>According to the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, the life >expectancy in the U. S. has hit an all time high of 76.9 years.
Okay, now I'm all confused. One argument against smoking was that it was expensive: those unhealthy smokers were using more expensive health care to try to make up for their foolish habit. Then along came a study commissioned in the Czech Republic that said that since smokers died much earlier than non-smokers, there was no economic cost to smoking; it was a benefit because smokers never lived long enough to collect much Social Security or Medicare. Lots of people found this study to be questionable on moral grounds, but that never stopped pro-smokers from citing it to say that smoking actually saves money. Now Victoria comes along with statistics that say that smokers are living longer than ever. Which means that they are once again sucking up the health care dollars with their emphysema, heart disease, and other maladies associated with smoking. So which is it? It can't be both. Either smokers are living shorter lives, good from an economic point of view but bad for anybody that enjoys life, or smokers are living longer, which is good for keeping people around but bad for the economy (and for people like me, who are getting tired of seeing rising health care costs because unhealthy Americans keep on seeking quick solutions to their self-inflicted health problems). === Nathan Hunstad CARAG Minneapolis, MN (651) 489-9107 -- Home PGP DH/DSS public key -- http://www.angelfire.com/mn/freakpower/nhpubkey.txt ________________________________________________ Do you Gonzo?! http://www.angelfire.com/mn/freakpower REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
