State of Alabama going too far?

Question

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080822/ap_on_bi_ge/obesity_penalty

This seems like a good idea on paper, but it's quite frankly an invasion of personal privacy. they are going to require people to weigh in at work. this is no different than making them announce their religious beliefs, sexuality, or any other personal information in front of everyone they work with.

once again, something that has good intentions just isn't thought through completely, and it's not right.

this is what you have to look forward to with government sponsored health care. get ready to eat only what the gov. tells you to.

Answer 1

I have mixed feelings. One, I know that all fat people aren't unhealthy. Two, I know a lot of fat people are that way because of sorriness and laziness. Some folks have health conditions they are born with that lead to one being overweight but can't be controlled as easily as a normal person. Like diabetics for example, who are good employees but have a health condition. Then again you have couch potatoes who do nothing to help themselves and keep packin food down their goozles. Being fat can't be fun and some do need encouragement to do better. Is it Alabama's place to make that decision? Maybe if fatties affect health care costs. I can't talk to much, I weight 238 and I'm diabetic type 2 and starve all the time due to exercising all waking hours either by working or by program. I donot loose weight regardlesss of how little I eat or how much exercise I get.

Answer 2

As a smoker, we been telling people this for a while.  You who agree with it just wait till your evil miss deeds become targets in their sights then lets hear the crying.

Answer 3

I think that anything that discourages people from taking city, state or federal government jobs, is good. I want to put our government on a diet. I want them to lose all of their bloated, wasteful budgets. I think it's great and I hope a ton of people move to the private sector and use their talents and creativity to make America stronger. They are only wasting their lives as a government employee.

Boomrat has shown uncommon wisdom as well and deserves a shout out!

                                  YOU GO BOOMRAT!!!!!

Answer 4

fat people can be healthy. and in a famine the skinny people will be dead and the fat people will be skinny

Answer 5

No, it's fair.

Health insurance is basically a way to spread the risk of needing healthcare (and having to pay for it) across a group of people. The cost goes up when the people in the insurance group (known as the risk pool) need healthcare and incur medical bills.

When someone is obese - or smokes or does something else that leads to health problems that require medical care - it drives up the cost for everyone in the risk pool. So requiring those people to pay extra is really just requiring them to pay for the extra cost they're causing.

If you didn't have group health insurance and had to get your own, the amount you'd pay for the premium would absolutely be calculated based on whether you smoke and whether you're overweight.

Alabama is NOT requiring anyone to weigh in at work. They are only requiring people to get a health screening. The results will NOT be public, they'll be confidential. And the amount of overweight won't be reported, only whether they are above or within the limits.

The obese state employees can eat whatever they want. They must just control it enough to lose the weight. And each year, they must make progress - they don't even have to lose it all at once.

Answer 6

what's not right is getting so d**n fat in the first place. and fat people who are just fat because they don't take care of themselves do in fact have more health problems.  it's about time a state stopped enabling the unhealthy

Answer 7

I have no problem with this at all. If they are too fat, they should lose their weight or lose their job.  

Answer 8

Seems fair to me, you choose, 25 bucks or 25 pounds, in 2 years you have the capability to lose 104 pounds by eating 20% less calories so if they have until 2011 its their choice