A ‘Benefit’ Employees Can Do Without

I don’t think this quite qualifies as a work perk: Starting next year, obese government workers in South Carolina will be able to get stomach-shrinking surgery through the state’s health insurance plan. Lawmakers created the new “benefit” in order to combat the state’s growing obesity epidemic.

While it’s great that the government wants to help its employees slim down and live longer, such drastic and expensive—oh, and sometimes dangerous—measures just aren’t necessary. The government can best help workers shrink their waistlines—and health care costs—by taking PETA’s advice and encouraging employees to go vegan. Wouldn’t you rather lose weight by eating great-tasting vegan food than by enduring a painful operation at taxpayers’ expense?

Written by Heather Moore