Lifestyle Changes Make Sense

By Author: Marcus Stalder
Total Articles: 491
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It's at this point that Libertarians get all excited because this article is all about whether an interfering government should tell people how to live their lives. Think about the debate over criminalizing those who use soft drugs like cannabis. Victimless crimes, they shout. What we do in the privacy of our own homes is our affair. That's why we're all signed-up members of the NRA and will shoot to kill if threatened. Well, let's add to the list of stuff that can kill you. Everyone has to know that smoking causes a range of cancers and other usually fatal diseases. So far, big government has refused to ban the sale of this lethal drug. It's a major double standard. If smoking cannabis, even for medicinal purposes, is a crime in most states, why is nicotine treated differently when it kills rather more people?

Thinking back to the good old days of Eliot Ness and the Untouchables, Prohibition was not the greatest success. Indeed, the real statistics show that more alcohol per head was consumed during the period of the ban than before. So trying the same thing today is not going to produce better results. People will not ...
... be told to quit smoking or stop drinking to excess or to eat more healthy food or to exercise more. Even though, when you put all four factors together and show the catastrophic effect on health, the majority of Americans will resent being told - even though privately, they might admit it's good advice.

This leaves it all up to the insurance companies. While the real Libertarians will defend their right to kill themselves in the privacy of their own home, some of them do emerge from time to time complaining of disease. At this moment, the insurers feel an attack on their profits coming on. These overweight people with cancers and heart disease make their way to the nearest hospital. There they find a band of health professionals waiting to greet them. This welcome is all the more enthusiastic because these dedicated workers make a profit from treating people. So everyone in the healthcare industry is in favor of the majority of people making themselves ill through their lifestyle. The more it happens, the more money they make. Put the two forces together and the insurance companies feel the squeeze.

Fortunately, the health insurance companies have two powerful weapons available. They can dispute the bills raised by the healthcare industry and attempt to drive down the costs by making global deals with hospitals or networks of doctors. More importantly, they can hike the premium rates paid by those who refuse to change their lifestyles. In the physical examinations increasingly required to get a health policy, lifestyle factors are noted and the rates adjusted. So, if you want to see cheap health insurance quotes coming into your mail box over the next few years, quit smoking, eat less unhealthy food, drink less alcohol and exercise more. Not only will you feel better, you will also see the practical benefit in money saved. Find some other Libertarian cause to keep you involved in politics.