gluttony will bankrupt english nhs say Medical experts

[naveed]

gluttony will bankrupt english nhs say Medical experts

Obesity could bankrupt NHS if left unchecked

NHS England » Get serious about obesity or bankrupt the NHS – Simon Stevens


Diabetes 'threatens to bankrupt NHS' | Daily Mail Online

 

[Inkfingers]

The answer is not to tax people more.

The answer is for the clinically obese to be charged for any healthcare needed because of their weight.

 

[naveed]

96% drop in EU nurses registering to work in Britain since Brexit vote

 

[Douger]

If you have a tax funded health service it makes sense to tax foods that cause the ill health in order to pay for it.
Or course the money could also go to preventetive measures like subsidizing healthy foods and access to sports (ooops! I mean "sport") facilities.

 

[MyOwnSockPuppet]

Oddly enough there was some research done a few years ago by some Dutch and Norwgian statisticians regarding lifetime healthcare costs. Their findings were that obese people incurred far smaller lifetime healthcare costs than "healthy" people, but what really surprised them was that smokers incurred even less.

The reasons are obvious if you think about it - smokers and the obese go from healthy (and not requiring any medical care) to dead far faster than the others (who potentially will require years of labour intensive geriatric medicine).

 

[MyOwnSockPuppet]

If you have a tax funded health service it makes sense to tax foods that cause the ill health in order to pay for it.

In the UK "luxury" foods are already subject to VAT (sales tax) at the standard rate of 20%, whereas basic food has a tax rate of 0%.
However what qualifies as "luxury" foods is an insane legal minefield. Consider the chocolate biscuit - a biscuit with a solid layer of chocolate on it qualifies as "luxury", whereas biscuits that have lumps of chocolate added (either mixed in prior to cooking or added afterwards) don't. Oh, and cakes with a layer of chocolate on the top also don't (which lead to McVities taking the VAT assessors to a tribunal about their classification of Jaffa Cakes as biscuits rather than cakes - meaning that they'd need to add VAT to the sales price).

 

[naveed]

Fat chance of a healthy UK as millennials turn obese

 

[LionL]

The answer is not to tax people more.

The answer is for the clinically obese to be charged for any healthcare needed because of their weight.

Should we tax those who drink alcohol more too? Smokers (we already do), drivers, people who work with asbestos? Those with genetic susceptibility to cancer or heart disease?

The whole point of the NHS is that we all look after one another.

gluttony will bankrupt english nhs say Medical experts

Only the English NHS? What about Wales, Scotland and Ireland? Perhaps England should take a leaf out of it's fellow's books?

 

[MyOwnSockPuppet]

Should we tax those who drink alcohol more too? Smokers (we already do), drivers, people who work with asbestos? Those with genetic susceptibility to cancer or heart disease?

We also tax drinkers via alcohol duties - the rates are a nightmarish shambles for everything except spirits (40% before VAT), and drivers (57.95p/l on petrol & diesel), working with (usually removing) asbestos nowadays involves so much health and safety red tape and men in space suits to probably be no more dangerous than most other work.

Your point is true nonetheless.

Only the English NHS? What about Wales, Scotland and Ireland? Perhaps England should take a leaf out of it's fellow's books?

NHS England is the one of the four that makes the most notable press statements - something to do with the minor matter that about 85% of the population of the UK live in England.

 

[mindlight]

If you have a tax funded health service it makes sense to tax foods that cause the ill health in order to pay for it.
Or course the money could also go to preventetive measures like subsidizing healthy foods and access to sports (ooops! I mean "sport") facilities.

Taxing bad foods is of course a good idea. But also reintroducing exercise into the mindset of Mr and Mrs Average. It should not just be the preserve of superheroes watched on TV by normal people while eating crisps and Mars bars.

Britain has one of the best elite sports programmes in the world - hence our prowess at Olympic games. But yes more could be done to restore sport as mandatory in school, to improve school dinners, educate people on good eating, and also sports facilities for ordinary people. On a trip to Birmingham for instance I was shocked to find that the local pool where I planned to do Triathlon training was closed in the evenings which was the only time I could swim.