"Critics of the policy say the government's real goal is to shift health care costs onto the private sector."  I don't see how this is a problem. The argument for socialized healthcare generally stems from the viewpoint that we as a society ought to have some sort of social safety net against health-related disasters which would be near impossible to foresee/prevent (e.g. traffic accident, cancer). Obesity is totally foreseeable and preventable - it neither happens overnight nor is it exceedingly difficult to mitigate using something as simple as CICO.  As such, it seems a bit counterintuitive to expect the public sector to shoulder the burden of obesity-related healthcare costs.