Arizona is discussing a proposal to charge Medicaid patients, whom choose to smoke, $50 per year. When I initially read the title of the article, it did not come as much of shock. People who choose to smoke cigarettes are being taxed more and more every year. What came as a shock to me is that under the same proposal people who are diagnosed with Diabetes and ignore a doctor’s recommendation to lose weight, would also be charged $50 per year. Many people who deal with Diabetes have a hard time monitoring their weight. These people did not choose to have Diabetes; they have to deal with this disease just to survive. Even though I know people who smoke cigarettes, I would not argue against the proposed bill the state of Arizona is trying to implement if it was only affecting smokers. But in this case they are trying to tax people who are trying to cope with Diabetes. Diabetes is not always a disease that is caused by having an unhealthy life-style. I have a cousin that was diagnosed with Diabetes when she was a young child. By no fault of her own, she has to deal with this disease every single day. Should she have to pay $50 per year to Medicaid, plus all of her other medical expenses that go along with dealing with Diabetes? “HELL NO!!!” She has already endured enough in her life having to deal with Diabetes, let alone being charged by the state.
I totally agree with Ms. Drost’s stance on the proposed bill. She says that, “47% of the people on Medicaid are smokers, so I don’t think that it would hurt them to pay $50 a year into the system that gives them healthcare.” She also feels the same way I do on the issue of taxing people with Diabetes. Ms. Drost says, “I would not charge diabetes patients because they didn’t choose this disease unlike people who smoke.”
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