Alabama workers to pay for extra pounds

Too little, too late, yet, a start.

"Alabama, pushed to second in national obesity rankings by deep-fried Southern favorites, is cracking down on state workers who are too fat.

The state has given its 37,527 employees a year to start getting fit — or they’ll pay $25 a month for insurance that otherwise is free.

Alabama will be the first state to charge overweight state workers who don’t work on slimming down, while a handful of other states reward employees who adopt healthy behaviors.

Alabama already charges workers who smoke — and has seen some success in getting them to quit — but now has turned its attention to a problem that plagues many in the Deep South: obesity.

The State Employees’ Insurance Board this week approved a plan to charge state workers starting in January 2010 if they don’t have free health screenings."

Apparently, Alabama forgets that there is no time like the present.

Still, it is understandable (though not necessarily preferable) that they would wait to give fatsos yet another chance to shape up.

"If the screenings turn up serious problems with blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose or obesity, employees will have a year to see a doctor at no cost, enroll in a wellness program, or take steps on their own to improve their health. If they show progress in a follow-up screening, they won’t be charged. But if they don’t, they must pay starting in January 2011."

Unfortunately, the "cures," e.g., "enroll[ing] in a wellness program," will never, ever work to resolve the fatso problem since these "solutions" are based on the same flawed policies of the past that have failed for years and years.

"'It’s terrible,' said health department employee Chequla Motley. 'Some people come into this world big.'"

No Chequla.

If anything, some people come into this world too stupid to know that being too big is their own doing and, by the way, are likely too stupid to be state employees.

Idiot.

"Computer technician Tim Colley already pays $24 a month for being a smoker and doesn’t like the idea of another charge.

'It’s too Big Brotherish,' he said."

No, Tim.

You are too big, brother.

Don't like to spend the extra money to pay for your own increased risks?

Lose the weight, smoking fatso.

"The board will apply the obesity charge to anyone with a body mass index of 35 or higher who is not making progress."

It is also unfortunate that only the really, really obese are subject to this policy.

Obesity begins with a BMI of 30.

There are whole lot of fatsos, too many fatsos, who are exempt from this policy.

We can only hope that this will change.

Partial congrats to Alabama where apparently something worth doing is worth doing mediocre-ly.

At least it is a start.