Nathan Saper wrote:

...

and Sambo A. S. seem to miss, is that increased costs for a few mean *savings* for everyone else.

The costs for the few would rise much more than the savings for the many. Therefore, the number of people with genetic abnormalities who could not afford insurance would rise, while the number of genetically normal people who could afford insurance would not be altered drastically.

Isn't this one of the key points of the whole issue: where does the balance lie ? One the one hand, individuals should have the freedom to live as they please, so long as it does not affect (too much) the way other people choose to live. If you desire to live an unhealthy lifestyle, that is fine, so long as you live with the consequences - i.e. higher insurance premiums. I choose to live a healthy lifestyle, therefore I would expect to pay less in insurance premiums. On the other hand, I do not mind cross subsidising the rest of society to a certain extent, in order to stop everything falling apart, and to generally know that there is some safety for "my way of life", and to enjoy some common things for everyone. Certainly, I find it irritating that I should pay excessive costs to support a health care system that largely caters to supporting the many people that have chosen to drink or live their way to an unhealthy later life. Though, I am not sure I want to deny these people treatment because of the social carnage and damage to humanity it will cause, and perhaps twenty years ago, people were less enlightened about the possibility of making these choices. So perhaps the thing is - how do you list all the pros and cons and costs and everything else, then find an acceptable balance that is liberal "user pays", but has a safety net (i.e. you will not suffer, but you probably won't have a high quality life). Best regards, Matthew. _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com.