Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Alabama's Fat Tax

Okay, so ignoring that this report is coming from Fox News (I tried to find a less obviously Republican publication to pull from, but this was the most complete story), read this article. I'm officially a Georgia resident, but I go to school in Mississippi, so this is close to home.

I can almost understand why this would be a good program. But there seems to be no provision for those who are underweight (and also equally unhealthy), those who are deemed to have an 'appropriate' weight, yet are not healthy at all, or those who have a legitimate medical condition that makes losing weight difficult. It also seems to ignore smokers, chronic drinkers, people who frequently engage in unsafe sex, bad drivers, risk-takers, high-stress individuals, and other people who do not live a healthy life.

Is this "fat tax" just another prejudiced attack on fat people? We can't visually observe most skinny people's health problems, so those smokers, drinkers, and bad drivers (etc.) are exempt from the $25 / month charge. Or is it a legitimate program designed to improve the health of state employees?

And yeah, how pissed off did the last two paragraphs make you?

Give me your thoughts, people. I'm curious for your reactions.

2 comments:

Andrew is getting fit said...

That last line destroyed what had been a reasonable article until then.

Crissy Rae said...

A freaking fat tax? Are you kidding me? The overweight seems to be the last group of people who can legally be ostracized. It's ridiculous.