Should We Have to Pay for Our Decisions?

some companies give health insurance credits/premium reductions to those who make healthy choices. not smoking, not drinking in excess, exercising enough, normal BMI and healthy food choices, wearing seat belts, etc.

but what if our government, once they are the even more dominant insurance carrier in the country, does the same? are we ok with them knowing how fat we are? if we smoke? choices we make for ourselves and our children? hmmmm....

and, how far will we go in encouraging preventative measures? an interesting op ed piece on cnn.com today questioned just that, in reference to vaccinating from diseases. they use the example of an unvaccinated child traveling to europe and bringing back the measles in 2008, causing an outbreak of measles in san diego. you should read it, but the gist is, vaccines are cheap, illnesses are expensive. and you have to consider the cost not only of the unvaccinated patient with the illness but also all those who catch the illness from said child and need to be treated themselves, or those in quarantine away from said child. all this medical care and time off work for the parents could have been prevented with a simple, cheap vaccine.

so should those parents not be charged more for health insurance if they're deliberately electing to go against medical advice and to put their family (and others) at greater risk of health issues/cost? this is assuming that we're looking at a future where you get perks for being healthy, conscientious families and get penalties for being families who smoke or are obese, or are otherwise at increased risk by their own choice.

food for thought.