Vote in This Week's Poll: Should we pay people to lose weight?
We know the numbers by now. Over 50 million Americans are overweight and almost 80% of us don't get enough exercise and it's not just in America...obesity is a problem just about everywhere these days. Which is what makes this story interesting: One mayor in the Italian town of Varallo has decided to combat obesity by paying residents to lose weight. If they lose 7-9 lbs in a month, they get $70. If they keep it off for 5 months? They get $280. Read the full story here.
Now, come with me into fantasyland for a moment and imagine...what would it be like here in America if we paid people to lose weight? Forgetting about the details (like whether this would ever really work, where we would get the money, etc.), I'm curious; do you think this is a good way to motivate people to lose weight? Vote in this week's poll and tell us what you think.
Poll: Should we pay people to lose weight?
1. Yes, that's a great way to get people to lose weight
2. No, people shouldn't need to be paid to take care of themselves
3. No, but we should have incentives for people who exercise and eat healthy
4. I'm not sure
5. Other - Please explain in comments
Comments
So sad that so few are inclined to assume responsibility for their own actions. Yes, there are some individuals whose weight is caused by out of their control circumstances – but what it gets down toin most of our cases is if you eat more calories than you expend then you will gain weight. The other current similar example of this is people who took out mortgages well in excess of what they could afford. Now somehow – that becomes the rest of us who live within our means responsibility. When will it all end?
IF we begin paying obese people to loose weight, we will then need to pay anoreixics to gain, and bulemics to quit purging. We will then have a reward system in place for positive behaviors for diet which will then roll over into the rest of “unhealthy” behaviors. No, we should not have to pay anyone to loose weight, we did not pay them to gain it!
While this could help some people, I have to say that I would strongly oppose it overall, as it seems like thousands of eating disorders in the making.
I don’t believe that we should pay someone to lose weight. But I do beleive that we should help them find the path to achieve weight loss. It would be in the best interest to all of us, for those who are overweight to find a way to get healthy. Obesity effects us all, if not any any other way than the cost of health care. If we want to help the children of American, we need to get them in shape.
I totally disagree to getting paid for losing weigth. Each of us have choices and most of us know the consequences. I’m overweight and I have a problem with weight. It’s something that I have to constantly work at but I know my weakness. Money will not motivate me but the impact on my health will. Plus how being obese effects everthing in my life.
What it’s gonna take to stop the epidemic of obesity, is for all of us to work together and help each other. There was a time when people used to help each other and ask nothing in return. The people who are overweight, know they are overweight. I don’t think it helps one bit to lable someone for their appearance. He or she is still a person, with real feelings. We have enough problems with anxiety, depression and suicide in this country. Paying someone will not help them change their behavior. I spend 6 days a week at the gym and I see how overweight people are treated, it breaks my heart. I try to encourage everyone all the time, I take the time to notice when people are loosing weight and feeling good about themselves. We live in such a cruel world. Smiling at someone or telling them that you’re proud of them isn’t that hard and it truley helps the person that is struggling with weight and with life i general. I was getting ready for a competition this summer and every morning I showed up at the gym just grumpy. There was this lady that was obese who motivated me to get up and show up every day and I have disipline. The effect was, she looked forward to seeing me every morning and I looked forward to seeing her, it turned out to be a win, win situation.
I think it would only contribute to yo-yo dieting. A healthy eating habits and exercise would have to be maintained. Not sure money can provide the right kind of motivation to stay committed. I also agree with Val’s comment.
Paying people to lose (or gain)into a healthy weight range, with the stipulation that it’s a one-time payment and they must maintain the weight to receive more money, is the only thing that would motivate some people to get started. They would recognize the other benefits (feeling better, having more energy, being able to move without hurting or getting tired) once they begin to lose. The likely results of a healthier population are lower health care costs and money savings to everybody. Sounds like it’s at least worth a try to me. We did this at work a few years back. It didn’t work for everybody, but some lost then and have maintained it to this day. People’s blood pressure dropped, attendance improved, etc. I wonder what would have happened if we’d got paid for maintenance as well?
i dont think giving me money would help much. what would help is a free or low cost gym membership with a personal trainer.
We already do, by lower insurance premiums for health, and life. By lower medical bills, less missed time at work, not having to use vacation time to get well. Many ways.
Pay these idiots with no self control to lose weight? If anything they should be fined be being a drag on the health care system in this country. They are fat by choice!!
I think that it would cost far less to urge overweight sedentary people to lose the excess weight than to pay for the morbidity associated with being heavy. If the person that would accept the financial incentive were to become overweight again then that person’s healthcare insurance premiums should reflect the weight gain.
I firmly believe that people on public welfare should be rewarded for utilizing health improvement lifestyles. Losing 10% of one’s weight annually to achieve a BMI less than 30 would be an example. Accomodations for how a person achieves that weight loss, such as gym memberships, nutritional help, even laproscopic surgery, would be less expensive than the long term healthcare costs needed for the obese. A person choosing better lifestyle choices continues to receive benefits. Those not choosing to do so would lose benefits.
Everyone that thinks that paying people to lose weight is wrong are all skinny. What about the fat lards like me who can’t turn down a tast cheese burger!
