(05-01-2022, 03:18 PM)The Real Marty Wrote: There's an old saying, "Your freedom ends at the tip of my nose."  Which means, of course, that you are free to do whatever you want as long as it doesn't affect me.  Aside from second-hand smoke, you have to ask, does smoking, and all the diseases it causes, cost me money, by filling up the hospitals and increasing health insurance costs?  Add in the way the government says hospitals cannot turn away patients who cannot pay, and that health insurance companies have to cover pre-existing conditions, and you can see how your smoking affects me financially even though I don't smoke.  So it's an open question- at what point does someone smoking affect me to the point where it is infringing on me? 

That's a worthy discussion- at what point does someone else's behavior infringe upon my rights to the point where their rights need to be restricted?

I would be just fine with the government saying health insurance companies don't have to cover self-inflicted problems, but that's not the case right now.  Once the government says society has to kick in for treatment of self-inflicted health problems, that's where the question comes up- should we just ban smoking?  Because these people who have these self-inflicted health problems are in effect reaching into my pocket and taking my money.