Ya, you! You’re too fat! Clearly, you are not capable of moving your fat butt, or watching what you put in your mouth. Guess we’ll have to do that for you, too.
Yep. That’s what Denmark and Hungary have told their citizens. 
On Tuesday, Hungary voted to place a tax on “junk-foods” like Big Mac, pop (soda), and sweets.
Yesterday, the fat tax in Denmark went into effect. In this case, actual food in addition to that junk-food is being taxed. Here are some of the examples:
- High fat dairy products (what about kids under 2 years old who need the fat from whole milk for brain development??)- items like cream cheese, whipping cream, and ice cream
- Butter (huh, seems the body can break down the fats in butter than in fake, processed margarine-y food stuffs, but what do I know?)
- Meats
- Pizzas
- Pre-cooked Foods
- Potato Chips
- Olive Oil (nevermind that olive oil is actually healthy fat- makes me wonder if this applies to peanut butter and nuts, which also contain healthy fats)
- Etc. (does this include eggs? I have to wonder- if everyone had their own chickens, the fat and cholesterol content would be lower)
It is no surprise that citizens were in a frenzy, cleaning off store shelves and stocking up. Who wants to pay 30% more for butter until they have to?
And it’s no wonder that the rest of Europe, particularly Great Britain, is watching with rapt attention. After all, can you blame them?
Germany wants a fat tax, too. In fact, “Recently the German Teachers’ Association recommended weighing children in class each day and reporting the seriously overweight to social services, who would have the power to remove them to clinics.”
Incidentally, homeschooling is illegal in Germany. So, if your kid is deemed too fat, off to social services you go! And YOU, stupid parent, have no recourse; no option; no choice.
Stop reading now if you don’t want my two cents on this situation. 
My personal opinion is that when you rely on the government to take care of you, you have given them the right to make all those decisions. Absolutely, if I was in a country where everyone got free health care, you had better bet it would be up to the government to set in place parameters and guidelines for the citizens, as a means of keeping those costs down.
And why shouldn’t they? This clearly, imo, falls into the category of taking care of the individual’s health needs, since, you know, they obviously can’t make good decisions by themselves.
If people are going to make poor eating choices that have negative consequences on their health care (that the government is paying for), it stands to reason that they should contribute more financially to help off set those costs. Alcohol is taxed more; I would be surprised if tobacco isn’t as well.
Now, that being said, (and if you haven’t stopped reading in disgust) I don’t think the government has any business mandating either of those things. I don’t think it’s the job of the government to forcibly ”take care” of its citizens. I’m a fan of choice.
In the US, I don’t believe its constitutional for the federal government to mandate something like federal health care. States- sure. Go for it. But once you do (like Massachusetts), is it impossible to undo?
I know the issue of mandatory health care is loaded, and I certainly don’t have the answer. I think it’s a bad idea to give up any decision-making choices in favor of other people making decisions for you.
If you’ve been reading along, you know how I feel about the health care system as it is now. It’s definitely broken.
Case and point: out of the two hospitals we have here (the hub of anything in 200 miles in any direction) both are too small, apparently, to have their own ER doctors. Instead, they use a contracted service.
While both hospitals are in my insurance network, this contracted service, which is the same for both hospitals, is not. That means that they can charge anything they want to, and they do.
What does this mean to me?
As a person with insurance through a national insurance group on a Fortune 500 company policy, it means that my deductible is doubled because they are out of network. It means that those services (the ER doctor charge) get paid at 70% instead of 90%, after my doubled deductible. This deductible also doesn’t go towards my out-of-pocket costs because they are out of network, or to my other, in-network deductible.
If my insurance decides to pay in-network costs as a courtesy to me- which it usually does because of the rural factor, in that I have no other choice- they pay “reasonable and customary” costs.
What does that mean? That means if “reasonable and customary” is $100, they will pay the 90% of that amount. Because they are not under contract with the insurance company, this means that the provider can- and does- charge whatever they feel like. For that $100 insurance deems “reasonable and customary”? The provider can charge you $100,000. And you, poor sucker who had to go to the ER, legally has to eat the difference.
I’m up to my eyeballs in this again right now, after having a trip a few months ago for my middle daughter’s concussion. I cannot tell you how sick I am of being Screwed. A look at 2010 should bring you up to speed.
The bill for the doctor in the ER was $800. I have no idea what amount will be considered ”reasonable and customary,” but I know insurance will probably initially pay 70%. Then I’ll have to sit on the check they send me (because they don’t pay out-of-network providers; they send the check to you) and have it go for review, which can take 60 to 90 days. In the meantime, I’m going to get letters from the provider, telling me they are (and will- trust me, I’ve been down this road) going to turn you over to collections.
