Arizona Governor Proposes Flab Tax

Hugh Pickens writes "The WSJ reports that Arizona governor Jan Brewer has proposed levying a $50 fee on some enrollees in the state's cash-starved Medicaid program, including obese people who don't follow a doctor-supervised slimming regimen and smokers. Brewer says the proposal is a way to reward good behavior and raise awareness that certain conditions, including obesity, raise costs throughout the system. 'If you want to smoke, go for it,' says Monica Coury, spokeswoman for Arizona's Medicaid program. 'But understand you're going to have to contribute something for the cost of the care of your smoking.' Coury says Arizona officials hadn't yet finalized how they would determine whether a person was obese or had sufficiently followed a wellness plan, but that measures such as body-mass index could provide some guidance. Estimates for the costs of obesity in America range from about $150 billion to $270 billion a year. According to the latest CDC statistics, from 2009, 25.5% of Arizonans are obese, about 1.7 million people."

Comments

Re:Tax junk food

[HangingChad]

>Just tax junk food like is done with cigarettes, alcohol, etc.

Okay, so then fat people and smokers want to tax your motorcycle. After all, they do have a higher injury rate (though not a higher accident rate) than cars. So we can tax them and sky divers. And don't forget rock climbers, dirt bike riders, skateboarders, bicycle riders, and roller bladers.

Almost everyone has some high risk behavior we could tax. I'm not sure AZ is a really good model for anything.