Again, do you seriously think persons like this didn't exist when health insurance was $10 a week? In 1974 I was paying $10 a week for my group insurance. Now I am paying $125 a week. Show me all those skinny people that didn't smoke & drink in 1974.
Look at it this way, we know that costs have gone higher since then. So, what has changed? Living habits or the mechanism of the market?
Of course this employee's lifestyle costs everyone. Everyone costs everyone else in some fashion. Part of the human condition. But is that the real reason medical care is so expensive? Or does it just piss you off knowing that you pay more for things in life because others are less productive members of society than you? It does me, but I'm not going to make things worse by getting even with them.
It feels good to think that this woman ought to pay,pay, pay. Only seems fair. But, the real question is, will it change the mess the system is in? No. Not in the least. Not for the better anyway.
There will always be people who get more for doing less, but screwing them at the expense of fixing the systemic problems of the health care market will net you and I nothing.
We can treat lots more diseases, cure a lot more ailments and relieve a lot more symptoms. Kind of like comparing an aircraft used in the Vietnam War to one used today in Iraq.
Sure it costs more. But it also DOES a lot more.
Your logic is flawed. Of course it will help the system, just as many other changes would help the system. If insurance companies were truly able to compete, rates would drop for many, increase for some.
I don't mind sharing risk; I see the difference between sharing risk and subsidizing those who flirt with it.