have car centric city planning, which is going to take untold amounts of time and capital to shift away from. https://www.flickr.com/photos/carltonreid/4646637491 https://www.flickr.com/photos/carltonreid/4646637491

tomjen3 4y ago
Good thing then that exercise (while healthy in other ways) burns relatively few calories.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
phpisthebest 4y ago
We have had a car culture for far longer than we have had an obesity problem Cars are not the reason this nation is getting fatter
- 0xcde4c3db 4y ago
  Right. The argument for why they're bad is straightforward, but the rankings don't line up. [1] [2] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_vehicles_per_capita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_vehicles_... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_obesity_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_obesity_r...
  - wyre 4y ago
    Miles driven per capita would be a better comparison. Americans drive more than any other country. https://www.thecarcrashdetective.com/americans-drive-more-dying/ https://www.thecarcrashdetective.com/americans-drive-more-dy...
    - throwaway0a5e 4y ago
      You'd want to measure butt in seat hours since the problem isn't the distance but being sedentary.
- dionidium 4y ago
  OK, but they cause a lot of death and injury quite apart from their effect on weight. Societies that drive more miles have higher mortality rates. When you compare health care in the U.S. to other Western countries you have to consider how much we drive, how fat we are, and how many of us overdose.
  - phpisthebest 4y ago
    This is a topic about obesity not how cars do not do not contribute to other health concerns.
    - dionidium 4y ago
      This subthread was actually about the feasibility of public health programs in the U.S. And that's a topic that needs to account for those 3 areas in which we are outliers, especially if, as inevitably happens, people get around to drawing comparisons between the U.S. and Europe.
- wyre 4y ago
  This is like saying we’ve had the Internet a lot longer than we’ve had social media addiction. Obesity rates started rising with the introduction of drive-in food, which wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for car culture.
  - phpisthebest 4y ago
    Well if I have to choose between Car Culture, Fast Food food, and Obesity, or giving up those things. I choose FAT... every day. Thankfully that is a False dilemma, and we can keep our car culture and rollback obesity at the same time Most of the people focusing on "car culture" do not really care about obesity, it is a proxy war for Climate Change, and opposition to Rural America. I will never accept high population density, and electric cars will resolve the climate change issue

ZeroGravitas 4y ago

This is probably sensible. The current article suggests obesity is the top modifiable dementia risk, which suggests that there's other risk factors that are more important and not modifiable. It might be tricky to actually reward healthy lifestyles via health plans, since people generally need more care as they get older.