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What new or revised public policy/law would make it easier for people to maintain a healthy weight?

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Replies

  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,427 Member
    edited April 2019
    Machka9 wrote: »
    h7463 wrote: »
    Machka9 wrote: »
    What new or revised public policy/law would make it easier for people to maintain a healthy weight?

    Or prevent obesity?

    Lunch breaks must be 1 hour and 15 minutes ... so that employees can change, go exercise for an hour, and return.

    All organisations must provide exercise options: walking groups, yoga classes, gym in the basement, free gym memberships, or whatever.

    All organisations must provide good, secure bicycle parking.

    People who commute actively get a $10/day bonus in their pay packets.

    Sounds nice... In reality, however... :D

    Most of us don't get paid lunch time. Those who are unabe to workout for some reasons will be stuck for 1.5 hrs, playing with their thumbs, as many employers don't have flexible lunch hours. That sucks... You can't force anyone to be active aside from set job requirements on the clock, as this would be a field day for their worker's compensation insurance...

    Really???? :astonished:

    I've always had paid lunches. I've got an hour, which I can take any time I want ... this would give me one hour and 15 minutes. :) An hour to exercise and 15 minutes to freshen up. :)

    Or if I have errands to run at lunch, it would give me an hour and 15 minutes to do that.

    Or if I don't want to take lunch one day, I could come in an hour and 15 minutes late or leave an hour and 15 minutes early.


    Sounds good to me! It's just an extra 15 minutes a day ... but it provides that extra little buffer to come in and freshen up.

    Paid lunch is uncommon in the US. Nice for you, but not the norm.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,706 Member
    Theoldguy1 wrote: »
    Machka9 wrote: »
    h7463 wrote: »
    Machka9 wrote: »
    What new or revised public policy/law would make it easier for people to maintain a healthy weight?

    Or prevent obesity?

    Lunch breaks must be 1 hour and 15 minutes ... so that employees can change, go exercise for an hour, and return.

    All organisations must provide exercise options: walking groups, yoga classes, gym in the basement, free gym memberships, or whatever.

    All organisations must provide good, secure bicycle parking.

    People who commute actively get a $10/day bonus in their pay packets.

    Sounds nice... In reality, however... :D

    Most of us don't get paid lunch time. Those who are unabe to workout for some reasons will be stuck for 1.5 hrs, playing with their thumbs, as many employers don't have flexible lunch hours. That sucks... You can't force anyone to be active aside from set job requirements on the clock, as this would be a field day for their worker's compensation insurance...

    Really???? :astonished:

    I've always had paid lunches. I've got an hour, which I can take any time I want ... this would give me one hour and 15 minutes. :) An hour to exercise and 15 minutes to freshen up. :)

    Or if I have errands to run at lunch, it would give me an hour and 15 minutes to do that.

    Or if I don't want to take lunch one day, I could come in an hour and 15 minutes late or leave an hour and 15 minutes early.


    Sounds good to me! It's just an extra 15 minutes a day ... but it provides that extra little buffer to come in and freshen up.

    Paid lunch is uncommon in the US. Nice for you, but not the norm.

    The norm in Canada and Australia ... and Europe too, I think. :)


    (I've never lived in the US)

  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,899 Member
    Theoldguy1 wrote: »
    Machka9 wrote: »
    h7463 wrote: »
    Machka9 wrote: »
    What new or revised public policy/law would make it easier for people to maintain a healthy weight?

    Or prevent obesity?

    Lunch breaks must be 1 hour and 15 minutes ... so that employees can change, go exercise for an hour, and return.

    All organisations must provide exercise options: walking groups, yoga classes, gym in the basement, free gym memberships, or whatever.

    All organisations must provide good, secure bicycle parking.

    People who commute actively get a $10/day bonus in their pay packets.

    Sounds nice... In reality, however... :D

    Most of us don't get paid lunch time. Those who are unabe to workout for some reasons will be stuck for 1.5 hrs, playing with their thumbs, as many employers don't have flexible lunch hours. That sucks... You can't force anyone to be active aside from set job requirements on the clock, as this would be a field day for their worker's compensation insurance...

    Really???? :astonished:

    I've always had paid lunches. I've got an hour, which I can take any time I want ... this would give me one hour and 15 minutes. :) An hour to exercise and 15 minutes to freshen up. :)

    Or if I have errands to run at lunch, it would give me an hour and 15 minutes to do that.

    Or if I don't want to take lunch one day, I could come in an hour and 15 minutes late or leave an hour and 15 minutes early.


