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Individuals should pay for their own bad choices. Im in Aus and a pack of smokes last year (yesterday) cost $28. Today $35. thats for 25 cigarettes. Taxes work.
by gonzo41 10y ago
Individuals should pay for their own bad choices. Im in Aus and a pack of smokes last year (yesterday) cost $28. Today $35. thats for 25 cigarettes. Taxes work. In america it's a little more tricky, and nailing down the cause of long term conditions is also tricky.
But if you're fat, smoke and don't do anything, and then you have a heart attack its kind of easy to link things together.
- jjoonathan 10y agoMy understanding was that obese people and smokers ultimately cost less to insure because they tended to die relatively quickly and with less prolonged fuss. Should individuals pay for their own good choices? http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/05/health/05iht-obese.1.9748884.html http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/05/health/05iht-obese.1.97488...
- gonzo41 10y agoInteresting read. I guess is a balance of extra productivity from not dying vs getting rid of some smoker :P
- TheCoelacanth 10y agoRetirees tend not to have much productivity whether they are dead or not.
- sten 10y agoRetired folk are (or can be) still an economic benefit as long as they live. Consider the trivial case of a grandparent watching children so the parents can have time to recover. But obesity and smoking do not kill people the day they leave work for the last time, it kills people in their 40s with years ahead of them to be productive.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]