I think that we already pay too much in health care which is a direct result of obese people and people who smoke. We should do the opposite. Charge heavy people and smokers more for insurance, more for an airline ticket. Being overweight is a choice people make. Should we pay drug addicts to not use? We already pay welfare people not to work. We should stop all handouts and make people responsible for their own choices.
Not all people who are overweight choose the lifestyle, sometimes genetics cause it or even the lack of money to eat healthy. What needs to happen is that the government should make the unhealthy foods more expensive and lower the price of healthy foods. That is what happened with cigarettes, the price was increased. If your feeding a family you can’t afford to by buying food for your kids and make something separate for yourself. You have to buy what is affordable which is generally the more unhealthy choices. People should not be paid to lose weight (although the idea is nice) or have to pay more for insurance. The reason we can’t eat healthy here is it cost too much, plus I have had to pay for my older sons medical expenses with his Autism and medicine. People really need to think before they say rude things such as that because you may end up like all of those people who are overweight, whether it be because of injury or because lack of money.
I would also like to say that I do not eat like a pig, there are alot of skinny or fat people that eat much more then I do, plus I had a doctor confirm that my problem is genetic, along with my knee injuries that make it hard to do as much as I would like. I admit I do not like being fat and I do need to lose weight and there are no miracles out there. The fact is everyone has to do it the old fashioned way. Diet and excercise!
I don’t think that anyone should get paid to loose weight. That will bankrupt any country. I feel that the overweight or obese should be charged per pound that they are overweight. This will go to the rising health care costs that are so common.
Seems like you left out a choice in the poll: “6. No, this is the most asinine thing I’ve ever heard of in my whole life.”
Paying people to lose weight?? C’mon now. Does this not just indirectly reward people that let themselves get overweight to begin with? This would be akin to paying felons for good behavior in prison. How about just not committing the crime in the first place?? Ridiculous!
Rising health care cost are not all due to obesity. It is also due to a large amount of mal-pratice suits, disasters and more. So to blame a rise in insurance cost just on obesity itself is absurd. People should not assume that there is one only cause for the increase, that is ignorant. Charging people that are overweight more is not going to solve the problem, just like paying someone to be anorexic because that is what women are supposed to be viewed as. It is important for people to be at a healthy weight but to condemn them is not the right thing to do either. I feel sorry for people who would rather attack others then actually come up with a viable solution that is reasonable and not racial against obese people. I think #6 has the right idea, encourage rather then discourage. They never said to pay someone they basically said to support them with encouragement. Encouragement goes along way and does not cost a thing. All of you critics might try it some time.
I have never liked the slippery slope talk but this is a slippery slope. Right now it is okay to not like smokers and take action against them for their habit that is a very hard one to quit. We can deny them jobs for possibly using more sick time than non-smokers. We can force them out of buildings if they smoke. Now it is over weight persons. If they don’t lose weight will we keep them out of McDonald’s? Will we deny them jobs because they may cost they may use too much sick time and use more health benefits than other workers? After we get rid of the over weight people who is next. Women of child baring age. Older persons. People with handicaps. All this is driven by the insurance companies and their never ending quest to take money from us but never pay it out.
First, food stamps should not include all sodas, candy, chips, when people cannot get shampoo, soaps and personal items. Secondly, I am all for companies that provide incentives/gyms for employees. Also, I see a lot of obese people at the doctors offices. Why not offer a medical incentive instead of money??
Your question is ridiculous and opens the gates for people to spew their hatred of fat people. I realize you make a living selling exercise, girl, but be smart enough to realize there’s a lot more to body size than exercise and that recent scientific surveys say chubby people live longer.
I’d be happy to pay people to shut up about exercise, though!
i do not agree people should be payed to loose wait ….if they are fat it is their own problem they are lyk tht in the first plac..plus the muny given to them would probably be spent on mighty munches so it is completly useless wenevr the muny could be spent on much more valuble and necessary needs….
#24, maybe you should learn basic grammar and spelling before you spew your dislike and ignorance, hmm?
I don’t believe that paying overweight people will help…most people who are overweight (myself included) have already tried countless times to lose the weight. I agree with #6 about encouragement…I stopped walking at the track because I was tired of being harassed…not by the people at the track itself, but walking on the sidewalk to and from. I’ve have more people in cars and trucks yell at me as they speed by than I’d like to remember…apparently some people just find that hilarious. Encouragement is always a good idea, and quite frankly, if you can’t handle that, one bright idea is to do what your mother used to tell you when you were little,”If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything!”
Just because people are overweight doesn’t mean that they don’t have feelings…
And I’d like to comment that, although I am overweight and have been so since highschool, that I have only missed perhaps a dozen days of work in the last *ten years* that I’ve been working. I’m not sure where that falls into #10’s theory that thinner people miss less work…I’m probably the exception that proves the rule.
Oh, and #22, yes, people who are on food stamps and have children can get a monthly allotment of cash to buy their toiletries, etc. Too bad I see way to many people buying a pop, then taking out the rest of their money as bills and walking out the door.
Personally, I think that’s more of a problem than buying chips or pop on food stamps (although I agree that they shouldn’t be allowed on food stamps, or at least limited to a certain amount per month).
Hopefully, some of the more broad-minded and non-snarky people who commented here will change some minds…it would be nice to be able to walk to the track and not wonder whether or not I or some other person will get harassed…