Nevermind the insurance you have. Nevermind that you went to an IN-FREAKING-NETWORK provider to keep your cost down. NEVERMIND that they are GOUGING you because you have insurance and being UNETHICAL because of their outrageous cost.
Ticked? Doesn’t begin to cover it.
The thing is, they aren’t all like that. Take my GI doc, for example. When I regularly go visit him, he charges *exactly* what is deemed “reasonable and customary” by my insurance. Our company changed insurance carriers since I’ve been seeing him, and his billing practices are exactly the same for each provider: they are under contract, and bill accordingly. This means when I go visit him, if my deductible is paid, I pay my 10% which comes out to less than $5.
Yep, you read that right.
LESS than $5, and the man is a specialist. And a good one. Who actually cares about his patients, even the ones (like me ) who basically self-refer even though they aren’t supposed to.
So I don’t buy the mantra that all costs are high. Some providers are out to screw you, plain and simple. And when you are rural and without options or recourse, you’re the poor sucker who, again, has to take it in the shorts unless you don’t mind your credit rating getting wrecked while you duke it out.
The uninsured (particularly here, where people go to the emergency room for colds because they can’t be turned away) is a problem. Skyrocketing costs are a problem (don’t even get me going on the comparison cost of x-rays….). Something has to be done.
But giving complete control over to the federal government?
Sorry, I just don’t think that’s smart. I think once you get on that path to expecting to be taken care of, you give the right to that entity to make choices for you, like raising your taxes on butter, bread, and meats.
~~When you give up your rights to choice, you give up your voice.~~
More articles for your reading pleasure:
Germany Weighs Tax on the Obese
Bulge Battle Will Wallop Your Wallet
Denmark Levies World’s First Fat Tax
Fat Tax Lands On Denmark’s Favorite Foods
I won’t comment on the issues with health insurance because I’ll just get angry and have to buy a new PC/keyboard/wall once I throw something.
Instead, let me share something related to the overweight angle…
At the end of 1998, I had a dozen job offers to come back to Europe. One of them was from Swisscom in Bern, Switzerland, I took that one.
Before I settled on Bern, I got an intriguiing offer from a company in Strasbourg (as I understand it, they speak German there, but the city is part of France, and it’s all a long story related to the World Wars).
This company sold women’s clothing, specifically underwear. They sold via a catalog (this was 1998 remember) and wanted me to help.
Well, as you can imagine, my ears pricked up when I was told that someone wanted me to come and help make their women’s underwear catalog more effective (“Do the models have to WEAR the underwear?” was one question I had in mind).
Anticipating my male-fuelled interest, the recruiter — who had clearly had the conversation a few times with other candidates — said that I needed to know something very important. This particular company had a target market, (a) the middle-aged to older woman, and (b) what is known in the USA as the “plus size” market. He said that this was a very big market in Germany. (No, he didn’t see the pun — perhaps he was German.) My interest waned a little when I realized I wouldn’t get work with super-models…
Heh- I don’t know what sizes they were talking about then, but here in the US, it has long been that anything size 12 and up was considered “plus size.”
You may recall that Marilyn Monroe wasn’t a skinny minny- according to this site here: http://www.fatnutritionist.com/index.php/the-body-of-marilyn-monroe/, based on measurements, her pants would probably be a size “10,12, or 14″ based on her 35 inch hips.
Which means….. she would have been considered a plus size model.
Now to age. What was his standard of “old?”
Bo Derek, for example, is 55 and had 34 inch hips.
Christie Brinkley- 57
Farrah Fawcett was 62 when she passed.
Helen Mirren (while not plus size as far as I can tell) is 66.
You get the drift- age is relative to care (genetics and these days, surgery), imo.
Shoot, even the models for that target audience (at least here- don’t know about Germany- this just brings to mind a stout hausfrau complete with frumpy dirndl and pettipants- ‘course, it could just be because it’s October
) probably wouldn’t be half bad these days. Although, being French in origin, I would have wondered about the hairy armpits and legs….. 
You should have gone for it if the other job could have waited!
Without being completely familiar with the terms, I know I was being told that it was, as you say, “…stout hausfrau complete with frumpy dirndl and pettipants…” coupled with pressure stockings, girdle, and severe expression. Not shapely-regardless-of-their absolute-mearurements Marilyn Monroes, Bo Dereks, and Farrah Fawcetts.
I don’t want to give the impression that I’m only interested in the modern stick insects masquerading as attrative females. Just that old and pudgy and grumpy, as a group of attributes, doesn’t rock my boat. Am I starting to sound sensible rather than sexist or unrealistic yet?
