From the webmaster….. As stated multiple times on this site, you can freely submit press releases in via the contact form link at the top of the page, but they must be health related. We will do our best to publish them here. Today, the following release was emailed in. To read the complete release, click here.

Local governments may stop paying for hefty individuals who refuse to follow doctor’s orders

In order to try and combat the worsening obesity rates in the United Kingdom, policymakers are now considering the option regarding the quasi-paternal action of overweight individuals who fail to follow orders being denied health care for particular health problems.

The American magazine “Time” cited the report in the BBC, which explained that the measure is just one of a long list of public policy considerations and recommendations made by the Westminster Council and Local Government Information Unit. The latter is a British think tank group.

The plan could be put into place as soon as April of this year, which is when the nation’s government starts to allow for local governments strong control options regarding their local funds and citizenry.

“The proposals are intended to be part of a massive cost-savings plan for when local council governments control more than $3.25 billion in public money that formerly went to Britain’s national health service for public health campaigns,” Time magazine writes.

Under the new policy recommendations, which have been laid out in a report entitled “A Dose of Localism: The Role of Council in Public Health,” local councils have been encouraged to link “welfare measures to behaviors that promote public health.”

This will include possible incentivization of healthier lifestyle choices and daily behavior, in addition to cutting benefits for those who are overweight and fail to exercise (if there is a pending doctor’s recommendation for activity).

According to data collected in 2010 from the Department of Health, nearly two-thirds of adults and 30% of children in the United Kingdom are currently overweight, while 26% of adults are considered obese. And if the numbers are on a continual trend, that number is only to have risen since that data was collected.