HBO'S "The Weight Of The Nation"

[Pinkie]

The series fascinated me. And I agreed with all of it.

http://theweightofthenation.hbo.com/

I guess arguably, this could be better posted in Arts & Entertainment, except I really don't know (or care) whether HBO funded it. The series looks at the health consequences of being overweight or obese on the individual, his community, his state and the nation.

Scariest of all was the one on children. If we have overweight and obese children, in 10 more years we'll have a workforce that is not only about 50% obese and morbidly obese, but also suffers from a vast array of health issues. Apart from driving up tax expenditures, the numbers of healthy workers remaining to support the HUGE NUMBERS of people on social security (not to mention SSDI, Medicaid, etc.) will be completely decimated.

If you can only spare the time to watch one episode, watch the last one, "Challenges". It does the best job of explaining the micro and macro influences on Americans as regards weight.

(If you are overweight or obese, the series is extremely worthy of your time. There are factors -- about causation and risk -- you most likely never knew of. I know I didn't.)

 

[iliveonramen]

The obeisity epidemic of children is the most important part in my opinion. Part 2 states how being obese at a young age makes it much more likely to be obese as an adult as well as provides biological reasons!

 

[Helix]

at my job, they offered a tobacco-free "discount" to the health premium for the first time this year. I say "discount," because for a tobacco-free plan, the premium only goes up $20 a month; the other rate goes up significantly more.

there's an FAQ on the benefits website which basically says that it's only a matter of time before they do similar price increases for obesity and alcohol. when they jack up health care premiums for obesity, the public outcry will be legendary.

 

[Pinkie]

at my job, they offered a tobacco-free "discount" to the health premium for the first time this year. I say "discount," because for a tobacco-free plan, the premium only goes up $20 a month; the other rate goes up significantly more.

there's an FAQ on the benefits website which basically says that it's only a matter of time before they do similar price increases for obesity and alcohol. when they jack up health care premiums for obesity, the public outcry will be legendary.

According to the HBO series, many companies already do this. It's yet another reason I object to providing health care via profit-seeking insurance companies. Tobacco, sure, who's gonna defend that, apart from me? Fat, sure, makes sense to the average guy I have no doubt. But what these companies are doing is less and less providing "health insurance" and more and more moving us all towards a "cash and carry" system. The older you get, the more likely it'll be you'll fall out of favor as well....and isn't that just what they want? To insure only people who rarely or never make claims?

Accident-prone? Bad genes? Pregnant? Up goes your premium!

Ask yourself, Helix: at what point does a premium discrepancy get so big it's just a pre-exisiting condition exclusion by another name? Except the joy of this idea is, from a profit-seeking insurance company's POV, you aren't measured only by a snapshot of your health and your family's health when you are hired. You can fall out of the affordable range with your employer-provided health insurance at any point in your career, if you file a big enough claim.

 

[Helix]

the premiums have gotten so high here that i'm almost out of the affordable range right now.

there are cheaper plans offered by my employer. they're great unless you get sick. i'm paying out the ass for a real one.

it did really piss me off, though, that they billed the tobacco free option as a $600 discount. i qualify, and i could really use that money. then i look at the fine print, and it's still more expensive than last year's non-tobacco free premium.

 

[Pinkie]

the premiums have gotten so high here that i'm almost out of the affordable range right now.

there are cheaper plans offered by my employer. they're great unless you get sick. i'm paying out the ass for a real one.

it did really piss me off, though, that they billed the tobacco free option as a $600 discount. i qualify, and i could really use that money. then i look at the fine print, and it's still more expensive than last year's non-tobacco free premium.

Health care just does not lend itself to an insurance model the way fire insurance does. Insure 100 homes inside a 100 block radius and only one may burn...maybe two. Insurance companies have experts who can predict this with amazing accuracy -- only no one knows in advance precisely which home it'll be. Form the POV of the profit-seeking insurance company, this does not matter. 99 or 98 policyholders will have paid claims and only 1 or 2 made a claim, so there is guaranteed profit in such a business model.

But we all want vaccines and well-baby care for our kids. We all want "preventive medicine" as we age, and we most assuredly want our broken bones set when we fall or our kids do. Add to that that about half of us are about to be elderly, want to live up to or past the age of 100 and science can make that happen, and what you have is an insurance company's nightmare.

It's like a level 5 hurricane that never ends and just keeps getting worse. We'll end up with the best health care infrastructure in the world but the least access to care in this hemisphere unless the single-payor system is adopted.

Not that this is a magic bullet -- all of us want Cadillac health care and most of us can't even afford first aid kits.

 

[Aberration]

It would seem this amazing profit would be documented somewhere.

 

[Higgins86]

this current obese population in many western countries is going to be real fun for us tax payers in about 20 years time...

 

[Pinkie]

It would seem this amazing profit would be documented somewhere.

Back when I knew such things, in the 1990's, service warranties had a 90% rate of return AKA profit margin.

Over every insurance companies' door is a sign you, the policyholder, might not see: premiums are good, claims are bad.

I was with Liberty Mutual for everything apart from health and after 30+ years, I had a small house fire (electrical; I wasn't home). They will never sell me auto, home or umbrella again -- I broke the golden rule.

Can you imagine if a health insurance company had such a rule? I have prosecuted small companies for this exact offense. They'd sell monthly policies rather than the annual ones you're used to, and if a woman filed for prenatal care, etc. they'd disenroll her. I got them for fraud -- and that's exactly what it is.

I also prosecuted a famous "health insurance" company that sold medicare supplement policies. As people aged and sickened, they'd rate them into separate groups. Those with illnesses were lumped together and sent tremendously high bills for premiums. Trying to stay ahead of health care costs and guaranteeing a company a profit is a model that shifts costs back to the policyholder.

