Here's some FACTS:
The annual health insurance premiums paid by the average American family now exceed the gross yearly income of a full-time minimum wage worker. Every 30 seconds, someone in the U.S. files for bankruptcy due to the costs of treating a health problem. Starbucks spends more on the health insurance of its workers than it does on coffee.
Medical care costs in the U.S. have not always been this excessive. This year, we will spend more than $2.5 trillion on medical care. But in 1950, five years before Ray Kroc opened the first franchised McDonald's restaurant, Americans only spent $8.4 billion ($70 billion in today's dollars). Even after adjusting for inflation, we now spend as much on health care every 10 days as we did in the entire year of 1950.
ref
-----------------------------------------
FDA health guidelines? USDA beef is banned in the rest of the world, because it is laced with steroids and chemicals that have been linked to cancer.
-----------------------------------------
'government would then use it as an excuse to regulate our behaviors'
Coming from a conservative, the people who demand government intrude into a woman's bedroom and control her uterus? Or conservatives who keep ripping away at the 4th amendment and challenging that it doesn't afford citizens the right to privacy because our founding fathers didn't use the word 'privacy'?
It's not liberals that are the problem, it's fat kids and fucking fat heads that are too immature and ignorant to be called adults.
Most U.S. youths unfit to serve, data show
By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Nov 5, 2009 16:56:21 EST
U.S. military-age youth are increasingly unfit to serve — mostly because they’re in such lousy shape.
According to the latest Pentagon figures, a full 35 percent, or more than one-third, of the roughly 31.2 million Americans aged 17 to 24 are unqualified for military service because of physical and medical issues. And, said Curt Gilroy, the Pentagon’s director of accessions, “the major component of this is obesity. We have an obesity crisis in the country. There’s no question about it.”
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/11/military_unfityouths_recruiting_110309w/
Obesity and risk of job disability in male firefighters
Background Obesity is a major public health problem and a workplace epidemic in Western societies. However, little is known about the association between obesity and job disability in specific occupational groups.
...
Conclusions Obesity is associated with higher risk of job disability in firefighters. Additional research is needed to further explore our findings. Our study may have economic and public health implications in other occupational settings.
http://occmed.oxfordjournals.org/content/58/4/245.full
December 25, 2008
Increasing obesity rate related to increased cost to society
Morbidities associated with obesity are also associated with high medical costs for care.
by Saad Shebrain, MD; Brant K. Oelschlager, MD
Researchers from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health addressed the prevalence of obesity and found the U.S. obesity rate has increased at an alarming rate over the past three decades, according to results of a recent study. The researchers expect that by 2030, 86% of U.S. adults will be overweight or obese, with related health care spending projected to be as much as $956.9 billion. They concluded that without a change in people’s eating habits or exercise habits, the figures will continue climbing to a public crisis.
From an economic standpoint, obesity is costly for both individuals and society, with its associated major health problems leading to substantial economic consequences for the U.S. health care system. This includes both direct and indirect costs. Direct medical costs may include preventive, diagnostic, and treatment services related to obesity; indirect costs relate to morbidity and mortality costs.
http://www.endocrinetoday.com/view.aspx?rid=35574
