Is this going to open a floodgate - weight loss jabs for unemployed

The health secretary wrote: “Our widening waistbands are also placing significant burden on our health service, costing the NHS £11bn a year – even more than smoking. And it’s holding back our economy.

“Illness caused by obesity causes people to take an extra four sick days a year on average, while many others are forced out of work altogether.”

Why would you want to opt out of your taxes paying for people to be healthier? Do you not like people?

Would you like your taxes to not pay to help homeless people find homes, feckless losers eh, and smokers with cancer, own fucking fault, and let's not forget people with car crash injuries, never my fault, why should my taxes pay for that?

I can't see any difference in prescribing obese patients gym memberships and weight watchers membership, or prescribing weight loss injections.

I didn't resent paying for my own gym memberships or my own weight watchers membership. Because personal responsibility and also I wasn't ever obese!

This is a brilliant idea. Big article in the Sunday Times advocating just this.

I can see (with some reservations about long term effects) why there's a case for providing these for anyone obese on the NHS. I'm a bit leery about the idea that they'll be provided only to the unemployed, to (ultimately) lower the benefit bill.

My unease boils down, I think, to an aversion to the idea that the NHS exists to help the economy. I think that's a really dangerous idea, which could lead, for instance, to the disabled getting sub par treatment. The NHS should exist to help people's health. Obviously there will be downstream economic benefits from people being healthier, but that shouldn't be the immediate driver of anything the NHS does.

Open to floodgates to what?

Am I unreasonable to be fat bashing

Yes you are OP

A floodgate to improving the health of the nation hopefully. Lowering risks for people and long term saving the NHS money.

Nobody is going to do that.

A floodgate to improving the health of the nation hopefully. Lowering risks for people and long term saving the NHS money.

the nation, or just the ones who've eaten themselves into unemployment?

You realise it will end up saving millions of pounds if rolled out correctly. The obesity health cost is going to be huge and it won't just be for the NHS it will impact all areas of public spending. This is such a sensible idea. Thank god for sanity.

Unemployment, the latest thing to blame fat people for.

I say this as someone who is obese and taking mounjaro. I think it's a brilliant tool to reduce obesity.

Well I'd imagine it will only be prescribed for so long if someone isn't losing weight on it. So if someone is selling it on they won't be losing weight and their prescription will be stopped after a few months.

I also don't think anyone will leave their job in order to gain a drug saving them about £150 a month. I think the scheme is for unemployed people, not just people signed off sick?? So they'd have to permanently pack their job in. Can't imagine many people are that daft.

Ditto with the putting weight on idea. If you only just qualify via weight then it'll only take a month or 2 to get under the threshold and then the prescription would likely be stopped. What's the point in putting on 5lbs just to lose it again and then be back at square one with regards to free prescriptions?

There's obviously a massive disconnect between your understanding of the causes of obesity and reality.
Alongside this they obviously need to be sorting out what is actually sold to us to eat, how it is marketed and why is humans we are so attracted to food that is bad for us.

Wow, you really hate overweight people don't you? You should maybe reflect on why you feel this way.

I suspect that the headline and whatever has come out of Streeting’s mouth about this is somewhat of an oversimplification. The policy itself might be more nuanced but the rhetoric, like on many topics, is still firmly aimed at a group of people further to the right than you might expect.

So you have no source for your totally made up claim?

Just admit you hate fat peoppe

No they're not. There's no shortage of mounjaro.

Journalist, yes?

A floodgate to allow a tide of deeply unhealthy people to try and grasp back control and recover some of their health before it costs the NHS a fortune? Good!

I wish also there were more stringent controls in the crap manufacturers can put in food, and some kind of boost to make wholefoods and fresh fruit and veg cheaper.

I think it's unfair the cost of these medications to anyone, and the amount of profit that are made off overweight people who are trying to get it under control. Giving it for free when it costs over £200 is a tad galling I'd assume if you're paying for it to not be in the position that your weight negatively impacts your health.

Many years ago I wrote my dissertation on poverty and obesity. The barriers someone without much money has in order to try and eat healthily is massive compared to people with more money. From simple things like the cost of lean mince being more than higher fat mince, a bag of chips is cheaper to buy than preparing a meal, not being able to afford gas, not owning saucepans. A very complex subject that most people don't understand.

Is this to be given to people who say their obesity means they cannot work?