Why shouldn't overweight people pay higher health premiums like smokers?

Question

I just read that less than 6% of overweight Americans can legitimately claim heredity as the cause of their obesity. Since being overweight is a close second to smoking as a cause of premature death and disease, why don't they weigh people every five years and have the ones at least 80lbs overweight pay higher premiums. I'm a healthy eating, in shape, disciplined person who is sick of having to pay health costs for people who brought coronary heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure upon themselves because they couldn't put down the sugary Coke and chips and go out and exercise. What do you fellow skinnies think of this? Fatties, I don't wan't your opinion. Don't you have a Little Debbie snack to be wolfing down?

Answer 1

Well I would not put it quite as rudely as this person but they should pay higher premiums. I even wrote a blog about it earlier ... it was on my mind today. If interested you can sample it here. http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-UvFIaVI8fqJbgL.2S6rJHw--?cq=1

Answer 2

The reason that we don't require overweight people to pay higher premiums is the same reason that we don't require higher premiums for people with genetic ignorance.

You see, my deluded and unhappy friend, smoking is an entirely different thing than eating and lack of excercise.

Smoking, my sad supercillious piece of skinny flesh, is not a requirement for life to continue. You can smoke or not smoke, and life will go on.

Eating is a requirement that we all share, some more than others.

To punish people for having low willpower, or for being in a position that provides less opportunity for excercise is ludicrous to say the least.

The next point that I would like to make is that smoking causes harm to those around the smoker, whereas if I eat a, oh how did you say it, a little debbie snack, no one but myself is harmed.

I am truly saddened if this is the sort of question that you ask, and I truly hope that you are only young and ignorant, as that allows for age and wisdom to somehow possibly creep up on you at a later date.

You must be one of those sneetches with a star, congratulations, I hear that this makes you a better sneetch.

I hope that this helps and I expect it to get deleted by the person who asked it.

Buddhadan

Answer 3

Believe it or not, I had a conversation with a rep from a European Health insurance company (and no, I'm not overweight) regarding the smoking bit and was told that they don't care about whether a person smokes because the actuaries have determined that a smoker costs less than a non-smoking person. Reason: they die sooner. Sounds cold, but it's true. So over a large number of people, over time, smokers are not the cause for the rise in health insurance costs. They are a problem for life insurance because they die sooner, but your average person who comes down with alzheimers or other long term care disease actually costs more. It's a nice scam that we're being charged more when in fact we should be charged less. I do not know whether the same is true for overweight people, but it may be premature to assume that overweight people cost more. We have no actual evidence. If the insurance companies lie about smokers costing more, what else are they lying about. Just some food for thought here.

Answer 4

Since the smokers pay a double duty there, taxes and higher premiums, they are exempt. Since the overwieght folks drive up the actuarial tables well they pay moire as well as us.
When this Goverment, or rather when the Voters of this country wake up, start voteing people in and out, then USA might wise up and do Socialized Medicine. Ok it still is kinda goofy in UK and Canada, but it works.
Maybe scrath that, cause Socialised Medical care could never be a reality in a society that is driven and run by Independant Wealth and the ever increasing of indaviduals wealth no matter what class of citizens happens to be in the way.
Did you ask your Congressman or Represantive? That is like first action in a democracy to see any kind of a positive responce that the Majority can agree on.

Answer 5

If you are going to discriminate against fat people because they have higher health risks, don't forget the gays that get Aids. Hmm...we let them marry each other because the younger generation has been brainwashed to believe "they can't help it, they were BORN that way." It is as easy to make sure you are putting your private body parts in the appropriate sex as it is to put down that Little Debbie. No, I am not a fattie, review all of my previous answers, I struggle to gain weight. Did you know skinny people get a form of Diabetes too and they also die of coronary disease from stress so try to calm down a little, it is better for your heart.

Answer 6

First: don't believe everything you read. Second: if you are "healthy eating, in shape,..." doesn't mean that other people must be that way (it would be very boring, pleasure less world...). And you don't mind paying taxes for your country which are spent on many useless things? Enjoy life, you can't be certain that you are going to live longer than some overweight people. Or be disciplined, exercise, join the army and admire yourself every day in a mirror how you live healthy life. And no, I don't have weight problems.

Answer 7

Well for one reason there is a lot of overweight people that can not help it due to thyroids, pcos, and many many many other health problems that cause weight gain. Most people DO NOT CHOSE to be fat. And if your going to ask a ? like that then why not dive into other areas such as why should i have to pay more due to some dip$hit who thinks they are sick and running to the dr every day because they sneezed and why should most black have to pay more because of certian illnesses they MIGHT get, why should a 70 year old man that is in perfect health have to pay more because he is 70 why should most single wemon have to pay more because of pregnacies,and yearly exams.

THE ANSWER BECAUSE WE LIVE IN A UNFAIR SO CRUEL WORLD IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT MOVE TO A THIRD WORLS COUNTRY AND SEE IF YOU COMPLAIN ABOUT HIGH INSURANCE COST THEN!

And by the way no I AM NOT FAT that is just how i feel

Answer 8

In some aspects of life, they do pay a premium. For example, life insurance. Increased weight is the primary factor that causes a policy to cost more.

In regards to health insurance in particular, I suspect that they could implement this, however, no insurance company wants to be the first. If one was doing it, they would lose a significant number of customers very quickly, because they wouldn't want to have to weigh in every X years (even if they're not overweight).

Furthermore, there would be a significant cost to the insurers to implement such a scheme and it might offset any potential savings. (Not only would they have to collect and store this data, but they would have to perform more complex data analyses to implement the different costs.)

Answer 9

Unfortunately it's all about economics and not health. The Coke and McDonald's etc. mega corps would lose tons of money if people were to eat healthy to avoid an obese tax. Wouldn't a better way to change things be to put the extra tax burden on the mega corps? Then perhaps they will be the ones to serve us a healthy alternative.

Answer 10

Give the insurance companies a little time to calculate how much money they can make by doing this (because they will not lower your rates, but raise the rates of the obese). It'll happen...but, I doubt that you will benefit.

In the meantime, be sure that you never have to go on blood pressure meds, or have trouble with your thyroid, or, god forbid, have menopause.

Answer 11

There are MORE than heredity problems for being overweight. Why do I have to pay higher premiums for people like YOU stressin over overweight people who bring on high blood pressure, anger issues and mental issues to themselves????