Cigarettes or Food- Tough Choice

Which Would You Choose? 

I'm reading an article about how Walmart next year is going to cut medical benefits for part time people and will be increasing premiums for full time and if you are a smoker, then it goes up drastically... This is what got me the most about the article though... This was taken from the actual article... 


"This is drastic," said Bonnie Shoaf, a smoker who works as a department manager in photos and toys and gets paid $16.51 per hour. "There goes my food money. I don't have any choice, but I will have to pay for it. I am 60 years old and I can't start over.
"Tobacco users consume 25 percent more health care services than non-tobacco users," Rossiter said. But he added that Wal-Mart has programs that smokers can take advantage of for free that can help them quit smoking.

The reason this is what stood out to me is because this person thought it was more important to ruin her health and have cigarettes instead of putting food on the table. That seems wrong to me... I can kinda see why  they would raise the rates because certain choices cause more harm to a persons health... They can't tell them to stop smoking, but if their choices are going to put them at a higher risk and rack up more bills, then whatever... It gets me that people would think that it's more important to smoke than to eat... Then I wondered how many make this choice all the time... 

When I was working at a grocery store, I seen it all the time... When everything was done being rung up, they would get the total... And if the total amount went over what they had, they didn't put back the cigarettes or the beer... They would put back food... Many times it was the food that was going for the kids... For example, one guy put back bananas that his daughter wanted because he wanted his beer so bad and it was more important... She was crying and he told her to shut up and left the store with his beer in hand... 


According to Wikipedia:

• In the US, between $4 and $6 dollars depending where you buy them. 
• But many states tax the sale of cigarettes heavily. A pack of cigarettes in New York City costs an additional $4.25 per pack in city and state taxes!
• Cigarette carton prices vary from state to state and country to country. In the United States, prices can vary from $30-$70 for brand name cigarettes (like Marlboro, Camel, and other brand names). In Canada, a carton of cigarettes can cost from $70-$90 dollars. In native reserves, non-brand name cigarettes can sell for less than $20 dollars a carton.
• If you average that out and take just the average, you are looking at approximately $2500.00 a year if they smoke 1 pack a day... I know many who smoke 2-3 packs a day... For those cigarettes they are literally burning up $7500.00 a year... 

When I think of how much money is literally going up in smoke, it bothers me... But it bothers me even more when I think of how much food or other necessities the money spent on smokes can be better used... 

• Now my question is this... Is it right to penalize people for them taking part in behaviors they know are going to cause health problems?
• My answer is... YES! If a person is using drugs, alcohol or whatever and they have been warned that it is going to ruin your health, why should someone else have to pay your medical bills... Or like the lady who wants to be 1600 pounds, why should she get medical from the state and food stamps to help her kill herself... Somethings have no logic in my brain...

There are many times people have health problems that aren't self induced... If they have been warned that the cigarette you are about to smoke causes cancer, then why shouldn't they have to pay for the consequences of their choices... I know when I make a stupid choice, it always seems to come back and bite me and I have to pay for the consequences... Why not them...   

One of my pet peeves is how people who willingly decide to do something that will ruin their health and then they get disability or other benefits because they chose to do something that they knew would do that... And now they get payments each month for the rest of their lives because they thought it was OK to fry their brains or do whatever it is... We all have our own things we do that are self destructive... But I think if we do them and we take the risk, then why should I have to pay for someone else's stupidity... Just Saying! Not saying cigarettes fry the brain...  My thoughts just turned to another direction for a few... Sorry about that... 


I'm not saying not to do what they choose to do, but we should all take the responsibility for those actions and the consequences... I find I get very ticked off when I see someone in the ER at the same time I am because they decided it was awesome to drink and drive or use drugs, illegally here in the USA and do whatever... And I find out as they are being checked in that they don't have to pay a dime for the services they are about to get and I get a bill for 1000.00's of dollars for my services... So by all means, if they choose to do stupid things, they should have to pay higher premiums... This is one of those "Don't Get Me Started Topics"... I got pretty much sidetracked again on this topic... Sorry about that again... 


In Closing: Everyone has a right to smoke and I'm not saying they shouldn't buy cigarettes... And I kinda got away from the original idea on this topic because it is a loaded topic for me... But it is pretty sad when people will put more importance on cigarettes over food... And if Walmart or an employer is willing to help them stop and they don't, then they have no room to grumble over the consequences... I will leave it at this, before I write a book...