    Sounds good to me! It's just an extra 15 minutes a day ... but it provides that extra little buffer to come in and freshen up.

    Paid lunch is uncommon in the US. Nice for you, but not the norm.

    41% of workers are salaried. Of hourly workers, 70% are under 30.

    Paid vs. unpaid lunch seems to me to make sense really just for hourly workers.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,706 Member
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    Theoldguy1 wrote: »
    Machka9 wrote: »
    h7463 wrote: »
    Machka9 wrote: »
    What new or revised public policy/law would make it easier for people to maintain a healthy weight?

    Or prevent obesity?

    Lunch breaks must be 1 hour and 15 minutes ... so that employees can change, go exercise for an hour, and return.

    All organisations must provide exercise options: walking groups, yoga classes, gym in the basement, free gym memberships, or whatever.

    All organisations must provide good, secure bicycle parking.

    People who commute actively get a $10/day bonus in their pay packets.

    Sounds nice... In reality, however... :D

    Most of us don't get paid lunch time. Those who are unabe to workout for some reasons will be stuck for 1.5 hrs, playing with their thumbs, as many employers don't have flexible lunch hours. That sucks... You can't force anyone to be active aside from set job requirements on the clock, as this would be a field day for their worker's compensation insurance...

    Really???? :astonished:

    I've always had paid lunches. I've got an hour, which I can take any time I want ... this would give me one hour and 15 minutes. :) An hour to exercise and 15 minutes to freshen up. :)

    Or if I have errands to run at lunch, it would give me an hour and 15 minutes to do that.

    Or if I don't want to take lunch one day, I could come in an hour and 15 minutes late or leave an hour and 15 minutes early.


    Sounds good to me! It's just an extra 15 minutes a day ... but it provides that extra little buffer to come in and freshen up.

    Paid lunch is uncommon in the US. Nice for you, but not the norm.

    41% of workers are salaried. Of hourly workers, 70% are under 30.

    Paid vs. unpaid lunch seems to me to make sense really just for hourly workers.

    Yeah I'm salaried based on a certain number of hours in a day ... if I really wanted the extra 15 min at lunch I mentioned earlier I would just come in 15 min earlier or stay 15 min later.

    Anyway our Bicycle Network is making a push for people who cycle to work to be paid an extra $5 per day ... it's an election lobby I think. That would be nice ... might be just the incentive I need to start commuting by bicycle again.
  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,427 Member
    CSARdiver wrote: »
    FireOpalCO wrote: »
    CSARdiver wrote: »
    There are 168 hours in a week.

    It is not your employer's responsibility to manage 2% of your time to exercise.

    Along that vein, it shouldn't be our employer's responsibility to manage our health care. Yet they do. I'm all for replacing what we have with a single payer system.

    My husband doesn't like his job and he's really tempted to move to another employer. But it would potentially cause such a disruption to our son's medical care and he can't lose his providers. Changing ABA therapists is such a bigger deal then finding a new family doctor or even a specialist like cardiologist.

    Your employer doesn't see it this way. Part of your compensation is provided in sponsored healthcare. Are you aware of the cost?

    You can choose to outsource responsibility, but this comes at a great cost.

    The dirty little secret not talked about is the tax impact of changing employee compensation from a paid (or partially paid) healthcare plan to more wages (i.e., the compensation cost to the employer stays the same).

    Right wrong or indifferent with this switch the value of the health insurance is now taxed at the taxpayer's marginal rate.
  • h7463
    h7463 Posts: 626 Member
    edited April 2019
    FireOpalCO wrote: »
    CSARdiver wrote: »
    FireOpalCO wrote: »
    CSARdiver wrote: »
    FireOpalCO wrote: »
    CSARdiver wrote: »
    There are 168 hours in a week.

    It is not your employer's responsibility to manage 2% of your time to exercise.

    Along that vein, it shouldn't be our employer's responsibility to manage our health care. Yet they do. I'm all for replacing what we have with a single payer system.

    My husband doesn't like his job and he's really tempted to move to another employer. But it would potentially cause such a disruption to our son's medical care and he can't lose his providers. Changing ABA therapists is such a bigger deal then finding a new family doctor or even a specialist like cardiologist.

    Your employer doesn't see it this way. Part of your compensation is provided in sponsored healthcare. Are you aware of the cost?

    You can choose to outsource responsibility, but this comes at a great cost.

    I'm very aware of the cost. I'm an HR manager for an employer of approximately 14,000 people. I have my SPHR (Senior Professional in Human Resources). Many employers would LOVE to get out of the business of providing health care for their employees. It would be much easier for us to take that employer cost and pay it as a payroll tax towards single payer and not have to deal with all the headache of shopping and managing health insurance plans.

