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.

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by AndChiefs

Just because you personally didn't tell them you wanted it doesn't mean others did not. They don't just put something in the marketplace and start advertising and selling it without someone telling them they want it.

So you're telling me 50 years ago Americans only wanted healthy food, and then they just suddenly started wanting unhealthy food?

Bull ****ing shit.

Unhealthy food became more plentiful, easier to get and was promoted more.

[Kyle DeLexus]

Originally Posted by AndChiefs

Just because you personally didn't tell them you wanted it doesn't mean others did not. They don't just put something in the marketplace and start advertising and selling it without someone telling them they want it.

Exactly. Enough people order Extra Cheese and the folks over at pizza hut got to thinking "you know people love cheese, how can this help us increase sales?" Then after a bunch of crap ideas that no one would like, someone says "what if we put cheese IN the crust?"

If you like pizza and you like cheese, simple addition would assume that you'll like pizza with cheese baked into the crust. Just because you never thought of having it doesn't mean you don't already have a desire for it.

[Silock]

Originally Posted by GoChiefs

So you're telling me 50 years ago Americans only wanted healthy food, and then they just suddenly started wanting unhealthy food?

Bull ****ing shit.

Unhealthy food became more plentiful, easier to get and was promoted more.

I agree with GoChiefs on this. It's still up to the individual to resist temptation.

[ClevelandBronco]

Originally Posted by GoChiefs

Well, some people are fairly open to suggestion and can be swayed easily.

There's nothing much to sway. Your appetite already exists. They just have to make you feel good about your decision to indulge your desire.

You really don't understand this?

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by ClevelandBronco

There's nothing much to sway. Your appetite already exists.

Like I said, I had no desire for popcorn when I sat down in that movie theater. I was thinking about the movie.

Suddenly I wanted popcorn.

[Just Passin' By]

Originally Posted by Silock

See, even for guys that go to the gym regularly, BMI isn't TOO far off. It's not totally accurate, but hardly anything that's generalizable is. For instance, if I let my diet go a bit and don't stay shredded, my BMI creeps up into overweight. But if I stay at a very low body fat, I can keep all my muscle mass and still be considered "normal" bodyweight, albeit at the higher end.

Part of the problem for guys who work out is that they think they need to weigh more than they actually do to maintain muscle mass or be "big." As for what that means for BMI, if the gov't is going to use it in some calculations, then there needs to be an exemption for people who teeter on the normal/overweight boundary pending a doctor's exam.

BMI is wildly off for those of certain body types, as a host of professional athletes can tell you.

[ClevelandBronco]

Originally Posted by Kyle DeLexus

Exactly. Enough people order Extra Cheese and the folks over at pizza hut got to thinking "you know people love cheese, how can this help us increase sales?" Then after a bunch of crap ideas that no one would like, someone says "what if we put cheese IN the crust?"

If you like pizza and you like cheese, simple addition would assume that you'll like pizza with cheese baked into the crust. Just because you never thought of having it doesn't mean you don't already have a desire for it.

He gets it.

[kc rush]

Originally Posted by GoChiefs

We're talking about a specific type of food, though.

It's like stuffed-crust pizza. Before I knew about stuffed-crust pizza, I had no desire for it. It never thought to myself, I want some pizza with cheese stuffed in the crust. I never thought to myself, this pizza would be so much better if it's crust was stuffed with cheese.

The thought never entered my head.

Then pizza hut started advertising pizza with CHEESE STUFFED INTO THE CRUST!!!!!!!!!

I had to ****ing have it.

And so I started eating even more fattening and caloric-ridden slices of pizza.

You will buy cheese stuffed pizza

You will buy popcorn

You will eat fast food

You will attend the government mandated fat camp

Move along

[AndChiefs]

Originally Posted by Silock

See, even for guys that go to the gym regularly, BMI isn't TOO far off. It's not totally accurate, but hardly anything that's generalizable is. For instance, if I let my diet go a bit and don't stay shredded, my BMI creeps up into overweight. But if I stay at a very low body fat, I can keep all my muscle mass and still be considered "normal" bodyweight, albeit at the higher end.

Part of the problem for guys who work out is that they think they need to weigh more than they actually do to maintain muscle mass or be "big." As for what that means for BMI, if the gov't is going to use it in some calculations, then there needs to be an exemption for people who teeter on the normal/overweight boundary pending a doctor's exam.

I'm just more afraid they'll take BMI into account for raising premiums under a government plan. I work out and while I don't eat exceptionally well I don't eat awful either. Why should I be listed as overweight in some government database?

[Just Passin' By]

Originally Posted by GoChiefs

So you're telling me 50 years ago Americans only wanted healthy food, and then they just suddenly started wanting unhealthy food?

Bull ****ing shit.

Unhealthy food became more plentiful, easier to get and was promoted more.

50 years ago, your mother was at home cooking and cleaning. Dad was out working. When dad came home, dinner was on the table. This used to be the way it worked for the majority of Americans.

Today, your mother and father (assuming they are together) are both out working. Neither has time to make meals at home, because neither is home.

For the first time since the Census Bureau began keeping records, families in which both parents work have become the majority among married couples with children. Based on data from 1998, both spouses were employed at least part time in 51 percent of married couples with children, compared with 33 percent in 1976. Other findings from the Census Bureau report:

* Even married or single mothers with very young children were likely to work at least part time.
* Fifty-nine percent of women with babies young than a year old were employed in 1998, compared with 31 percent in 1976.
* For older women, the numbers were higher.
* Of the 31.3 million mothers ages 15 to 44 whose children were older than a year, 73 percent worked in 1998 and 52 percent worked full time.

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=9305

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by kc rush

You will buy cheese stuffed pizza

You will buy popcorn

You will eat fast food

You will attend the government mandated fat camp

Move along

[Silock]

Originally Posted by Just Passin' By

BMI is wildly off for those of certain body types, as a host of professional athletes can tell you.

I agree, but professional athletes are also in the EXTREME minority. And many bodybuilders that would be classified as obese are also on steroids, which isn't taken into account by BMI for obvious reasons.

[Silock]

Originally Posted by AndChiefs

I'm just more afraid they'll take BMI into account for raising premiums under a government plan. I work out and while I don't eat exceptionally well I don't eat awful either. Why should I be listed as overweight in some government database?

I agree, which is why I think if they're going to include it in anything, there should be an exception pending a physical examination by a doctor.

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by Just Passin' By

50 years ago, your mother was at home cooking and cleaning. Dad was out working. When dad came home, dinner was on the table. This used to be the way it worked for the majority of Americans.

Today, your mother and father (assuming they are together) are both out working. Neither has time to make meals at home, because neither is home.

I'm not arguing that the American lifestyle hasn't changed.

I'm only arguing that the change in the food industry is the reason we're fat.

Maybe the change in the lifestyle prompted the change in the food industry, but the change in the lifestyle isn't to blame. The food industry didn't HAVE to start being a bastion of giant portion sizes and processed crap. We didn't ASK it to become that.

[Silock]

Originally Posted by GoChiefs

I'm not arguing that the American lifestyle hasn't changed.

I'm only arguing that the change in the food industry is the reason we're fat.

Maybe the change in the lifestyle prompted the change in the food industry, but the change in the lifestyle isn't to blame. The food industry didn't HAVE to start being a bastion of giant portion sizes and processed crap. We didn't ASK it to become that.

It would be interesting to see obesity statistics in a few years for France. France used to be full of small bistros and corner markets, but have been slowly replaced more and more by McDonald's and large chain markets. I can almost guarantee there will be a corresponding increase in the obesity rate.