BMI math: HRC 49/100
15 September, 2016 | Index
Dear Hillary Clinton,
Gerard Mclean here, from Englewood, Ohio, just north of Dayton. There were 100 days from your nomination to election, so I’m writing you 100 letters. This is the forty-ninth letter. The others can be found in your USPS mailbox or online at 100HRC.com
Yesterday, your opponent “released” his “medical records” on the Dr. Oz show, where he claimed to be 6′3″, 236lbs which would give him a BMI of 29.9; under the threshold of 30 which would have then labeled him “obese” instead of just merely “overweight.”
It is not my intent to fat-shame him, but here is why this is important and disrespectful the all of us out here.
BMI has long been used by the medical and life insurance industry to drive up the cost of premiums. Before the ACA, somewhere between the quote and the underwriting, the BMI was cited as being too high, so they increased the premium. It was always too high unless it was hard to get away with (18–21 was usually hard to justify for an increase) But an 18–21 is also hard BMI for most of use to achieve.
I did because I needed health insurance for my family. Without a low BMI, my ability to secure and maintain health care would have been more difficult. I also went without a lot of meals and dessert. And I love pie, especially with ice cream.
By cooking his BMI, you opponent showed again how much disrespect he has for the daily struggles we “normals” are made to endure, for the sin of not being rich.
We need UniversalCare, SinglePayer, MedicareForAll. The cost of health care should not depend on an arbitrary numerical score that does not indicate health.
Regards,
Gerard McLean
cc: Sen. Sherrod Brown
