An epidemic of meddling.

• Author: Simpson, Erik
• Position: Letters - Letter to the editor

In "An Epidemic of Meddling." (May) Jacob Sullum states that people who don't want to pay for the dangerous behavior of others shouldn't support taxpayer-funded health care. Most people already are paying for the behavior of others, however, due to the fact that the majority of people receive health insurance through their employer.

Many employers are cutting back on the benefits they provide to employees due to the rising cost of health care. Thus, healthier employees may see their benefits reduced in order to pay for the health care of their unhealthy co-workers. Taxpayer-funded health care would, without question, give the government an excuse to meddle in the private lives of individuals to an even greater extent than it does already, as the government would use the fact that it is paying for an individual's health care as justification for instructing that same individual on how to live. The risk of government meddling, however, is no greater than the risk of corporate meddling under the current system.

A recent edition of BusinessWeek discussed how corporate employers are using the rising cost of health care as justification for interfering in the private lives of their employees.

The article profiled one employee who was seen leaving work with a pack of cigarettes; the next day he was tested for drugs. When his results came back positive for nicotine he was terminated, despite the fact he had been smoking on his own time and in his own home. His employer justified his termination on the grounds that, because it pays for its employees' health care costs, it has the right to fire employees who cause health care costs to rise through unhealthy activities such as smoking.

I am personally against all meddling, whether it is from the government or my employer. If I had to choose between the two, however (and it appears that I do), I consider government meddling the lesser of two evils. Although the government may choose to tax my unhealthy behaviors, at least it can't fire me for them.

Erik Simpson

Las Vegas, NV

I don't want our government to become the Fat Police. But it hurts nobody to spread information about the dangers of supersizing your meals on a...