Obesity costs the UK £47bn.

[robinessex]

Obesity costs the UK £47bn. So is now the time to reign in the cost to the NHS of people who life style choices, smoking, drinking, drugs, that takes money out of the NHS for those with medical conditions they didn't bring upon themselves.

[kambites]

I wonder how much more than average is paid into the treasury via extra VAT on the food these people eat?

Smokers and drinkers certainly pay far more in than they take out, on average.

[MitchT]

The one I heard recently, the irony of which almost chokes me, is that obese people want financial incentives to slim down.

Here's a financial incentive: BUY LESS FOOD!!!

[Por911T]

It no surprise - the USA has been like that for years as we all know......it was only a matter of time. Really shameful that as a nation were in this situation.

[J4CKO]

What has that got to do with cars ?

[gregf40]

I read recently the average American consumes 3700 calories a day.

[CarAbuser]

I don't have much tolerance for fat people but to shame these people is frowned upon.

It's more fashionable at the moment to be "pro-fat".

This aussie show sums it up for me; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6mMpE8AaA0

[J4CKO]

It doesnt help you can get a big bag of Doughnuts for a quid or not much more, yet fruit and veg are comparatively expensive, and require cooking.

The govt need to tax ste food more and subsidise the good stuff.

[kambites]

J4CKO said:

The govt need to tax ste food more and subsidise the good stuff.

They sort of do in that certain "staple" foods don't carry VAT. Unfortunately, VAT isn't anywhere near enough to make good food cheaper than crap food and the point at which the boundary is drawn isn't very helpful anyway.

[kambites]

swerni said:

If I were to guess I would say they probably spend less on average, but have a poor diet and don't exercise.

Yeah, you're probably right.

It would be very hard to draw some sort of line for "self-inflicted" health problems though. Obesity through over-weating is no more "self-inflicted" than, say, breaking your collar bone skiing; many forms of cancer have a significant statistical correlation with some sort of lifestyle choice; etc.

Edited by kambites on Thursday 20th November 17:46

[otolith]

The function of the NHS is to support our way of life. Not to dictate it - that's the tail wagging the dog.

Tell you what - let's risk price NHS health insurance and make anyone who pays less than their risk price pay some more tax.

[BlackLabel]

robinessex said:

Obesity costs the UK £47bn. So is now the time to reign in the cost to the NHS of people who life style choices, smoking, drinking, drugs, that takes money out of the NHS for those with medical conditions they didn't bring upon themselves.

Smoking/smokers (and I've never been one) are actually good for the economy. Alcohol probably not (the costs to society are difficult to quantify), drug abuse and obesity certain not.

https://fullfact.org/factchecks/does_smoking_cost_...

Not sure what the solution is - a sugar tax has been suggested but why should people who consume such food responsibly pay for the habits of fat people?

[S. Gonzales Esq.]

robinessex said:

Obesity costs the UK £47bn. So is now the time to reign in the cost to the NHS of people who life style choices, smoking, drinking, drugs, that takes money out of the NHS for those with medical conditions they didn't bring upon themselves.

£47bn sounds unbelieveable. Sauce?

Mmm...sauce...

[alfaman]

J4CKO said:

It doesnt help you can get a big bag of Doughnuts for a quid or not much more, yet fruit and veg are comparatively expensive, and require cooking.

The govt need to tax ste food more and subsidise the good stuff.

I've thought this for ages ...

Fresh meat fish and veg can be quite expensive ... Pre packed carbohydrate meals and sugary rubbish is relatively cheap.

Good argument for upping vat on processed food / subsidizing fresh food somehow.

Cutting down on carbs really helps weight loss - but a fresh meat n veg diet can cost quite a bit.

[NicD]

There have to be consequences for our behaviour but modern life is all about treating everyone the same no matter they cause the problem.

I don't hold my breath as any government action would be twisted to look unpopular and a vote loser.

[V8 Fettler]

Is the current obese generation likely to die earlier than previous (less obese) generations?

[grumbledoak]

The NHS can make treatment optional as soon as paying for that shambles is optional.

Is there anyone who cannot see that these sorts of headlines are just a precursor to implementing just one half of the above? Drip, drip, drip the spin.

[wiggy001]

Should we treat people for free that are ill directly or indirectly because of a lifestyle choice? Yes, absolutely. It is what the NHS is for and there is no way we could come up with an acceptable line in the sand (I'm thinking here of the usual extreme sports argument).

Should we be paying for gastric band operations for the obese (who are obese because they can't understand the simple maths of calories in - calories out)? Absolutely not.

I'd love to know how that figure was arrived at though, as it seems pretty obese itself.

[r11co]

A rule of thumb - any 'news' story that begins with a statistic is not news, it is a regurgitated press release which will contain information that may or may not be factual, which the media reporting it are too bloody lazy to investigate the veracity of.

This is the work of several political pressure groups pushing their agenda, which is generally left-wing anti-capitalist at the moment. Just like the creeping prohibition on alcohol that is being levelled on us by lots and lots of tiny changes 'for our own good', what this is all about is some people don't like the idea of others making money out of people having free will, so the free-will has to be curbed.

[Yazar]

otolith said:

The function of the NHS is to support our way of life. Not to dictate it - that's the tail wagging the dog.

Tell you what - let's risk price NHS health insurance and make anyone who pays less than their risk price pay some more tax.

Why go to the extreme?

If fatty keeps turning up with issues related only to their fattiness, make their future care for any fatty related issues conditional on some gradual change on their part or else they can wait for an operation howver long until a day surgeons have nothing else on.

Same with Alcohol, a doctor in the audience on Question Time last night said how demoralising it was for her in A&E as each Friday and Sat, the same people would go out, drink far too much and then think nothing of having an ambulance picking them up. She said it was the same people over and over and also that ambulances were now being called for the most trivial matters too.