People's health is their own concern to the extent that they do not burden society with their health care costs, nor the people in their life due to their poor condition.

>burden society with their health care costs

That's every single non-optimal health decision though. You shouldn't have gone into construction because now you need a knee replacement. You should've used a treadmill desk instead of sitting for so long. If you'd just had a child before you were 30 you probably wouldn't have gotten breast cancer etc...

'People's health is their own concern'

I disagree wholeheartedly. So many diseases today are preventable when you consider that most people take no action to improve their health through any kind of diet or exercise. Its a probabilities game. If you eat fast food frequently, drink/smoke too much, and don't exercise you cannot expect to have the same odds of a long life as someone who is doing those things.

Now if we accept the above argument, even if only to a small degree, than we can conclude that individual decisions have should result in a widespread increase in demand for chronic healthcare needs, such as heart disease. This in turn causes insurance rates to go up for those individuals taking care of their health. Furthermore it funnels more and more human capital away from the rest of the economy by raising demand for doctors, nurses, and all other kinds of medical staffing/machinery.

Its inconvenient to believe that your health has a larger effect on the world you live in, but it does.

>Its inconvenient to believe that your health has a larger effect on the world you live in, but it does.

Sure it does, but what do you want to do about it. Do we scold people for picking careers that are bad for their health. Do we shame women who don't have children because it increases their chance of developing breast cancers?

>Furthermore it funnels more and more human capital away from the rest of the economy by raising demand for doctors, nurses, and all other kinds of medical staffing/machinery.

And choosing to watch youtube videos funnels money into advertising and away from the rest of the economy.

Nearly every single individual decision that you make impacts someone else.

It's not true that people's health is their own concern. Especially not when my taxes pay for your treatment when you've deliberately not taken care of yourself and not when your lack of regard in this manner promote similar thing happening to other people (children, for example).

If you're actually concerned about "your taxes" you should celebrate the over weight and otherwise unhealthy. The lion's share of health care costs are end of life treatments; don't have to worry about those if you die of a heart attack at age 45.

Besides, I think taxpayer dollars are being spent on things that are far more shocking...

The U.S. leads the world in military spending, has one of the largest incarceration rates per capita, and is floating around the idea of a new border wall, and you're mad about... People not being skinny...?

Not everyone lives in USA, you know. ;) And I'm not mad, far from it, I'm simple pointing out the argument was false.

>The lion's share of health care costs are end of life treatments; don't have to worry about those if you die of a heart attack at age 45.

Well, you do still have to worry about those, but earlier than expected.

Overweight people are actually cheaper to care for in the long run.

"Although effective obesity prevention leads to a decrease in costs of obesity-related diseases, this decrease is offset by cost increases due to diseases unrelated to obesity in life-years gained. Obesity prevention may be an important and cost-effective way of improving public health, but it is not a cure for increasing health expenditures."

https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/jo...

Simply incorrect. We shame people for smoking don't we?

Because it has a direct negative impact on the health of other people.

Do you shame people from not getting enough vitamin d? Do you shame them for going into careers that are bad for their health? Do you shame sky divers because its bad for their knees? People who don't use treadmill desks?

Being overweight is a choice that makes our healthcare system enormously more expensive. None of the things you mention are remotely comparable to it.

Sitting too much is at least in the same league as being overweight, but the extent to which being overweight increases healthcare costs is largely down to the number of people who are overweight. There are many choices that an individual can make that are just as costly that aren't ridiculed.

Furthermore, it's not clear that obese people actually consume more healthcare dollars.

"Although effective obesity prevention leads to a decrease in costs of obesity-related diseases, this decrease is offset by cost increases due to diseases unrelated to obesity in life-years gained."

https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/jo...