Text 3494, 51 rader
Skriven 2006-07-07 13:41:00 av Robert E Starr JR (3967.babylon5)
Ärende: Re: Atheists: America's m
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@REPLY: <kurtullman-13BB15.08564106072006@news.west.earthlink.net>

Kurt Ullman wrote:
> In article <rhqoa29ktaa0gb7e8kd52l541ndt7malj7@4ax.com>,
>  Josh Hill <usereplyto@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> > I'd also favor charging lower rates for people who take care of
> > themselves by not smoking, staying thin, and so forth.

>   I woudl too, although I am not exactly sure how you police that in
> real life. The theory, for those of you playing at home, is that health
> insurance could be underwritten on a more individual basis sorta like
> car insurance. One of the main problems is one's history of wrecking
> cars is a lot easier to discern that one's history of smoking. You could
> probably do it easier on weight, for instance, but even then how often
> do you check to make sure they are still at weight?

When you start with setting insurance rates by virtue of a patient's
weight, you start getting into bias against those who live at lower
incomes.

The way things are now, the cheapest foods are starchy and some of the
cheapest starchy foods are corn based.  (this may be a result of
government subsidy)

A more healthful balance would be more fresh vegetables (not canned),
quality proteins that haven't been processed beyond recognition, and
unprocessed starches (excluding refined sugar, breads with the
ingredient list that reads like a chemistry book, etc)

Upshot is, those in the lower economic bracket are less able to afford
the healthier diets and are more likely to be overweight unless they
are so poor that they are underweight.  Doesn't seem fair to slap them
with higher insurance rates especially if they can't afford much in the
first place.

As much as I despise smoking, I can't find it in myself to penalize
those who are addicted or whose culture embedded such behavior.  Better
to prevent new smokers before they start and keep trying to get current
smokers to quit.

Ruth
                                                                               
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