Originally Posted by barrowaj

For the most part, its a human behavior, which, depending on your philosophy, can be a decision. Think of this, 75 years ago obesity was not an issue at all. So what changed in the past 75 years, human behavior, or the humans' environment?

But they are. Whether the person who gets a heart attack is on medicare, has health insurance, or is even uninsured, you still pay for it. You pay for it in terms of the medical costs, and you pay for it in terms of that person's lost productivity, which drives up the cost of goods and services. So encouraging people to get in shape would reduce both the lost productivity, and the very expensive medical costs of treating the outcomes of obesity.