FAT PEOPLE CHEAPER TO TREAT, STUDY SAYS... [+] serious ballot by thesoothsayer ACTIVE Tue Feb 05, 08 - Wed Feb 04, 09 ...LONDON - Preventing obesity and smoking can save lives, but it doesn't save money, researchers reported Monday. It costs more to care for healthy people who live years longer, according to a Dutch study that counters the common perception that preventing obesity would save governments millions of dollars. "It was a small surprise," said Pieter van Baal, an economist at the Netherlands' National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, who led the study. "But it also makes sense. If you live longer, then you cost the health system more." In a paper published online Monday in the Public Library of Science Medicine journal, Dutch researchers found that the health costs of thin and healthy people in adulthood are more expensive than those of either fat people or smokers. The researchers found that from age 20 to 56, obese people racked up the most expensive health costs. But because both the smokers and the obese people died sooner than the healthy group, it cost less to treat them in the long run. (excerpt fron AP) Basically my read on this train of thought is costs are more important than the health or the well-being of people and this is one of the drawbacks of societies that are "totally money driven." Maybe next they will encourage people to smoke, drink excessive strong liquor, and do drugs so we'll die sooner and not be a "burden" on the health care system. Or maybe encourage people to overeat... This seems to be regressive thinking Costs have become the overriding factor in health care period People should take responsibility for their eating and other habits Studies such as these are insensitive and dehumanizing Ballot #122894 : SEE RESULTS Comment: show your vote with comment?

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