Rep. Sean Faircloth is to be commended for introducing various bills in the Legislature to address the growing obesity epidemic in Maine. His good intentions notwithstanding, I fear his proposals will do little to curb the increasing numbers of overweight and obese citizens of Maine.

The Maine Restaurant Association takes particular exception to the proposed legislation to require chain restaurants to print the fat, sodium and caloric content of their meals directly on their menus. They argue that this is unnecessary intrusion into private matters. To them, the decision of an individual to maintain a healthy diet and exercise regime is a personal one. State intervention is inappropriate, particularly when that intervention imposes a costly burden on restaurants to provide the information required in Rep. Faircloth’s proposed legislation.

There is truth in both arguments. Obesity is a public health epidemic in America and in the state of Maine. That epidemic is caused by a lot of private choices made by people. Restaurants that serve unhealthy food do not make people overweight. People choose to overeat. People choose to remain overweight. The question is, is there a public interest in this matter?

The restaurant association’s contention that this is a private matter is well taken. Much like the case of smoking, if you chose to overeat, that is your business. You are the one who will suffer the adverse health effects that we know are directly attributable to being overweight. These include increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, some forms of cancer, and certain orthopedic problems.

However, that decision to remain overweight or obese affects everyone else in Maine. All of us pay the financial costs of that decision. This is due to a phenomenon that economists refer to as a “spillover effect.” Since those who are overweight and obese, like smokers, impose higher costs on the health care system, every taxpayer pays for this in higher taxes to support Medicaid and Medicare programs. Every health insurance consumer pays higher premiums to pay for the higher health costs incurred by those who are overweight or obese. In other words, the costs of obesity do not just fall on the individual, they spill over onto others in society.

In the case of other insurances – auto insurance, homeowner’s insurance, and life insurance – your premium is based on your risk factors. If you have a poor driving record or your commute a long way to work, you pay more for auto insurance. If you live a long way from the fire station or have a house with an old electrical system, you pay more for homeowner’s insurance. If you are a smoker, you pay more for life insurance. Health insurance is the exception. Your premium is not based on the risk that you are going to cost more in claims paid. Everyone in a group insurance pool pays the same premiums, so everyone in your group pays for your private decision to smoke or remain overweight. These are not such private decisions after all.

So if we are serious in this society about addressing the obesity epidemic, labeling the caloric content of Big Macs is not the answer. Urging people sitting on the couch in front of the TV with public service announcements to exercise more is not the answer. The answer is to ask people to pay for the costs of the private decisions that they make that lead them to become overweight.

The process would be really quite simple. Health insurance underwriters could determine the differential risk of incurring higher health care costs based on something health professionals call the Body Mass Index (BMI). BMI is an objective and simple measure that combines height and weight into a single number.

With a BMI of 25 or more you are considered overweight. A BMI of 30 or more is considered obesity.

As a person’s BMI increases, the health insurance premium should increase to reflect the greater likelihood that that person will have insurance claims for treating heart disease, hypertension, diabetes and the other diseases the come with excess weight. In that way, the person would be responsible for the consequences of personal decisions.

If one’s diet and exercise habits truly are private matters, then people need to accept responsibility for their decisions. It is only fair to the rest of society that the person who has chosen to be overweight bears the costs of that choice.

To the person who has decided to overeat, it is not for society to tell you to eat a better diet and get more exercise. Likewise, it is not for you to ask society to pay for consequences of those decisions you make.

Mark W. Anderson is an instructor in the Department of Resource Economics and Policy at the University of Maine.