[JumpCrisscross]

You're both wrong. Obesity increasingly looks like addiction--as with any addiction, it takes two to tango. But once you have an addict, shame is an ineffective treatment. Debating giving an obese person GLP-1 drugs is akin to challenging methadone for heroin addicts.

[AmericanChopper]

I never suggested shame as an effective treatment. But refusing to acknowledge the reality of the situation is not an effective way to discuss the problem. Obesity is the result of lifestyle choices, and those choices do impose their costs on everybody in society. Which is why I would be very happy (and I would suggest everybody should be happy) if an effective way to address the problem was discovered.

The fact that an obese person is harming other people as well as themselves might be an uncomfortable truth for them to hear. But ignoring it doesn’t make it go away.

[JumpCrisscross]

> Obesity is the result of lifestyle choices, and those choices do impose their costs on everybody in society

Granted. But why does it need to be said?

I'm a skiier. That lifestyle choice alone probably has a higher risk-adjusted cost to our healthcare system than if I were fat. I'd still miffed if prior to setting a bone my doctor decided to lecture me on the risks of skiing. I'd be positively furious if I got that from my health insurer.

> fact that an obese person is harming other people as well as themselves might be an uncomfortable truth for them to hear

Why do they need to hear it? There isn't a need. What they need is to not be obese anymore. That's treatment. My point is skipping the lecture and going straight to treatment is how we solve most medical problems.