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Smokers are no more responsible for assuming their own health care risks than are the obese who suffer strokes, or tanners who develop melanoma. It is simply prejudicial and biased to isolate smokers as responsible for their own health care, without extending this level of responsibility to other people who have equally unhealthy, disease causing habits.

In an ideal world, everyone would consciously choose to lead a healthy lifestyle. In the real world, however, people assume habits that are hazardous to their health.

All individuals are certainly responsible for their actions. So, if smokers themselves provoke diseases which are the result of their own unhealthy habits, why should they not bear the financial cost of the health care necessary to treat the conditions they brought upon themselves?

*Foremost, smoking must be appropriately recognized as less of a 'conscious choice,' and more of a physiological and psychological substance addiction. While there is a tricking of a few, mostly unpopular, proponents of "smoker's rights" in society, most individual smokers seldom brag about their habit. The vast majority of smokers have tried to quit more than once, and have relapsed at some point after quitting. Quitting smoking and battling all of the psychological stresses and situations that trigger nicotine use is not easy, and is a challenge for most, rather than a choice. Only 2.5% of smokers who try and quit each year succeed their first time, so they need the support of the medical community, not the aggravation of restricted access to medical treatments that could help them quit.

*Second, most smokers acquired the habit during their young, impressionable youth. Smoking is a habit that commonly begins in adolescence. Immature teenagers typically feel invincible and do not consider serious health repercussions that could arise later in life. It is exceedingly harsh to hold a smoker responsible for the risks assumed with continuing a habit he or she acquired as an immature teen, especially if the smoker is trying to break the habit as an adult.

*Furthermore, mandating that smokers bear the responsibility of their own health risks is an impossible premise to enforce. Would the Medicare system have a national list of registered smokers? Would the medical community refuse health care treatment to any smoker that shows any vague symptom of a smoking related illness? While smoking can cause countless health complications, smoking is by no means the ONLY cause of ailments

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