Government will require all Americans by 2014 to have a Obesity Rating

[teedubya]

I'm Doooooooomed. LOL.

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/69436

Obesity Rating for Every American Included in Stimulus-Mandated Electronic Health Records

New federal regulations issued this week stipulate that the electronic health records--that all Americans are supposed to have by 2014 under the terms of the stimulus law that President Barack Obama signed last year--must record not only the traditional measures of height and weight, but also the Body Mass Index: a measure of obesity.

The obesity-rating regulation states that every American's electronic health record must: “Calculate body mass index. Automatically calculate and display body mass index (BMI) based on a patient’s height and weight.”

The law also requires that these electronic health records be available--with appropriate security measures--on a national exchange.

The new regulations are one of the first steps towards the government’s goal of universal adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) by 2014, as outlined in the 2009 economic stimulus law. Specifically, the regulations issued on Tuesday by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Dr. David Blumenthal, the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, define the "meaningful use" of electronic records. Under the stimulus law, health care providers--including doctors and hospitals--must establish "meaningful use" of EHRs by 2014 in order to qualify for federal subsidies. After that, they will be subjected to penalties in the form of diminished Medicare and Medicaid payments for not establishing "meaningful use" of EHRs.

Section 3001 of the stimulus law says: "The National Coordinator shall, in consultation with other appropriate Federal agencies (including the National Institute of Standards and Technology), update the Federal Health IT Strategic Plan (developed as of June 3, 2008) to include specific objectives, milestones, and metrics with respect to the following: (i) The electronic exchange and use of health information and the enterprise integration of such information.‘‘(ii) The utilization of an electronic health record for each person in the United States by 2014."

Under this mandate in the stimulus law, Secretary Sebelius issued a regulation--developed by Dr. Blumenthal--that requires that all EHRs keep track of a person’s Body Mass Index (BMI) score. Body Mass Index is a ratio between a person’s weight and height, and is used to determine whether or not someone is overweight or obese. It is the preferred method of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for measuring obesity.

Michelle Obama has made dealing with the problem of childhood obesity the main theme of her term as First Lady.

U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin. (Photo by Penny Starr/CNSNews.com)
According to the CDC, “BMI provides a reliable indicator of body fatness for most people and is used to screen for weight categories that may lead to health problems.”

A person’s BMI score is used as a tool to screen for obesity or excessive body fat that could lead to other health problems. While it does not actually measure body fat directly, according to CDC, the BMI scores generally correlate with a person’s body fat percentage.

The new regulations also stipulate that the new electronic records be capable of sending public health data to state and federal health agencies such as HHS and CDC. The CDC, which calls American society “obesogenic” – meaning that American society itself promotes obesity – collects BMI scores from state health agencies every year to monitor obesity nationwide.

“Electronically record, retrieve, and transmit syndrome based public health surveillance information to public health agencies,” the regulations read.

With the spread of electronic health records, the CDC apparently will be able to collect such data more efficiently and with greater accuracy because the electronic record keeping systems can send the data automatically, eliminating the need for government – both state and federal – to keep, send, and process physical records.

[Silock]

Originally Posted by Just Passin' By

I was 5'9" and playing college sports at 235. Zach Thomas was 5'11" and 242 (even when listed at 228, he's over the obesity threshold). LdT is listed at 5'10" 221lbs. Feel free to take a look at the linebackers at the combines for more easy examples. It's not just football, either. Tyson was "obese" at 5'11.5" 218, and Razor Ruddock was "overweight at 6'3" 224 when they fought. Kendrick Perkins is 6'10" 280 (overweight at 29.3 BMI). Dwight Howard is 6'9.5" 265, making him overweight with a 28 BMI. Rodney Harrison was just short of obese (29.0 BMI) at 6'1" 220. To call it an extreme minority is just not accurate. Cam Neely played at 6'1" 218 (overweight 28.8 BMI). Albert Pujols runs about 6'3" 230 (28.7). Here's a link to the linebackers at the 2008 combine:

http://www.sportznutz.com/nfl/draft/...inebackers.htm

And yet, NONE of those players are anywhere close to an average build. Like I've said about a hundred times in this thread already, BMI doesn't work well at all for professional athletes. They are simply too extreme, many are not naturally that large, and it just isn't applicable to those extreme cases. Out of the hundreds of millions of Americans, we're talking about less than 1% of the population, even if you factor in NCAA athletes and professionals. If there are around 4 million athletes, and 307 million Americans, who is the minority?

Also, the issue isn't "fat to lose". Anyone who's not anorexic has "fat to lose".

I don't want to play semantics, but I think you know what I meant. You can safely lower your body fat to around 5-7% for men and stay there pretty much indefinitely. Most people aren't even close to those levels.

