Should smokers pay more for health insurance?

Image: iStock.

There are some topics of conversation that never fail to divide a crowd. These include, but are not limited to: man buns and beards; whether jam or cream goes first on a scone; the colour of The Dress; and smoking.

Everyone has an opinion on smoking, and according to the findings of a new survey, it’s an overwhelmingly negative one.

Around 60,000 Australian households were quizzed about health insurance by One Big Switch. Of those people, two thirds agreed that people who smoke should have to pay higher premiums than non-smokers. This echoed the findings of a 2012 survey of 1213 Australians, in which 73 per cent of respondents believed in the same principle.

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It’s not hard to see why people think this way; smoking has been linked to a long list of serious and often life-threatening health impacts, including lung damage, raised blood pressure and reduced blood flow, reduced bone density and increased risk of several cancers. These effects aren’t limited to the person sucking on the cigarette, either — exposure to second hand smoke is also problematic. (post continues after gallery.)

Differential premiums determined by health habits is currently prohibited in Australia, as it’s considered discriminatory. However, not everyone agrees that this should be the case.

Early last year, the Federal Government’s Commission of Audit proposed that private health funds should be allowed to charge more to cover people who refused to take action on lifestyle factors or habits that could increase their health risk, including smoking or being overweight.

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“Community rating is there to protect people who, through no fault of their own, through things they can’t control like their age, that they’re not penalised,” NIB Managing Director Mark Fitzgibbon said at the time. “But it shouldn’t protect people who deliberately engage in behaviours which add to their risk profile.”

When the findings of today's survey came up in The Glow office, it immediately prompted some strong opinions. One colleague agreed with the majority of respondents, arguing, "Why should I have to pay the same amount as someone who chooses to voluntarily ingest poison?"

Others rebutted that suntanning, eating junk food and drinking alcohol also count as voluntary bad habits that can negatively impact on health.

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"These things in no way compare to the unnecessarily harmful effects of smoking on both the people smoking and the people around them who are also forced to suck up their toxic fumes," colleague #1 responds.

So tell us: where do you stand?