I guess you heard the media say something about letting the fat smokers die …
AP, NBC Ask: Time to Publicly Shame the Obese, Let Smokers Die?
Today, Associated Press medical writer Mike Stobbe published a piece that takes seriously the idea of singling out smokers and the overweight with public shaming campaigns:
That said, public health officials shouldn’t shy away from tough anti-obesity efforts, said Callahan, the bioethicist. Callahan caused a public stir this week with a paper that called for a more aggressive public health campaign that tries to shame and stigmatize overeaters the way past public health campaigns have shamed and stigmatized smokers.
National obesity rates are essentially static, and public health campaigns that gently try to educate people about the benefits of exercise and healthy eating just aren’t working, Callahan argued. We need to get obese people to change their behavior. If they are angry or hurt by it, so be it, he said.
The piece also opens with this disturbing question:
Faced with the high cost of caring for smokers and overeaters, experts say society must grapple with a blunt question: Instead of trying to penalize them and change their ways, why not just let these health sinners die?
So it’s fat-smokers that are driving up healthcare cost?
I THINK NOT!
Fat Smokers = Lower Health Costs
Fat smokers die earlier and are less of a burden on the heath system, whereas thin fit non-smokers hang around too long, an average of 84 years instead of 77 for smokers. According to the study, cancer incidence, except for lung cancer, was the same in all three groups. Obese people had the most diabetes, and healthy people had the most strokes. Ultimately, the thin and healthy group cost the most, about $417,000, from age 20 on. The cost of care for obese people was $371,000, and for smokers, about $326,000.
Van Baal concluded “Lung cancer is a cheap disease to treat because people don’t survive very long, But if they are old enough to get Alzheimer’s one day, they may survive longer and cost more.”
So there you have it – fat smokers save the healthcare system money … in short it is to the government advantage under ObamaCare to keep you fat and smoking – you’ll die sooner and save them money.
So light up and eat up it’s the patriotic thing to do.