Your "therefore" is simply not accurate, it's really that simple. I just gave a bunch of easy examples to check on. Looking for 5'9" players that are wide in the shoulders in the NFL isn't going to pull up much, because there aren't many 5'9" players in the NFL playing anything but speed positions. Weightlifters, boxers, basketball players, football players, baseball players and more all fail the dreaded BMI test.

No, what I said is that BMI doesn't work for professional athletes. It's a point that I've already conceded. BMI doesn't work well for professional athletes. It would be interesting to see, though, what changes are seen in their BMI once they retire and stop working out so intensely.

Average build is average because it's average, not "vast majority". Here's a government site on the matter:

And? None of those categories will put a dent in the majority of people.

It doesn't handle the muscle/fat weight difference very well.

As I've already said it doesn't.

Here, check out the sample of some "overweight/obese" people in the listed chart from the following site:

And yet another site full of examples of people in the minority.

[Silock]

Originally Posted by Just Passin' By

The only thing I know about Silock is that he puts far too much stock in the BMI.

I'm not "putting stock" in it so much as I'm simply trying to say that using extreme examples to support why it sucks isn't a good idea. Most people simply don't fall into that classification.

Again, I never said it's the end-all, be-all of measurements. It's just a tool that for most Americans, works pretty well as an assessment of how overweight one is.

Tell you this - I'll sum up my argument simply:

BMI doesn't work for everyone, especially not professional athletes. Most people fall into the average range for whom the BMI works quite well. It's not perfect. It shouldn't be used as any kind of sole determinant of the quality of health of a person. It's not as inaccurate a measurement as many people like to believe.

[Silock]

Originally Posted by Bugeater

Oh, well how stupid of me to think taste should be a factor in what we choose to eat.

It is a factor. Anything flash frozen tastes just fine. And again, much of the taste aspect comes with how you thaw it. Watch the episode of Good Eats called "Frozen Cache" and Alton Brown shows you exactly how to properly thaw (and freeze) foods that maximize their storage life and taste once you thaw them from frozen.

Is frozen the best option for taste? Of course not. But it's not nearly pig-slop, either, if frozen and thawed properly.

[notorious]

We live in a free country.


If a person wants to drink Crisco and snort bacon grease, more power to them. If they want to grow to 1300 pounds, I have no problem with that, either.
Don't expect me to have sympathy for you, and definately don't expect me to pay for care.

Now that we have opened the door and allowed the government into our healthcare, we should expect more and more of this bullshit.

When the government gets involved with anything, our freedoms go down the shitter.

[jiveturkey]

Originally Posted by notorious

We live in a free country.


If a person wants to drink Crisco and snort bacon grease, more power to them. If they want to grow to 1300 pounds, I have no problem with that, either.
Don't expect me to have sympathy for you, and definately don't expect me to pay for care.

If you have health insurance you're currently paying for that person's care. They spread the costs over as many people as they can.

I'm not making the argument that a government plan is better. I'm just saying that we're all currently tied together anyway.

[Saulbadguy]

This thread is so, so frustrating to read. It is jumping around everywhere; from debate over fresh vs frozen vegetables, to government health care.

I think there are plenty of factors to blame for the obesity problem in the USA, it can't just be narrowed down to one issue.

[petegz28]

[notorious]

Originally Posted by jiveturkey

If you have health insurance you're currently paying for that person's care. They spread the costs over as many people as they can.

I'm not making the argument that a government plan is better. I'm just saying that we're all currently tied together anyway.

I agree and I think it's wrong. If a person eats themselves to blue whale proportions, they need to take the responablility of paying for their fatass.


It will never happen, though. We live in an entitlement and blame everyone but ourself society.

[petegz28]

Originally Posted by notorious

I agree and I think it's wrong. If a person eats themselves to blue whale proportions, they need to take the responablility of paying for their fatass.


It will never happen, though. We live in an entitlement and blame everyone but ourself society.

This is exactly right. It's the fault of McDonald's that you had the double cheese and fries combo with an X-large Coke instead of making a salad at home and drinking tea or water.

It's the fault of the DVD player that you sat on your ass all day watching TV instead of going outside and taking a walk. Then again, that could be the fault of Global Warming!

[jAZ]

How is it that this thread is still in the Lounge? Jeez, RWNJ sourced article, endless half-baked attacks on Obama, requisite Muslim terrorist... this thread IS dc.

[teedubya]

Originally Posted by jAZ

How is it that this thread is still in the Lounge? Jeez, RWNJ sourced article, endless half-baked attacks on Obama, requisite Muslim terrorist... this thread IS dc.

Well it got great response... probably because 3/4 of Chiefsplanet is fat...

It can go to DC anytime, I have no ego about it. Just thought it would create interesting discussions in the lounge... and it did.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by teedubya

Just thought it would create interesting discussions in the lounge... and it did.

Kudos on predicting GoChiefs to go Full reerun.