Do obese people deserve to not be on insurance coverage?

Question

I saw this blog and wanted to see what the feeling was out there.

http://badboyd.blogspot.com/2007/01/sharin-credit-with-medical-info.html

Answer 1

The test group for denial of insurance benefits or making the person pay a portion of the premium was smokers. They got it on with that and many companies will not even hire people who smoke. I don't think this is a fair practice, even though it is a habit that one chooses. Obese people are next. Note they have already been able to charge extra fare on airplanes or charge for an extra seat. The argument against smokers was that their habit takes a toll on their health which leads to needing health care which drives up the cost. I don't completely agree with that. A lot of people that smoke, avoid the doctor. They don't want to hear all that nagging. When they do have a condition that arises from smoking, they tend to die quickly and therefore do not necessarily cost the insurers that much money. They same argument is being applied to obese people. It's just a matter of time before they are punished for their choices as well. We have a serious problem in America with people trying to legislate morality and legislate good health or what is perceived by the ruling group as good. We may being saying "Heil" soon.

Answer 2

There might be a physical or mental cause behind the obesity. Everyone should have access to health insurance no matter what. If we start denying coverage because someone isn't at an "ideal weight" many sports figures would be ineligible as would thin models. And since we are in a denying mood, why not eliminate children who are born with birth defects because their parents carried a defective gene - hey they should have gotten tested and known better. What about parents who have breast cancer running through their family trees - do the girls born to these families deserve insurance when there was a distinct probability that they will fall victim to the disease? Since we want to save money there are a host of other diseases we can refuse to cover also. Eliminating people will make the insurance companies richer but do very little for you or me.

Answer 3

NO.

Being a member of society is about MORE than just looking out for #1 and keeping your own costs as low as possible. We all have a (limited) moral duty and obligation towards one another. To be fair, one of our duties towards society as a whole, is to take care of ourselves to the best of our ability.

If you start eliminating "certain people" from health insurance coverage, well, it's a slippery slope that *I* certainly don't want to go down. Here are some other "high cost" groups that would VERY QUICKLY join the list of illnesses that are VERY expensive to treat, and require long term cost commitments:

critically ill children
preemie babies born before 30 weeks gestation
the elderly - say, everyone over 70
people with type 1 diabetes
severely handicapped (cerebral palsy, spin bifida, etc)

There will always be people out there who are healthier than you are, and who are more ill than you are. That's just the way it is. If all the above people are denied health insurance, basically what we're doing is shoveling them off into a corner to just die. I can't have that on my conscience.

Answer 4

In my personal opinion, if obesity is caused by some underlying medical condition, then it should be a covered malady. If, however, the only reason for being obese is a choice of lifestyle (poor diet, lack of exercise, gluttony, etc.), it should be similar to the way insurance coverage for a cigarette smoker is done. Both conditions increase the chances for a high level of medical costs and both conditions are preventable/correctable. Not being included in coverage or coverage at a substantial increase in cost is both prudent and reasonable.

Answer 5

EVERYONE should be allowed medical/insurance coverage.

Contrary to popular belief, there are quite a few reasons that contribute to people being overweight, and not all of them are because they "eat too much" or "don't take care of themselves".

If anyone believes overweight people should NOT get medical coverage, it just shows how stupid and cruel they are in my opinion.

EVERYONE deserves medical coverage. Fat, thin, man, woman, black, white, rich, poor, smoker, non-smoker, EVERYONE.

Why would anyone want to deny another human being the right to be well?

Answer 6

Unless you smoke, do drugs, or drink like a fish, there should be no change in insurance premiums.

Answer 7

ADD also alcoholics, drug users and cigarette smokers

Answer 8

people that show little respect for themselves and gut it out, should pay more premiums than people that take care of their bodies.

Answer 9

they already pay more