How do you answer the question of health versus weight? If you had to choose, would you get your weight where you want it, or would you be physically healthy? As this forum thread suggests, many with eating disorders choose differently than one might expect.
It's a concrete example of distorted thinking. We can get fooled (by advertisements, for example) into wanting something even though it isn't healthy for us. But those with eating disorders are willing to make a conscious choice to sacrifice health for weight loss or weight maintenance.
For the 5th consecutive year, the Alliance for Eating Disorders has held a fashion show employing models with realistic proportions.
It's remarkable how strong this trend is becoming. Could it be that a significant slice of our population is truly exhausted with more stereotypical models?
So you create a weight-loss drug, Alli, and put it in an environment in which it's supposed to be given to people who are overweight...and then it ends up in the hands of people who aren't overweight.
It's not a case of people getting the stuff on some kind of black market. It's people buying it over the counter in Ireland. According to licensing conditions, pharmacists in Ireland can't sell Alli to anyone who's of normal weight or underweight. But eight out of 20 pharmacies sold the drug to a researcher who is well under the "overweight" threshold.
Not a good situation. But I wonder: How is a customer supposed to verify that his or her body mass index is in the proper range to be given the drug without a prescription? Must there be a scale in each pharmacy? I can't imagine a good system.
Can you?
Apparently, reports of the death of the "public option" in current health care legislation were premature. The House of Representatives passed a health are reform bill that includes a health insurance plan offered by the federal government.
The new bill, the Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R.3962), replaces the previous bill (H.R.3200) originated in the House. H.R.3962 passed by the slimmest of margins, but passed nonetheless.
What would this bill mean for you if the Senate passes similar legislation and it becomes law? If you don't have insurance coverage now, you probably will. If you're a low-income American, you may qualify for a subsidy to help you buy health insurance. More employers will be providing coverage for their employees.
Perhaps more importantly, the bill prohibits your health insurer from refusing coverage (or charging different rates) based on your medical history. This could have an impact on those with eating disorders, since medical problems are common.
I haven't seen anything about whether you should expect to see your insurance rates rise under these conditions. Insurance companies charge high-risk customers more and low-risk customers less. If these charges have to be the same across all customers, you may see the rates on your current policy rise (or fall, if you're a high-risk person). Unless, of course, you end up with the public option.
