Thread: Obama outlines health care plan for all

Just a question....are there more fat poor people or more fat rich people?

They say 51% of our population is obese. How to you tax people on welfare? They get a free pass?

I really can't stand this plan. What I would like to see is less expensive healthcare for all-ya know get rid of all the bureaucracy and redtape and waste to lower costs-not make it worse by having all this govt. involvement.

Originally Posted by jasmine

at what point would they consider one obese? 15, 20, 30 pounds over weight, the ones with health probs. being overweight? I mean, I use to be 20 pounds skinnier, but I still look good (so I think LOL). This is just plain judgemental/prejudice, what ever you want to call it against over weight people. What about underweight/anerexia, they cause health problems too? right? This just opens the door to tax away for all people with all different problems, you just can't tax over weight people, it won't stop there. IMO They just want money.
IMO, an overweight, obese, whatever you wish to call it, is someone that is overweight that doesn't take care of themselves, poor hygeine, just sloppy in general. I know some very overweight people that are very attractive IMO, they take care of themselves, have good hygeine, take care of themselves etc.

IDK, it would be almost impossible to implement fairly. And what about all the skinny people who are completely unhealthy-don't eat right, never exercise, etc.

How about having to take medication whose side affects causes one to gain weight. Thyroid meds, anti-depressants, etc....there are many of them....if that weight gain pushes someone over the 'limit', should they be taxed?



No....:

Less government people, less government....

Originally Posted by jeanea33

I seen on msnbc today that they are considering taxing the obese. How do you even do that? We get on a scale when we file taxes?

I read about this on the Wall St journal site and I was under the impression that this was proposed by the CDC who has no authority to impliment any policies, not the Obama administration.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB2000...089897258.html

By BETSY MCKAY
The medical costs of treating obesity-related diseases may have soared as high as $147 billion in 2008, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday, as its new director set a fresh tone in favor of more aggressively attacking obesity.

The cost of treating obesity doubled over a decade, signaling the rising prevalence of excess weight and the toll it is taking on the health-care system. The medical costs of obesity were estimated to be $74 billion in 1998, according to a study by federal government researchers and RTI International, a nonprofit research institute in Research Triangle Park, N.C.

The findings were released at a conference on obesity held by the CDC in Washington, D.C. The prevalence of obesity rose 37% between 1998 and 2006, and medical costs climbed to about 9.1% of all U.S. medical costs, the researchers said.

Obese people spent 42% more than people of normal weight on medical costs in 2006, a difference of $1,429, the study found. Prescription drugs accounted for much of the increase.

The numbers underscore the urgent need for deeper interventions in society and the environment that will make it easier for people to maintain normal weight, Thomas Frieden, the CDC’s new director, told conference attendees. While obesity rates among some population groups have shown signs of leveling off, that is of little comfort, he said: The average American is about 23 pounds overweight. Obesity is causing disabilities and exacerbating health disparities, he said. The average American consumes about 250 calories more a day now than two or three decades ago.

“Obesity and with it diabetes are the only major health problems that are getting worse in this country, and they’re getting worse rapidly,” he said.

Change is needed on many fronts, he added. “Reversing obesity is not going to be done successfully with individual effort.”

While the CDC is not a regulatory agency and has only a $43 million budget this year for nutrition, physical activity and obesity programs, it is now stepping up its efforts to combat obesity. Last week, the agency released a set of recommendations to help communities prevent and combat obesity. They include discouraging the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, instituting smaller portion-size options in venues such as government facilities, and requiring physical education in schools.

As New York City’s health commissioner for more than seven years, Dr. Frieden was known for measures such as banning artificial trans fats in some foods and requiring certain chain restaurants to post calorie counts on their menus. In an article published in April in the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Frieden and Kelly Brownell, a professor at Yale University, proposed a penny-an-ounce tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, arguing that those drinks “may be the single largest driver of the obesity epidemic.”

In his speech Monday, Dr. Frieden said measures that had worked to control tobacco, such as taxes and reducing exposure, could help control obesity, too. Those could include a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages. A 10% price increase on sugared beverages could reduce consumption 7.8%, he said.

But he didn’t express the proposal as a policy of the Obama administration. The CDC doesn’t officially endorse an increase in taxes on soda, but cites price increases as a proven strategy for tobacco control and says they should be considered as a strategy for obesity control.
The beverage industry opposes soda-tax proposals. “It’s overreaching when government uses the tax code to tell people what they can eat or drink, said Kevin Keane, a spokesman for the American Beverage Association. “It’s hard to make the connection that there’s a unique tie between soft drinks and obesity.”

Originally Posted by pepperpot

How about having to take medication whose side affects causes one to gain weight. Thyroid meds, anti-depressants, etc....there are many of them....if that weight gain pushes someone over the 'limit', should they be taxed?



No....:

Less government people, less government....

Less government people, less government....
ITA!!!

This is same the reason they gave for raising the cigarette tax. They claimed that cigarettes cause the bulk of illness, now it's food, next we'll be taxed on having sex because we can potentially make a person who can smoke and get fat and need healthcare. lol.