The first time I saw a commercial for Mike & Molly, weeks before it's television debut, I cringed. I knew controversy was coming, and I was right. After a recent episode, where the obese couple finally finds the time and the place to "get down", a blogger posted about how disgusting it would be to watch fat people kiss. The online responses to the controversy fall, predictably, into two main themes, those against the blogger say hate is hate, and is inappropriate, those with the blogger say free speech is free speech and fat people are at fault for the ridiculous cost of healthcare.
There it is. Fat people are at fault for the ridiculous cost of healthcare. That's the new chant in the healthcare blame game. Now replace the words fat people with the word smokers. Sound familiar? In 2002, according to a publication by BCBS of MN, smoking was the #1 preventable cause of death, and should be targeted to reduce the cost of healthcare. Happily, thanks in part to rigorous anti-smoking campaigns headed by lawmakers, employers and healthcare professionals, the number of smokers in the US has been steadily declining for 40 years. 40 years! Isn't that amazing?!
Does anyone really believe that healthcare costs will go down if fat people quit being fat? Smokers quitting smoking resulted in fewer smoking related illnesses and deaths, but it did NOT cause healthcare costs to go down. I'm not saying obesity isn't a health problem. I am saying it's not the problem with healthcare. Smokers have basically been vilified into submission, fat people probably will be too, when the number of fat people is no longer enough to plausibly lay blame on, who's next?
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