Reply #15: Interestingly enough, it's just my personal opinion

[Syncronaut Seven]

I'm on the personal responsibility sub-committee. All of the things you mentioned have come up.

The general consensus is that the "health police" model is neither desirable, nor workable, as the cost of enforcement would quickly surpass the cost of services rendered. Plus, this IS America.

We do however have a serious health care crisis in this country. Screams of "Gesundheits-Polizei" are in no way helpful to the process of constructive dialog.

Actual belief in the concept of personal responsibility is just my own peculiar quirk. Don't read too much in to it.

On edit: You'll not like the other general consensus, Sin tax seems the way to go. A point of use tax on alchohol and tobacco is the most obvious. I like the idea of a fat tax on packaged foods too.

Double edit: "Lifestyle" was a poor choice of words. I forgot that the term has strong connotations, I was using it in a very narrow sense. My bad.