should smokers and drinkers pay more for health care?

Originally Posted by BlueMikey

If insurance can discriminate (not a negative connotation of that word here) against someone who smokes because they are more likely to get lung cancer, why couldn't they also require a blood test when you sign up and make you pay more if you have a recessive gene that makes you more likely to, say, die of a stroke, regardless of your lifestyle?

The difference here is that you have control over whether you drink or smoke, but not about what genes you have. The original poster said they were debating the fact that the people who drink and smoke have "preventable" diseases if only they didn't live that lifestyle. On the other hand, having a certain gene isn't preventable.

Jam it back in, in the dark.