Submitted by ChrisOntario t3_yzcc82 in UpliftingNews
KarateKid72 t1_ix0dskx wrote
Reply to comment by srkad in Writer wears Lizzo's dress to red carpet gala after an unusual request | CBC Radio by ChrisOntario
The fact is, the long list of medical conditions associated with obesity end up increasing the cost of medical care, both at POS and through insurance premiums. It’s a huge societal issue (no pun intended) and ignoring the costs on society doesn’t do anyone any good.
srkad t1_ix0erlp wrote
Factually false. I’ve proven this argument false many times before on Reddit and don’t have the motivation to pull the links but if you do even a modicum of research you can see that the cost of obesity on the entire healthcare system as a whole is so marginal as to be almost completely irrelevant.
jabberwockgee t1_ix0jflh wrote
TIL $173 billion a year is almost completely irrelevant.
https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/about-obesity/why-it-matters.html
srkad t1_ix0shl1 wrote
The cost of the American healthcare system is 4.1 trillion
So 173 billion is a whopping 4.1% of all healthcare costs. I’m sure if we got all obese people skinny that 4.1% would really cut everyone’s costs.
jabberwockgee t1_ix0tmzh wrote
So might as well encourage 'big and beautiful' to get that number up, right?
Edit: there's no arguing with you, but I don't think 4% is 'almost completely irrelevant' when talking about healthcare. Do you know how many health issues there are and how bad it is if ONE health issue takes up 4% of the cost?
Insanity to think it's not a big issue. Don't worry about obesity folks, only worry about cancer and heart disease or whatever, even though they're a lot harder to tackle. Don't worry about obesity and encourage people who promote it.
srkad t1_ix0u3yw wrote
We might as well mind our own business and let people live the way they want to live because in the end it has next to 0 effect on your daily life.
elixier t1_ix12ckh wrote
Ok let heroin addicts inject their way to the grave, after all, its their bodies :DDDDD
srkad t1_ix1419t wrote
Do you go out to all the homeless people and yell at them for injecting heroin or do your mind your own business and move on?
elixier t1_ix155c9 wrote
I support volunteer groups that try and get people off the streets, just like I would support campaigns trying to help curb obesity. Its fucking insane how saying "I don't support people dying from heroin overdoses" leads you to saying "Do you yell at them then?!?!". Americans in a nutshell lol
I don't go out insulting fat people, but when people say "being fat is perfectly fine and you can be very healthy whilst being huge and you gotta respect that, and you look just as pretty too" then no I don't support that message. You can surely rub those 2 braincells together and see the difference right?
If someone is fat but gets the issue with it and just lives their life, then its not like I have any power or say over their life, since they know its an issue themselves. But when people lie and maybe convince other people who could start a weight loss journey to essentially not bother because being fat is fine then that's not good at all.
jabberwockgee t1_ix24h94 wrote
I might get annoyed if famous people got on their bullhorn to spout 'high and beautiful' rhetoric.
Or should we encourage that too? 🤔
jabberwockgee t1_ix0ulbn wrote
You're excellent at using weasel words.
'almost completely irrelevant'
'next to 0 effect'
You can't argue with someone who won't make an actual statement.
srkad t1_ix0v99r wrote
Would you rather I say it has exactly 0 effect so that you can push up your glasses and say “AcShUAlLy”? I use those words because obviously it’s effect is not 0. But it’s effect is pretty fucking close to 0 when it comes to your life and how your are effected.
jabberwockgee t1_ix0xhnc wrote
So it's an opinion and not arguable.
4% is huge. But to you, it's next to nothing.
Why not introduce more bad habits and have famous people promote them?
If the total burden to the healthcare system is 4% or less, it's A-OK.
What a bizarre argument.
KarateKid72 t1_ix19ns1 wrote
It’s a straw man argument. He’s been making several of those already, like the alcohol argument.
What we can anticipate is increased costs as obesity increases as a percentage of the population. Things like joint replacements. Cancers. Respiratory and circulatory issues. Not surprisingly, it’s also a strong indicator of economic disparity in this country.
What I’m surprised we haven’t heard is some sort of BS about the metabolically healthy obese individual. I hear that a lot in body positivity groups, despite research to the contrary.
srkad t1_ix0yen0 wrote
4% is huge? Lmao alright bro whatever you say. Keep raising your blood pressure over what strangers put in their mouth.
tim-405 t1_ix1tute wrote
Honestly can’t believe how one can claim that 4% is insignificant when talking about the equivalent 173 billion dollars it represent. First off all 4% is not insignificant by any definition of that word but you probably wouldn’t know that. Nor is 173 billion, there are literally countries worth less, by ANY definition it is a huge amount. You’re probably trolling but damn what a braindead comments. Imagine thinking 4% is insignificant and repeating it multiple times with such confidence.
