---------- From: David Honig[SMTP:honig@sprynet.com] Reply To: David Honig Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2000 4:16 PM To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Re: why should it be trusted?

At 10:34 PM 10/18/00 -0400, Neil Johnson wrote:

...

I don't have a problem with insurance companies raising rates for people who smoke, are overweight (cough, cough), or have high cholesterol (cough, cough, cough). That's behavior that can be changed.

How silly. Weight and cholesterol (and intelligence and lifespan) have strong genetic factors, as does smoking and drinking, how you respond to stress, etc. You might start by looking up 'dopamine receptors' or 'self medication'

Curiously, life and health insurance providers have conflicting goals. Life insurance providers profit most if you live a long, long, time, regardless of the quality of that life. Health insurance providers would much prefer that at some age just before you start needing large amounts of care, you die too rapidly to need any kind of treatment - a sudden coronary, or hit by the proverbial bus. I've heard that smokers actually cost the healthcare system less money than non-smokers, since they die comparatively rapidly once they start to deteriorate (no I can't give a cite on that one, either), and need less long-term care. Peter Trei