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Overweight welfare claimants in the US state of Arizona face paying $50 (£31) fines if they don't follow a dietary regime laid down by their doctor. Is that fair?

Just as American waistlines - like many in the Western world - continue to expand, so does the budget to meet the associated costs.

Medicaid, the programme which provides healthcare for the poor, costs the US federal and state governments $339bn (£209bn) a year, a figure climbing 8% annually.

The federal government matches state spending on the program, providing as much as $3 for every $1 spent in poorer areas.

Given the size of the budget, it's no surprise that Medicaid has become one of the fiscal battlegrounds in Congress.

Now the state of Arizona is proposing a radical idea. It wants to impose a $50 annual fine for overweight Medicaid recipients who don't follow a strict health regime developed with their doctor.

Smokers and diabetics who ignore their medical advice would also have to pay.

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Originally posted by AnthonyT:
The fact is that food which is horrible for you is so often much less expensive than healthy foods.

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Originally posted by Geezer:

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Originally posted by AnthonyT:
The fact is that food which is horrible for you is so often much less expensive than healthy foods.

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I don't know about that. I think it's more that folk don't want to spend the time, or more likely don't have the time, to make healthy food at home.

We bake all our own bread, and make pretty healthy soups, stocks, stews, chili, pasta sauce, etc. in big batches for the freezer using little or no processed stuff, and it's not that expensive. For example, we can make a nice Pizza Margarita for both of us for a couple of bucks, but it takes a couple of hours of time invested in Madame making the dough and freezing it, and me slicing, grating, forming and baking. Pretty much the only 'processed' food we buy is condiments. Of course, being retired, we have the time to make our own stuff.

"Keep the Shiny side up"

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Originally posted by AnthonyT:
So now we're fining people for being poor.

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Originally posted by RionaEire:
If someone can't do that on their own then maybe they should live in a different arrangement other than a dorm setting,

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Originally posted by RionaEire:
My university didn't try to decide where we lived, thank goodness, I'd not go somewhere that bossed me around like that, it isn't their business anyways. I'm sorry that your university was so bossy.

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