Are You A Fat Tax Supporter?
September 28, 2009 by Jennifer Chait
Filed under Health & Wellness, food, taxes
Lately I’ve been hearing more and more about the fat tax. A soda tax. An unhealthy food tax. Etc. There have been some concrete suggestions for some sort of unhealthy food tax, but nothing in the U.S. is 100% yet. What I’m wondering is are you on board or not?
Personally I’m on the fence i.e. I haven’t totally made up my mind if a fat tax is a good idea or not, although to be honest I’m leaning toward it being a super idea. I’m not going to discuss that now though, because I have a feeling this post would …read more
How being overweight will cost you
July 27, 2009 by Jennifer Chait
Filed under Health & Wellness
A new study from Research Triangle Institute and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the health cost of obesity in the United States is as high as $147 billion annually.
According to the study, all annual medical costs related to obesity increased from 6.5 percent in 1998 to 9.1 percent in 2006. The figure of $147 billion includes payment by Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurers, and includes prescription drug spending. If you break it down, the study notes that people who are obese spent about $1,429 each per year on medical care, which is a whopping 42% more …read more
