Pay obese Canadians to get healthy, new book says

Instead of paying tax dollars to overweight people, we should charge them more for health care. For each pound they are overweight, there should be a "sin" tax applied at every hospital or doctor's visit. When they stop overeating like pigs and start taking care of themselves, then we as taxpayers can help them by sharing their normal health care expenses. Same goes for drug users, alcohol abusers and smokers. If you all do not look after yourselves, why should I have to?

Wow, Dave, that is pretty harsh!! So, lets see, you are not overweight, nor do you "eat like a pig", use drugs, abuse alcohol or smoke...what vices does that leave for you, hmm? There are many other reasons that people may become overweight, such as hypothyroidism, medications prescribed for numerous purposes etc. It is also true that many thinner people who overconsume unhealthy foods will burden the health system with their ailments. I like the idea of a healthy living incentive, focusing on proper nutrition and activity level. Too bad there is no cure for being an a$$ hole. :)

Dave, what's it like to be so perfect and lump everybody else into a single category? Do your research. Most obese people do not "EAT LIKE PIGS". If obese people should pay, why not make seniors pay. Charge the hell out of them for getting old and having the nerve to still be alive after their prime when their health fails and they require regular doctors visits, hospitalization, medications, home care etc.. Make the mentally ill pay for being mentally ill! IT MUST BE THEIR OWN FAULT. WAKE UP, YOU JERK!!!!!

What Dave is saying is an interesting concept, and one that may just work. If you drive your vehicle like an idiot then you pay higher insurance premiums. Why should the same not be true for things like smoking, obesity and other ailments we can control. And I do not know why people kid themsleves by saying that obese people can't help it, show me one obese person who does not over eat and I will show you the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Dave, words cannot describe your ignorance. God save us all from people like you. I'm an obese person who has struggled with weight issues from the time I was 9 years old. My issue is with your comments, not the article's. I make healthy choices every day. Fresh fruit, vegetables, whole grains, organic, home made & not store bought... you won't find junk food in my cupboards nor do I 'eat like a pig' (btw, you're an a$$). I exercise by swimming, walking and attending a gym 5 sessions a week. So, tell me Dave.... seeing that you know so much about it... why am I still obese? Did I mention you're an a$$?

Although it was rudely delivered, I do agree with part of Dave's sentiment. Since there's a fairly clear prevention and many tax dollars have already been spent to determine it and educate people on it, I don't think taxpayers should have to spend more for individual cash incentives for individuals to better their own health. For one thing, it's their OWN HEALTH. Second, it's their OWN CHOICES (thyroid pills are cheap if you need them, so is getting exercise) that mainly determine their state. People know that being a certain amount overweight is bad for them, that it will lead to expensive medical problems and procedures earlier than if they were slim. I'm overweight, and I know what it takes to drop weight and mostly I choose not to. I look around, and mainly I see the same thing...people who sit in front of the TV with chips and pop instead of an exercise machine or doing exercise of some sort. I don't think I should get money to lose weight. It's a fairly simple formula, and I've put it into practice. Look at the standards of the Canadian military. If you seriously try to build up to that amount of running, pushups, situps, and chinups, you WILL lose weight. I lost weight like crazy out of a military career aspiration.

I am a thin person who used to be fat. So I do know both sides of the coin. I was fat because I ate very little healthy foods and scarfed down unhealthy empty calorie junk food. Do I think giving fat people vouchers for healthy living is righ? Not really. Do I think it will make a difference? Absolutley not. Do I buy the "I have a medical condition," "I eat healthy," etc bs crap that most overweight people preach? not really. I do however agree 100% with the sin tax. When I see an overweight mother, shopping with her overweight childern and all I see in their cart is processed, high fat, high sodium, crap food it angers me. Then later on as they are probably sitting on their saggy couch, consuming all of their gross processed foods and not exersising complaining how they can't loose the weight.
I am a smoker, and as a smoker I pay additional tax ontop of the normal taxes imposed. Why? well since smokers have a bunch of late term health problems those billions of dollars in extra above taxes pay for my additional health care costs I may need someday. We smokers are not getting off scott free. I also drive and pay additional taxes on the gas I use to offset road costs, enviormental costs etc.
I got a good chuckle over the old people comment as well. The elderly have been on this earth for a very long time, they have paid their taxes, contributed to society They've earned their rights to visit a doctor, go to the hospital, etc. I found that to be a disrespectful comment.
No respect for the ones before us who helped build this country so the self-entitled can complain that they are entitled to scarf down a BAG of oreo's for breakfast. How bout using the energy wasted posting on this board and take a walk, do some crunches, see this big world.

