Britain Pays Citizens to Sit Around, Be Fat

Mary Katharine Ham | November 21, 2007 11:12 AM

More than $8 million in disability benefits to people who are too fat to work:

Almost two thousand people who are too fat to work have been paid a total of 4.4 million in benefit, it emerged last night. Other payments went to fifty sufferers of acne and ten incapacitated by leprosy.

Why would people be claiming dubious disability? It's all about the incentives:

Mr Field added that because job seeker’s allowance is lower than incapacity benefit, there was an incentive for people to try to be classified for the higher benefit.