sources: http://www.policymic.com / time.com
Some overweight British citizens could lose their welfare benefits if
they don't complete a doctor-recommended exercise regimen, reported TIME.
The city of London is considering the measure, recommended by the
Westminster Council and local think tank The Local Government
Information Unit (LGiU), as part of a cost-savings plan in preparation
for the transferring of $3.25 million in public money from Britain's
national health service into the municipality.
Jonathan Carr-West, chief executive of the LGiU, said that the
proposal is a "win-win" solution, as it saves the city money while
contributing to make citizens healthier in "innovative ways."
The "behaviors that promote public health" could be monitored by
using "smart cards" to determine how much exercise citizens who've been
ordered to work out more are getting.
The idea is to "vary their subsidized housing and tax payments to
either reward or incentivize them based on how much exercise they do."
According to TIME, more than 22% of British adult are obese. The UK spends $179 billion in health-related expenses.
However, the chairman of the British Medical Association’s General Practitioners
committee, Dr.Lawrence Buckman, called the suggestions “some of the
silliest things I’ve heard in a long time,” adding that when he was
first informed of the plans, he “thought it was a joke.”
Other commentators have pointed out flaws in the proposal—in
particular the idea that the jobless and the overweight should be the
easy target for councils looking to save money. As Charlotte Cooper wrote in the Guardian, “If body weight was a choice solely mediated by eating less and exercising more, we would all have lost weight ages ago.”