[deleted] t1_ix1wxo3 wrote
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tim-405 t1_ix20j88 wrote
>It’s insignificant in context but I know context is probably extremelyhard for you to understand. When I say “someone being obese has noeffect on you” and someone replies “yes it does, it makes my insurancepremiums more expensive because of fat people’s cost on the healthcaresystem.” That 4% IS insignificant.
It literally isn't as proven 10 times in this thread, the 173 billion dollars required to pay for it doesn't just fall out of the sky? That has to be paid by taxes or personal contribution, either way it HAS to be paid someway which means I will either way foot the bill either by inflation or (in)direct contribution. That is indisputable. You can make all kinds of mental gymnastics or share your invalid opinions but the fact still is that it cost money and affects our economy (meaning it isn't insignificant) as literally said by the cdc themselves; https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/about-obesity/why-it-matters.html. It is beyond me how you cannot fathom that increased healthcare needs does result in extra cost for (healthy) people but maybe that is to much to ask from an average redditor.
jabberwockgee t1_ix1uoa5 wrote
What percentage of the total healthcare spending does a single health issue need to take up before it's a 'big problem' according to you?
50%? (aka no health issue is a problem since none take up 50%)
25%? (aka 1 or 2?)
20? (maybe 3?)
15? (4? 5?)
10? (maybe 6 health issues total?)
Like I'm not sure if you just don't understand percentages or what...
4% is a big percentage, especially for something that's preventable via a person's life choices.
srkad t1_ix1x7jb wrote
The claim was that fat people make health insurance more expensive. So yes it would have to be much more than 4% of health related costs for me to consider it significant enough to make an impact on how much you pay for health insurance. You can keep trying to change what this argument has been about all you want though.
jabberwockgee t1_ix224ku wrote
So you don't consider 4% a big enough increase. We get it, we get it.
What would be a big enough increase?
I just think you are trying to justify letting obesity run rampant regardless of costs and using weasel words to prevent an actual discussion about it.
You think 4% isn't a big increase but then say it's not actually increasing costs at all, which is just lies.
So disregarding the fact that you refuse to have an honest discussion, what percentage increase would make you think twice about celebrities endorsing obesity as a healthy lifestyle?
Like 50%?
AZBreezy t1_ix0qo5u wrote
"Prove" is a strong word
srkad t1_ix0t8zg wrote
Facts don’t lie. Obesity accounts for only 4% of total healthcare related costs in this country. We have a 4.1 trillion dollar healthcare system, blaming obese people for that is hilarious.
SayRaySF t1_ix0r61d wrote
As someone who used to work in end of life care nursing facilities, you’re sorely mistaken.
At one point over 85% of the 150 bed facility was taken up by people who literally ate their way into the grave. Guess what? All of them on Medicare.
srkad t1_ix0stak wrote
The American healthcare system costs 4.1 trillion dollars.
I don’t care about your anecdotal situation in your one nursing facility. Obesity accounts for only 4% of healthcare related costs in this country. Those are facts, not anecdotes.
SayRaySF t1_ix0zg1w wrote
Still a staggering amount of money on something very preventable. And that cost will only continue to rise with our current trends. Complacency is not an option here lol.
srkad t1_ix114qd wrote
And the costs associated with excessive alcohol use are almost 100 billion higher per year.
https://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/onlinemedia/infographics/cost-excessive-alcohol-use.html
Yet people aren’t calling for sweeping changes to how this country views and consumes alcohol. Ultimately the cost to YOU individually is negligible.
Creating government programs and regulations to help combat obesity is completely different from random people on the internet pointing out to fat people that they are fat and telling them they need to lose weight. I’m not against creating regulations to make the food we eat healthier. What I am against though is people thinking that telling someone what they should or shouldn’t eat is going to somehow help them. Mind your own business.
elixier t1_ix12k6o wrote
>Yet people aren’t calling for sweeping changes to how this country views and consumes alcohol.
Again, "People".
Which people? Not the people in this thread, you just cant accept that, can you?
You say mockingly that people don't do anything to curb alcohol deaths and that we don't care, but when we do and just also include obesity in the list of things that need prevention just like addiction to alcohol, and say people shouldn't glorify it as a good thing, suddenly its "well it's their bodies leave them alone!!!".
The issue is anyone glorifying being overweight as okay is doing damage, I'm not saying people should be mocked, just not treated like its a GOOD thing, but you literally cant wrap your mind around any of that and think its somehow an insult or that people pick and choose.
srkad t1_ix147nf wrote
The vast majority of Americans are the people. What discourse is there among American people for a prohibition of alcohol? Go to a new thread kid your replies to me are all fucking stupid.
elixier t1_ix14kwl wrote
>The vast majority of Americans are the people
And Americans are the only people on earth or reddit are they? Fucking pathetic how Americans think they're the only people that matter. Hilarious how you say "you people" when you're talking to someone who you can't believe doesn't fit your pathetic worldview to the level that you disregard my existence and shift the blame to a huge group of people I don't even belong to. Only fucking stupid person is you not being capable of talking to someone without massive sweeping statements whilst also ignoring everything they say
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