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Comment by ElectricMonk79 | Hacker News Reader

> 30. Get a discount from the federal government for being healthy. Fat people should pay more taxes because they cost society more. This means some approved weigh in and testing centers

Perpetuating the myth that unhealthy people are a financial and social burden. That's wrong because....

* MIND QUAKE: Fat people are 'on average' healthier!! *

Why? Because they clutch their heart and die in an instant. 'Healthy people' drag their boney carcasses from care home to care home for decades. Do the world a favour - grab yourself a beer, a burger and some cigarettes. Knock yourself out; literally.

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I don't think I buy it, do you have some references? There are a lot of nonfatal chronic illneses derived from obesity, alcohol consumption and tobacco.

My biggests problem with this point are not related with the veracity of his implied statement, but rather, with the slippery slope of making people pay more because of health problems (that are actually less in their control than we may believe), which is anyway happening already in an indirect way; and also, that it would constitute another form of poverty tax, considering that obesity is often caused by the poor quality food that people with little to no money can afford.

http://www.adamsmith.org/blog/healthcare/fatties-and-smokers...

> 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. And as Kip Viscusi has pointed out, when you add in the costs of the state pensions that those who die young don’t get, smoking and gorging save the government vast sums of money.

Thanks. Quite a surprising finding. That article links to another one from the NY times [1], with this interesting line: 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.

[1]: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/05/health/05iht-obese.1.97488...

20-56 is the working age. If you wanna do this comparison you should include whether skinny people work more/pay more taxes while the obese are busy being sick. It gets complicated :-)

Yes! :)

I love to tease the public health nazis with... "On average, fat people are healthier".

Funny because it's true.

This. Plus its fucking miserable dying slowly over the space of 20 years. I've watched it happen to so many people. Avoid work, retire early, spend everything, eat everything, do what you must do as early as you can before probability becomes your worst enemy.

Edit: The people I've watched die had one regret only: Waiting until retirement to do what they wanted at which point they can't. Perfect cogs with pensions and private healthcare paid up through slavery for 40+ years. Nothing to show other than some bricks and a hip replacement and a nice plot in the graveyard.

The classic example is travel. Some people wait until their retirement before they travel the world, which means they can no longer do the physically demanding adventures and they have only a few years to enjoy the memories. Others travel before they start a career and family, allowing them to appreciate the memories for their whole life. Others still just find ways to travel their whole lives, and make it a part of who they are and what brings them fulfillment. It doesn't have to be travel, but I believe most people can find ways to be fulfilled their whole life instead of postponing it until retirement. I see plenty of examples in my surroundings of people who have psychologically locked themselves up in a non-fulfilling life. I can see the ways they could break out of it, but somehow they can't.

And those of us who continue doing athletics into our "Masters" years burden it with injuries. My broken leg in a Pole Vaulting accident and its subsequent rehab was not cheap for the health-care system.

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