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If people smoke a lot, are you okay paying a lot of taxes for their healthcare when they get lung cancer?
by jonstewart 2y ago
If people smoke a lot, are you okay paying a lot of taxes for their healthcare when they get lung cancer?
- gosub100 2y agoIf smoking is a requirement for them to not become homeless, yes.
- blackeyeblitzar 2y agoIt’s a good question but I don’t have a good answer. I’d be curious how you reason about it though, if you have a good framework on this topic. I think I already pay for smokers indirectly to some extent since insurance pools risk. And the ACA (Obamacare) outlawed denial of coverage for pre existing conditions except for older plans. So we’re already in this situation. Am I OK with it? Not really. But I think we need to figure out what the general principled way of thinking about this is. People make all sorts of choices that are good and bad for their health. We could ask the same question about those who are overweight due to overeating, or those who want cosmetic surgery relating to a gender transition, or those who get injured due to an extreme sport, or whatever. Should we pick and choose who to subsidize?