Yesterday CNS News posted an article about something seemingly small that was included in the stimulus bill passed last year. The bill stated that by 2014 all Americans must have electronic health records that include not only height and weight, but body mass index (BMI).
According to the article:
"The obesity-rating regulation states that every American's electronic health record must: "Calculate body mass index. Automatically calculate and display body mass index (BMI) based on a patient's height and weight."
"The law also requires that these electronic health records be available--with appropriate security measures--on a national exchange."
I suppose it's a little late to say, "I object!" Why is my BMI included in the stimulus package? I can understand wanting to put the records in some sort of electronic order, but why is my BMI included?
BMI is an interesting number. Generally, it is a measure of obesity. But, as usual, one size does not fit all. Many of our professional athletes have BMI's that show them to be obese. That has to do with the fact that muscle weighs more than fat--professional football players in particular have BMI's that are not in any way representative of their physical condition.
On a personal note--I have a wii fit that I use to keep in reasonable shape (at my age, any shape is reasonable). I have put on a few pounds as I have aged--not a lot--but a few. Because I am small boned, my wii fit doesn't acknowledge me as overweight, although I am. A person my height with heavier bone structure would be the correct weight (which is what the wii is telling me I am), a person with my bone structure needs to lose about fifteen pounds. BMI is a valuable number when used by a personal physician to judge a person's appropriate weight. In the hands of the government, it is a useless and possibly dangerous number. My fear is that we will come to a place where your BMI determines how much medical care the government (yes, they have taken over healthcare) is willing to give you. That sounds far-fetched, but I don't think it is. We can't change the stimulus at this point, but we can elect a Congress in November that will repeal healthcare reform before it has a chance to do any real damage.
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