Hi. Could somebody scream this really loudly?
Hi. Could somebody scream this really loudly?
"We have this laser focus on weight, when this measure of body size doesn't get under the skin of what healthy markers are," she says. "We need to focus on actual health markers, rather than this outdated, very broad measure called BMI."
The article isn't fully publicly available, yet, but I put the link here, anyway. The NPR post covers many of the things about BMI with which I have had an issue for some time. It is taught as if it is a health indicator, which is why so much has been pegged to it, and that has to change. It's like the way in which p-values are constantly misused, among other things.
Further, I do not at all agree with the idea that people who smoke, or have an elevated BMI, or whatever else should have to pay more for health insurance. Why? Firstly, because no matter how much it is claimed this is science, it is almost always motivated by a deep seated moral/ethical judgment system that is societal and not truly motivated by health or science concerns.
Secondly, how does it improve health if the minute you need help with that, the system penalizes you for needing the insurance you were paying for while presumed healthy? I know this is how car and home and other insurances work; if you need it too often, they raise your rates or cancel it. This is part of the debates about whether health insurance should be considered the same as these other products, at all.
Lastly, if you can raise rates on people who smoke or have an elevated BMI, you have to raise rates on people who have had cancer, or have a family member with a documented gene that causes cancer; or carries a gene for a number of diseases, like Huntington's, or Cystic Fibrosis; or have had a head injury; or have familial high cholesterol diseases; or etc. Basically, anything that can be statistically linked with a higher risk of worse health and greater need to utilize the health care system. Pretty much everyone, basically. Who benefits? The insurance companies from higher premiums, but I'm not sure who else.
http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/02/04/465569465/if-bmi-is-the-test-of-health-many-pro-athletes-would-flunk
http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/vaop/naam/abs/ijo201617a.html
http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/02/04/465569465/if-bmi-is-the-test-of-health-many-pro-athletes-would-flunk
"We have this laser focus on weight, when this measure of body size doesn't get under the skin of what healthy markers are," she says. "We need to focus on actual health markers, rather than this outdated, very broad measure called BMI."
The article isn't fully publicly available, yet, but I put the link here, anyway. The NPR post covers many of the things about BMI with which I have had an issue for some time. It is taught as if it is a health indicator, which is why so much has been pegged to it, and that has to change. It's like the way in which p-values are constantly misused, among other things.
Further, I do not at all agree with the idea that people who smoke, or have an elevated BMI, or whatever else should have to pay more for health insurance. Why? Firstly, because no matter how much it is claimed this is science, it is almost always motivated by a deep seated moral/ethical judgment system that is societal and not truly motivated by health or science concerns.
Secondly, how does it improve health if the minute you need help with that, the system penalizes you for needing the insurance you were paying for while presumed healthy? I know this is how car and home and other insurances work; if you need it too often, they raise your rates or cancel it. This is part of the debates about whether health insurance should be considered the same as these other products, at all.
Lastly, if you can raise rates on people who smoke or have an elevated BMI, you have to raise rates on people who have had cancer, or have a family member with a documented gene that causes cancer; or carries a gene for a number of diseases, like Huntington's, or Cystic Fibrosis; or have had a head injury; or have familial high cholesterol diseases; or etc. Basically, anything that can be statistically linked with a higher risk of worse health and greater need to utilize the health care system. Pretty much everyone, basically. Who benefits? The insurance companies from higher premiums, but I'm not sure who else.
http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/02/04/465569465/if-bmi-is-the-test-of-health-many-pro-athletes-would-flunk
http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/vaop/naam/abs/ijo201617a.html
http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/02/04/465569465/if-bmi-is-the-test-of-health-many-pro-athletes-would-flunk
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