S, then it’s a good thing you passed.
The grumpy part would have had me running for the hills. There is nothing wrong with a nice little pout, but when you add grumpy to the mix, well, I’m not sure I would have wanted to risk it. 
I just got a 500 dollar bill from an ER Dr here. What is with that? Did you hear the two hospitals are combining? Maybe then they can afford to actually hire some ER Dr.s????
I will be honest, half of the US weight problem IS lack of self control. I KNOW from having PCOS that health factors can really screw your weight up, but I also know I eat more sugar than I should. Really I am ok with a tax on fast food places. If it wasn’t so cheap some people wouldn’t eat it. But I don’t mind a huge tax on smoking either. I do enjoy a Pina Coloda but not too often and I would pay more money to have it on a special occasion.
Now food at the grocery store is a whole other ball of wax, imo….yes tax the doughnuts but not regular wheat bread. Tax the ice cream
and cake mixes 
I love them but still. I could even live without milk, soy has just as much calcium and there are other options. Eggs, butter, olive oil and meat? That just seems crazy to me. In combination with all the other fattening stuff sure they can make you gain weight, but when used right I just don’t see the point. I really hope fish isn’t included in the meat. I wish I could be a Vegan, but I am married to a meat eater. I get worried looks when there isn’t meat for dinner, which I try to do at least twice a week. He could never go completely without it.
I really think weighing children in a class is NOT a good thing. When I was a size 9, back in the good ole days before kids, I still weighed 175 lbs. Big bones? I don’t know, maybe my fat is just more dense or something, but no one believed how much I weighed. You most defiantly can’t go by numbers alone when there are so many different body types.
I did hear that, Amanda. I talked to one of the co-owners a few weeks ago and learned that because of Medicare cuts (which would prevent them from adding on) they were in dire straits. The coming Obamacare regulations would also prevent them (as a private hospital) from adding on, unless that got changed. Boo!
All told, our ER visit without insurance cost around $2,000, with the doctor’s bill actually being higher than the CT bill and the actual hospital bill. I think they need more than the categories you have- if you get a real dx, you should not have to pay that ridiculous amount for the deductible. That should be, imo, the same as if they admit you. In our case, even though we weren’t admitted, she had an actual thing- this would go for stitches, broken bones, etc, and would exclude people using the ER for things like colds.
And definitely, they should have had something in the waiting room that said if you are a pediatric patient and need to be admitted, we are going to charge you for an ambulance ride down the road to the other hospital. If there had been something like that in the waiting room, I would have turned around and gone to the other one.
Empty caloried food, even, I can see (because we make our own ice cream a lot of the time, in addition to things made from scratch), but I agree with you- not the bread. I would even go as far as to say any kind of bread. But on raw ingredients or whole foods? I think prices are high enough here as it is. I shudder to think what another tax would do.
The weighing kids in class is a no go in my opinion. I think it’s a total violation, because as you said, it doesn’t take into account body types. It also wouldn’t take into consideration muscle weighing more than fat, and then what- do a BMI test on every kid?
I agree there needs to be better health education out there, but taxing staples is not the way to go. I mean, really? $1 for a single green pepper? If you are rural like we are, you are totally screwed.
We’ve become a society of fast- fast foods, immediate gratification for wants. I think education and incentive are considerably better than punishing. There will always be a percentage of people making poor decisions (like using artificial baby milk when they don’t have to
) even when they have the knowledge on board. Just think, if WIC didn’t give formula and required new mothers to breastfeed for the first 6 months at least…. I do think we would see a huge part of the obesity epidemic get under control.
My two cents, but you know how I roll in that regard, lol. (yes, everything {except maybe shoes
} can be brought back to breastfeeding….) 
Very good post Tikk, I won’t even get started on my views on government controls. People don’t think about what they are giving away. It’s a damn slippery slope!!
You got me thinking and thinking got me riled!! I just spent 4 days in hospital with a heart attack, I drove myself to emerg because I didn’t want to pay the ambulance charge. I had excellent care while there and the nursing staff were all great, food was excellent (for a hospital) I have no complaint¤ but I haven’t gotten my bill yet either. It will probably cause me to have another heart attack!
No kidding. I got a second bill from the ER doc service- as it turns out, they hadn’t submitted it to my insurance. Like, why the heck not? Everyone else had that info? So, they sent it in, but now we wait while insurance reviews it to figure out how much they are going to pay.
You’re in Canada, yes? How does that all work up there? I guess I thought you wouldn’t have to pay anything extra….
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