Multimillionaire banker and GOP candidate is slammed for saying obese people should be forced to pay MORE for health care as it's 'a personal choice' for which there should be 'CONSEQUENCES'

The banking mogul gunning for a senate seat in America's dairy heartland is facing a healthcare backlash after he claimed obese people choose to be fat and should pay more for healthcare.

Eric Hovde, who is campaigning to unseat Democrat Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin, has been slammed by health professionals after video resurfaced of him blaming obese people for a lack of personal responsibility during his last crack at the seat in 2012.

'It's a personal choice,' he insisted during a sit-down with WisconsinEye, 'fine, you want to do that, you become obese, your health care is going to cost more.'

'If they all of a sudden started to realize that they're going to pay more for their health care by consuming massive amounts of soda every day or fatty foods and not exercising, maybe they would change their behavioral patterns.'

The CEO of Sunwest Bank was already under fire over comments he made blaming single mothers for lacking 'morals and ethics' last time round and his remarks on obesity drew scorn from healthcare professionals.

Sunset Bank CEO Eric Hovde is campaigning to oust Democrat Tammy Baldwin and turn the Senate seat red for the first time since 1952  

But his comments on obesity while campaigning for the Republican nomination in 2012 have resurfaced as healthcare takes center stage 

He became engaged in a bitter spat with the incumbent after she tweeted a picture of herself as a young girl in hospital with a pre-existing condition that almost bankrupted her family in the years before Obamacare 

'Personal behaviors do play a role in every chronic disease but obesity is as heritable as height,' said Professor Melanie Jay of the NYU Langone Comprehensive Program on Obesity Research told the Daily Beast.

'There's lots of reasons, but it's not the person's fault that they've developed obesity.'

Hovde has been a staunch critic of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) since its inception under President Obama, blaming it for driving up insurance costs on ordinary families.

The debate over its future looks set to play a key part in the race for the White House with Donald Trump pledging to dismantle it if elected.

And the issue exploded on Saturday in Wisconsin where 68 percent of adults are overweight when Baldwin tweeted a picture of herself as a young girl in hospital with a pre-existing condition that nearly bankrupted her grandparents.

'If my opponent wins this November, he could be the deciding vote to repeal the ACA and gut health care for millions of Americans who rely on it,' she wrote.

Hovde immediately clapped back reminding her he has been living with Multiple Sclerosis for over 30 years.

'I'm not going to let you lie and fear monger on this point. Our health care system needs reforms, but I will always protect coverage for people with pre-existing conditions,' he insisted.

But he has yet to disown his 2012 solution for what he termed an 'explosion of Type 2 diabetes right now'.

'You know, we're removing people from being responsible for their own health,' he said.

'If they all of a sudden started to realize that they're going to pay more for their health care by consuming, you know, by consuming massive amounts of soda every day or fatty foods and not exercising, maybe they would change their behavioral patterns.

'It's a personal choice, but there should be consequences to those personal choices.'

Oprah Winfrey fronted an hour-long special on obesity earlier this month, telling viewers: 'The number one thing I hope people come away with is knowing that [obesity] is a disease, and it's in the brain'

Hovde has suffered from Multiple Sclerosis for more than 30 years but has made much of his personal fitness as during this campaign stop in a Wisconsin lake last month 

The American Medical Association has regarded obesity as a clinical disease for more than a decade, a point emphasized by Oprah Winfrey when she fronted an hour-long special: Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution earlier this month.

'It is conclusively known that the conditions of overweight and obesity are complex, chronic disease states, not character flaws so they should be managed accordingly,' physician Dr Jen Aston told the program.

'Oh, I love that so much, Dr Jen, it's a disease, not a character flaw,' Winfrey remarked.

And Hovde's call for obese people to pay higher premiums was branded discriminatory by medics working in the field.

'This person clearly lacks any credibility where health-care policy is concerned,' said Dr David S. Seres, MD, Director of Medical Nutrition at Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

'It'd be like charging people more who get cancer or have heart attacks that are due to genetics, or due to the polluted environment, or to the overabundance of unhealthy food and a lack of access to healthy food that is the current environment in which a lot of people live.

'This would be plain and simple blaming the victim.'

'We have a very obesogenic environment,' Professor Jay added.

'And it's interacting with people's genes and that's why over time people are getting heavier.

'Willpower doesn't really play a role.'