This morning as I ate my breakfast (Special K with half a banana and 2 packets of Splenda) I sat at the computer to check out happenings on Facebook. One of my friends, who happens to be very thin, posted a link to an article about how President Obama wants to "demand obesity ratings for all Americans." Here is the article on Fox news in it's entirety....
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Feds to Monitor Obesity as White House Promotes Obama Cook to Senior Position
Published July 17, 2010
FoxNews.com
Saturday: First lady Michelle Obama speaks about childhood obesity to the National Governors Association Winter Meeting in Washington. (AP)
As the Obama administration sets its sights on overweight Americans, demanding obesity ratings for all citizens by 2014, the White House has promoted the Obamas' personal cook to a senior advisory position.
Sam Kass, the 20-something Chicago chef, is now the White House "Food Initiative Coordinator," Kass' title reportedly was upgraded last month from food initiative coordinator to senior policy adviser for health food initiatives. His duties have not changed.
The change comes as the Health and Human Services announced this week that under the stimulus law, health care providers must establish "meaningful use" of electronic health records to qualify for federal subsidies or risk seeing their Medicare and Medicaid payments slashed. The electronic health records must include Americans' body mass index, or BMI, height and weight.
Critics say the BMI is unreliable and the ratings will lead to more government intrusion.
Supporters say the ratings will serve as motivation for weight loss.
"The fact we're now tracking BMIs', I think knowledge is power for us," nutrition expert Mitzi Dulan told Fox News."There are a lot of people that don't know their BMI and it's denial.
Dulan noted that a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that $147 billion is spent annually on obesity-related costs, or 10 percent of medical costs.
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Ok...here's the deal. If you're obese you know it and you're not in denial. You just don't want to do anything about it because if you did you would!
My doctor and I already know that I'm overweight and that I should lose weight. My health insurance company has NEVER sent me literature on programs they offer to us over eaters to lose weight....and why is that? Probably because they don't do anything to help overweight people gain better health. It's all up to you. If you're anorexic they have stinking programs in patient and out patient for you. They don't just tell you to go eat a freaking sandwich!!!!
If you go to your doctor to talk about your weight, the likelihood is that your insurance company won't even cover the visit because they don't cover weight loss as a medical benefit. This happened to me once when I went to the doctor for a routine visit and because I mentioned that I wanted to lose weight, and because the doctor wrote in the code for that, they denied the claim for my entire visit...so they in essence told me not to talk to my doctor about being fat!
Now if I had high blood pressure, or if I had diabetes or needed a knee replacement because of my weight then that would be a different story. They do NOTHING for preventive care for the obese patient!
Want to have gastric bypass surgery? Go talk to any weight loss surgeon and find out how they have to finagle the system to code the thing right so that it looks like if you don't have the surgery you're going to drop dead within seconds of the denial to have the surgery!!!! Want weight loss medications? Be prepared to shell out $60-$100 for a prescription...who wants to do that when you can eat out at Burger King about 15 times for that amount of money!!!! I'm just kidding! Relax.
You get my point. I think President Obama should just worry about himself. When he quits smoking he can worry about the health of other Americans. Do we "demand lung health ratings" from smokers? Don't people who smoke have issues that cost money!??!!! Give me a BREAK! Maybe we should "demand stupidity ratings" for all those in government or for that matter the general population...but that's a topic for a whole other blog!
What irritates me so badly about the whole thing is that it has already been passed! Doctors must supply this info to a national register by 2014 or lose federal funding. Are you inspired enough to write a representative? Because I am! And I couldn't agree more with your comment about smoking. And how does this all fit in with 'a woman's right to choose'? Aren't these same politicians saying that because it is a woman's body she should have the right to choose abortion? Well, how can they back that and still say people don't have the right to be obese? Just one of the many, many reasons I think the government should step back and leave healthcare alone!
ReplyDeleteAnd, on another note, that is insane that there is no preventative care for obesity/weight loss. Even the surgeries are doing a world of good yet they have to be proven to be dire necessity? W.o.w. We are living in a backwards world, indeed.
Thanks for sharing your blog!