Obesity in America:

I got an email from fellow fitness professional Scott Hines that I thought that I would pass along. This post comes from his blog.

Opinions while interesting, do not necessarily reflect the views of Pro Performance and it's staff. So why would I send this email and ask you to read it? We have an epidemic in our country and it it obesity! Just look around. I'm not here to judge, I want to help! This article was written by Niel Snyder,Ph.D., Ralph A. Beeton Professor Emeritus at the University of Virginia.


The other day I read a news report on child obesity that astonished me. Before I tell you about it, let me point out that about 1/3 of our fellow citizens are obese, about 1/3 of them are overweight, and about 1/3 of them are "normal weight" using weight tables we KNOW FOR A FACT are wrong. What we call "normal weight" isn't normal at all. It's too high, and we know that because people who weigh less than "normal weight" are healthier than people who are "normal weight."

Now back to the news report: Parents of obese children were interviewed to find out if they thought their children were obese. Most of them didn't. As far as they were concerned, their children were the correct weight. That's not the stunning part, though. The shocker was the percentage of parents of obese children who thought their children weighed too little. That's right. About 15% of parents with obese children fall into that category. Talk about denial! I guess it goes with the territory—probably a natural defense mechanism.

Do you think this is an insignificant problem? If you do, then you need to watch someone die from complications due to obesity. I did, and it's not pretty.

What about costs? The medical costs for the last few months of my father's life were almost $500,000, and who do you think paid the bill? All of it except for less than $100 was paid by insurance companies and Medicare. Insurance companies raise premiums to cover their costs and the feds raise taxes or borrow. This is the bottom line. In the end, all of us pay for the obesity problem if we pay taxes or have health insurance, and those costs are rising rapidly. Did you know that rising health care costs will bankrupt this nation if we don't do something to control them? And did you know that the health care costs associated with obesity make the health care costs associated with tobacco consumption look like nothing by comparison? Most people don't.

And what about problems associated with obesity that get very little attention—things like days of work missed, injuries to our joints that were not made to handle excess weight, and back problems. Do you realize there are massage therapists and chiropractors who make their livings "treating" people whose only real problem is that they are overweight or obese?

You've all heard about the fair tax trumpeted these days by Neal Boortz and Mike Huckabee. What about a fair tax for people who impose costs on ME—excessive health care costs and unnecessary taxes—because they don't control their appetites? Why should I pay to support their bad eating habits? We tax alcohol and gas. If you drink or drive, you pay for the privilege. Why not charge people for eating too much? Maybe we can come up with a plan that raises the tax paid by each individual as their weight increases. People who are normal weight won't have to pay the extra tax. As your weight increases, so will your taxes. We can implement periodic weigh-ins so people can lower their tax burden as they reduce their weight burden.

Am I being "insensitive?" Maybe, but as we say in the south, facts are facts. You may want to contest the data, but if you do you'll lose. It's a personal issue for me because I get angry when people I don't know try to pick my pocket and take my money. I don't even like it when people I know try it. Anyway, it's just food for thought. Enjoy!

Neil

Neil Snyder has a Ph.D. degree in strategic management from the University of Georgia. He taught leadership and strategy at the University of Virginia for 25 years, and he retired in 2004. Currently, he is the Ralph A. Beeton Professor Emeritus at the University of Virginia.

My comments would be that one of the answers to our current healthcare problem is to focus on PREVENTION and not wait until something breaks down before we try and fix it.