Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Oh Brother!!

Ban trans fats, tax junk food to stop obesity

I have a better idea. Why not make them pay for their own health care? Seriously, unless logical consequences are allowed to play, we'll never grow up.

We could apply that to smokers and problem drinkers, too, and probably a few other things as well.

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2 Comments:

Blogger Zach Bell said...

Oh good god, I agree with you. I'm going to have to come to grips with that later. For now I'll just express an opinion.

I think people really forget what a single payer system is about and why it is an oppressive form of health care delivery. We all have to accept that some people live differently than us. This topic of conversation came up when a bunch of people got trapped by an avalanche in B.C. I think when they were snowmobiling outside of approved zones. Helicopters had to be sent to rescue them and people started to talk about how people like them should be made to pay for rescues because they had taken unreasonable risks. while I can sympathize with the logic, it's not a fair argument unless you give those people a choice to cover themselves with privately provided insurance for things like health care and rescue services.

In a single payer system, we all have to accept eachother's faults because there is only one health service provider. In a free market, where the industry can offer financial incentives for avoiding risk, we become much more independent consumers and can decide for ourselves which kind of coverage suits us best. don't like paying for people who eat fatty foods? Then find a service provider that offers incentive to people like you who eat piles of vegetables every evening.

When you take away choice, it's not reasonable to start punishing people for being independent individuals in control of their own lives. You can not simply define the parameters of people's lives and tell them that if they don't live a certain way, they will be financially punished. That's not how a free society works.

K...now I gotta go shower. I feel so dirty posting in an agreeable fashion on your blog Louise.

April 26, 2011 10:09 pm  
Blogger Louise said...

("One more notch in my cane", she mutters to herself, while laughing evilly.)

Zach, you're getting older and wiser, that's all. The disillusionment may be painful, but as Ernest Hemingway said, the world breaks everyone, but after wards many are stronger in the broken places.

Oh, and btw, there's no reason, in principle at least, private and public insurance can't be mixed.

People who take foolish and unnecessary risks should be required to post a bond or relinquish their right to publicly funded health care and rescue services. But does any politician in Canada have the gonads to suggest that? I doubt it.

April 26, 2011 11:48 pm  

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