The usual argument about smoking and anti-obesity laws is that people who are sick cost the public money. Time reports on an opposite view: the earlier you die, the cheaper it is for those paying the bills. “The researchers found that from age 20 to 56, obese people racked up the most expensive health costs. But because both the smokers and the obese people died sooner than the healthy group, it cost less to treat them in the long run.”
Source link: http://blog.mises.org/7774/die-early-save-taxpayers-money/
Die Early, Save Taxpayers Money
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Both my girlfriend and I suggested this based on experience as nurses. I’m glad to see it formalized.
I may be mistaken, but I seem to remember a Canadian study that demonstrated that smokers tended to be cheaper because they did not report minor illnesses as much. It seemed to be a personality trait that they shared on average. Basically, if a smoker said they were sick and sought medical treatment, they were on death’s doorstep; if a non-smoker said they were sick and sought medical treatment, they likely had a sniffle. Since the initial assesment costs the same in both cases and most conditions are not smoking related (eg. broken bones, appendicitis), smokers tend to cost less.
I cannot find the study now, but anyone doing research into this may want to dig a little deeper and find that study (and tell me what it was called again)
Man I wish I had kept more of my nursing papers and notes.
I demand my fat guy subsidies.
I’ve argued the same thing concerning health care costs. However, as a counter point, I imagine the healthy group also stayed productive longer.
Perhaps, for the greater good, part of the triage process ought to be to “preemptively cut the overall losses”. Since unhealthy people, or people who claim that they are unhealthy, are really a drain on the social medical welfare, it would reduce the cost of the system and also potentially improve the quality of the gene pool to simply cull the unhealthy from society. Wouldn’t this be the end state of a socialist society?
Or maybe, just maybe, we should make people pay for their own medical care. Then, they would evaluate the cost/benefit relationship of the trip, and maybe even their own activities. I have no problem with someone spending their money on whatever medical care they desire (and can afford). I get really upset when someone spends MY money on their medical care…
This reminds me of a ‘Yes, Prime Minister’ episode, where Humphrey defends smokers (who pay taxes on cigarettes) as selfless individuals laying down their lives for their fellow human beings! The show obviously wasn’t satire, it was a prophecy!
So all you socialists out there who want more socialized medicine, smoke up. It’s your patriotic duty to get in at least three packs a day.
It’s just one of the labyrinth of health issues vitiated by the results of lumping most people together in the same risk bracket via publicly subsidized insurance.
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