Really? REALLY!

I can see how you would be pissed, and you can see why arizona is trying to pass a law that requires that all who are on state medical insurance who are obese have to pay a fine if they aren't actively working towards becoming healthy, they are trying to find a solution.

In my opinion our government shouldn't be handing out handouts like that, tough love goes a long way sometimes...


I would totally be pissed off if I was in that situation.

Bump for when I am not at work. sounds like we work with the same people..

Ok take this as I mean it I hope. I work in vocational rehabilitation working with people with Physical and Mental Disabilities that prevent them from working full time, however, the goverment states that they are healthy enough to work part-time and can not get Disability. So in order to continue getting their Medicare, Food Stamps, Welfare, etc. They have to get a part-time job (how many hours a week they have to work depends on their condition). I like that we assess them and really try to help them find jobs that they will love, that we help them get training to re-enter the work-force and we even help them get interships as need. But today I saw a client whose disability was that she was morbidly obese, now mind you a great deal of my participants are obese due to medical concerns and physical limitations. But her disability is her weight, the government is giving her money and these services because she is obese. This bothers me, she does not have another medical concern causing her weight issues, she just is so overweight she has to limit: standing, walking, pushing, pulling and bending. She cannot: crouch, kneel or crawl. I have a lot of sympathy for how hard it is to lose weight but I do not want our government to give money to people who are merely morbidly obese, and I am a Democrat I swear.

After reading this I have decided that I am going to eat pizza every day to the point I cant walk 10 steps without my heart pumping erractially. Once I gain enough weight I'm going to quit my job and let the government pay for me. While everyone is at work I am going to sit home, play video games, watch tv, amoung other fun things. (Need to catch up on Seaon 6 of The Office). This is going to be GREAT!! heck who needs to walk. I'll just let the government buy me a little rascal scooter. Thats gonna be fun too cruising around everywhere!! The best thing of all is I can eat whatever I want whenever I want. Pizza, Mc D's, Burger King, and those 3/4lb burgers from Wendys I love so much. Cant wait to get started!!! Yeah my life span might be shortened a little but everyones gonna die eventually anyways right?


I'm only joking by the way.

Its amazing how this country runs.

Still cracks me up to think about when I recently lived in Hampton, VA and got to watch people drive BMW's, Mercedes, and other expensive cars while paying for their groceries with food stamps. But thats a whole other story.

Sadly I believe it's the only option. I can only imagine the feedback (pun not intended) if they used a logical approach and just told the obese person not to eat as much, deal with their problem, and stop whining. Then that person just sat in their miserable "do it for me" attitude until she died.

Or if they tried to put her in a facility to help her lose weight. Again we'd all protest we were taking away her freedom of choice.

The whole country would throw a fit about how the government let someones mother, sister, wife or huge bean bag couch die a miserable death when she came to them for help. I can only imagine the outcry if she ate her neighbors because the Man stopped her food stamps. So the government is stuck.

The only place a real change can happen is at home, everyone's homes. Look at the kids, and tell them "you need to get up and move around." Then look at ourselves and say the same thing.

I can totally see your point. However, I thnk that if they would still give her help but also make her accountable, the story would change. Sure there are gonna be some lawyers out there that can twist everything. Is not about giving her or not giving her disability is about making people accountable. I think that would change a lot of things. But, hey that's just my opinion it hasn't change so far so I am not holding my breath on this issue....lol...I like your idea though that change starts in "your home". The sad thing is that this woman will pass down what she "knows" and the vicious cycle starts again!

It's called a a desk job!!! You dont have to crouch, stand, crawl, or bend over. Also, I would be more than happy to pay for someone obese to get gastric bypass surgery. There would be the upfront cost by not a lifelong cost.

In my line of work I see this daily. It is frustrating and absurd that our govenment hands out money to those that are obese and refuse the help themselves, all it does in enable them to feel like they are owed something. I live in Arizona and fully support what our government is trying to pass as law for state medicaid. I work too hard for the little money I do make to have someone who is capable of helping themselves sit and collect my hard earned money. And then on top of it, my husband is disabled cant get any help at all from the state! It makes you wonder......

