The banking magnate running for a Senate seat in the heart of America’s dairy industry is facing a healthcare backlash after claiming that obese people choose to be fat and should pay more for healthcare.
Eric Hovde, who is campaigning to unseat Democrat Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin, has come under fire from health professionals after a video resurfaced in which he blamed obese people for a lack of personal responsibility during his last run at the seat in 2012.
“It’s a personal choice,” he insisted during a meeting with WisconsinEye‘well, if you want to do that, you become obese, your healthcare is going to cost you more.’
“If they suddenly began to realize that they were going to pay more for their health care by consuming large amounts of soda every day or fatty foods and not exercising, perhaps they would change their behavioral patterns.”
The CEO of Sunwest Bank has already come under fire for comments he made last time blaming single mothers for lacking “morals and ethics” and his comments about obesity drew scorn from health professionals.
Sunset Bank CEO Eric Hovde is campaigning to unseat Democrat Tammy Baldwin and turn the Senate seat red for the first time since 1952.
But his comments about obesity while campaigning for the Republican nomination in 2012 have resurfaced as health care takes center stage.
He became embroiled in a bitter feud with the current president after she tweeted a photo of herself as a child in the hospital with a pre-existing condition that nearly bankrupted her family in the years before Obamacare.
“Personal behaviors play a role in all chronic diseases, but obesity is as heritable as height,” said Professor Melanie Jay of New York University’s Langone Comprehensive Obesity Research Program. daily beast.
“There are many reasons, but it is not the person’s fault that they have developed obesity.”
Hovde has been a staunch critic of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) since its creation under President Obama, blaming it for raising insurance costs for everyday families.
The debate over its future looks set to play a key role in the race for the White House, as Donald Trump has vowed to dismantle it if elected.
And the problem erupted Saturday in Wisconsin, where 68 percent of adults are overweight when Baldwin tweeted a photo of herself as a little girl in the hospital with a pre-existing condition that almost ruined her grandparents.
“If my opponent wins this November, I could be the deciding vote in repealing the ACA and destroying health care for millions of Americans who depend on it,” he wrote.
Hovde immediately responded by reminding him that he has been living with multiple sclerosis for more than 30 years.
‘I’m not going to let you lie and fear monger on this point. Our healthcare system needs reform, but I will always protect coverage for people with pre-existing conditions,’ he insisted.
But he has yet to repudiate his 2012 solution to what he called an “explosion of type 2 diabetes right now.”
“You know, we’re removing people from being responsible for their own health,” he said.
“If they suddenly began to realize that they were going to pay more for their health care by consuming massive amounts of soda every day or fatty foods and not exercising, perhaps they would change their behavioral patterns.” .
“It’s a personal choice, but those personal choices should have consequences.”
Oprah Winfrey hosted a one-hour special on obesity earlier this month, telling viewers, “The first thing I hope people know is that (obesity) is a disease and it’s in the brain.”
Hovde has suffered from multiple sclerosis for more than 30 years, but he made a big deal of his personal fitness during this campaign stop at a Wisconsin lake last month.
The American Medical Association has considered obesity a clinical disease for more than a decade, a point emphasized by Oprah Winfrey when she headlined a one-hour special, Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution earlier this month.
“It is conclusively known that overweight and obese conditions are chronic, complex diseases, not character defects, and should be treated accordingly,” Dr. Jen Aston told the program.
“Oh, I love that, Dr. Jen, it’s an illness, not a character flaw,” Winfrey commented.
And Hovde’s call for obese people to pay higher premiums was called discriminatory by doctors working in the field.
“This person clearly lacks credibility when it comes to health care policy,” said Dr. David S. Seres, MD, Director of Medical Nutrition at Columbia University Irving Medical Center.
“It would be like charging more for people who suffer from cancer or heart attacks because of genetics, or because of the polluted environment, or because of the overabundance of unhealthy foods and lack of access to healthy foods that is the current environment that many people live in.” .
“This would simply be blaming the victim.”
“We have a very obesogenic environment,” Professor Jay added.
‘And it is interacting with people’s genes and that is why over time people gain weight.
“Willpower doesn’t really matter.”