RichmondLiberty.org

by Robert Russo

The easiest political issues to discuss are those that affect someone else, but in this age of government intrusion every voter has an issue that has smited them personally. As a law firm might say, personal injury is devastating. It is no longer a matter of debate or upholding a process. It is extremely difficult to speak in a civil tone that treats injustice with consideration, gives allowance to criminals or pretends that the subject is not painful. For some this issue is a president who sent their sons overseas to die, for others it is the Patriot Act, abortion or immigration, but what angers me above all topics is discrimination based on appearance; how much we weigh, how old we look, how we dress etc. The Indiana-based medical company Clarian has drawn national attention by vowing to dock pay from "unfit" employees, $5 per pay period for smoking, $10 for being fat, and $5 each for high blood pressure, high blood sugar and high cholesterol, for a total of $780 a year.*

In the biblical story Daniel and his friends Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego introduce vegetarianism to the court of Babylon and become healthier than the king's own warriors.** Since this innocence is how Clarian views its decision let's consider their perspective. A medical care provider should take notice of the health of it's own employees, as should any employer. It is also good business, as Noah Oppenheim of MSNBC writes "...they pick up a chunk of the bill for their employees' health care. The healthier their workers, the less that care costs... So, the triathlete in accounting who never needs a doctor pays the same monthly premiums as an obese diabetic who visits a hospital every month. The more obese diabetics, the more those premiums go up for everyone."* So now the company is acting on behalf of its healthy employees to keep them from being disadvantaged. This sounds exactly like what an honest, upstanding corporation that cares about its workers would do, except that it doesn't. Employees who care about each other might do likewise, but they don't. This is the 21st century. State parks shouldn't cut down their own trees, but they do. Hospitals let patients die on the floor and refuse to treat the uninsured.***

The truth is the consensus on what constitutes "health" doesn't exist, the myriad approaches and methods have simply been taken over by a single competitor, the "whoever lives longest wins" philosophy, the strive for physical perfection. This is the same monopoly that has nearly destroyed holistic medicine and other alternative practices (which is why international healers who are respected around the world find their lecture circuits halted in this country because it treats them like shamans). Companies are a similar monopoly. A doctrine that judges health by physical appearance is profitable, and incites discrimination. Large people are diagnosed on sight as unhealthy because they are considered unattractive. People in other demographic groups can't accept their appearance, and don't want them in the workplace. (The current hype is to equate people's weight with diabetes. Prognosing the entire public with diabetes would be a huge moneymaker, since everyone's blood sugar fluctuates. I predict mood swings, compatibility etc. will be attributed to it in the future, but why stop there? Employees could be hired and promoted based on health projected at birth from their DNA like in the movie Gattaca.)

Oppenheim says "I have no problem helping to pay for the care of a colleague who discovers they have breast cancer. Such ailments are outside our control... Choosing to smoke or over-eat is everyone’s personal prerogative."* Assuming people are lazy overeaters is not medical, educated or newsworthy. Clarian president Daniel Evans said on the Today show "If one diabetic improves their health it will save us and the individual thousands of dollars a year"*. Obviously a "true" Type I diabetic who has that illness for life is not saving anyone a dime, he is talking about weight appearance and judgment. A single group is being targeted by members of a different demographic group based on their physical appearance, and that by definition is discrimination. People prefer to work among members of their own lifestyle, religion, race, wherever they can draw a line.

The claim that unhealthy people are a financial burden on their healthier neighbors and coworkers because of insurance is an illusion manipulated by those who decide insurance premiums and company policies. A parent can teach their children to share by saying if one child takes two cookies the other gets none, because he holds the cookie jar. It is classic manipulation to draw people's attention toward each other and away from the decision-makers.

This is not to naysay all mainstream medicine, only to acknowledge it is no different from mainstream politics. Anyone can spout facts to support their political purposes because it is that purpose that drives the research to back it. (One poster asks "So what about someone that is anorexic?")* Many citizens are starved for mental and social tolerance and acceptance. I myself fall under the category of someone who "never needs a doctor", I have zero allergies and a lightning metabolism, but I'm not bothered that other people aren’t this way. Just as it shocks people to hear entertainers like Louis Armstrong, Josephine Baker and Nat King Cole grew up with racial injustice, it disturbs me to know the beautiful plus-sized models we see in magazines were abused from childhood to the present day, every one of them. Many are employed in the field of nursing.

Clarian is giving its workers till 2009, just a year and a half, to amend their lifestyles. At least those who can't meet the requirements due to a diagnosed medical condition will be exempt,**** which hopefully is a loophole they all can fit through, but having a diagnosed illness when one works for a medical facility makes it a two-edged sword. "The ultimate goal isn’t to collect more money.” Clarian attests, “The ultimate goal is to create a healthier population."*****, and they are right. Adopting a lifestyle or culture that is taking over society is profitable in a way no pay cuts could match. A religion-like initiative of many companies working together to convert people. It is the reason McDonald's suddenly became the number one buyer of apples in the nation.****** There is no price too high for the belief that one is on the winning team. The presidential debates and all other political competitions have adopted the Highlander philosophy, "in the end there can be only one".******* Greed erases diversity and democracy. Matt Lauer's response, "You can turn health care into a police state.".***** This issue and public responses can be read at http://allday.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/08/10/312031.aspx and http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/20212332/.

*http://allday.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/08/10/312031.aspx
**http://www.biblebb.com/files/pniv/MISHAEL.TXT
***http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-calls13jun13,0,3172164.story?coll=la-home-local
****http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=6916548&nav=9Tai
*****http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/20212332/
******http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,155244,00.html
*******http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highlander_(film)

Question of the Week: How would you feel if you were fined for being a smoker, being overweight or having diabetes? When this happens to people do you put yourself in their shoes, or see them as a separate group that may be affecting your own freedoms? Send your opinions to henrico@richmondliberty.org.

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