Political class declares war on ‘fat people’ in latest bid for new tax
Tuesday, July 28, 2009 at 11:57AM 
MRSA image from Centers for Disease Control. According to the Infectious Diseases Society of America, healthcare associated infections claim 99,000 lives annually and incur more than $20 billion in excess healthcare costs in the US.It’s comical, the pop science analyses based on studies that touch a nerve with the political class. The latest alarmist report claims healthcare for fat people costs more. Neoliberal trumpeters like The L.A. Times appear not to read beyond the standard news releases flooding publishers’ email. I am not advocating Americans go out and become obese. But the newspaper’s suggestion to give those fatties some “tough love” by taxing their food to pay for healthcare that will benefit millions in the US illegally pretty much takes the cake, excuse the temptation embedded in my analogy.
For one thing, participants self-reported their BMI. The BMI is based on a Belgian mathematician who’s been dead for a very long time. I’ve often pointed out there were likely very few African-Americans in that study. For another, a sizable amount of the billions cited comes from the private sector. If you pay for your own healthcare, I don’t care what you drink, smoke or eat.
I’ve often asked why neoliberals in media don’t ask hard questions about other areas that burn healthcare dollars that come from government funds. Why is there never a question asked about treating AIDS? We can easily assume barrier methods of contraception would prevent some from getting this insidious disease while acknowledging others contract it through no choice of their own. Drug abusers might opt for clean needles. The tab: $600,000 per patient for lifetime care. The Kaiser Family Foundation said, “The President’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2007 federal budget request includes an estimated $22.8 billion for domestic and global HIV/AIDS activities.”
So taxpayers are not only funding a percentage of our own AIDS patients; we’re funding those in other countries whose citizens refuse to practice anything resembling safe sex.
How about the costs of teen pregnancy? The costs of negligent parenting? The Women's Health Channel said, "In the United States, the annual cost of teen pregnancies from lost tax revenues, public assistance, child health care, foster care, and involvement with the criminal justice system is estimated to be about $7 billion." I'd wager that is a remarkably conservative estimate.
How about the costs of violence, especially among gang members and in communities where there is no respect for human life? The costs of medication errors? The costs of MRSA infections? The costs of promiscuity? Drinking and driving? Aggressive drivers who exhibit road rage? The costs of treating foreigners who come to our country because their own failed country provides no care? The costs of hormone therapy and impact of hormones in oral contraceptives on future generations?
Smokers already carry a heavy burden, taxed in order to fund yet more government health programs. I’ve often remarked it’s too bad we can’t tax radon, considered the second leading cause of lung cancer.
I’ve also questioned many studies because frankly, we have no idea what we eat or drink. Our food system is not secure; our watersheds have prescription drugs. Yet daily we get sensationalized study results.
The weight-loss industry is one that always thrives. It’s not hard to imagine lobbyists intent on seeing as many Americans as possible classified as obese, in the interest of fattening up corporate bottom lines.
The current US government seems bent on removing as many personal freedoms as possible in the expansion of the Nanny state. If Democrats get their way on healthcare, don’t be surprised if your plump child is urged to get lap band surgery. After all, they’re already doing that in Great Britain. The government's intrusion into healthcare is already in a vise-grip because you have to opt in to Medicare to get your social security. And most opt in to a supplemental on top of Medicare.
Besides all that, politicians are lying about the health insurance crisis. Those "45 million" politicos like to cite are an interesting demographic if you break the actual numbers down.
For the L.A. Times to suggest a tax on anyone during these difficult financial times is the height of hypocrisy. California is dead broke. The paper might take a look at that problem before urging government action on a class of people whose weight is assessed by questionable methods based on a long dead Belgian whose research should be vetted more carefully. The paper wants soda and soft drinks taxed. I don’t imbibe either. But it’s obvious the only thing on neoliberal minds is how to get more dollars from an already cash-strapped Main Street.
Reader Comments (2)
Dear Big Brother,
I am obese. I don't eat anymore than my skinny freinds, and yet my weight stays high. Will I be taken out and shot? Will my continued survival be looked at as a monstrosity. (Hope I spelled that right) Will the fat police arrest me and force me to watch weight loss DVDs until I die from boredom?
I work for a living. I pay the IRS. I am even went back to school for a Bachelors degree. I stay as active as I can, and remain curious about the world around me. Why can't I be left alone to pursue my own happiness?
By the way, most fat people actually save the taxpayers money, because when we have a heart attack, we seldom survive.
The best supplements for fat people are:
Fish Oil
Ubiquinol
Resveratrol
Astaxanthin
A good multivitamin
DHEA
To freedom!