Monday, March 29, 2010

No Matter What, We Pay for Others’ Bad Habits

This relates to Mr. Silton's post earlier: "Sin Tax Example: Taxing Alcohol vs. Taxing Drunk Drivers"

"Why should be pick up the tab when so much disease in our country stems from unhealthy behavior like smoking and overeating?" After the health care bill was passed last week Americans began to question why we are paying for other peoples mistakes and bad habits. Most Americans think it is fair for the people with unhealthy lifestyles to may more for health insurance. But that would lead to sticky and complicated situations.

Individual choices are not the only thing that contribute to bad health or disease. Factors such as social status, income, family dynamics, and genetics contribute to unhealthy life styles as well. Forcing healthy behavior is extremely difficult and usually does not work, especially when people are already caught in the lifestyle of obesity, smoking, binge drinking, etc. Reversal of habits in these situations often require a vast amount of time, effort , and money. "It's the context of people's lives that determine their health" said a World Health Organizations report, "So blaming individuals for poor health or crediting them for good health is inappropriate"

1 comment:

Joshua Lu said...

This is really interesting. I can see where both sides of this issue are coming from. I agree that people with healthy lifestyles are paying more to support those with unhealthy habits. However, as Mei Mei said, social status, income, family dynamics, and genetics play a role in one's lifestyle. It is also very hard to promote everyone to live a healthy lifestyle.

Maybe if those who choose unhealthy actions have to pay more for health insurance, there will be a stronger incentive to make better choices?