My Home Is In (Fat Free) Alabama?

My home state is in the news today and what a thing to be known for! Yes, that's right, only in Alabama will they chare you for being fat! The State (the largest employer as I recall) has decided to charge people for their free health insurance if their Body Mass Index (BMI) is too high. BMI measures your height to your weight and determines if you are overweight. It doesn't directly measure body fat but it "correlates". Anyone else think this is a little off? After all, we all know that 2 people can weigh the same amount and yet one be husky and the other really thin. Bone size has alot to do with how much you weigh and there's no BMI for small, medium, and large bones... Color me concerned about the precendent this one sets.

Even the CDC has this to say "BMI is used as a screening tool to identify possible weight problems for adults. However, BMI is not a diagnostic tool. For example, a person may have a high BMI. However, to determine if excess weight is a health risk, a healthcare provider would need to perform further assessments. These assessments might include skinfold thickness measurements, evaluations of diet, physical activity, family history, and other appropriate health screenings." Okay, so the CDC says BMI isn't a diagnostic tool, but the State of Alabama thinks it should be the trigger for charging people?

At any rate, I just thought it was interesting to see what's going on back home. For the full article, here's the link ->

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Insurance/InsureYourHealth/AlabamaHitsObeseWorkersWithFee.aspx

Happy Meal!