[farlander]

Well, technically, it’s presonal responsibility. If you’re full of unhealthy habits, don’t expect the rest of us to pay for your unhealthy lifestyle. But it should be a choice. You wanna smoke, no problem, pay extra in health insurance. Wanna eat steak and mashed potatoes all the time and have high cholesterol (like myself), expect to pay more for health care.

Simple economics.

[L98Fiero]

“Simple economics.”

Is it really? Consider post 4.

[traditional1]

"If you’re full of unhealthy habits, don’t expect the rest of us to pay for your unhealthy lifestyle"

Try proposing that sex deviates or drug users paying more and you'll be charged with a "hate crime" !

[Publius6961]

Well, technically, it’s presonal responsibility. If you’re full of unhealthy habits, don’t expect the rest of us to pay for your unhealthy lifestyle. But it should be a choice. You wanna smoke, no problem, pay extra in health insurance. Wanna eat steak and mashed potatoes all the time and have high cholesterol (like myself), expect to pay more for health care.
Simple economics.

You forgot to list the perverts and AIDS.
You also forgot the Beached Whales.
You forgot those engages in risky hobbies.

Most of all, you forgot that all those groups don't pay a special tax no one else does, adding up to billions, so far...

Simple economics.
Simple fairness.

[slowhandluke]

Well, technically, it’s presonal responsibility. If you’re full of unhealthy habits, don’t expect the rest of us to pay for your unhealthy lifestyle. But it should be a choice.

If the insurers and employers had perfect knowledge, this would be reasonable, but they don't.

High cholesterol or triglycerides is not always a choice. Nor is it clear that the current evils tied to high cholestorol should be tied to high cholesterol. See:

The W-Beijing lineage of Mycobacterium tuberculosis overproduces triglycerides and has the DosR dormancy regulon constitutively upregulated.

And

High cholesterol may protect against infections and atherosclerosis

And

Blood cholesterol has nothing to do with atherosclerosis

And

Lipid metabolic changes in experimentally induced leptospiral infection with serovars australis, canicola and icterohaemorrhagiae.

We really don't know enough about the cholesterol or tricglyceride metabolisms to call them a 'life style choice'. And the current fix-it statin drugs have severe problems. They can cause lupus, they can cause memory loss (recent headlines about zocor).

If we were talking about life style choices like using cocaine, you have a more provable point. Otherwise, I worry about the insurance companies leading a witch hunt against real health trouble that is expensive to treat, but don't have a clear cause so can be denigrated as a 'life style choice'.

[Osage Orange]

When they go after homosexuals....get back with me.

[Old Professer]

You’re not paying for anyone’s unhealthy habits any more than you are paying for their hangnails or their missed day of work because the electricity went out.

The greatest burden on the health care system is the fascination with all their marvelous toys, their burdensome layers of bureaucracy and the overbuiding of facilities in the most desirable places to die.

[subterfuge]

Simple economics.

You seem to have confused economics with draconian, tyrannical and contolling policies that border on oppresion. So how much extra are you paying for those mashed potatoes?