Dawn I could venture a guess at your sitution. It is a simple concept...once calories burnt in a day start exceeding calorie intake you will start lossing weight. Eat less and exercise more and you will get there.

If good healthy food sold for the same price as garbage food, a lot less people would be obese.Unfortunately a healthy diet is considerably more expensive to maintain. You have only to check prices in your grocers organic section to understand the problem. For the people who have to grab something quick on the go, McD's or A&W are always cheapest and fastest. If anyone should be "subsidized" tolose weight, why not just subsidize healthy food so everyone can afford it.

I agree with the above statements by Route66. I think food manufacturers should manufacture foods at a higher standard for healthwise eating. And why is food that is unprocessed usually more expensive than processed foods?? The sucrose and dextrose and other forms of sugar are messing with our metabolisms and contributing to this epidemic.

Here is my Motto, Just because your skinny it doesnt make you healthy. I realize there is a fine line between overweight and obese people. But I have met healthier overweight people then skinny people. I myself am a little heavier and I am on no meds or do I abuse time at the doctors. I know lots of skinnys who are on tons of meds, cant walk half a mile and can barely make it out of bed in the morning.

Dave you cant assume everyonver weight person is fat by choice-98% are but that 2% are not, my sister inlaw has gained 50 pounds this year do to meds that are suppose to curb her cancer. This cancer eats away at your bones and its to prevent her face from collapsing, never assume always ask and never judge, maybe you dont smoke, over eat or do drugs but I am 99% certain your demons are far worst then anyone else on this board,

In my experience with Judgemental people they judge to make them selves feel better and Dave that is what your doing! Judge yourself and take the rest of us has we are.

Peace

Why not require food manufacturers to limit portion size, salt, fat and sugar levels in their foods? Eating out really only took off after the 1970's along with people's waist lines. You can't get fat if you don't exceed caloric requirements. Limiting portion size, Salt, sugar and fat limits one's consumption .
Ordering 5 proper sized burgers 4 fries and 5 drinks makes one feel a glutton but supersizing your McBaconMeltWhopper is totally normal. Sadly

We're already in debt so deep that North America will collapse into financial rubble within a short period of time.

Why not go out with a bang and give away a whack load of china borrowed money to everyone and their dogs for everything imaginable. It's not our money anyways, right? Who cares?

Route66 your example is completely wrong. "Organic" food is more expensive than regular food because it is produced inefficienctly. It has nothing to do with healthyness and is actually usually the opposite.

"Organic food" is a ridiculous concept. The theory is to grow food without any modern chemicals, GMO seeds or fertilizers (basically farm like its the 1930s). The problem with this is that in the 1930s there was only 2 billion people on the planet. Now there is 7 billion. The reason the food is expensive is because yields are significantly less than with standard farming practices (less than 30% of modern methods in our area) so the farmers have to charge significantly more to get the same return.

Now also consider that in the last 3 years world ending stocks of wheat have begun to drop (ie. the world isn't growing enough food to feed instelf) even though we have had 2 record and 1 near record world grain crops. The lower amounts of food is driving up wheat prices causing areas like Somolia etc. to starve because they can't afford food. By eating organic you are contributing to this because if you didn't eat organic that land could be more efficiently farmed with modern practices increasing the yields which would mean more food for the world and a overall lower food price.

Now some smarty is going to claim that he/she can grow just as well if not better in their garden with organic methods. The average house lot size is about .1 of an acre so your garden is about .02 of an acre. Think of the hours you spend weeding etc. Now consider that Canadian farmers can farm 3,000 acres by themselves with modern practices (our farm is actually 6,000 acres but we do have a couple of hired men). Your method would mean hundreds of thousands of man hours (employing thousands of people) to grow what 1 man can grow with modern methods and equipment.

So that is why "organic" costs more and why organic is contributing to 3rd world starvation. Also from everything I have read on the subject (which given it is my field of expertise is a fair bit) "organic" food is no healthier than normal food and is often less healthy (parasites, low quality etc).

