Maternity wards to widen delivery-room doors for obese mothers

[Ahti]

Originally Posted by Rica

I agree with you that alcholism is a big problem too, however, does that mean that Obese people aren't a drain on the health care system?

I think it's ok to say that a group of people are a drain on the health system, but I am getting the message that you want something done about that because they are a drain?

Do you know what that would mean in a society? That would have a serious impact on basic human rights and it wouldn't stop with obese people, if something is done in a society then that guideline of that decision is taken into everything. We would all be modeled and supervised into being the ideal non draining human.

[Mivvi21]

^^I agree. It's some Twilight Zone shit if you ask me. Morph everyone into the same person via an assembly line...or else. Creepy shit.

[sputnik]

i think being slow on the uptake is also a huge drain on the system.

[czb]

^^

[MohandasKGanja]

Insurance companies would love to eliminate the highest-risk, most-expensive people from their risk pools. That could include obese people, people with epilepsy, cancer, genetic markers for future cancer, people likely to have high-risk pregnancies, smokers, drinkers, ginger kids (skin cancer), and on and on.

It could be a real Pandora's Box to start eliminating or penalizing obese people for having a higher risk profile, because it would set a precedent for allowing someone to be penalized for having that risk factor. If you were really healthy with no history of health issues, then you would probably make out like a bandit, but the other people would get really nailed.

Smoking and overreating are much more controllable factors than someone who has history of high-blood pressure, no matter what the weight. But with the cost of health-care skyrocketing, it might not be a bad idea to start looking for things like inducing people with weight-related diabetes, high-blood pressure, arteriosclerosis, etc., through both positive and negative measures to lower their risk factors, as well as the costs to other people.

[czb]

^^^ disability and life insurance policies already adjust or disqualify people based on the above demographics. and health insurance policies can deny coverage to new applicants or have exclusions based on the above so this is already happening.

[Mivvi21]

A big problem with health insurance companies is they don't want to pay for preventative care. Then when you actually do get sick with something they try to deny you coverage. They will always find a way to stiff people out of what they paid for.

[MohandasKGanja]

Originally Posted by czb

^^^ disability and life insurance policies already adjust or disqualify people based on the above demographics. and health insurance policies can deny coverage to new applicants or have exclusions based on the above so this is already happening.

If health insurance companies are able to turn down people with epilepsy, arteriosclerosis, diabetes, etc., I'm not aware of it. I have relatives and coworkers with these conditions and they have health insurance coverage.

[czb]

Originally Posted by MohandasKGanja

If health insurance companies are able to turn down people with epilepsy, arteriosclerosis, diabetes, etc., I'm not aware of it. I have relatives and coworkers with these conditions and they have health insurance coverage.

not sure if the health insurance companies turn down people with these conditions, but if they are new applicants, the insurance company can definitely have exclusions in the policy as i said above. i know of specific situations where this has happened. this is nothing new, has been happening for years.

[Jexxifer]

Originally Posted by MohandasKGanja

If health insurance companies are able to turn down people with epilepsy, arteriosclerosis, diabetes, etc., I'm not aware of it. I have relatives and coworkers with these conditions and they have health insurance coverage.

It depends on the policy, if your coworkers signed up during open enrollment vs after and having to prove insurability, or sometimes they might have to meet pre-existing conditions clauses. I work with someone who has MS and since she signed up during open enrollment there were no problems. If she missed open enrollment she would have had to have a pre-existing clause on the policy which means only coverage related to her MS would not have been covered for a year.

[czb]

Originally Posted by Jexxifer

It depends on the policy, if your coworkers signed up during open enrollment vs after and having to prove insurability, or sometimes they might have to meet pre-existing conditions clauses. I work with someone who has MS and since she signed up during open enrollment there were no problems. If she missed open enrollment she would have had to have a pre-existing clause on the policy which means only coverage related to her MS would not have been covered for a year.

i'm assuming that this is insurance coverage through an employer?? different rules for those of us who get health insurance on our own.

[Ravenna]

Originally Posted by sluce

I think uneducated teenage alcoholics are bigger drains than obese people. They offer little to world in terms of experience and often live in their own fantasy world where every thing is fine in their imagination. In reality they are pathetic depressed people. Their alcoholism is preventable too.

Oh, absolutely. Except I would expand this to include alcoholics in their early twenties who still seem like teenagers, presumably because they have killed off so many brain cells in the pursuit of perpetual drunkenness that they are left in a state of retarded mental and intellectual development.

Originally Posted by Ahti

I think it's ok to say that a group of people are a drain on the health system, but I am getting the message that you want something done about that because they are a drain?

Do you know what that would mean in a society? That would have a serious impact on basic human rights and it wouldn't stop with obese people, if something is done in a society then that guideline of that decision is taken into everything. We would all be modeled and supervised into being the ideal non draining human.

I agree. As I have said before, I care far more about protecting civil liberties than I care what it might cost me for someone else to be fat.

[Grimmlok]

As I have said before, I care far more about protecting civil liberties than I care what it might cost me for someone else to be fat.

LOL i dunno why, but this made me giggle

[Penny Lane]

Originally Posted by sputnik

i think being slow on the uptake is also a huge drain on the system.

[sputnik]

^^^^

HIS EYES!!!! LOLZ