Tobacco Documents Online

In the public debate over the rising cost of health care the idea is occassionally discussed that smokers ought to pay higher rates for health insurance. This demand is based on their supposedly self-incurred higher ,i•a >r„. ~ ;.:. _; . -; risk of illness. To begin with, according to the most recent findings, smoking is o ~2 L a risk factor for people in particula.rlv uoor health, and o nly'through constant . . . . ._ , ..... ~ . . ~., misuse. But even in such cases it is only one factor among,many others becausey ,:;these illnesses credited to tobacco have as their sources a great many factors . . .a .. . . . . . .:. . ., ., . . . - ' . . i. - . . .... ... .('!'~ 9 of influence. What part smoking plays in that is uncertain.' Health risks X •ii._~i _ . . , . . , . . ~in this sense are also poor nutrition, overweightt excessive use of;alcohol,, lack of exercise, and finally such pleasurable past times as slaing and other _ - , sports. Al]. these would also have to be covered by a fine added onto the normal insurance premium. But this would abolish the principle of solidarity valid for all formsof social insurance (Sozialversicherungen) accor ~} ~' .,..~ .. which the payment rate is based on the economic productivity of the individual } -.' . ,~ •c ~i.' , - -and not on his personal risk of illness. A ~. Abolishing the principle of solidarity : r~~~~"~ ~f4 ~. a ~ $ ;sy yF .- ~ 'Y.. would mean.nothing less than a renunciation of the social progress made until insurance experts agree that it would be organizationAlv ~ Yareover '°~''now , . , . ' _detrimental to the develo=ent of personal liberty if a kind of bureaucratic :, `"and administratively impossibie, unthinkable . and to the highest dgree ,~.-~~ry«4'FY.Y[ ~:.... : . _:.. .. health supervision of the individual were to be instituted. The courts 'subscribers suing insurance companies. The so-called rehabilitation surcharge would have to e xpect an avalanche of litigation brought about by insuranc@

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