I'm sick and tired of all these stories that suggest "Fat People are costing us all money!" As if somehow this was something that people do out of spite to skinny people everywhere. Its bad enough being ostracized from society, made fun of, and all the rest that goes with being overweight, but to have to take the blame for high medical costs as well?!
Do the math people! If 10% of all health care costs go to fat people that means that 90% of all health care costs don't go to fat people. Skinny people live longer. Therefore they use more medical expenses over longer periods of time. Further, the only reason fat people's health care costs can be quantified (allegedly) is that they tend to develop the same medical problems (heart problems, etc...). Well, by that token we could also quantify how much money is spent on health care for women (maternity and OB/GYN) or Black People (sickle-cell) or Gay People (AIDS) or whatever... Should we decide that women spend too much money on mammograms? Or perhaps we should just let people with AIDS die out since that would save some money there?
Everyone of us will develop some medical condition in our life. Some of these medical conditions will have been avoidable (like broken limbs from skiing, for instance). Some will not. The cumulative effect of all our medical conditions will decide the quality of our life. But to lump an entire class of people together because of one shared condition and then suggest that that condition is what keeps health care costs high is prejudicial and stupid. After all, people who have cancer spend WAY more on medical coverage than anyone else - and scientists have been telling us for years all the things that cause it. So clearly cancer is avoidable as well. Let's start talking about cancer patients as being drains on our pocketbooks and see how far that flies!
Okay, rant mode off. Some things you just have to get off your chest.
No comments:
Post a Comment