    So being aware that rejection of responsibility ended up with greater problems and your solution is to double down? At least there is some level of accountability with a corporate enterprise. There is none within government other than collapse.

    No one wants responsibility, but expects greatness. Greatness requires ownership and investment.

    To be honest I'm having a hard time responding to your post. I'm not "doubling down" on anything, you're making clearly factually inaccurate statements about government accountability, and some vague bumper sticker-ish statements about greatness.

    But to attempt to respond:

    a) the government already provides healthcare and does a decent job at it. I was a military dependent my entire childhood and had some medical issues. I had government provided healthcare from birth to college graduation. Note this is not government provided health insurance, actual healthcare. My doctors & nurses were military personnel and the services were being provided at military hospitals & clinics.

    b) the following countries have universal health care and have yet to collapse: Canada, Norway, Netherlands, Switzerland, Ireland, Great Britain, Singapore, New Zealand, Germany, Japan, Iceland, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Israel. That's a sampling, not an exhaustive list. So "none within government other than collapse" makes no sense either logically or historically. We are the outlier.

    c) companies provide health care because it's an expected benefit that grew out of wage freezes in WWII. But that benefit varies widely from employer to employer, not just based on what the employer wants to provide, but what the employer can afford to provide. The rates & package a health insurance provider gives an employer of 50,000 is very different from an employer of 15,000 and an employer of 150. So the cost of your health care varies depending on the size and pockets of your employer. It's even worse for self-employed people and people who live in rural areas. And to be clear here, the corporate enterprise doesn't run the health care, they aren't "accountable" for the quality of the healthcare or the transparency or reasonability of the hospital or doctor fees. That's several levels removed between the health insurance company and the provider.

    You gotta get your facts straight before jumping into those statements... (bolded above..).

    I lived and worked in Germany for half of my life, and not only is it the oldest healthcare system in the world, it is in my opinion also the best so far.
    Let me elaborate on the perks....
    Universal, mandatory, multi-payer...government, doctors, employers, insured...they all suck up part of the costs to make it affordable...
    It's not employer-based, and if you're happy with it, you can change employers, but take the insurance with you.
    The premiums are calculated by percentage of your income with a cap for high earners. That makes it more affordable, than having to cope fix an enormous chunk taken out of a measly paycheck every other week..
    NO BALANCE BILLING! You pay your premiums, but after that, it's free at point of service.. You won't need to save money for months to be able to afford treatment...
    Oh, and before I forget...the short and longterm disability is embedded, so when you actually get sick, there will be someone making payments, so you can affort to get better....

    Tell me that the above list and the peace of mind that it brings with it isn't contributing to everybody's mental and physical health... => One answer to the OP's original question...

    This list is certainly not complete, and there might be a few things requiring co-pay...like better gold for your teeth... The longer I have to look at the garbage that they call Affordable Care Whatever, the more I miss Germany... But they just had to try reinventing the wheel on that.... (end of vent)...
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,706 Member
    FireOpalCO wrote: »
    CSARdiver wrote: »
    There are 168 hours in a week.

    It is not your employer's responsibility to manage 2% of your time to exercise.

    Along that vein, it shouldn't be our employer's responsibility to manage our health care. Yet they do. I'm all for replacing what we have with a single payer system.

    My husband doesn't like his job and he's really tempted to move to another employer. But it would potentially cause such a disruption to our son's medical care and he can't lose his providers. Changing ABA therapists is such a bigger deal then finding a new family doctor or even a specialist like cardiologist.

    In Australia, employers don't manage health care. It would be nice if they did to some extent.
  • CSARdiver
    CSARdiver Posts: 6,257 Member
    FireOpalCO wrote: »
    CSARdiver wrote: »
    FireOpalCO wrote: »
    CSARdiver wrote: »
    FireOpalCO wrote: »
    CSARdiver wrote: »
    There are 168 hours in a week.

    It is not your employer's responsibility to manage 2% of your time to exercise.

    Along that vein, it shouldn't be our employer's responsibility to manage our health care. Yet they do. I'm all for replacing what we have with a single payer system.

    My husband doesn't like his job and he's really tempted to move to another employer. But it would potentially cause such a disruption to our son's medical care and he can't lose his providers. Changing ABA therapists is such a bigger deal then finding a new family doctor or even a specialist like cardiologist.

    Your employer doesn't see it this way. Part of your compensation is provided in sponsored healthcare. Are you aware of the cost?

