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Comment by DamnYuppie | Hacker News Reader

I don't really disagree with you assessments but to answer your question the article I read says that 50% of the people in the hospital are unvaccinated. I am not saying this justifies it or not just they are saying that these individuals are putting undo stress on the system and should pay for it.

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I don’t understand this argument. Obesity is one of the leading causes of death in the US and one of the biggest comorbidities even with Covid, for example. It’s entirely preventable in nearly all cases. Should we tax obese people more? What about old people who use up the majority of resources? Parents who knowingly give birth to children likely to have genetic diseases?

Do you really, really want to start taxing people and dictating behavior based on their medical expense?

> Do you really, really want to start taxing people and dictating behavior based on their medical expense?

That's the cost of a public health system. The public health system becomes the dictator.

Only if you have leadership the uses it as leverage for behavior. Like everyone that puts forward suggestion like this does. You have to vote such people out of office... but I understand the reluctance towards public healthcare more.

Rather than directly taxing obesity, countries are starting to target its causes with taxes: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugary_drink_tax

if 50% of the people in the hospital are unvaccinated, then 50% are vaccinated. how are unvaccinated people stressing the hospital system?

The Quebec population is 79.7% fully vaccinated. 50% of the hospitalized population being unvaccinated means the unvaxed are hospitalized at a greater rate, thus, “stressing the hospital system”.

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