No fatty, your health is my problem...

Got a few e-mails about the the last post entitled, "Protecting fatties from themselves..." taking me to task for carrying about some other people's health. Sorry, I don't see how anyone can honestly imply that personal health is not the concern of anyone but that person is naive. All I really need to do is look at this proposed plan that will pass some of the increases in health care on to fat employees:

The State Employees Insurance Board will meet next month to consider whether extremely overweight employees — those with a Body Mass Index of 35 or more — should pay an extra $24 a month for health insurance.

Now a BMI of 35 is pretty big, at my largest of 240 lbs. and 5'9" i had a BMI of 35.9. (get yours here) I got that way by being lazy, stupid and lazy. Should fatties be responsible for the increase of health insurance or should it be passed on across the board?

I think they should pass it on to those fatties and the same thing should go for smokers and those with other risk factors. Hell charge them more for the fatness and smoking because those are intentional behaviors which can be changed. If they change their behavior, take the charge away.

We had a "health study" done here at the radio station and guess what a bunch of people who sit on their asses and talk all day were pretty fat. The next step should/will be an increase in the cost of our insurance.

If that happens, why in the world should I be responsible for the 250 lbs employees roaming the halls? Why should I share the burden of the increasing cost of their insurance each month? I took the initiative to try to drops some weight and I should be rewarded for that and not punished for my co-workers double fisting Whoppers.

I imagine the response to this issue will break down into two groups, fatties/non-fatties.

People breaking into these two groups is in no way is surprising. Unhealthy people, which I would probably still be considered, are starting to be treated as victims of circumstance or in some cases victims of "pervasive junk food advertising." These people will not take responsibility for their actions and don't think they need to, as this study from The Vitality Group indicates:

the vast majority of Americans (82 percent) believe that they alone are responsible for their health. They also agree that lifestyle choices, such as smoking and exercise, have a direct impact on their healthcare costs. Yet when asked who should pay these healthcare costs, nearly half of Americans (44 percent) believe they should not bear any part of the responsibility of paying for their healthcare.

On the contrary, the majority believe their or their spouse's employer should have some responsibility and nearly half think the government should have some responsibility (59 and 46 percent, respectively.) Only 56 percent think they should shoulder any part of the responsibility themselves.

82% say their health is their fault yet 59% think their employer should foot the bill for the increased cost of their health care on top of covering all their missed time at work, and they wonder why fewer employers are offering health insurance. Worse to me is that 46% of those surveyed want the government (me and you) to shoulder the costs of their bad behavior.

Personal responsibility is on dying in a hospital bed while eating a cheeseburger.

And for no reason here is a fat guy eating a cheeseburger...