County Workers Told to Stop Putting Butter in their Coffee

If Travis County employees want to lose weight, they are going to have to do it the old-fashioned way: cigarettes and steam rooms.

County officials unanimously overturned a previous decision that would have allowed the county to cover weight-loss surgery for extremely obese government workers. The idea to pay for bariatric surgery, passed by a 3-1 county commission vote a week ago, had led to some serious outcries from get-off-your-couch-you-lazy-piece-of-crap advocates and others who felt that surgery would be a completely inexcusable waste of tax payers’ dollars.

"It is almost unsellable to the public," said County Commissioner Gerald Daugherty, who, after figuring which way the political wind was blowing, decided to rescind his support of the fatty financing.

In other News of the Obese, a class-action suit filed on behalf of people who used a weight-loss drug (Shape Up) pimped by Dr. Phil, was settled for $10 million. Kinda reminds us of the Eddie Murphy bit about the dude suing for his strained eyes after a certain fight at a discotheque.

*Image © Malingering on Flickr*

Contact the author of this article or email tips@austinist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By matthewodam in News on September 26, 2006 2:54 PM 0 Comments

Comments [rss]

allen

good to have you back, jubcha!

odam

i always knew "JUBCHA" was a confused truncation of ChubbyChaser

JUBCHA

IT ISN'T NICE TO MAKE FUN OF FAT PEOPLE. I'M NOT FAT, BUT ONE OF MY TWO GIRLFRIEDNS IS HUGE. I STILL LOVE HER THOUGH.

JUBCHA

M1EK

Edward,

Our county is hostile to people who walk or bike - viewing them as dangerous hippies - so don't hold your breath.

truecraig

Edward, that's nonsense, and I think we should go ahead and handle this with good ol' 'merican political slow-how. I say we wait and see what happens after we've waited and seen for an unspecified length of time. Then when we reach that bridge, we'll buckle it as we waddle over, killing everyone involved, and then we can have a decade of hearings to discover whose fault it wasn't.

Edward

I'd be happy if some of my tax dollars actually went to wellness programs that would help keep our county employees from getting fat in the first place. Not only would they not get fat, but would also get sick less which might even save money in the long run. Unfortunately, in general, this count(r)y prefers to be reactive versus proactive.

Fatty McGee

When it comes to a hard sell for the public, I think bariatric surgery is a walk in the park compared to the sex change operations that the city of San Francisco is providing for it's employees...

odam

she'll never know, not a local. and something tells me she already knows she's fat. of course, at 5'9" and 165 pounds, i was once told by a trainer that i was borderline obese. and i am as svelte as a puma. science schmience.

Edward

It's got to kind of ruin your day when you wake up and find a picture of yourself as part of an article referencing fat people.

odam

well played, sir. well played.

kenneth

The Dr. Phil settlement is almost identical to the Opti-Grab settlement in "The Jerk" where Steve Martin had to write a million checks for $1.99 each.