should smokers and drinkers pay more for health care?

As much as I honestly feel that smokers and drinkers are a blight, I oppose the idea of tiered healthcare fees for these people.

I do not feel that raising the rates would provide enough incentive for most people to quit smoking and drinking. Both are vices with instant gratification, the allure of which greatly outweighs any distant medical fees. Those who smoke and excessively drink almost certainly know the risks - how can you not by now? - and are going to do what they want regardless of threats from insurance providers.

What would more than likely happen is that these people would smoke or drink themselves into near-oblivion, then cry to the government when the fines levied upon them for being career smokers and drinkers have prevented many of them from affording their own healthcare. At this point, the government would be responsible for supplying care through Medicaid, at the taxpayers' expense.

Furthermore, I don't like the precedent it would set, that certain lifestyle choices can carry with them monetary penalties. While this would make logical sense on the surface, where is the limit to what can be assessed as a "risk factor"?
Do you eat red meat? Well, you might be at risk of a heart attack! Do you NOT eat red meat? Well, you might be at risk for anemia! Have you ever worked in a restaurant? That carries the risk of hepatitis and secondhand smoke inhalation! Do you have sex? Oh my, STDs!!

Unchecked, concessions like this would grant the HMOs vast power to profit from what are normal activities. Smoking and drinking are clear-cut choices, and not as incidental as, say, living under power lines, but it's enough to get the ball rolling toward being punished for everything we do that isn't sitting in a darkened room, eating organically grown celery.

HMOs and insurers have displayed a tremendous amount of influence over politics and business. We don't want to hand them this kind of power. Healthcare should be accessible to everyone, not just those who spend their lives preventing the need for it.

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