As obesity reaches epidemic proportions in America, and affordable health care coverage becomes scarcer and scarcer…..a recent report concludes that an obese worker can cost a business as much as $2500 extra per year.

The study, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, showed that as BMI (body mass index) increases so too do medical expenses and sick days.

It begs the question. Your premiums are set by actuarial formulas, based on national averages. If the national average is overweight, well there you go. I’ve always wondered why health care companies didn’t require physicals for coverage, to determine premiums, i.e. smokers, the obese, and older people pay more–just like life insurance. It can be just that simple. Yeah, yeah, yeah there are medical conditions to consider(please don’t email me on the subject). But don’t talk to me about smoking–it is not a medical condition, it’s a choice. And for some, not all, I know, I know, so is being overweight. With all the forces working against us as Americans (miles of fast food pit stops, pre-packaged foods, warehouse shopping, etc.)… This is one of the greatest health problems facing us today. Greater than cancer, greater than heart disease. And yet we do nothing.

Being overweight, hundreds of years ago, used to be a sign of wealth. Only the richest people had enough food to over-indulge. But now, many evil corporations make it cheap and easy for anyone in a first world country to have access to unlimited amounts of empty calories, while millions of less golden arch-challenged beg and walk miles for a cup of rice.

According to foodfranchise.com, the fast food industry is expected to top over $500 billion in sales in the next 6 years.

Our budget deficit was a record-setting $412 billion last year. This year, before Hurricane Katrina, the budget deficit was expected to hit approximately $315 billion. (according to the non-partisan C.B.O. or congressional budget office) Hurricane Katrina is expected to cost at least $150 billion. That’s nearly 25% of what’s spent on fast food in a year.

Am I being too harsh? If one so thinks, one can choke it down with fries and a shake. Or one can go rent Super Size Me. Then one may tell me I’m being too harsh, and I’ll be happy to tell one what one can super-size.

Scientific American Ditty on Costs of Obesity.

Donate the cost of one value meal ($4.99) a week for the next semester/quarter (12 weeks) for a total of $59.88 to America’s Second Harvest. I know, I’m like a dog with a bone. But what the world needs now is perspective.

A major thanks to my friend John Morris at Bonny Doon down in Paso Robles and his MOST generous donation to the afformentioned charity of choice. I’d thought he’d gone native, but it’s great to hear he’s doing swell. We miss you.

DISCLAIMER: I saw The Constant Gardner last night. So I’m a little fired up. As opposed to…what,.., you say? I know, right? Not the film I needed to see right now. But a great, sadly beautiful movie, to be sure. This is not a rant about fat people, this is a question of how some can have so much as to make themselves ill from it, while others don’t have enough to survive.