Healthy people are freeloaders

[Ursa Majoris]

So.....where does this leave the argument that fat folks and smokers are costing all you righteous fitness freaks money?

 

Obese people, smokers cost the health system less than healthy do, study finds

 

Preventing obesity and smoking can save lives, but it doesn't save money, researchers reported Monday.

 

It costs more to care for healthy people who live years longer, according to a Dutch study that counters the common perception that preventing obesity would save governments millions of dollars.

 

"It was a small surprise," said Pieter van Baal, an economist at the Netherlands' National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, who led the study. "But it also makes sense: If you live longer, then you cost the health system more."

 

In a paper published online Monday in the Public Library of Science Medicine journal, Dutch researchers found that from age 20 to 56, obese people racked up the most expensive health costs. But because both the smokers and the obese people died sooner than the healthy group, it cost less to treat them in the long run.

 

On average, healthy people lived 84 years. Smokers lived about 77 years, and obese people lived about 80 years. Ultimately, the thin and healthy group cost the most, about $417,000, from age 20 on. The cost of care for obese people was $371,000, and for smokers, about $326,000.

[Grits and Shins]

I am skeptical ... sounds like a study done by fat smokers to me. Kinda like guys with short peckers saying that size does not matter.

[irish]

I take offense. By the way I just had my first smoke.

[TimC]

Clearly we need to legislate healthy people out of existance. Government laws save us!!!

[Ursa Majoris]

I am skeptical ... sounds like a study done by fat smokers to me. Kinda like guys with short peckers saying that size does not matter.

You're skeptical that people living longer cost more? Seems like a case of the Captain F'n Obvious to me. Also worth noting that the smokers are chipping in their taxes on each pack of smokes too, thus subsidizing all the selfish bastards that live too long.

 

It's you that's the drain on resources, G&S.

[Grits and Shins]

You're skeptical that people living longer cost more? Seems like a case of the Captain F'n Obvious to me. Also worth noting that the smokers are chipping in their taxes on each pack of smokes too, thus subsidizing all the selfish bastards that live too long.

 

It's you that's the drain on resources, G&S.

 

Yeah ... I can see how healthy people who don't use their insurance except on a very infrequent basis are MORE of a burden on the insurance industry.

[Brentastic]

I am skeptical ... sounds like a study done by fat smokers to me. Kinda like guys with short peckers saying that size does not matter.

SIZE DOESN'T MATTER.................... JERK!!!

 

[SuperCharger]

I'd like to see the study that proves over weight people require more medical treatment then none over weight people. I know several people who would be considered over weight who haven't been to a doctor or hospital in over 20 years and I know a few people who would be considered thin (maybe very thin) who are very sickly and can't got two weeks without a doctor's visit.

 

EDIT : And for the record I'm considered moderatly over weight at 6'2" and 240lbs. Besides a regualr check up when I turned 30 my last Doctor's visit was my exit exam from the USAF when I was 22.

Edited February 6, 2008 by SuperCharger

[Ursa Majoris]

Yeah ... I can see how healthy people who don't use their insurance except on a very infrequent basis are MORE of a burden on the insurance industry.

Actually it doesn't say that - it says fat people and smokers cost less overall. There's nothing really surprising about it but it certainly blows your argument that people who don't slavishly follow a healthy lifestyle are a drain on you clean out of the water. In fact, you're the drain over the long haul, you parasite.

[SF409ers]

]I'd like to see the study that proves over weight people require more medical treatment then none over weight people. I know several people who would be considered over weight who haven't been to a doctor or hospital in over 20 years and I know a few people who would be considered thin (maybe very thin) who are very sickly and can't got two weeks without a doctor's visit.

 

EDIT : And for the record I'm considered moderatly over weight at 6'2" and 240lbs. Besides a regualr check up when I turned 30 my last Doctor's visit was my exit exam from the USAF when I was 22.

 

Did you read the study that was linked in this thread?

 

"Dutch researchers found that from age 20 to 56, obese people racked up the most expensive health costs"

 

 

Ursa, this study does not add up. What does not make sense is that it states the “Obese” group rack’s up more costs (they do not list how much more) through the first 36 years of the study, yet the “Healthy” group only outlives the “Obese” group by 4 years. I find it hard to believe that those 4 years more than offset the higher costs by the “Obese” group for the first 36 years.

[BeeR]

You're skeptical that people living longer cost more? Seems like a case of the Captain F'n Obvious to me. Also worth noting that the smokers are chipping in their taxes on each pack of smokes too, thus subsidizing all the selfish bastards that live too long.

...which pales in comparison to all the overall taxes the healthier people pay for 7 more years, not to mention paying into their insurance plans, co-pays etc......further, most of the healthier need little med care, I'd think. Not buying this offhand -

[isleseeya]

i need to lose 30 lbs and quit smoking

[Ursa Majoris]

...which pales in comparison to all the overall taxes the healthier people pay for 7 more years, not to mention paying into their insurance plans, co-pays etc......further, most of the healthier need little med care, I'd think. Not buying this offhand -

Sure you're not, it doesn't jive with the argument you need to keep going.

[Hugh 0ne]

I need to gain 30 lbs and start smoking.

[NSab]

Smoke em if you got em.

[Perchoutofwater]

Makes since to me. Fat smokers have heart attacks and are dead before they hit the ground usually, where as healthy people live long enough to get nasty disease that slowly waste away the body.

[keggerz]

I quit smoking and gained 30 pounds

[muck]

I quit smoking and gained 30 pounds

 

So, i'ts a push?

[muck]

Makes since to me. Fat smokers have heart attacks and are dead before they hit the ground usually, where as healthy people live long enough to get nasty disease that slowly waste away the body.

 

+1

[isleseeya]

I need to gain 30 lbs and start smoking.

 

 

[keggerz]

So, i'ts a push?

no, I needed to put on the extra weight(now at 175)

[TimC]

Healthy people are like these people that are cheerful all the time. I wanna kill them all.

[BeeR]

Sure you're not, it doesn't jive with the argument you need to keep going.

 

? whatever

[MTSuper7]

Did you read the study that was linked in this thread?

 

"Dutch researchers found that from age 20 to 56, obese people racked up the most expensive health costs"

Ursa, this study does not add up. What does not make sense is that it states the “Obese” group rack’s up more costs (they do not list how much more) through the first 36 years of the study, yet the “Healthy” group only outlives the “Obese” group by 4 years. I find it hard to believe that those 4 years more than offset the higher costs by the “Obese” group for the first 36 years.

 

Well, consider that a number of the obese people never even make it 80, let alone even the 56 years of age where they have the most expensive health costs. Also, my guess is that obese smokers, seeing as they don't really take proper care of themselves anyway, are more likely to only see doctors when they really need to. You know... lung cancer, quadruple bypass heart surgery, etc. whereas the healthy contingent probably gets annual checkups, colonoscopies, etc. I'm just speculating, but that trend wouldn't surprise me.

 

It seems obvious that the solution here is to eat a balanced diet, exercise regularly, and avoid smoking until you turn 57, at which point you can start eating fast food three times a day and chain smoking while sitting on your a$$ all day watching the Game Show Network.

[Atlanta Cracker]

It seems obvious that the solution here is to eat a balanced diet, exercise regularly, and avoid smoking until you turn 57, at which point you can start eating fast food three times a day and chain smoking while sitting on your a$$ all day watching the Game Show Network.

 

I was thinking I'd do that when I hit 80 but maybe I should move it back a little to make sure I have time to properly wreck my body and thus ensure a quick death.