Fat tax questions

Filed in archive regulators on July 24, 2010

Should fat people pay more for health insurance and health costs?

That's the question that's now come up in Germany with Marco Wanderwitz, a conservative member of parliament for the German state of Saxony, saying it's unfair for taxpayers to foot the bill for the bill. "It's legitimate to ask the question if the immense costs that are caused by the excessive consumption of food should continue to be paid for by everyone else," Wanderwitz said.

The Telegraph reports that the German Teachers' Association has recommended weighing children in class each day and reporting the seriously overweight to social services. The German government would have the power to remove them to clinics.

This will be an ongoing debate around the world. And it's all quite scary, especially that it's coming from a country famous for its beer, pork, sausages and chocolates.

It's all part of a trend now to target the obese. Earlier this year, the big debate was on whether to charge obese people a fat tax and make them pay extra.

This is a disturbing trend for several reasons. First, obesity is not a disability by law which means fat people have to be treated the same as everyone else. Secondly, there are cases where obesity is a genetic condition beyond the individual's control. Which all means that any attempt to target the obese will result in litigation.

Health care costs are rising around the world but that's not because of the obese. It's because of ageing populations. What are you going to do? Target the elderly? Introduce euthanasia? We need more sophisticated solutions to fix the health care problem.