Fat in Japan? You're breaking the law.

[WhiskeyGirl]

In Japan, already the slimmest industrialized nation, people are fighting fat to ward off dreaded metabolic syndrome and comply with a government-imposed waistline standard. Metabolic syndrome, known here simply as “metabo,” is a combination of health risks, including stomach flab, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, that can lead to cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
Concerned about rising rates of both in a graying nation, Japanese lawmakers last year set a maximum waistline size for anyone age 40 and older: 85 centimeters (33.5 inches) for men and 90 centimeters (35.4 inches) for women.

Maybe they should consider fat thighs?  Fat distribution isn’t always equal.

Under Japan’s health care coverage, companies administer check-ups to employees once a year. Those who fail to meet the waistline requirement must undergo counseling. If companies do not reduce the number of overweight employees by 10 percent by 2012 and 25 percent by 2015, they could be required to pay more money into a health care program for the elderly. An estimated 56 million Japanese will have their waists measured this year.

In the United States, the Senate and House health care reform bills have included the so-called “Safeway Amendment,” which would offer reductions in insurance premiums to people who lead fitter lives.  The experience of the Japanese offers lessons in how complicated it is to legislate good health.

Odd, private insurance in the US may charge the overweight more, or refuse coverage.

Read more here – http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/japan/091109/fat-japan-youre-breaking-the-law

Hmmm…it’s a bad thing when private insurance charges more…but Obamacare government want to charge more too?