Somebody in Alabama wants to change the stereotypical Southern image of an overweight man wearing a wifebeater, sitting in a recliner, and scarfing down chips and beer while watching television. State officials are putting the state's 37,000-plus workers on a weight-loss program: Lose weight on your body, or we'll make you lose weight in your wallet.
Some states reward employees who adopt healthy behaviors. However, Alabama is giving employees until 2010 to start slimming down or risk paying for health insurance that currently is free. The state already charges its workers who smoke; with this move, Alabama becomes the first state to make employees pay a "fat fee" for being obese.
The State Employees' Insurance Board approved a plan to charge state workers starting in January 2010 if they don't get free health screenings. If the screenings reveal health issues with blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose or obesity, employees will have a year to see a doctor at no cost, enroll in a wellness program or take steps on their own to improve their health. If they show progress in a follow-up screening, they won't be charged. But if they don't, they must pay starting in January 2011.
The "obesity charge" will be applied to any employee with a body mass index of 35 or higher who is not maknig progress. Of course, the board has not set any type of standard for a person to determine how much progress constitutes improvement, nor what occurs when a person's improvement slows or even reverses. There's no indication that board members have the medical education and experience to make such a determination, although it's likely they have medically-competent consultants with whom they confer. They're also uncertain how many people might be affected, but are quick to point out that everyone can avoid the charge by working to lose weight.
"We are trying to get individuals to become more aware of their health," said state worker Robert Wagstaff, who serves on the insurance board. Mr. Walker doesn't mention the added benefit of the state saving money by paying a smaller portion of insurance premiums for overweight employees, but state workers get the message loud and clear.
"It's terrible," said health department employee Chequla Motley. "Some people come into this world big."
Computer technician Tim Colley already pays $24 a month for being a smoker and doesn't like the idea of another charge. "It's too Big Brotherish," he said.
"The state will feel good about itself for offering something, and the person of size will end up paying $300 a year for the bad luck of having a chronic disease his/her state-sponsored insurance program failed to cover in an appropriate and meaningful fashion," says Walter Lindstrom, founder of the Obesity Law and Advocacy Center in California. Instead of getting real-world solutions to their health issues, Lindstrom fears that all overweight Alabama employees will receive is advice to walk more and to broil their chicken.
Paying for smoking. Now paying for being overweight. It's too bad the citizens of Alabama can't charge their elected officials a "stupid fee" for lack of common sense and good judgement. They'd make a killing.
