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FOXNews.com - Alabama Plans to Tax Fat Employees to Recoup Insurance Costs - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News

Bravo, well done and I applaud the state. This is a brilliant idea and no one can argue against it, not unless they want to repeal the $25/month smokers pay as well. Smokers are a higher risk, just as obese people are. And don't get me wrong, I believe this is discrimination and I disagree with the principle, but what is good for the geese (smoking) is good for the gander (fat people). I'm curious how long before major medical insurance companies and private businesses follow suit.

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Hatuey

I'm all for it. Fat people in their current numbers (^60% ffs) are a burden on our system. They should be taxed and harassed just like smokers if not more.

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Is Intolerant Because He Won't Let The Intolerant Run Other People's Lives.

American

Actually I've read about some discussions in medical circles that place doubt on the current assumption that fat people are unhealthy.

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It's Obama's fault!

YamiB.

I think that an exception could be made for people that can provide medical records to prove that it is due to glandular/hormonal problems and not due to their own choices. For the majority that make up the group and are overweight due to the choices they make this seems reasonable.

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Ikari

Well that's the end I suppose. Goodbye freedom and choice. Took out the smokers, now the fatties, soon the uglies. Let's not really focus on the fact that cigarette taxes were placed to offset the cost they had, let's not really focus on the fact that the insurance company already is getting all the money and more that it needs and is merely making up excuses now to make more money. It's insurance, insurance is to spread the risk around a larger group of people. Once you start doing things like making demographics and pricing structures for certain classes, you've destroyed the purpose that insurance was supposed to bring. We shouldn't be fat, but this is also ****ing America and we can be fat if we choose. The rest of you assholes can go jump off a bridge if you're that concerned about it.

Nothing more than a scam to rob even more money from the people.

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shuamort

I'm fine for all but the last one.


BMI should be used cautiously when classifying fatness, especially among college-age people," said Jim Pivarnik, an MSU professor of kinesiology and epidemiology. "It really doesn't do a good job of saying how fat a person really is."

The problem, especially among younger people and athletes, is that BMI does not distinguish between body fat and muscle mass, said Ode.

SOURCE

YamiB.

They're using BMI I missed that, yeah that's a big mistake.

Ikari - They are not being forced to be thinner. They choose to put themselves in a group that is at a higher risk to have health problems and they have to deal with the consequences. I might not mind a system with a flat insurance rate for everybody, assuming it is not set prohibitively high to begin with. But this is the current system and under it what makes most sense is for those who are overweight through their own actions pay a larger portion since they are more likely to receive the benefits of insurance.

Ikari

No, it's nothing more than a scam by the insurance companies and championed by social designers and nanny-staters. They deal with the consequences by getting sick and going into the hospital. They pay too, insurance covers, but they've paid into the insurance company and that's what they're supposed to do. The fatties will have to pay with some of their money too, especially if they get sick too often. They help out by dying earlier (thus freeing up pension space and not wasting so much money at the end of their lives....you know how much money it takes to keep some 96 year old alive for 6 more months? Way more than a fat person is going to add to the whole). You'll end up needing to spend more and more, and the insurance companies will just make more and more excuses to charge us more and more. Scams, nothing more. It's the market incentive for the insurance companies that you pay in as much as possible and then die quickly without costing them any money. That's the main problem, if you want to get down to it. Pay pay pay....die. That's the perfect customer to the insurance companies. All this other crap is just cosmetics, pretending that there is some problem when it's all been paid for already.

Social designers wishing to force us all into the same f'n mold and nanny state supporters are the only one's endorsing these moves against the people. Well other than the insurance companies who set the scam up in the first place.

SouthernDemocrat

I run 5 days a week, eat right, lift weights, don't smoke, and my doctor tells me every year when I go for a physical that I am in perfect physical condition.

So, why should I pay the same Medical Insurance rate that someone that is obese, doesn't eat right, doesn't listen to their doctor, and considers walking in to Burger King rather than just going through the drive through “getting their cardio in”?

Seriously, this has nothing to do with choice or freedom. After all, no one screams about a loss of freedom when they pay a ridiculous Auto Insurance rate after 2 speeding tickets and a DUI. If through one’s own life choices they are a lower risk to insure then they should be rewarded for that. Conversely, if someone sits on their ass all day eating, never exercises, and doesn’t take care of themselves they ought to pay a higher rate. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think you should be penalized for preexisting conditions. However, it’s perfectly fair in my opinion for those that make good choices in regards to their health and fitness to get better rates and those that make poor choices to pay more as they are a higher risk. In the current system, I am essentially a fit runner that has to subsidize the insurance of all the fatties.

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P/N

So you would totally be against welfare then right? And you are against higher taxes for the rich as well right? If you aren't then you are a hypocrite, FYI.