State Senator Wants To Cut Health Care For Smokers

cbs4denver ^ | 2/05/06 | cbs4denver

[dware]

(AP) DENVER With health costs rising, one state lawmaker thinks it's time to start discussing whether the state can afford to pay to treat smokers who get lung cancer, heart disease and other diseases linked to tobacco.

Sen. Ron Teck, R-Grand Junction, wants to put people who continue to smoke despite the health risks on notice. Under a proposal set to be reviewed Wednesday at the state Capitol, people who started smoking before 1975 would still be eligible for Medicaid payments to treat smoking-related illnesses.

[doc30]

So are you saying that health care insurance is a right? Insurance companies discriminate all the time and it is perfectly legal.

[SheLion]

Denver: State Senator Wants To Cut Health Care For Smokers

What with the cigarette taxes smokers pay, we more then HALF pay our fair share!

What a dick weed!!!

[jdhljc169]

I don't know about that. The anti-smoking nazis will argue that it can't be discrimination. After all, we CHOOSE to smoke.

***

Are they going to do the same thing for those who drink and the diseases related to drinking? What about drugs? Coffee? What's next, forced diets? Idiots...

[SheLion]

Read what Colorado smokers ALREADY pay into the state coffers!

Colorado Information

Tobacco Taxes

Colorado's excise tax per pack of cigarettes: $0.200
Colorado's excise tax collection for the
fiscal year ending June 2002: $58,518,000

Sales tax on tobacco products: 2.90%

Federal excise tax per pack of cigarettes: $0.39
Total federal excise tax collections in fiscal year 2002: $7,512,700,000

Comparing Excise Taxes on Cigarettes, Beer and Wine

Number of six-packs of beer that must be sold in Colorado to produce the same state excise tax revenue generated by one carton of cigarettes: 44.4

Number of bottles of wine that must be sold in Colorado to produce the same state excise tax revenue generated by one carton of cigarettes: 36.1

Colorado Smokers' Contributions to the State Economy - FY2002

In 2001, Colorado smokers comprised only 22.3%¹ of the adult population in the state. Here is what they already pay because they choose to buy a legal product:

Smokers Pay Excise Taxes2	$	58,518,066
Smokers Pay Tobacco Settlement Payments3	$	97,988,866
	$	156,506,932a

And this dweeb Senator wants MORE????

[EVO X]

And I posted an article about NY monitoring the blood sugars of ALL people in NY, who get a blood test to measure their blood sugar. The labs send it directly to the government -- this is for EVERYONE, not just for those on Medicaid.

New York City has something like 800K diabetics, so they decided to stomp on everyone's privacy to try and get a handle on it. I am surprised no one has challenged it.

[Mr. Brightside]

Sounds right to me.

And if a motorcyclist does not wear a helmet, his benefits should be reduced.

And the same if a motorist does not wear a safetybelt.

[elkfersupper]

I am surprised no one has challenged it.

The vast majority get their news by watching "Entertainment Tonight".

What else would you expect?

[SheLion]

However, should our tax dollars be spent bailing out or healing those who take avoidable risks with their health?
Kind of a personal responsibility thing.

Employers are making such decisions, and have every right to do so. Why should not government do the same?

Because most of us HAVE our own health insurance.  You will NEVER have to pay for ME should I ever get sick from smoking!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[SheLion]

Can we drop coverage for gays who get aids ?

And don't forget the health insurance we have to pay for ILLEGALS!!  ack!

[SheLion]

Good evening, ladies. Get a load of this article.

Complete Bull Chit!

[sausageseller]

Michael Moore might be interested in this.

per:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1572473/posts?page=27#27

Nothing like bumping your own thread. LOL

[elkfersupper]

Complete Bull Chit!

One reason we just love you, She.

You're so.......reserved.

[Dawgreg]

And those of us who smoke, pay larger premiums on our health insurance. I wanna shake your hand Conservativegrandma. You sound like one of my own kind. *~*

[festus]

What about queer illegals who smoke and eat fatty foods ?

[dware]

You know, you're right. I sure am glad we have the government to tell us what we have to do...

[NCLaw441]

I am not a smoker, don't care one bit for it, but it seems to me that unless you are hit by a car or murdered, you are likely to die from some disease, and incur the costs associated with it. Smokers may die earlier, but they don't incur any greater costs than someone who dies from non-smoking related cancer or heart disease, or cystic fibrosis, or MS, etc. etc.

Fact is, if smokers die earlier than others (and the jury is still out on that), much money is saved, especially in Social Security benefits. A decent argument could be made that smokers should receive greater, not lesser, benefits.

[TAdams8591]

Why aren't our legislators as concerned with legal immigrants coming in to this country, eligble to apply for a social security card within two weeks of their arrival, and then eligible to apply for "free" healthcare upon receipt of the social security card. They then use the card to pay for the birth of their new born children, whose health care the state (we the taxpayer) then pays for. Why aren't they concerned with all the newly arrived immigrants in this country eligible to receive medicare even though they didn't pay into social security, not to mention the cost of healthcare for illegals. What about the cost of the care of children born out of wedlock and their welfare mothers?

Also consider the cost of getting old in and staying alive in America.

Meanwhile, I haven't been to a doctor in seven years.

STOP THE INSANITY!!!!!!

[Mr. Brightside]

Why should WE the taxpayers have to pay for other people's dangerous behavior?

[NCLaw441]

I agree that insurance companies should be able to fairly assess risks and charge premiums accordingly. This, though, looks like state legislation, and not market forces at work.

[TAdams8591]

"Sen. Ron Teck, R-Grand Junction, wants to put people who continue to smoke despite the health risks on notice. Under a proposal set to be reviewed Wednesday at the state Capitol, people who started smoking before 1975 would still be eligible for Medicaid payments to treat smoking-related illnesses."

But those who started after 1975 would see the amount the state picks up drop 5 percent every year after that. And those people who picked up the habit in 1996 or later wouldn't get any help."

Nice to give people FAIR WARNING.