Preventive Care? Tell the US Government to Stop Subsidizing Obesity!

Good thing there are so many of us out here able to fight the government by not becoming obese.
I think the increase in childhood obesity has more to do with parents not telling their children “no” and not spending enough time with them.

Funny the president never says the Government should intervene to stop smoking.
I wonder why….

Even the poor people are fat.

“Funny the president never says the Government should intervene to stop smoking.
I wonder why..”
“WASHINGTON – With support from a president who’s been trying to kick the habit himself, lawmakers renewed their efforts yesterday to require government regulation of cigarettes.
President Obama has been an occasional smoker who acknowledged recently that quitting hasn’t been easy. While in the Senate last year he cosponsored legislation that would have given the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate cigarettes and other tobacco products, to reduce the harm from smoking.”
The lesson as always? Right wingers lie.

All of us make choices that brings risk to us. It’s part of life. I chose to fly high performance aircraft in the military. 6 of my friends died along the way, but every one of them would do it again. It is what made them happy. It’s just an example, but part of being a free nation is accepting the risk that freedom brings. Doesn’t matter if it’s cigarettes or riding motorcycles, you understand the risk associated with it. It should stay the choice of the individual, not the government.
This is why universal health care is such a bad idea, because it puts that power of choice into the hands of the government. If you apply for health insurance now, and you check the box that says “smoker”, you pay more, as you should. A consequence of your choice. Choose not to if you want to save money. That is the way it should work. But that’s not possible with social systems because we all pay for each other. So the government will begin to take choices away from us and we will cease to be a free nation.

KR:”This is why universal health care is such a bad idea, because it puts that power of choice into the hands of the government. If you apply for health insurance now, and you check the box that says “smoker”, you pay more, as you should. A consequence of your choice. Choose not to if you want to save money. That is the way it should work. But that’s not possible with social systems because we all pay for each other. ”
That’s not possible? Are you nuts? That’s the appropriate use of tobacco taxes – they could be used to directly subsidize the costs of providing smokers healthcare and provides the market incentive you seem to like.
And you seem to conveniently ignore that currently if you’re a smoker you just chose to pay for zero health insurance. It’s illegal to let someone die in an ER just because they’re an uninsured smoker. So who do you think pays for their free healthcare now?

“That’s not possible? Are you nuts? That’s the appropriate use of tobacco taxes – they could be used to directly subsidize the costs of providing smokers healthcare and provides the market incentive you seem to like.”
So wait, tobacco taxes are paying for uninsured smokers? Or is this what your proposing? If that were the case (which thats fine with me), then tobacco tax shouldn’t be nearly as high as it is now. I’m guessing the government is getting WAY more then that given how rediculously high taxes are on tobacco. But if the government came out and said, “all tobacco tax will used to pay for uninsured smokers healthcare bills” then a lot of insurance companies wouldn’t cover smoker related health issues, since the government would.
“And you seem to conveniently ignore that currently if you’re a smoker you just chose to pay for zero health insurance. It’s illegal to let someone die in an ER just because they’re an uninsured smoker. So who do you think pays for their free healthcare now?”
Of course I wasn’t talking about uninsured smokers, I was talking about insured smokers. And insured smoker pays more than an uninsured smoker which is how it should be. We all pay for everyone who is uninsured, regardless of their habits or health, through rediculously high hospital bills.

“Personally, I prefer a hybrid system.”
A largely public plan with the option of private insurance?
Which countries currently operate on that model?

I’m sure there are many who like to wrap every ill of humanity into the ‘more government, less private enterprise’package, which often gives people the pleasure of the thought of consuming power. But there are two sides to every story.
One of the grossly under-estimated realities of Americans, is that much of our stock was kicked out of europe for being feast-or-famine social tiers. That desire to consume and store calories whenever they are available is the body’s intelligence, developed over countless cruel ages of rule by the thinner, just-in-time metabolisms of the ruling elite.
Also, if you’ve ever had children with no TV available and plenty of garden vegetables(as I do), you will quickly learn how swift they are to find the most efficient sources of energy, and how much energy they are willing to expend to get them.
Those are two forces that should not be underestimated for their power over the human animal in this longer-term kind of discussion.

On the other side, if grape sugar replaced corn syrup, and olive oil replaced certain vegetable oils, that is to say, if the major raw-material kinds of inputs into the food-chain could be efficiently brought into compliance with the body’s requirements for efficient processing, that might be an improvement. But that’s the reason Britain took the cane rum-sugar and put the left-overs on our table sugar-bowls.

“why are there laws against private corporations who pollute their own property and contaminate the water supply of nearby areas.. they’re not only polluting their own property but also affecting surrounding areas….”
How the heck did you arrive at environmental pollution discussing smoking inside a private establishement?
“likewise smoking and second hand smoke are proven health risks leading to death, you can pollute yourself but you can’t pass the risk on to others..”
Others don’t have to enter that establishment? States have passed laws banning smoking indoors, in restraunts and bars. It should be up to the owners if smoking is allowed inside or not. As a patron, if I do not want to be exposed to smoke indoors, I will avoid those establishments. It should be choice, not a state law.
“Someone could open a private club, like a ‘cigar bar’, and everyone who entered would be accepting the risk.”
That’s not what state laws being passed do. They law prohibits private owners from allowing smoking inside their own establishments, which I believe to be unconstitutional.