If taxpayers' money is going to pay for obese people to lose weight ,shouldn't that same money pay for people who are too skinny, to gain weight? Neither one is healthy.
Where do ridiculous ideas like this come from? There isn't enough money in the health care system to run hospitals. When I read things like this stupidity, I begin to understand why that is.

Government should give incentives to anyone obese or not to help offset the costs of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. I used to regularly attend the local gym until the cost of membership became prohibitive due to the rising cost of other comodities need to sustain life like heating fuel, gasoline, food, electricity etc. The last incentive I know of was a $40.00 tax credit to help offset the cost of childrens sports. If a person can show proof of participation than its only stands to reason its a good idea as a government to help. Money is dumped into healthcare in this country year after year at an ever increasing amount and the system continues to deteriorate. First we blamed smokers and alcoholics until enough quit that the tax benifit is not there anymore. Now lets blame obese people, after that we can turn public attention to the elderly and then maybe the poor. Just as long as we don't blame administration and the whopping chunk that it takes from public funds and they can still have their chunk of the pie. Administration , Mismanagement, and our Politicians themselves are the problem people.

@ Famer Joe

Thanks for still farming when its much easier to give up....

yes I think we should after all we pay for the people who by their own doing become addicts and we PAY for heath care to those who have contributed nothing to Canada, so to the person who said charge over wight people for every pound they are over wight that person must like paying bills for the people who contributed nothing to Canada

If we're so worried about the burden on the healthcare system, why don't we do something about the immigrants who come here for several months, use our health care system for free, and then go back to their home countries. If you think that doesn't happen, you have your head up your ass. I'm an immigrant nurse myself and I've seen it happen far too many times. Fat people aren't the ones clogging up the system. People who are abusing the system by using it, and not giving back into it (i.e. by living here and paying taxes) are ruining our healthcare.

What about the smokers who develop lung cancer? Why don't we slap fines on them for being stupid and putting "cancer-sticks" full of 600 chemicals into their mouths everyday? Some people honestly DO have medical reasons for being overweight.

My mother had her thyroid removed over 10 years ago and since then has struggled to lose about 50 pounds. Combine that with the horrible arthritis in her knees, and it's very difficult for her to exercise without being in extreme pain. She was thin before she had her thyroid removed. Yes, there are a lot of fat people who are that way because of over-eating and laziness, but obviously not everyone. Also, my mother is overweight but her recent blood tests came back clean. Her cholesterol is low and everything else is in check. Just her thyroid was low. So, being overweight also doesn't mean that you're automatically "not healthy". There are lots of skinny drug addicts out there!!

Dave you should be ashamed of yourself for saying something like that, and by the way Alchohol and Tobacco are already heavily taxed, thank you very much. Not a day goes by in my life where I don't come into contact with someone who is overweight,some of them I know personally. I can tell you that almost everyone of them struggles with there weight everyday. They have tried every diet program out there and no of them worked for them. They do excercise as much as they can, but lets be honest, most people that are closer to our ideal body weight wouldn't excerise if you were to pay them and that probably includes you too.
This is suppose to be the age of Acceptance and Tolerance and that doesn't just apply to goodlooking skinny people. IE., why after having to deal with this issue since it's inception, hasn't the Airline industry designed a chair, even an adjustable chair to accommidate overweight/sized passengers. Instead they penalize the passanger and sometimes even embarrass them on the plane. I know, they lose the cost of a seat, then like 1st Class have a class to fully accomodate overweight passangers to justify the increased price. Like wider seats and wider isles in that section, so they don't feel crapped and/or imposing on others around them. Don't think that they don't see the looks and hear the grunts their presence brings out in some people.
OK Blah Blah Blah, Route66 has a good place to start. Subsidize Healthy Food producers and lower the costs. There's nothing wrong with having your own garden. Gets you outdoors for some fresh air and can also lower your grocery bill. Nothing like home grown veggies. Might even put a little more green back into our cities.
Investing that money into better ways to combat the causes for obesity whether though medicine, government polices or social behaviour would be a much better use of those funds. A lot of the Fast food industry has taken notice of the shift in public thinking about eating healthier and have adusted their menus.
In closing, "Do not judge someone until you've walked a mile in their shoes." You don't know how they got to where they are, don't think that you understand them.