medicare and medicade should not be given to tobacco users

Ahundreshighways makes two separate claims and I will address them both. The first is that people who do not take care of themselves should not receive Medicare and Medicade benefits. The second is that specifically people who use tobacco should not get such benefits. In response to the first claim, it would be a terrible idea to not give Medicare and Medicade benefits to people who do not "take care of their bodies" because that is an incredibly vague standard. What does it mean to not take care of one's body? Would you need to work out every day to get health benefits? Would you have to take vitamins everyday, never drink, never eat red meat (certainly something Ted Nugent would disagree with)? Only giving Medicare and Medicare benefits to people who take care of their bodies would require the establishment of an arbitrary government standard of health. It would be unacceptable for the government to arbitrarily exclude certain people from getting medical treatment they otherwise could not afford. Moreover, the need to "take care of their bodies" could be used as an excuse for the government to discriminate against particular life styles or persons they find immoral or undesirable. For example, they could prevent gay and bi-sexual men from receiving benefits because they engage in a "dangerous life style." Blacks could be excluded from receiving medical care because the government believes them more likely to engage in premarital sex, unprotected sex, and drug use. We should not give the government another method to unfairly discriminate against those cultures, races, and sexual orientations it does not like. The problem with preventing people who use tobacco from receiving Medicare and Medicade benefits is that it would prevent them from receiving treatment for non-tobacco related medical problems. Using tobacco should not prevent someone from getting an appendectomy or dialysis. Furthermore, what counts as using tobacco? Is it daily use? Weekly? Yearly? Ever? Again, the government would be forced to draw an arbitrary line between those who get health care benefits and those who do not which is always a bad idea. Next, what is the problem, the cost, with letting people who use tobacco or don't take care of their bodies get Medicare and Medicade benefits? The vast majority of treatment sought and given under these programs is either basic treatments that everyone needs, regardless of their health, or emergency services which, again, people need regardless of whether or not they use tobacco or take care of themselves. Preventing these people from receiving benefits would not significantly save these programs money, at least not enough to justify the thousands of people who would die as a result. Finally, the policy of preventing tobacco users from receiving Medicare and Medicade benefits is classist. Tobacco use is much more common among the poorer classes, the very same people who are receiving Medicare and Medicade benefits. Preventing tobacco users from receiving benefits would unfairly exclude the majority of people receiving benefits from these programs. Not only would that all but destroys the effectiveness of these programs by preventing most people eligible for them from getting benefits, but does so with a standard that uniquely targets the poor over the rich.