I apologize to you, razoroccam. I should have read all of your posts. I assumed (bad thing to do) that you were for this ban. I'm glad to hear that you do not support these bans.
I understand that you feel that you are paying, through taxes, for the medical care of smokers. There are many arguments on both sides of that issue and I'm not an expert in statistics but I'm sure that other FReepers are. I do know that through our taxes we are also paying for medical care for overweight people who feed at the unhealthy troughs of the "fast food chains" and pay for their poor choices with serious medical issues.
I think your argument about taxes being paid out to fund medical needs of smokers should belong on its own thread. This thread is about smoking bans, not taxes. :)
"I think your argument about taxes being paid out to fund medical needs of smokers should belong on its own thread. This thread is about smoking bans, not taxes"
You are correct - this is a taxing issue. But when the smoke clears, I know we all will agree that
1. Private enterprises can do what they want to
2. Government should get out of health care
The list of people we pay for through Medicare and Medicaid are endless. We pay for the people who work 60+ hours a week and suffer the predicted stress-related illnesses. We pay for clean-livers who spend a decade in nursing homes with Alzheimers, etc.
Let's not turn on each other for totalitarian reasons.