FOXNews.com - Top Stories - Weighty Debate Over Obesity

NB to Gov't: Please Don't Label Obesity a Disease

Next we will hear that obesity is protected under the ADA and THEN we'll really be srewed. You think the cost of prescription drugs for the elderly is going to be high, imagine if every obese person was able to force employers to pay for their diets. And, knowing the gov't as we do, imagine that every quack diet out there would suddenly be paid for by YOUR DOLLARS. Not to mention the punitive damages awarded to obese folks by juries intent on punishing their "mean employers" for allowing them to be fat.

American's spend over $33 Billion each year on weight loss products and services and over $122.9 Billion on all obesity related products, services, health care, etc.

BTW - they are defining overweight as being over 25 in the Body Mass Index (BMI) scale. This means that most bodybuilders are overweight or even obese. Go figure.

FOXNews.com - Top Stories - Weighty Debate Over Obesity

So it might seem reasonable that the American Obesity Association (search) is pushing the Food and Drug Administration to classify the condition as a disease.

But critics say the AOA's goal isn't healthier Americans, but healthier bank accounts for their backers like Slim-Fast, Weight Watchers and producers of appetite suppressants. Foes of the AOA argue that if obesity is considered a disease, insurers will be forced to pay for weight loss regimens — which would serve to fatten the companies' profits.

The AOA counters that people with skin cancer or AIDS aren't denied insurance even though their conditions are behavior-driven — just like obesity.