    You can choose to outsource responsibility, but this comes at a great cost.

    I'm very aware of the cost. I'm an HR manager for an employer of approximately 14,000 people. I have my SPHR (Senior Professional in Human Resources). Many employers would LOVE to get out of the business of providing health care for their employees. It would be much easier for us to take that employer cost and pay it as a payroll tax towards single payer and not have to deal with all the headache of shopping and managing health insurance plans.

    So being aware that rejection of responsibility ended up with greater problems and your solution is to double down? At least there is some level of accountability with a corporate enterprise. There is none within government other than collapse.

    No one wants responsibility, but expects greatness. Greatness requires ownership and investment.

    To be honest I'm having a hard time responding to your post. I'm not "doubling down" on anything, you're making clearly factually inaccurate statements about government accountability, and some vague bumper sticker-ish statements about greatness.

    But to attempt to respond:

    a) the government already provides healthcare and does a decent job at it. I was a military dependent my entire childhood and had some medical issues. I had government provided healthcare from birth to college graduation. Note this is not government provided health insurance, actual healthcare. My doctors & nurses were military personnel and the services were being provided at military hospitals & clinics.

    b) the following countries have universal health care and have yet to collapse: Canada, Norway, Netherlands, Switzerland, Ireland, Great Britain, Singapore, New Zealand, Germany, Japan, Iceland, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Israel. That's a sampling, not an exhaustive list. So "none within government other than collapse" makes no sense either logically or historically. We are the outlier.

    c) companies provide health care because it's an expected benefit that grew out of wage freezes in WWII. But that benefit varies widely from employer to employer, not just based on what the employer wants to provide, but what the employer can afford to provide. The rates & package a health insurance provider gives an employer of 50,000 is very different from an employer of 15,000 and an employer of 150. So the cost of your health care varies depending on the size and pockets of your employer. It's even worse for self-employed people and people who live in rural areas. And to be clear here, the corporate enterprise doesn't run the health care, they aren't "accountable" for the quality of the healthcare or the transparency or reasonability of the hospital or doctor fees. That's several levels removed between the health insurance company and the provider.

    I'm confused by your original response. If you are aware of the cost paid for by the employer then why would you make your initial assessment?

    The government provides medical care to service members - this is part of the compensation for exchanged services. During my service I witnessed top notch care and received the same, but this is due to a mutual respect among people working towards a common goal, fostering respect. Single payer offers no such exchange, resulting in contempt.

    None of the countries have resolved the issue of solvency. All face increasing demand and decreasing supply. These exist due to the subsidies afforded through the US development process. Note this is dramatically trending downward and will continue for another 30 years. Are you waiting for the collapse to occur? The current US system has assumed the worst of all available options.

    Companies provide health care currently largely due to tax incentives and insurance incentives established in the early 1960s. Cost is established through Medicare/Medicaid with congressional approval. There is a continual bargaining process going on between insurance, distributors, government, and production. The concept of "free healthcare" should be better termed "willful ignorance of the cost".

    If the end goal is to provide higher quality product, increase availability, and lower cost then the only rational course is to decrease unnecessary steps from the process.

    There are an increasing number of medical providers going "off grid" so to speak. They are rejecting all forms of insurance and operate by cash only. This is allowing practitioners to actually practice medicine and dramatically lowering costs.
  • ADeCapua
    ADeCapua Posts: 35 Member
    I would like nutrition labelling to be more clear on microwave popcorn. Tell me how many calories are in the whole snack size bag of popcorn AFTER it's been popped! Who the :kitten: eats it unpopped! Same goes for other foods, and if something like rice or pasta swells after cooking, then tell me calorie info for AFTER it's cooked! What is the serving size then? What is the calorie count then? Other than that, then I also want full calorie disclosure on foods EVERYWHERE, including restaurants and prepared hot and cold foods at grocery stores!
  • SatanLuciferJones
    SatanLuciferJones Posts: 115 Member
    edited April 2019
    Honestly, the hardest part about working out is picking a workout or turning the damn DVD player on and inserting a video. Back in the late 90s to early naughts, there was a station named FitTV, which I think was part of basic television (although I could be wrong since I grew up with cable), and it played nothing but workout shows, healthy cooking shows, and an occasional medical show thrown in. I would do the yoga program before school and at around 7 pm when nothing else was on, I would do the Gilad workouts.

    Just by channel surfing and being constantly exposed to these vids made me want to get up and workout. I don't know why that station was canceled, but I always thought that bringing it back would go a long way in helping people get healthy.

    Monkey see, monkey do.