Rishi Sunak suffers blow to his authority as 57 of his own MPs vote against his plan and over 100 abstain
  • mannycalavera
    5·
    7 months ago

    I can respect the position that it’s the individual’s right to choose to smoke if that’s what you’re getting at?

    But I’d love for that to come with the individual’s responsibility to take care of their own health care for smoking related issues. I don’t particularly want to be paying for the (poor) health choices of smokers that disproportionately clogg up our NHS. I totally accept that is a rather radical idea and hard to enforce which is why I am in favour of phasing out smoking in the way suggested by this bill.

    https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/statistics-on-public-health/2023

    I’d much rather spend public money on making it easier and cheaper to access a proper gym and get people hooked on exercise instead.

    • steeznson@lemmy.world
      11·
      7 months ago

      My dad was a doctor for decades, working in oncology, and he was noticing that NHS budgets were struggling with so many people not dying of smoking related diseases.

      If people live longer then they end up developing more complex diseases and degenerative conditions which are even more expensive for the NHS; requiring round the clock care, etc.

      • mannycalavera
        4·
        7 months ago

        If imagine your dad would have wanted people to live longer healthier lives due to not smoking and being fitter rather than longer unhealthy lives with complications at a later age due to smoking.

        Or did he just want people to die younger to reduce the burdon on the NHS budget? Something tells me that’s not what he would have wanted 😅.

        • steeznson@lemmy.world
          1·
          7 months ago

          It would be nihilistic to encourage smoking just because it saved the NHS money. He was just pointing out that there was an irony that people who died younger ended up taking less out of the NHS than those who lived longer, healthier lives.

          Edit: I guess there are other examples of paradox like situations in public policy too. For example it is good for the individual if they save money but bad for the economy as a whole. Having too many savers can lead to a situation like Japan where people immediately save any economic stimulus they are given, so it doesn’t stimulate the wider economy.