After reading the two stories posted here, I started thinking about the fact that people can get social security disability (in the U.S.) for being morbidly obese. I believe the article about the woman on the couch said she was receiving disability--don't know if the guy who lost 400 lbs. prior to surgery was on disability, but I'm assuming that since he couldn't walk, he couldn't work.
The way disability works is that you have to have worked for so long to be entitled to benefits. Like the social security we (may) receive upon retiring, money is taken from our paychecks for this, although the amount of money we may get doesn't necessarily equal the amount of money we've paid in. Our children (hah! that's most of you guys in the eyes of someone my age) will be paying into the system to support us when we retire.
So, essentially it's your money, although you may get more out than you paid in if you're disabled for a long period of time.
I'm curious how people feel about this? Do you think that the taxes that you pay now should support someone who is morbidly obese if there is no medical reason that they became morbidly obese (i.e., some medical problem beyond their control that causes people to gain weight)?