Alabama to Charge ‘Fat Fees’ for Being Overweight

Looks like Japan isn’t alone in its war against the obese. The American state of Alabama has given its workers a 2010 deadline to get fit. The failure to lose weight will result in a $25 fee per month, for insurance which is otherwise free.

According to MSN, “the board will apply the obesity charge to anyone with a body mass index of 35 or higher who is not making progress. A person 5 feet 6 inches tall weighing 220 pounds, for example, would have a BMI of 35.5. A BMI of 30 is considered the threshold for obesity.”

U.S. Government statistics show that Alabama has the highest percentage of obesity. “According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 30.3% are now obese, ranking the state behind only Mississippi.”

While Alabama will be the first state to charge overweight workers a fee, I wonder how far behind others will be. “Arkansas and Missouri go a step further, offering monthly discounts on premiums for employees who take health risk assessments and participate in wellness programs to reduce obesity, stress and other health problems.”

The point apparently is to reduce health costs and encourage wellness. But I’m not convinced and neither are many others.

“E.K. Daufin of Montgomery, a college professor and founder of Love Your Body, Love Yourself, which holds body acceptance workshops, said the new policy will be stressful for people like her.

"I'm big and beautiful and doing my best to keep my stress levels down so I can stay healthy," Daufin said. "That's big, not lazy, not a glutton and certainly not deserving of the pompous, poisonous disrespect served up daily to those of us with more bounce to the ounce."

Others like Walter Lindstrom, the founder of the Obesity Law and Advocacy Center in California, are also voicing their concerns, "The state will feel good about itself for offering something, and the person of size will end up paying $300 a year for the bad luck of having a chronic disease his/her state-sponsored insurance program failed to cover in an appropriate and meaningful fashion."

Why this frenzied World War against plus size people? Like Caroline commented on my last post about the Japanese law, “It appears it [being fat] is one of the only endorsed prejudices that doesn't require people to be politically correct or even polite.”

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