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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."
>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.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
I wonder about that.
Sometimes I'm not sure if junk food is a symptom or if it's a dangerous substance that should be regulated like heroin.
Man, sometimes I ride the subway and I think "nobody wants to look like that". "Obese" today is not the obese of 25 years ago. When I was growing up there were not people as vast as today. There's something else going on. This isn't the kind of fat that you get from having too much pasta at dinner. This is an industrial disaster.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Well for one, because in Scotland a democratically elected parliament voted in favour of the ban, which has broad public support.
And you think you're being fucked over because you have to go outside for a smoke? Cry me a fucking river. You don't think non-smokers are being fucked over every time a smoker decides to light up and pollute the air for everyone?
Smokers can still smoke in the comfort of their own home. They can still go out to the pub and drink, as long as they take it outside. They're hardly being 'fucked over'.