Hello my fit friends,
I'm sure you're as bummed as I am about the number of Americans who are overweight or obese. Have you heard how the Europeans spot the American tourists? We're the fat ones. Many of you have joined me over the years to encourage others to adopt fitness, and I've tapped the keyboard more than a few times to coax people into action. Unfortunately, we can scream fitness 'til we're blue in the face, and I can type 'til my fingers bleed, but neither is going to reverse this trend. Until we're hit in the wallet, we aint gonna change.
So how exactly would "the free market" cure obesity (and I'm not talking about those tasty samples you get at Sam's Club on Saturdays)? Well the medical and scientific communities are just beginning to discover the long term consequences to possessing excess adipose tissue (that's fat). Diabetes would provide the best current example as it's been positively linked to obesity. As the costs of these consequences come more into focus, pricing policies will drive people away from the habits that lead to it. This assertion is going to ultimately draw us into a political discussion - never the intention of my writing - but it's an unavoidable consequence of the dilemma faced by our nation.
Maybe some of you have heard of some examples of the market coming into play here. In 2002, Southwest Airlines, one of the most profitable carriers out there, implemented a solution to transporting oversized passengers. At the policies tab of their website you can read their "Guidelines for Customers of Size". It states:
"Customers who are unable to lower the armrests (the definitive boundary between seats) and/or who compromise any portion of adjacent seating should proactively book the number of seats needed during initial reservations. This purchase serves as a notification of an unusual seating need and allows us to process a refund of the additional seating cost after travel (provided the flight doesn’t oversell). Most importantly, it ensures that all onboard have access to safe and comfortable seating."
Is this unfair? Of course not, just as UPS charges me more to ship you a heavier order, Southwest charges more if you're using more real estate on their plane.
Let's look at another example, life insurance. Life insurance companies are basically oddsmakers. Their actuarian tables and formulas can predict with statistical reliability the likelihood that we'll buy the farm at a certain age if we possess a certain inventory of physiological and genetic traits. That's why it sucks if you have a family history of disease - you will pay more for life insurance. This is a crock, but we'll save that discussion for another time.
So as it were in 1960 a 43 year old male paid no more for a life insurance policy if he smoked a pack of cigarettes a day. Today, this same 43 year old male would pay between 4.7 to 5.7 times more for the same amount of insurance. Overwhelming scientific evidence has documented the effects of smoking on our health. So if you choose to smoke, you can plan to spend 500% more for your policy because insurers have calculated their exposure. They don't really care if you smoke. They just have to make a living and cover their bets; and because other life insurance companies want your business, they'll do their best to offer a similar policy for less money. The free market in action.
Now here's where this gets dicey. Do you think the government should provide life insurance to every American? To most of us (I hope), government provided life insurance would be preposterous. What if instead the government simply regulated life insurance? What if they passed a law that every American, regardless of their health or history, could obtain a policy for a set price? If this occurred, and I'm a life insurance company, it just means I have to now factor in my entire insured population and spread the cost (or risk) across that entire population.
So now the 43 year old triathlete, who spends what some would call a small fortune on healthy foods, supplements, and exercise, is now paying the same for a life insurance policy as Joe Sixpack who's 50 lbs overweight, enjoys smoking cigars, and has discovered watching football on TV to be his preferred exercise. Does that sound fair to you?
We're already seeing this scenario when it comes to health insurance coverage. Because I'm self-employed, I have to go into the "market" to obtain health insurance. If you work for an organization that provides your insurance - you're not truly in the market - as an individual anyway. Because of God's grace (and a lot of really good habits) my family and I enjoy fabulous health which reduces (though not nearly as significantly as the life insurance smoking example) our cost. And because we're not in a pool with others, aka group coverage, we don't have to assume the risk of its unhealthy members.
As a positive result we pay what some would call a ridiculously small amount for health insurance. Since we're very poor consumers of health care, Blue Cross Blue Shield makes out like a bandit as virtually all of our health care expenses come out of our pocket, i.e., we're below our deductible.
So we can see that the market already has an effect on what we pay for health insurance, and as we mentioned earlier, the price of health insurance will correct for those factors that drive up cost. When the science catches up, you can be sure that the companies will "penalize" for obesity. Now I'm not suggesting for a second that we discriminate against the obese. People should be free to eat whatvever they want whenver they want. Taco Bell's gotta keep that shift employed for the 4th meal, and I don't want to see super size value meals at McDonald's slapped with a sin tax.
However, I do encourage those pricing practices that reward my good behavior. The flip side of this coin is that those with bad behavior will be punished. It's apparent how this applies to pricing health insurance. If the cost of every individual's health insurance were not spread across a group, and people had to pay more for their risky behavior, some people would be forced to change.
As the concept of universal health care coverage is being proposed again, I hope we see how this is wrong for America. Maybe its right for Europe and Canada and Cuba - but not the USA. We're a country of go-getters who are willing to work hard to get ahead. Yes, I'm willing to pay my fair share of taxes so that the poor and destitute can have adequate medical coverage. But don't ask me to subsidize the poor choices of my fellow countryman. I don't ask them to pay for my multivitamins, Muscle Milk, omega 3, race registrations, running shorts, etc.
All we can truly do is control our own behavior. So keep it up. Keep walking or running, cycling or swimming. Keep hiking or lifting, spinning or rowing. Do your yoga, pilates, aerobics, or whatever you enjoy. Don't be like the one God mentions in his 3 minute interview "who lose their health to make money and then lose their money to restore their health" (http://www.theinterviewwithgod.com/).
And while you're at it - be sure to bring a friend.
Are you in?
