A talk radio show was recently discussing the issue of obesity, whether or not it should be considered a disease. The trend in this country has been to treat obesity as a disease, confirmed by the Medicare policy shift that formally classifies obesity as a disease. But the Center for Consumer Freedom says obesity is not a disease, and the CCF's executive director said:

"This is truly a dumbing down of the term 'disease'. This is the only disease that I'm familiar with that you can solve by regularly taking long walks and keeping your mouth shut." -- Center for Consumer Freedom's Executive Director

I suspect the Director has not heard of "alcoholism" before, because it is also categorized as a disease and shares the same solution of "keeping your mouth shut".

The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence says:

Alcoholism is a primary, chronic disease with genetic, psychosocial, and environmental factors influencing its development and manifestations. The disease is often progressive and fatal.

While "idiocy" may not technically be a disease, the Executive Director of the CCD might consider avoiding it by keeping his own mouth shut, thus avoiding any opportunities to make stupid comments in the public forum.

The funny thing is, what's going on is anything but a "dumbing down" of the term "disease". A disease is more than something you catch from another person's sneeze, or by not washing your hands. The second definition of "disease" according to Merriam-Webster, is "a condition of the living animal or plant body or of one of its parts that impairs normal functioning". What is "dumbed down" about "obesity" being classified as "a condition that impairs normal functioning"? Is anybody out there trying to argue that it's normal for a person to risk having a heart attack while climbing a flight of stairs because he's carrying around an additional 150 pounds of blubber? Or is it normal for somebody to be unable to reach their feet to put on their shoes?

But hey, what the hell should I care? Anything that might lower my insurance premiums would be a good thing, right? Our health insurance premiums are huge right now, thanks in no small part to the mandatory subsidizing (by people like me) of the excessive health problems in the obese population. And when I say "excessive", I mean "excessive compared to me". I live a healthy, fit lifestyle, I eat well, exercise regularly, have no known health issues, and take no medications or prescriptions. But despite our own lifestyle choices, my wife and I pay large insurance premiums to have basic coverage. Shouldn't we get a discount?