What the hell is going to happen to our insurance rates now? Especially, if private insurers feel enough pressure to start extending services to those who don't qualify for Medicare. Why can't we just treat the cause and make attempts to help people change their lifestyles? No. Now our tax dollars get to go for paying for "treatment" procedures. I wonder how the Fed will define those procedures. More than likely they won't be including items like health club memberships. This just makes me sick!!
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What the hell is going to happen to our insurance rates now? Especially, if private insurers feel enough pressure to start extending services to those who don't qualify for Medicare. Why can't we just treat the cause and make attempts to help people change their lifestyles? No. Now our tax dollars get to go for paying for "treatment" procedures. I wonder how the Fed will define those procedures. More than likely they won't be including items like health club memberships. This just makes me sick!!
Hopefully insurance companies will use body comp as part of what they base insurance rates on. Since body comp seems to play a role in medical costs this would seem like the fair way to do it. Of course insurance companies have never been known for being fair about anything.
I agree though I think this is a bad thing. Another reason for people not to take responsibility for there own actions.
Originally posted by Bond007: I wonder how the Fed will define those procedures. More than likely they won't be including items like health club memberships. This just makes me sick!!
Well, at least they mention covering diet/exercise programs: " intensive in- and outpatient programs at hospitals that provide diet and exercise management".
No way they'd cover health club memberships, IMHO.
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I agree though I think this is a bad thing. Another reason for people not to take responsibility for there own actions.
I agree that obesity is largely preventable. But it should be remembered that there is a subgroup of obese folk who have legitimate medical conditions which sabotage efforts at weight loss. Those folks deserve to be treated like anyone else with a real illness.
quote:Originally posted by Bond007: I wonder how the Fed will define those procedures. More than likely they won't be including items like health club memberships. This just makes me sick!!
Well, at least they mention covering diet/exercise programs: " intensive in- and outpatient programs at hospitals that provide diet and exercise management".
No way they'd cover health club memberships, IMHO.
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I agree though I think this is a bad thing. Another reason for people not to take responsibility for there own actions.
I agree that obesity is largely preventable. But it should be remembered that there is a subgroup of obese folk who have legitimate medical conditions which sabotage efforts at weight loss. Those folks deserve to be treated like anyone else with a real illness. [/quote]Defiantly, the people with medical problems causing the obesity are probably already covered by insurance, or least the problem that is leading to weight problem. I defiantly agree these people should have coverage. My comment was directed at those who have a choice. I have kown people on both sides of the coin.
Originally posted by russ: Well, at least they mention covering diet/exercise programs: " intensive in- and outpatient programs at hospitals that provide diet and exercise management".
No way they'd cover health club memberships, IMHO.
Yeah, and then what happens when these people either don't make "fitness" a part of their daily regimen or can't afford a health club membership. We control our weight through diet and exercise. We are, afterall, talking about people who can apply for Medicare and be accepted by the program.
I know more than my fair share of individuals who've been through expensive and lengthy fat-farms, fat-camps, etc. And, they still aren't able to control their respective weight even though they don't have any "medical" reason for it. These are intelligent, college-educated people who can more afford to buy a gym membership....and they also KNOW better!! Can you honestly expect someone on Medicare to follow through with their prescribed treatment regimen once their coverage expires?
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Originally posted by russ: I agree that obesity is largely preventable. But it should be remembered that there is a subgroup of obese folk who have legitimate medical conditions which sabotage efforts at weight loss. Those folks deserve to be treated like anyone else with a real illness.
Don't get me wrong here. I'm not saying that those unfortunate sots who can't control their weight due a real medical condition shouldn't be afforded insurance so that they can keep their weight under control. But, honestly, how many people are obese due to lifestyle choices versus a medical condition? From my own personal observations, I'd honestly have to guess that a relatively large number of obese people are that way due strictly to their choice of lifestyle.
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It is highly predictable--and almost automatic--that when thie news of obesity's being treated as a medical problem, the reaction in this venue should be an argument that obesit y, for the most part, is the consequence of a lack of personal responsibility on the part of individuals. Thiis reaction (also found on the MH boards) is undertstandable, given that everyone participating here has an inerest in fitness and presumably lifts weights and leads a physically active life.
And like everyone else, I have a morbid interest in the faults of others, particularly when I see them doing things that they must surely know aren't good for them. When I go to the grocery store with my cart full of unprocessed simple foods I glow with virtue at the carts filled with Cocoa Puffs, Twinkies, sour cream potato chips, and similar crap. I also see a cause and effect relation between all the crap in a cart like that and the thigh fat draping down over the knees of a woman with advanced varicose veins. And I am amazed when on a rare visit to a soft ice cream place I see someone drive off with a banana split under her chin. Nobody forces others at gunpoint to stuff themselves en route to fatsville.
But, still, I am struck to look at magazine issues from 3 or 4 or 5 decades back. Obesity was rare then, likewise anaorexic teenagers with 16-inch-waists. The question is not why an individual human being bloats up to ultimately obscene dimensions. We know the answer to that question.
But there's another question with a more complicated and probably debatable answer:
why has there been such an epidemic of obesity in most of North America? Here, there may be many different causes, working together. Underfunded school systems that drop P.E. (or that emphasize spectator sports instead of life sports). The homogenized Ameriican commercial landscape, in which every place looks like every place else., with its golden arches and its Taco Bells. Merchandizing food to children. Suburban developments with no sidewalks but with 3-car garages.
In other words, we need to look at individual choices, yes, of course, but we should not ignore cultural and social factors. After all, two of our recent presidents had ranches, but the one who just died had horses, and the current one drives a pickup truck (and is getting a bit thick around the middle in his latest photo-ops).
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From what I read they are basing the definition of obese on BMI which is way off if you are a weight lifter. I have 10% BF, but based on BMI, I am borderline of being overweight.
Originally posted by jwrives: From what I read they are basing the definition of obese on BMI which is way off if you are a weight lifter. I have 10% BF, but based on BMI, I am borderline of being overweight.
That's my tax dollars at work.
True, but BMI is reasonably accurate for the population at large. Remember, the number of people whose BMI is high due to serious muscle mass is small in relation to the general populus. It would not be feasible to measure body fat % for large scale epidemiologic studies of obesity because of the obvious cost and time constraints. As such, BMI is pretty reasonable to use in large scale population based studies of obesity.
It would cost an awful lot more of your tax dollars to measure BF% for the purpose of large scale studies (I tried to edit this into my last post , but I missed the 10 minute window [img]redface.gif[/img] )
I spend my money on clean food and fitness equipment.
Some people spend their money on junk food.
Why on earth should the government help me to stay healthy?
We already have millions of otherwise healthy people riding around on motorized chairs that the gov pays for. Let's break the bank and give them more excuses to strain the budget. As part of the money pot, you and I will pay. Make no mistake about that.
I agree to a point with Gardener that it is more a social or cultural phenomenon. But, we cannot coninue down the road of taking away personal responsibility and common sense. We are creating generations of victims, hosts of the entitled.
I feel for those who have a genuine problem with weight due to a real physical or mental disorder. They will be lost in the shuffle as we pay for drugs for people who will pop a pill for their cholesterol and then walk into a Micky D's and order a supersized meal.
Mahler
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