Wow. I'm at a loss for words at the moment. Angry, indignant, perturbed....these words don't even come close. Insulted. That's another good word.
My employer, in combination with my health insurer and Web MD have come up with this "wellness program" wherein points are assigned for certain activities. Get enough points, and you save money on your insurance, which equals bigger paychecks. One of the required activities is to take a health assessment they call a "health quotient". It asks about your height and weight, your last check up, whether you know your cholesterol, and if you go to the dentist regularly. They say it's voluntary, so I have no one to blame but myself.....
This morning I got a call from some poor call center employee with my health insurer. His job was to get me to sign up for their weight loss phone support. It's FREE! My employer pays for it! WOO HOO! So why was I not ecstatic and sobbing with relief that they were here to rescue me from my fatness?
Could it be that weight is not an indicator of health? Could it be that I found it insulting that they picked an aribtrary cutoff for what makes a person at risk? Could it be knowing that the skinny person beside me who eats junk all_day is not getting the same call but is at greater risk than me? Let's quit looking at body size and start looking at behaviors, people!
Living ~400 lbs had an awesome post today about how government programs aren't helping with obesity. My work program is an awful lot like the government programs, in my eyes. Please go read Living's post, because my description is inadequate.
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