Fat People Cheaper to Treat, Study Says
February 5, 2008 By MARIA CHENG, AP Medical Writer(AP) -- Preventing obesity and smoking can save lives, but it doesn't save money, researchers reported Monday. It costs more to care for healthy people who live years longer, according to a Dutch study that counters the common perception that preventing obesity would save governments millions of dollars.
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"The study, paid for by the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports, did not take into account other potential costs of obesity and smoking, such as lost economic productivity or social costs."
...without which, the entire exercise is meaningless. What matters to society at large is the total net cost or benefit of a lifestyle. What we need to know is has the Fat/Smoking/Healthy person been a net burden on society or a net benefactor. I would guess that of them all, the smokers are the biggest net contributors because, in the UK at least, we already know that they pay, in taxes, more than 9 times the cost of their medical treatment so they're subsidising the rest of us. Thankyou smokers!