Posted on 04/11/2011 11:29:32 AM PDT by neverdem
Offering incentives for lifestyle choices likely to cut medical costs is an idea worth considering.
If an individual's body mass index isn't a purely personal matter, what is? We have the right to choose between healthy food or junk food, even if the latter is more likely to result in obesity and related health problems. But once our choices affect others, there's a natural conflict between individual freedom and social responsibility. In a nation where rising healthcare costs and diminished access to medical care are issues of grave concern, personal decisions are no longer strictly private. The treatment of obesity- and smoking-related disease is tremendously expensive, which in turns drives up health insurance premiums for everyone, as well as raising the costs for Medicaid, Medicare and health coverage for public employees.
These legitimate concerns have resulted in a raft of nanny-state proposals to shape the public's dietary habits by taxing this food or that drink or by outlawing free toys that accompany unhealthy children's meals at some restaurants. Such proposals raise inevitable questions of fairness and effectiveness. Does it make sense to tax a can of soda but not a fruit juice that contains more calories per cup and very little additional nutrition? Would a vitamin-fortified soda be exempt from the tax? And it's hard to figure out whether the bigger obesity culprit is a small order of fried chicken at a fast-foot outlet or a giant slab of prime rib at a pricey restaurant. Or, as many dietitians now think, maybe it's the carbs; has the time come for a public pasta tax? In any case, there is much uncertainty about whether such tactics would have any effect on the country's collective bulging belly.
We prefer the approach most recently proposed in Arizona, where officials hope to levy...
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Hell no!
I can eat anything and as much as I want and don’t get fat!
Don’t tax me for being healthy!
Ridiculous. This nanny state political correctness crap must stop NOW. Let’s all help to bring an end to it once and for all!
First they came for the smoker’s money....but I was not a smoker...
Me too! I can eat anything & not gain, so tax them by weight not by what they buy to eat! Put those airline TSA agents to work, using scales!
Outrageous.
Freedom and Liberty are have become merely names for hippie’s kids.
How about a moron tax instead? Good grief. These statists have too much free time on their hands.
How about a male homosexual behavior tax?
That behavior costs the medical system more per individual than being fat.
If the fat tax only applies to fat liberals I am OK with it.
Michael Moore can pay my share.
Will they also phase in a special tax for those practicing alternative lifestyles and far more prone to HIV, Hepatitis.......?
If the government/insurance is in the business of choosing the “best” way of behaving and taxing people according to the risk they pose shouldn't gays also be taxed?
Didn't think so......... Inconsistent liars that are simply looking for control/power and money. The rest is justifications based on contemporary trends in societies perceptions of certain behaviors i.e. society is willing to accept these taxes or restrictions on a specific group etc.
Let me put this as clearly as is possible: they can f*** off and die. This is no different than taxing tea was to the colonies. Anyone who would roll over for anymore of this tyranny should also reference the statement above. The taxes on everything else that have been imposed over the years should be rolled back. In the Omaha area the democrat mayor is going for a tax on toilet paper because one of his other tax schemes was outlawed by the state legislature. They want to tax your intake and your exaust ports, they want to tax carbon dioxide emissions so they will cover breathing as well. They tax you for living and they tax you for dying. This has gone far enough. The democrat party has made itself king on the model of George III and we are becoming their tax slaves. We fought wars against the king and against slavery but obviously the job was not finished in either case.
FUBO & FAD
First of all, the government has no business being involved, so I hope it is never posed as a tax.
Free market insurers should be free to charge people more or less in accordance with actuarial tables for health insurance that show more or less risk for people who are:
fat,
ugly,
redheaded,
stupid,
tall,
Norwegian,
Portuguese,
Asian,
African,
homosexual,
chess-playing,
motorcylce-riiding,
gun-owning,
sky-diving,
catholic,
etc.
“Put those airline TSA agents to work, using scales!”
Put most of them on a diet, they are fat!
I agree 100%...
sure, and why not a genetics tax, and a stupid tax, and an liable to accidents tax, and a dangerous occupation tax,....
How about a sex tax instead? Tax all sex outside of marriage.
After all, sex can be a very unhealthy activity and can also lead to bastard children who have to be carried by the taxpayer.
this idea’s only redeeming value is that it would take Michael Moore straight to the poorhouse...
Suuuure......legislate on everything ... the minutiae of life are what the Framers intended Congress to get around to eventually ..... ration food and water ... legislate proper breathing, with appropriate federal prison terms for improper breathing.
The spirit of totalitarianism breathes free at the L.A. Times.
I first glanced quickly at the headline, and saw the words “FLAT TAX” and LA TIMES, and I thought hell had finally frozen over.
How about a higher tax on homosexuals, as their lifestyle choices lead to higher STD rates.
How about higher taxes on single moms since our prison system is overflowing with people who had no fathers in their lives?
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