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.
It seems that although smoking and getting fat are extremely bad for you, you end up dying a lot sooner, of things that kill you quickly like heart attacks or lung cancer. Thin, healthy types end up dragging on for decades of slow, expensive deterioration.
This is actually incredibly good news. It means we can sneer at liberal hand-wringing about an "obesity epidemic." The fact is, this new army of Fat Bastards is unwittingly on a patriotic mission to save the taxpayer a shitload of cash. Far from encouraging them to thin down, we should promote smoking, drinking beer, eating chips, and watching TV. More from the article:
Ultimately, the thin and healthy group cost the most, about $417,000, from age 20 on.
The cost of care for obese people was $371,000, and for smokers, about $326,000.
The results counter the common perception that preventing obesity will save health systems worldwide millions of dollars.
"This throws a bucket of cold water onto the idea that obesity is going to cost trillions of dollars," said Patrick Basham, a professor of health politics at Johns Hopkins University who was unconnected to the study. He said that government projections about obesity costs are frequently based on guesswork, political agendas, and changing science.
"If we're going to worry about the future of obesity, we should stop worrying about its financial impact," he said.
Cool. I feel a lot better about the future of the health system after reading this. I also feel a lot better about all the fat smokers I see littering the streets (literally littering, when it comes to the smokers). I can now support their fine patriotic mission to help our health system cope with the thin, healthy, and therefore more expensive types.
Finally, this bit is pure gold:
...governments should recognize that successful smoking and obesity prevention programs mean that people will have a higher chance of dying of something more expensive later in life.
"Lung cancer is a cheap disease to treat because people don't survive very long," van Baal said. "But if they are old enough to get Alzheimer's one day, they may survive longer and cost more."
5 comments:
Yesss.... but us thin ones work longer, have fewer days sick leave and are generally more productive throughout our lives, hence contributing far more to the fiscus - so I don't think this one is going to fly.
The good news is that, after paying for these slugs all their lives, we can watch them go to their hevenly rewards early whilst we continue to slave on.
Wonderful stuff, Milt. Very good and very funny. The Nazis had the problem solved. They sent their dementia patients out to wander around in front of the front lines or to test minefields.
And, Stalin just sent them unwell people on a camping holiday on the Central Siberian Plateau !
Where's me fags mate?
I have long believed that a successful anti-smoking ad on tv would feature Michael Cullen paying trbute to New Zealand's smokers for paying all that tax and saving billions in superannuation by dying early.
I'm sure many people would quit smoking just to spite him.
Nice 1 Milt.
I saw a very funny cartoon in a barber's the other day. There was this saggy, very old guy, in a doctor's room complaining about something. The doctor replied:
"You know all those years you were told to exercise and eat healthily, well these are them".
Hilarious!
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