I just remember the news article about the guy that won an almost two million dollar lottery and is still collecting food stamps.

Ridiculous. I mean what's wrong with people anymore? I'm only 25 but when I grew up, I was taught you work for what you have! If you can't afford it, you don't get it. So if one month all I can afford is 1/2 of what I usually spend on groceries, well then dammit I make due with half of what I usually spend! I grow a garden and freeze sweet corn, can tomatoes, grow my own lettuce and potatoes, I make casseroles that feed more than just the two of us, then freeze them so we can eat them later. People anymore are just lazy and wasteful and it makes me sick

I agree with the OP.
Obesity should NOT be classified as a disability because a person CAN change that. It's not like it's an incurable disease. Eat right and get off your butt and get active! It isn't that hard to grasp and accomplish.
Meanwhile other people who really NEED some assistance can't get squat. Not fair at all

Wow we do live in an interesting country don't we. Seems this would be no different then giving a drug addict services since their addiction and side effects from prevent them from holding a job. Makes you wonder what happened in her life that she will accept this as being her life. Kind of sad really

I agree with the original poster, and as a matter of interest the above ^^^ DOES happen in the UK!!! And the same for alcoholics!! I don't think we should write these people off, but I do think the money would be better spent on rehab, rather than funding their addictions.

Yes! I 100% agree with this

Wow, I can't believe the insensitive and judgmental things I'm reading on here. You are all assuming that she's morbidly obese because she's lazy and a glutton. Really?

I am morbidly obese myself. Ever since I hit puberty, I've gained 5-7 pounds a year, no matter how hard I worked or what I did. I was on dance teams, in marching bands, active in martial arts, ate healthy foods, and it didn't matter. And up until three months ago, I had just never found a doctor who was willing to look at me, REALLY look at me as a person, and see that there was more going on here than just laziness or lack of self-discipline. EVERY doctor I went to told me the same thing: "you need to lose weight." Well, REALLY? You think? How LUCKY that you told me that, I never would have guessed! But they would never give me any instructions that were any different from what I was already doing. Until last March, when I finally, after 20 years of searching, found a doctor who was willing to do more extensive tests and discover that my body doesn't process insulin correctly. After his tests showed exactly how my metabolism processes food, he was able to put me on a diet tailored to my body's needs, and it worked. For the first time in my life, I'm losing a steady 1.5 pounds a week now.

Just because she's never had a decent doctor who diagnosed her medical problem doesn't mean she doesn't have a medical problem. Believe me, NO ONE would remain morbidly obese if she or he saw any possible way out. That desperation and despair is what fuels the diet pill industry. Let me give you an idea of the daily humiliations we endure: Buying all our clothes online & paying twice as much for ugly shapeless sacks, because they don't make nice clothes in our size. Being unable to go to the movies, ride a bus or airplane, or sit in a restaurant booth. Wearing adult diapers every day because the extra weight presses on the bladder and causes accidents. Getting painful rashes and sores in between your rolls of fat. And worst of all, people taking one look at you and immediately judging your character, thinking you must be a lazy slob. Do you really think, given a choice, that anyone would choose to live like that?

This poor woman sounds like she has given up. I was tempted to do that many times. What she needs isn't a "kick in the pants," or any more humiliation and derision. What she needs is help in finding out how she can lose weight. She needs support, though not necessarily the kind the govt is willing to give her. I agree that it's wrong for her to be living her life as a handicapped person when she doesn't have to, taking government handouts. But she probably feels that this is her only option. And I agree with those of you who say that the government is handling this all wrong. What she needs is for the govt to take that money and spend it on fixing her, or on helping her fix herself, instead of just sustaining her in the status quo. But that would be more expensive in the short term. And our govt has never been that good at looking at the long-term big picture....

But what she needs most is people to help & support her, not judge her. I'm sure most of us are on this site because we've struggled, ourselves. Let's take a step back and admit, "There, but for the grace of God, go I" and have some compassion, please.