A little while ago I had a discussion with some friends of mine about the smoking ban being put in by lots of states in the US. Their contention was that it will reduce the cost of healthcare and I had at that time jokingly said that by that measure they might as well ban obesity, since that is even more expensive in healthcare terms.
Interestingly enough British govt. is taking a step towards exactly that. Here is a quote from here:
"People who are grossly overweight, who smoke heavily or drink excessively could be denied surgery or drugs following a decision by a Government agency yesterday.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) which advises on the clinical and cost effectiveness of treatments for the NHS, said that in some cases the "self-inflicted" nature of an illness should be taken into account.
This should be a wakeup call to those who believe that universal healthcare will provide equal healthcare to all...
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