Radley Balko is an esteemed columnist with the publications carrying his work ranging from major news outlets like FoxNew.com and the Washington Post, to other periodicals such as Playboy. Additionally, he is the senior editor of the American libertarian magazine Reason. The Cato Institute, a self ascribed “American Libertarian think tank”, published this essay in which Balko calls for an end to the socialistic progression of American healthcare with a focus on obesity. Denying that federal anti-obesity measures will have any effect on the obesity epidemic, and rather assuring people what they consume is the upmost private matter, somewhere in between repressed childhood memories and your social security number. Claiming that the only successful
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People are busier and busier, logically leading to rises in stress levels in conjunction with this phenomenon. Supplement that with the fact that many Americans are experiencing ever growing financial strain, then the demands of the market quickly become apparent. The American public wants something fast, convenient, and most imperatively cheap. They are not hunting down ways to become overweight and obese, instead they are succumbing to the roadblocks to healthy eating that we have collectively instigated in the name convenience. Therefore the sensible measures to take to help reverse the problem is to shift the proliferation of nutritionless food in the United States to healthier alternatives, or to truly inform the public of the grisly truth of how their choices will affect them later in life. From Balko’s impressive resume, it can be assumed that he is educated enough to know what the proper food choices are, and that he has the economic stability to instigate them. Absolutely in a perfect world everyone would share an equal playing field on which to make these decisions, but to assume everyone is already on it is dismissive of the plight of many …show more content…
According to Balko an end to the obesity epidemic would require, “…freeing insurance companies to reward healthy lifestyles, and penalize poor ones. It means halting plans to further socialize medicine and health care” (398). More so to the point Balko is proposing allowing insurance companies to raise premiums or even cut coverage to overweight individuals, essentially giving overweight and obese Americans the ultimatum to lose weight or go broke trying. However, by extension of this logic would it not also be reasonable to raise and lower premiums based on activity levels, or even refuse to coverage for sexually transmitted infections based on the insurance companies’ perceived promiscuity of your lifestyle. The belief that health insurance companies possess the morality to instigate these measures in an impartial manner is downright absurd in its own right. In fact, being that Balko bears the title of a “little l” libertarian, shouldn’t the encroaching surveillance of your lifestyle by insurance corporations be of equal or greater concern to this socialistic healthcare system he so
People are busier and busier, logically leading to rises in stress levels in conjunction with this phenomenon. Supplement that with the fact that many Americans are experiencing ever growing financial strain, then the demands of the market quickly become apparent. The American public wants something fast, convenient, and most imperatively cheap. They are not hunting down ways to become overweight and obese, instead they are succumbing to the roadblocks to healthy eating that we have collectively instigated in the name convenience. Therefore the sensible measures to take to help reverse the problem is to shift the proliferation of nutritionless food in the United States to healthier alternatives, or to truly inform the public of the grisly truth of how their choices will affect them later in life. From Balko’s impressive resume, it can be assumed that he is educated enough to know what the proper food choices are, and that he has the economic stability to instigate them. Absolutely in a perfect world everyone would share an equal playing field on which to make these decisions, but to assume everyone is already on it is dismissive of the plight of many …show more content…
According to Balko an end to the obesity epidemic would require, “…freeing insurance companies to reward healthy lifestyles, and penalize poor ones. It means halting plans to further socialize medicine and health care” (398). More so to the point Balko is proposing allowing insurance companies to raise premiums or even cut coverage to overweight individuals, essentially giving overweight and obese Americans the ultimatum to lose weight or go broke trying. However, by extension of this logic would it not also be reasonable to raise and lower premiums based on activity levels, or even refuse to coverage for sexually transmitted infections based on the insurance companies’ perceived promiscuity of your lifestyle. The belief that health insurance companies possess the morality to instigate these measures in an impartial manner is downright absurd in its own right. In fact, being that Balko bears the title of a “little l” libertarian, shouldn’t the encroaching surveillance of your lifestyle by insurance corporations be of equal or greater concern to this socialistic healthcare system he so