Talk About Fat !

The obesity problem in the US is greater than I could ever imagine. I have run across some amazing information about this problem today.

It is a public health menace on the order of tobacco. Like tobacco leads to lung surgery, etc. obesity leads to many problems including recently recoginized joint and muscle problems. These problems lead to a speciality surgery called bariatric surgery. Bariatric surgery is a procedure that creates a gastric by-pass in the abdomen and thus allows the obese person to shed their life threatening pounds. Over 3,500 procedures of this sort (a 500% increase since 1999) were performed in the Twin Cities last year at a retail cost of $20,000 - $30,000 each. (Insurance companies negotiate a much lower cost of around $14,000 - $17,000. Doctors make about $2,100 per surgery and hospital costs are about $10,000 per surgery. Which leaves the hospital a sweet $3,900 profit even at the negotiated insurer price.

We will begin to see fat chop shops (weight-loss surgery centers) show up where the procedure can be done on a specialized level and thus drive the costs for the procedure down even further. These are some amazing pfat facts ! ;-) And here I sit with an extra 50 lbs. Yet at 60, I still feel pretty good but I have developed some joint problems. But who hasn't developed something by the time they are 60?

You can read about it here.