In a rather strange story, anti-smoking advocates have come out against a Scott Walker proposed $50 charge for state-employees who smoke, saying it makes health care harder to obtain for smokers and doesn't get people to quit.
Supporters say the charge would offset long-term health care costs that tend to be up to one-third higher for smokers throughout their lives, saving the state around $2.7million over two years. Anti-smoking groups, however, say that higher charges don't encourage smokers to stop and that the state, instead, should increase funding for tobacco prevention and control. Take a look...
http://host.madison.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/proposed-smoking-fee-draws-surprise-foes-anti-smoking-advocates/article_e0f09472-812b-11e2-adc1-001a4bcf887a.html
I guess I just don't get what they are against. The charge isn't specifically to stop people from smoking, it's to offset the cost for non-smokers who are paying into the insurance pool. So the argument that it doesn't stop smoking is...well...irrelevant. That's not the goal. The goal is to make sure that the average joe who doesn't smoke isn't paying for the health of someone who makes the decision to do unhealthy things to themselves. In other words, if you make unhealthy life choices, the guy next to you shouldn't be the one to pay for it.
I just kinda blows my mind that they'd look at that and say "It's not fair that smokers should pay more for their health when their health costs are more...instead we should all pay more to try to convince these people to stop."
If people aren't convinced by now that cigarettes are bad, I don't think more state funding is going to change that.
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