No If Ands Or Butts

No If Ands Or Butts

"Should Smokers
Pay Higher Health Care Insurance Premiums?" compares health care insurance
to others such as auto and home insurance in which risky behaviors or careers
can up premiums.

This would work for private insurance. But what about those on Medicare, Medicaid
or are in the prison system - what penalties are leveraged there? Since taxes
- even from cigarettes might underwrite their care, it may be problematic. This
would bolster an effort to eliminate smoking in prisons - and perhaps some similar
penalty could be assessed for other federal programs. Ultimately there is no
reason for any smoking anywhere in America - if any substance has been definitively
linked with death and has no redeeming value whatsoever. If we can be putting
pressure on the Afghans to control drug exports of their own deadly substances,
we should do likewise.

 

Comments

[Larry]

HIgher health ins. premiums for smokers makes perfect sense. Auto ins. is driven by age, marital status, length of commute (or if one doesn't drive to work), whether your car is garaged, etc. It gets pretty detailed and specific. Maybe health ins. should even get into drinking, discounts for exercise and good health behavior, etc.