Shouts of big government and the loss of personal freedom
rang out over the land.
What will they say now, after the Walker Authority made the following proposal?
Wisconsin Reporter: The governor recommends assessing state employees who smoke, $50 per month, hoping they will be “encouraged to avail themselves of smoking cessation and other services designed to help them kick the habit.” The idea is clear: Smokers have more health-related problems, costing taxpayers more money.
How the times have changed...
And what of our freedom and liberty? Are nanny state Republicans suddenly admitting that smoking is a health risk, and another reason health care
costs are skyrocketing? Big switch.
Yes.
“(B)ecause health care costs of smokers and other people who use tobacco are estimated to be 30 to 35 percent higher than nonsmokers, the Governor recommends that a tobacco user charge be included for state employee health plans beginning in calendar year 2014,” Walker’s budget states.
But I thought Republicans were against “sin taxes.” And would
“the state of Wisconsin have to administer screenings to determine whether
employees would have to fork over the $50 a month smoker’s fee. Would such
testing offset revenue from the fee? “
Republicans have never been about small government, they've been about small liberal Democratic government. Republicans like their authoritarian big government model, where
our leaders call all the shots, and why they never see the hypocrisy in their actions.
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