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I don't understand how obesity is a drain on 'society,' except through state-financed medical care. I don't suffer anymore because other people are fat. Why sho

I don't understand how obesity is a drain on 'society,' except through state-financed medical care. I don't suffer anymore because other people are fat. Why should I be able to control what they eat?

anigbrowl 15y ago
Medical costs are almost 20% of US GDP. even if you are in private medical care, you're still subsidizing obese insurance customers in the same risk pool to some extent. Plus you have to factor in the wider economic effects of lost productivity, non-food consumption and so on. For example, most hospitals beds are now expected to accommodate patients weighing 400 lbs., the cost of which is distributed across all patients even though relatively few patients actually weigh that much. Don't have the numbers to hand right now, but when I did a rough estimate of causes vs. costs of mortality it came out something like a 1% drag on GDP from obesity. Diabetes, which is a good proxy for obesity-related mortality, costs >$100 bn a year already: http://www.forbes.com/2010/01/13/kramer-obesity-nutrition-intelligent-investing-diabetes.html http://www.forbes.com/2010/01/13/kramer-obesity-nutrition-in...
- anamax 15y ago
  > Medical costs are almost 20% of US GDP. even if you are in private medical care, you're still subsidizing obese insurance customers in the same risk pool to some extent. Not if the risk pool is priced correctly. If it's priced correctly, there are no cross-group subsidies. > you have to factor in the wider economic effects of lost productivity Not at all. They're paid less. Surely you're not going to argue that they owe "full productivity"? If so, there are lots of other things that affect productivity, so what makes obesity special?
deleted 15y ago
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slykat 15y ago
Ever ridden an airplane? Were you charged based on by your total weight (yourself+luggage)? No? Well assuming you are below the average flier's weight, you probably just paid more for your flight than you should have because of our obesity problem. US carriers use comparatively more fuel because the average weight per passenger is higher than other markets. Fuel costs drive flight costs. This is a trivial but also very clear example where obesity unfairly taxes some people. The solution in this case would be to charge passengers based on total weight, but I'm pretty sure that would result in lawsuits. I think a bigger argument than even healthcare is empathy. I personally am hurt when my friends get sick or die from obesity related illnesses. On average, over 25% of our friends and family suffer from obesity so I'm pretty sure we all personally suffer from obesity.

I don't understand how obesity is a drain on 'society,' except through state-financed medical care. I don't suffer anymore because other people are fat. Why should I be able to control what they eat?

anigbrowl 15y ago

Medical costs are almost 20% of US GDP. even if you are in private medical care, you're still subsidizing obese insurance customers in the same risk pool to some extent. Plus you have to factor in the wider economic effects of lost productivity, non-food consumption and so on. For example, most hospitals beds are now expected to accommodate patients weighing 400 lbs., the cost of which is distributed across all patients even though relatively few patients actually weigh that much. Don't have the numbers to hand right now, but when I did a rough estimate of causes vs. costs of mortality it came out something like a 1% drag on GDP from obesity. Diabetes, which is a good proxy for obesity-related mortality, costs >$100 bn a year already: http://www.forbes.com/2010/01/13/kramer-obesity-nutrition-intelligent-investing-diabetes.html http://www.forbes.com/2010/01/13/kramer-obesity-nutrition-in...

anamax 15y ago
> Medical costs are almost 20% of US GDP. even if you are in private medical care, you're still subsidizing obese insurance customers in the same risk pool to some extent. Not if the risk pool is priced correctly. If it's priced correctly, there are no cross-group subsidies. > you have to factor in the wider economic effects of lost productivity Not at all. They're paid less. Surely you're not going to argue that they owe "full productivity"? If so, there are lots of other things that affect productivity, so what makes obesity special?

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

slykat 15y ago

Ever ridden an airplane? Were you charged based on by your total weight (yourself+luggage)? No? Well assuming you are below the average flier's weight, you probably just paid more for your flight than you should have because of our obesity problem. US carriers use comparatively more fuel because the average weight per passenger is higher than other markets. Fuel costs drive flight costs. This is a trivial but also very clear example where obesity unfairly taxes some people. The solution in this case would be to charge passengers based on total weight, but I'm pretty sure that would result in lawsuits. I think a bigger argument than even healthcare is empathy. I personally am hurt when my friends get sick or die from obesity related illnesses. On average, over 25% of our friends and family suffer from obesity so I'm pretty sure we all personally suffer from obesity.