The doctors argue that prevention is better than cure

A team of Australian doctors made the announcement recently that overweight and obese men and women should actually be paid to go to special weight loss classes. They argued that the huge impact that obese Australians are having on the health care organisation is getting out of hand and something serious needs to be done.

Over the last twenty years the level of obese men and women in Australia has doubled and this means that the Australian hospitals and health centres are being put under a great amount of strain. The financial strain on the government is also a huge as far more people are now suffering from heart disease, heart attacks, strokes, elevated blood pressure and diabetes. All of these illnesses cost the state a lot of cash which could be put to others uses.

The doctors argue that prevention is better than cure and not only is it better but also considerably cheaper. They argue that by giving people financial incentives to lose weight in the long run the state will end up by saving money. The doctors also said that weight loss programs were expensive and since many of these people came from low income backgrounds it was increasingly difficult for them to get hold of good nutritional advice and weight loss care.

The Australian Medical Association said that in principle they supported the weight loss programs that were being suggested by this group of doctors but it was important that people understood that a quick fix weight loss program would not be the answer to Australia’s obesity problem, and that the programs must place a big emphasis on long term nutritional education and lifestyle change if they were serious about controlling the problem.

All over the developed world the problem of obese people has become a financial consideration as well as a health issue and this is in a sense helping people to act faster to control the problem.