ObamaCare/FDA Requiring Vending Machines to Display Calorie Counts

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On the one hand, the average American is increasingly being characterized as an unhealthy, low-information type who could benefit from greater disclosures regarding the food he intakes. Over time, constantly seeing calorie counts may allow him to develop a better barometer for just how healthy or unhealthy certain foods may be, just as the stock investor, after looking through the valuations of scores of companies, eventually acquires a sense for which multiples are low and which are high. For the junk food eater, this is almost definitely an acquired skill. By encouraging healthier eating, we could potentially save costs, and Americans are quick to note when traveling overseas how comparatively obese and unhealthy their countryfolk are, presumably indicative of some recognition of the problem at hand.

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The cost will be high for vending machine operators to implement the changes, but the government has a bigger consideration. By the FDA's reckoning if only 0.2% of obese adults reduce their calorie intake by a moderate amount, then the program will save $24M a year in annual health care costs.

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On the other hand, why must everything come at the hand of government with this administration? Why not encourage vendors to begin incorporating calorie counts? The vending machine market is likely controlled by just a handful of major operators. Convincing even one to begin adopting these counts certainly wouldn't go unnoticed, and would likely pose a competitive threat to rivals, encouraging them, too, to begin incorporating this technology. A smaller operator may also have an opportunity to be a first-mover and thereby create increased business for itself or even convince health advocacy organizations to make financial contributions or give it positive press. It seems at least attempting a free market solution first would be the most reasonable option here.