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>In the event that you're covered by any sort of public health insurance ... then the effects on your own health become a problem for everyone else. A vile arg

>In the event that you're covered by any sort of public health insurance ... then the effects on your own health become a problem for everyone else. A vile argument. The idea that the state is empowered to curtail people's personal activities simply because the state chose to subsidize the personal health care costs of those activities should be anathema in a free and civilized society.

breischl 13y ago
Once we've chosen to subsidize health care, then everyone has a financial interest in everyone else's behavior. I agree that it's a vile situation, but I tend to think it's a reason to avoid government-subsidized health care in the first place. Once we've got it, ignoring the financial consequences is just stupid.
- jasomill 13y ago
  This cuts both ways, though — with private insurance, insurers have a financial interest in focusing on current rather than lifetime expenditures, leading to both subpar outcomes in general and overestimation of costs related to lifespan-shortening behaviors like smoking. With that said, high taxes on tobacco products in particular are primarily seen (by proponents and detractors) as means to reduce smoking for general, not exclusively economic, public health reasons.
  - breischl 13y ago
    But at least with private insurance it's a voluntary contract between you and the company, and not a forced one between you and every other taxpayer in the country. While other members of your insurance group have a financial interest in your behavior, the government and the rest of the taxpayers don't. Tobacco taxes are certainly justified in many different ways, but public health is one of those ways. I'm also reminded of the big settlement the tobacco companies had to pay to all the states about 10-15 years ago, which was justified by the extra expense imposed on Medicare/Medicaid. That wasn't a tax, though it was functionally similar.
markdown 13y ago
You live in a democracy, so replace "the state" with "the people".

breischl 13y ago

Once we've chosen to subsidize health care, then everyone has a financial interest in everyone else's behavior. I agree that it's a vile situation, but I tend to think it's a reason to avoid government-subsidized health care in the first place. Once we've got it, ignoring the financial consequences is just stupid.

jasomill 13y ago
This cuts both ways, though — with private insurance, insurers have a financial interest in focusing on current rather than lifetime expenditures, leading to both subpar outcomes in general and overestimation of costs related to lifespan-shortening behaviors like smoking. With that said, high taxes on tobacco products in particular are primarily seen (by proponents and detractors) as means to reduce smoking for general, not exclusively economic, public health reasons.
- breischl 13y ago
  But at least with private insurance it's a voluntary contract between you and the company, and not a forced one between you and every other taxpayer in the country. While other members of your insurance group have a financial interest in your behavior, the government and the rest of the taxpayers don't. Tobacco taxes are certainly justified in many different ways, but public health is one of those ways. I'm also reminded of the big settlement the tobacco companies had to pay to all the states about 10-15 years ago, which was justified by the extra expense imposed on Medicare/Medicaid. That wasn't a tax, though it was functionally similar.

markdown 13y ago

You live in a democracy, so replace "the state" with "the people".