It's a fraud. If you are on a cash and carry basis, you have no insurance.

 

[Pinkie]

this current obese population in many western countries is going to be real fun for us tax payers in about 20 years time...

According to the HBO series, about half of all our health insurance costs are traceable to obesity. NOW.

 

[lpast]

at my job, they offered a tobacco-free "discount" to the health premium for the first time this year. I say "discount," because for a tobacco-free plan, the premium only goes up $20 a month; the other rate goes up significantly more.

there's an FAQ on the benefits website which basically says that it's only a matter of time before they do similar price increases for obesity and alcohol. when they jack up health care premiums for obesity, the public outcry will be legendary.

For many many years Life insurance premiums are lower for non smokers...male and female

 

[lpast]

According to the HBO series, about half of all our health insurance costs are traceable to obesity. NOW.

Not too long ago they were saying the same thing about Smokers and obesity wasnt mentioned...after obesity they will move on to the next thing...Im not trying to say Smoking and Obesity arent bad...there is alot of factors of why america is getting fatter...and so is Europe getting fatter...

America doesnt have to move like it used too at work. Computers, video games..etc...are more to blame than food...kids and adults just dont burn the calories they used too....After school before video games us kids were outside every minute we could be..playing sports and active games and we rode bikes and walked and ran around alot...kids today arent doing that...they come home grab some chips, or some other garbage and park themselves in front of the video console or tv...or start txting...america NEEDS TO MOVE along with curbing their appetite for bad foods...

 

[rhinefire]

"WHY" we are fat (food reasons here only);
Easier access to foods-count the number of restaurnats today versus 50 years ago. Drive thrus-you dont' even have to exit your cars. Foods "designed" to be eaten in the cars. Vending machines in every location imaginable. Candy items at store check out registers. Medias, compare media wexposure including the internet versus 50 years ago. "Double and triple and quad druple burgers, biggie fries and "super" size drinks. Cheeses in snacks. Mini stores evrey where and again what is waiting for you at the check out register?--candy. Wlagreens seels life saving prescriptions but now they also sell alcohol. Home Depot has ice cream machines at their exits. The next time you are in a major grocery store I dare to count the different choice availble for candies, ice creams, sodas and chips, go on try to count them. Today's gas station are no longer srvice stations but food stores that sell gas. FOOD, FOOD, FOOD. Try leaving the house and travel five minutes without seeing a place selling food items.

 

[sawyerloggingon]

All the obese people I know are lazy, they wouldn't get off their fat asses if the house was on fire.

 

[ChuckBerry]

As an obese person I can tell you laziness is not always a factor in obesity. I had a perfect diet, worked a physical labor job AND worked out with weights in my mid 20's and I was still fat, though much more fit than I am now.

Obesity is not always as simple as more output/less input. I was recently diagnosed with low testosterone, which could be a contributing factor to my obesity, so too my sleep apnea could be contributing.

I think that most people who are, say, 20-30 lbs. overweight could tweak their behaviors to get their weight down. Greater than that, and I would suspect something else is going on, and those medical issues ought to be addressed at the same time that diet and exercise are dealt with.

 

[sawyerloggingon]

As an obese person I can tell you laziness is not always a factor in obesity. I had a perfect diet, worked a physical labor job AND worked out with weights in my mid 20's and I was still fat, though much more fit than I am now.

Obesity is not always as simple as more output/less input. I was recently diagnosed with low testosterone, which could be a contributing factor to my obesity, so too my sleep apnea could be contributing.

I think that most people who are, say, 20-30 lbs. overweight could tweak their behaviors to get their weight down. Greater than that, and I would suspect something else is going on, and those medical issues ought to be addressed at the same time that diet and exercise are dealt with.

Your case could be different, I am just talking about the few obese people I actually know. I tend to generalize to much at times, its a charactor flaw I am working on. LOL

 

[sawyerloggingon]

All the obese people I know are lazy, they wouldn't get off their fat asses if the house was on fire.

I apologize for that post. I was thinking of my lazy fat lib sister in law when I wrote it, my animosity towards her got misdirected towards all obese people.

 

[Aberration]

All the fat people I know are lazy. Its nothing to be ashamed of, knowing these people.

 

[kerussll]

OK, this may come off sounding mean, but I don't know how else to say it. But I don't know if all those "lazy fat people" are fat because they're lazy. I think many of them are lazy because they're fat. Once you become just 10-20 pounds overweight, everything you do becomes more of an effort. A small amount of extra weight puts a lot of strain on your joints and your heart when you exercise. The foods many people eat to become slightly overweight (high in carbs, often a lot of sugar, low in protein) make you tired with the blood sugar spikes and lows that follow.

I've never been overweight myself, but I did used to be about 10-15 pounds lighter a few years ago. I can tell a difference in my stamina when I work out, and my energy level has gone down.

 

[Boo Radley]

OK, this may come off sounding mean, but I don't know how else to say it. But I don't know if all those "lazy fat people" are fat because they're lazy. I think many of them are lazy because they're fat. Once you become just 10-20 pounds overweight, everything you do becomes more of an effort. A small amount of extra weight puts a lot of strain on your joints and your heart when you exercise. The foods many people eat to become slightly overweight (high in carbs, often a lot of sugar, low in protein) make you tired with the blood sugar spikes and lows that follow.

I've never been overweight myself, but I did used to be about 10-15 pounds lighter a few years ago. I can tell a difference in my stamina when I work out, and my energy level has gone down.

It is true the more you weight the hard things are. It can be a bit of cycle. I run an hour a day. I 360 lbs, I got four miles done in the hour (that's really slow). At 180, I got 9-10 miles done in an hour. The weight makes a huge difference.