PA Health Survey Results

The PA Department of Health released results on a survey of health (Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System). What does this tell us?

Their main finding was:

30 percent of adults [in PA] (ages 18-64) making less than $15,000 annually and 25 percent of adults (ages 18-64) with less than a high school education had no health insurance, compared to only 3 percent of adults making more than $75,000 annually and only 6 percent of adults (ages 18-64) with a college degree;

From which the Secretary of Health (note: appointed by Rendell) concludes:

This type of information supports the need for health care reform, including Governor Rendell’s ‘Cover All Pennsylvanians’ initiative to make affordable basic health insurance available to everyone in the state

FALSE! This finding completely undermines the push for RendellCare, which seeks to expand government run and subsidized health coverage to higher income families. But this survey find that it is very low income families - who are already eligible for Medicaid - that are unisured. Why? Probably because Medicaid sucks.

This survey also finds that:

70 percent of men and 54 percent of women were overweight, but only 55 percent of overweight men were trying to lose weight, compared to 75 percent of overweight women.

I have come to the conclusion that this is simply because the federal definition of "overweight" is just wrong. For instance, for a man of my height (5' 10") "normal" weight is 128 to 173, "overweight" is 174-208, and "obese" is 209 and above.

Based on this definition, I am obese. So is Steeler's running back Willie Parker. I always thought his nickname was "Fast Willie Parker" not "Fat Willie Parker".