Does fear motivate weight loss?

mikek7214

A story in the Wall St. Journal today about employers charging less healthy employees higher medical insurance premiums if they are overweight, or smoke, or have higher BMI, etc. Will financial penalties provide the likelihood that people will take exercise and diet more seriously? I say yes. Big brother is watching.

MireyGal76

Hmm... I'm not so sure... Poor health, lower quality of life, and fear of life threatening diseases don't... Why would money?
It'll just be fodder for discrimination law suits.

quirkytizzy

I'm more of the "SCREW YOU, I STICK IT TO THE MAN!" kinda gal.

Admiral_Derp

Anything can motivate weight loss, if people let it. As far as "will it" doubtful. Like Mirey said, there are much more serious things that people ignore, I doubt money will rock the boat any harder.

sunshinestater

The rising price of cigarettes doesn't cut down on smoking, so I doubt rising health premiums will have much of an effect.

You need your own motivation to get healthy, not an external motivation that gets forced on you. You have to make the choice yourself and then make it a priority for your own reasons.

mikek7214

An African airline charges their ticket price by the weight of the passenger. Stuff is coming down the pike that is heavily going to discriminate against overweight and obese people. In the U.S., we have only begun to see the penalties that will begin to form for those that are overweight and obese i.e. premium surcharges. There's a 2500 page health care bill that was passed by one political party that wasn't read. No one knows what penalties are coming. People better get fit or they may have their house taken from them lol.