If People Don't Like To Pay For Healthcare For Smoking Related Illnesses Because They Are Preventable.......

Question

why don't people mind that we pay for AIDS related care when AIDS is also preventable?

And please don't slam me as "hating" people with AIDS, because this is not a suggestion that we stop paying for AIDS related care.

Why would somebody give THIS question a thumbs down? It's not hateful at all, can't we question policy in this country?

Answer 1

A lot of health care issues are preventable and people do not complain about those. Smokers pay more taxes than others do,last I heard tax on a pack of smokes here in Colorado is about 1.20.

But lets look at the person who has 10 kids by 10 men and can not recall a first name little lone last name of any of the men. To lazy to go to work she gets a medical card for each one of those kids. Who pays for THAT health care? We do. Did we tell her to get knocked up and have kids she can not afford? No. But we pay anyway.

That is preventable but we pay anyway. Smokers are just a cool thing to pick on, people will get tired of that and start in on the guy who drinks so much he needs a new medically funded liver.

Answer 2

This could be stretched to include just about every illness there is. Some healthcare plans won't pay for treatment for obesity, or for the stomach-stapling surgery.... but they keep on paying for heart disease and hypertension which is definitely aggravated by obesity. Smoking-related illnesses are not always caused by smoking, though. People get cancer and bronchitis and chronic pulmonary diseases like asthma..even if they haven't smoked. So, how can you sort that out?

In my 30 years as a health insurance claims adjuster, I've seen many exclusions built into plans by employers who are self insured. They used to exclude coverage for anybody who was considered obese.... and some plans used to have a higher deductible for smokers.

But, during the Clinton administration, the President pushed a bill through Congress, which became a federal law called the Portability Law (HIPAA). Most people think of it as a privacy law, but, like all other laws, it had some extra features thrown in with it which have changed the way companies insure their employees.

They no longer can ask for your medical history-- and that was a big one, because all the obese and otherwise unhealthy people who had previously been considered "uninsurable" and denied coverage.... all came into the plans when they had their next open enrollment.

Also...they now have to cover conditions that are pre-existing, if the employee had coverage for at least a year at his former place of employment. And "prior coverage" was stretched to include PUBLIC AID, which many people had until they became eligible for coverage under their employer.

With the feds involved, it gets harder and harder to keep the big money-spenders out of those health insurance plans. The result is.... higher costs for everybody. That cost is just passed on to the entire group in higher premiums.

So there you go!

Answer 3

You're right. I think heart disease would be a better example than AIDS though. Like smoking, the damage is preventable (diet) and it accumulates over the years costing the public loads of money.

Answer 4

That is a good question. Our health insurance didn't even want to help with quitting smoking aids when my husband started using tobacco products before they said anything about health risks, or befor they where well known. I think they should just as they do for aids. It would be very fair to do so. My husband wants to quite very badly and can't without prescription drugs and things. It isn't his fault if his parents alowed him to start using tabacco products when he was around 8 years old. He is now 39.

Answer 5

What would happen if everyone quit smoking today? What would they do to make up the loss taxes? What would health care cost be if smokers lived to be 120? When people realize smokers build their roads and do not live long doing it, and when property taxes replace smoking taxes, property owners will want smoking in public again.

Answer 6

Because AIDS is a contagious disease and it is not 100% preventable.

First-hand smoking-related illnesses are 100% preventable -- just don't smoke.

Answer 7

Soking related illnesses are preventable by simply not smoking. AIDS is not so preventable for those who contracted it through a blood transfusion (which, thankfully doesn't happen anymore like it used to) or from one's parents when one is conceived. Or from rape. Or by accident when one is a healthcare worker. I could go on, but I hope you get the point by now.

Answer 8

I guess its the same reason, why alcoholics, & drug addicts get help from social security, when alot of parents with sick kids, have to fight tooth & nail, for assistance, I seen this first hand, with a little boy who needed braces on his legs, his mom, tried for weeks to get help & while we were waiting to speak with someone, the alcoholics, were laughing & making plans to meet one another at the bar, after they cashed their checks. Alot of stuff is preventable, but the priorities, from those in charge suck. They WILL pay for drug & alcohol, addiction, but, make waves for niccotine addiction ?? Strange World we live in ?

Answer 9

Not necessarily true. There are people on both sides of each issue you mentioned. It all depends on who you ask. No matter to so-called health care providers, though. Pre-existing condition? No coverage.

Answer 10

You have to repeatedly smoke for MANY YEARS to suffer the ill effects of smoking (for the most part--I know there can be exceptions).

It is possible to get AIDS from one night of sin...or a broken condom....etc.