Reply #103: Which bad choices will we choose to pay for? [View All]

[OHDEM]

And who gets to decide?

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/FASTATS/deaths.htm

Number of deaths: 2,448,017
Death rate: 825.9 deaths per 100,000 population
Life expectancy: 77.8 years
Infant Mortality rate: 6.87 deaths per 1,000 live births
Number of deaths for leading causes of death:
Heart disease: 652,091
Cancer: 559,312
Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 143,579
Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 130,933
Accidents (unintentional injuries): 117,809
Diabetes: 75,119
Alzheimer's disease: 71,599
Influenza/Pneumonia: 63,001
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 43,901
Septicemia: 34,136

I think about half the accident deaths are car accidents...do we force people to be safer or drive less? How about smoking/drinking? What about people predisposed to certain illnesses - they would cost more, too.

I think it's just easy to attack fat people. They may be the last group that it's socially acceptable to go after.