Has anyone seen this Alabama thing?

ooh, I will have to read about this...sounds interesting.

Well, my BMI is still over 35 even after all the weight I've lost in the last year (40 pounds.) Even being as obese as I've been my entire life, I've never had any serious problems what-so-ever... or even minor problems. That being said, I think it is unfair to group everyone together. There may be others with my same BMI who suffer heart problems and such, but I don't so why charge me for it???

And I think it's wrong to single fat people out anyway. And that's exactly what it sounds like is being done. It seems to me that as the years go on, the government tends to get more and more say-so in all the details of our own personal, individual lives.

I'm disappointed in my home state of Alabama... but I'm sure all the states will soon follow suit in trying to do something similar.

This is a tricky situation... I personally think that everyone is entitled to great health care, regardless (I posted earlier, but that was regarding life insurance - not health insurance - my error).
:blushing:

A note on the use of BMI - rating a BMI of less than 25 as "healthy" and a BMI of over 30 as "obsese" are not just arbitrary numbers. Those are numbers that correlate to the big increase or decrease, statistically, as related to the amount of body mass. For example, there is a slight increase in weight related health problems starting at a BMI of 25, and another significant increase starting at a BMI of 30 (or 35 as this insurance company must have found by their data).

An intersting point made by Dr. Mehmet Oz regarding an excess of body fat...

It's not only the strain on joints, tissues, ligaments, and organs caused by excess body fat that puts our health at risk. The real problem in the body occcurs because this excess fat becomes hormone producing, and starts to alter the body's chemistry, contributing to and creating diseases such as diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease, high blood pressure, etc. It is not just the weight itself, it is that the weight becomes a living "entity" inside your body, and starts to alter the body in very negative ways.

This was SO eye opening - I had never thought of it that way before.
:flowerforyou:

I guess the theory is the same as auto insurance. We do not all pay the same thing for auto insurance. If you are an 19 yr old boy you are paying 3x that of a 45 yr old woman.
It has to do with exposure. The 19 yr old is statistically more apt to have an accident than the woman.

In theory that is ok....but as I have said before I have 2 friends who are way under weight-she is 5'4" and if she weighs 100 lbs i would be surprised. We would joke that she and her spouse could eat anything and not gain weight.

he died last year of heart failure and she had a heart attack the year before.

It has to do with diet and exercise. So would it be fair to charge me more money than her?

It is an interesting subject

Like others before have mentioned, I am not a fan.

Why should being obese create a higher charge for health care than other conditions/ailments?

I had high blood pressure brought on by pregnancy.
I have had asthma (and been hospitalized twice) since childhood.
I have psorasis.

Others may have juvenile diabetes, be chronic smokers or drinkers, eat horrible diets clogging their arteries (but not be obese... like many younger men!), or have a variety of other ailments. I have friends who have high risk pregnancies but still want more children and continue to have them (not criticizing their choice, only pointing out the expense therein).

Why should the obese have to pay extra???

Admittedly, obesity leads to other diseases, ailments, and conditions but it should not be singled out.

While discrimination laws cover age, sex, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual preference, they STILL have not thought to cover a person's size within those constraints. The obese are heavily discriminated against and ridiculed in an unfair manner, in my opinion.


PS--- My BMI is just recently moved out of the obese category into the 'just fat' category, although I never thought I looked 'obese'.

The only reason why I agree with the charge is because insurance companies and businesses do not want to be basically ruined by people who have health risks. If you have a health risk, such as being overweight, insurance companies are in danger of loosing money, and companies in risk of loosing time, money, and employees.

Well, my BMI is still over 35 even after all the weight I've lost in the last year (40 pounds.) Even being as obese as I've been my entire life, I've never had any serious problems what-so-ever... or even minor problems. That being said, I think it is unfair to group everyone together. There may be others with my same BMI who suffer heart problems and such, but I don't so why charge me for it???

And I think it's wrong to single fat people out anyway. And that's exactly what it sounds like is being done. It seems to me that as the years go on, the government tends to get more and more say-so in all the details of our own personal, individual lives.

I'm disappointed in my home state of Alabama... but I'm sure all the states will soon follow suit in trying to do something similar.

Well the thing is, it isn't about problems you've had or currently have but the ones that will develop later in life, such as cardiovascular issues, arthritis and even cancer which have all been linked statistically to obesity. Whether you develop those problems or not, you're in a high-risk category and insurance companies are good at using statistics to justify raising rates (like being a guy and getting charged more for car insurance, or living in Louisiana and getting charged exorbitant rates for home and flood insurance, or even being denied coverage at all). It sucks, for sure, but I really think it's probably more to do with the way insurance works than with the government really and truly being concerned with your health. They just don't want to pay more. But, that's just me.

Yea, I thought about this approach to the issue, as well, but here's my thing...

I'm overweight, so I'm prone to all kinds of possible future problems. Diabetes, cancer, back problems, heart problems, etc....

However, I'm also prone to some of these simply because my mother and grandmother and great grandmother (and let's not forget all the fathers, uncles and aunts in the scenario) have experienced some of these problems.

MANY people are at a high risk of cancer and diabetes despite their weights/BMIs/lifestyles simply because it runs in their family.

So, I don't think it would be very fair to charge a perfectly healthy woman more simply because their grandmother had breast cancer. She is at a much higher risk of developing breast cancer than someone whose family it doesn't run in, but she should not have to pay the price for that.

Just my thoughts, I guess.

I live in Alabama and I read something about that, but I have not actually talked to anyone who is dealing with this issue.

As with everything there are pros and cons. Will this help the fat guy who eats big macs everyday want to make a change? Maybe so, maybe not.

People have to want to change. Putting a higher tax on cigarettes didn't make people quit. I don't think that making them pay more for their insurance is going to all of a sudden make them want to quit eating unhealthy things.

It will be interesting to see the results of this in a few months. My guess is that this plan is not going to have a high success level.